Fellow atheists: what event marked the turning point for you in which you decided that you did NOT believe?

Question

Fellow atheists: what event marked the turning point for you in which you decided that you did NOT believe in a "God"? Was it a gradual process or did you have a major life-changing experience that caused you to suddenly "wake up"? What were the circumstances? Thanks!

My own background: I was raised Christian and regularly attended Sunday School (Lutheran) and Vacation Bible School in my pre-teen years. Even early on a lot of things about Christianity just didn't "add-up" and I started asking questions that nobody could (or wanted to) satisfactorily answer. In high school I read the Bible (KJV) cover-to-cover, but that only convinced me that Christianity didn't "get it right". In college I abandoned Christianity for Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, which I decided after a few years was just another religion like Christianity. I became agnostic for many years, flirted briefly with Deism, then finally admitted to myself that I was an atheist (with a small "a"). There was no defining moment, just a gradual realization and acceptance that I'd never really believed - although I'd certainly wanted to believe at times just so I'd "fit in". Now I'm GLAD I'm a free-thinker and not a "sheeple".

Answer 1

When I started college I had free time to research the issue in detail. I also felt for the first time that I could honestly look at my beliefs without outside influence and without fear.
I do not believe in a god for many reasons. First of which is the Bible. It is a good read, but it is full of contradictions. The old testament portrays a violent, even hateful God, while Jesus was portrayed as a loving god.
I also am a paleontologist, and as such I have seen much evidence that supports evolution. In order for evolution to be true, in my mind the Bible must not be the word of God. And if the Bible is not the word of God, then it was created by men. Which means I was lied to when I learned about the Bible, which casts doubt on everything I was taught about the Bible and God.
Also, if there was only one God, and he was there from creation, then why are there so many other historical gods? Why is Thor or Zeus not the true god? Why are there so many different views of the Christian God? Why is there no undeniable evidence that says there was one creator, and this is the way he wants you to live?
If there is a creator, who made him? Is it actually man that created the idea of a god to explain what he could not understand and to make himself feel significant?

I have many, many other reasons, but it all comes down to the fact that there is no evidence, that I have seen anyway, that supports the conclusion that there is a god. I am of course open to evidence, but I believe there will never be any.

Answer 2

I was born into an atheist family, and I did not know that my parents were atheist until I was about 9 years old. I asked my mom why everybody believed in God and if he created everything, where did he come from? She told me that that very question was one of the reasons she and my father do not believe in God. At that time, I did not know whether or not I believed because the whole concept of God seemed a lot like Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy (which I did not believe in when I was 9). From that time on, every time I thought about the existence of God, I became more convinced that he is not real. There really is no accurate evidence to support the idea of God, so I chose to be atheist as well.

Also, an interesting fact: Before Mother Theresa died, she said that with all the prayer she did, she never even once felt God in her presence.

Answer 3

I was a Christian when my children were born (I was in my early 20's), both of whom had pretty severe medical problems and needed numerous surgeries. When the second one was born with completely different problems than the first, I went numb. I think I may have had a mental breakdown but I never got help for it. While I was grieving and suffering severe depression from this, my mother informed me that it was probably my own fault because I must not have had enough faith that my second child would be born healthy. I had always had nagging doubts about what I was forced to read in the Bible, but I couldn't believe God would let this happen to my children. Anyway, I became enraged at her, the church, and God, and abandoned my faith. A short time later, my brother joined (er, rather, got sucked into) a cult which led me to study cults in depth so I could help him get out. In doing this, I had the sobering realization that Christianity was nothing but a mainstream cult like all the things I was studying. Going to college also honed my critical thinking skills and that pretty much did it for me. I still suffer the "aftermath of Christianity" as I like to put it but I'm getting better all the time. Listening to people tell their stories on here helps me too.

Answer 4

My transition between Christianity and atheism was quite gradual. At about age 16 I began questioning my beliefs. I then considered myself an agnostic. I considered myself an agnostic for about 2 or 3 years. After doing some reading, thinking, and reflecting I decided that I just do not believe in a god in the terms of a higher, intelligent power. At that point I considered myself an atheist. I do, however, remember sitting in Sunday school classes as a child and hearing the story of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, David and Goliath and thinking "you cannot be serious if you are trying to get me to believe these things really happened..." As an adult I think it is just because the logic of science and understanding the human psyche (fear of death and punishment) make much more sense to me and explain why there is no god and why people do believe in god.

Answer 5

Well I was raised by atheist (and no, they didn't indoctrinate me -
I didn't think to ask what they were until I was 14) parents but I did like to believe in (or hoped that there was) God personally as I was introduced to religion in school. I gave up this belief/hope when I was around 15 after researching the subject and finding that the Bible really is just a load of nonsense.

Atheism was the logical choice.

Answer 6

Nobody's ever seen God! Nobody, who didn't have an ulterior motive for making a claim to the contrary, has ever really spoken to a living God! Some say some guys did it more than 2000 years ago, but if you ask them to provide hard evidence to support that claim, they think it's good enough to just say, "Well, the bible tells me so!"

When I was in my teens I decided that God was a really mean jerk if he'd just sit back and let his son die a horrible death and do NOTHING about it. After all, can't a God do ANYTHING? So I told my parents I never wanted to go to church again and they said okay.

Now I believe in life and being alive and laughter at big, huge things and even stupid, little things ... I believe in a lot more than can be described in some old tome in a dusty cupboard or bookshelf.

Answer 7

These answers break my heart. A lot of people on here decided not to believe in God randomly for no reason at all. One girl says "I actually read the Bible..." Really? Did you read the whole thing? If you had questions did you honestly seek with all your heart to find the answer? Did you actually try to understand what confused you, or did you figure since nobody can know...than why bother? THIS KIND OF THINKING IS DANGEROUS TO ONE'S SELF! Because God is an important topic, and if you're wrong, you could suffer for it...more than you are suffering now. God doesn't promise an easy life! Everything that has ever tested your patience, your anger, your guilt, your emotions, is God helping you grow as a person. Look back at all those times that sucked, and you probably grew in leaps and bounds and were changed. Don't take your emotions and base them on if God exists! Our emotions are reckless.

Answer 8

For me it was when i was just around 11 years old and we were forced to go to "Religious Instruction". From the first day i hated it. They just wanted us to memorize the answers to all of these weird questions. Then the nun did it. She said the Catholic religion was the only true religion. I thought - how does she know that? I bet the Hindus and Buddhists were telling their children the same thing. One day a girl in front asked - If god said thou shalt not kill, why do we have armies that kill people. The nun said something like -- if you kill to defend your country then its ok. I went to sit under a tree and gave a lot thought to this - here i am as a devout atheist. I also wondered why god could not do a little miracle once in while like save somebody from dying. He only did these things during bible times which makes me doubt the validity.

Go in Peace

Answer 9

It was gradual with a major life-changing experience...my parents got divorced, I nearly committed suicide multiple times, and when I practically BEGGED God to help, nothing happened 'cept more pain and suffering. Then I became Agnostic, and when everyone figured that out and kept calling me evil, immoral, and an Atheist, I just became what they said I was (Atheist, it seems to me that I'm actually more good and moral than most of the Christians that claimed I was immoral and evil in the first place...funny, huh?) So...that's how I became an Atheist....

Answer 10

It was a gradual, natural process. I never did believe. I wanted to, but I could just never buy it. As I got older I contemplated god in a general sense, not just the Christian one. By the time I was 14, I was calling myself an atheist.