Atheists - How did you eventually see the light?

Question

I was a good little Christian once, it was a comfortable place to be. There was probably no harm in it, I was just annoying to other people, (similar to how I wish I could beat some sense into opinionated Christians these days,) but now I'm out the other side, I'm intrigued; what made you see the light? Was there a single moment that made you jump right back into reality? Realizing your imaginary friend was about as helpful as praying to Eddie Murphy?

god_of_the_accursed: I was merely demonstrating the irrelevance of prayer, nothing more. I appreciate your input though. This question, although unstated, was more aimed at those who have "stopped" believing, as opposed to those who have never believed.

Answer 1

I group up with an, at times, irrational mother and a father who was a devout catholic that did not force his beliefs on me. The combination of those two kept me from ever truly believing.

It wasn't until my first year in college (which was last year), however that I actually thought about the issue and I came to the only logical conclusion.

Plus the way religion has developed and been manipulated for power throughout history it is pretty clear that man worshiped nothing other then himself (stole that last bit from Sir Richard Francis Burton).

Answer 2

easily there's a great variety of person-friendly procedures to tutor gentle exists, even for a blind individual. And via the way, if a blind individual asks a hundred non-blind human beings what shade is the sky, he gets a hundred comparable solutions. If an atheist asks a hundred religious human beings what shade is God, he gets a hundred distinctive solutions. Why is that?

Answer 3

Being engaged to religious fanatic finally pushed me over the edge. But I was always agnostic, and I decided around 13 that I was not a christian. It was the realization that if I was born in Iran I would be a Muslim and so on. If one religion was correct than there would only be one religion, right? Or is god that helpless?

Answer 4

Hey! Eddie Murphy *could* answer your prayers! It might be a smart, funny, and not terribly helpful answer, but he can pick up a phone, right? You saying my imaginary friend is really that helpful? YEAH!!!

On a serious note, it's when we realized that we were really delusional and that we were really orcs and giant weasels in disguise that made me think that maybe we was wrong... But then our taste for blood kicked in and it was fine again because...

Our God says it's all ok;
Our God says "this is the way!"
It says in the book, "BURN AND DESTROY"
And "repent and redeem and revenge and deploy"
So verily we must choppeth them up and stompeth them down!

Answer 5

Well, I thought about other religions, and the differences between them, and how everyone believed something different, and decided that they couldn't all be right, and that probably none of them were right. And then I decided that the whole creator thing was stupid and now I choose not to think about how people got here.

Answer 6

i was raised an episcopalian, (by an epicscopalian minister even) and i considered myself a "christian" for many years because of that. I can't recall ever really buying the whole virgin birth, ressurrection, and transubstantiation thing as fact, as my father did, so i guess i never really was one... my dad raised me as a christian and it didnt really take, but he also raised me to not be afraid to think for myself (btw he didnt believe in the literal truth of the entire bible) i guess i was something of a pantheist for a long time after that, but never really sure of any of it... now i'm more of an atheist, i guess. but whatever... i still treat others with respect and compassion as my father taught me

Answer 7

Fortunately I didn't have those fairy tales shoved down my throat as a child, so I was never a religious sheep.

I think the thing that makes the biggest difference is your own understanding. If you can see through the constant "JUST BELIEVE IT OR YOU'RE A BAD PERSON" stuff, which most people should be able to, then you're already good to go.

Answer 8

i think i've always been an atheist. i developed an allergy to magical thinking and the people who tend to indulge in it at an early age. also, i was never made terribly uncomfortable by my lack of belief. as i've grown older i've become slightly less allergic to religion and toyed with agnosticism a bit, but i still find it terribly hard to take religion very seriously.

Answer 9

When at 18, I decided to explore the other side of the argument and concluded that all that stuff that was shoved down my throat were all a bunch of lies.

Perhaps the biggest factor was reading the bible and feeling mortified at what it tells people to do to their fellow humans. Surely no "all loving God" can command people to kill millions in
"his" name.

Answer 10

I was religious for a while and saw it as fake. Was a deist for a long time. God but no religion and never really thought about it. My husband and I got in a fight one day over putting up a Christmas tree and my husband said, that's right , You don't believe in god. I said that's not so, I don't believe in religion. But it got me thinking. Yep the ban to religion. thinking! And I thought about it and came to the conculsion, I don't believe there's a god. That absulutly nothing in this life pointed to there being a god.