did you become an atheist or a christian "cold turkey"? pls tell me your story. thanks?

Question

other theists are welcome too. i wasnt thinking of leaving you guys out.

Answer 1

I was lying in bed one night (I was about 8) thinking about some joke about a holy jumper when I realised the whole god existing business was a bit unlikely and that was it. So I guess it was cold turkey

Now where I live is predominately chrisitan and society is saturated with it. So I went so Sunday School, I went to Girls Brigade, I went to Scripture Union. In High school we had a religious assembly and Religious Education classes and nothing managed to change my mind.

OTOH it's (by and large) acceptable to be an atheist here. You won't get persecuted like you do in the US. You get at the most the odd "You don't believe in god? Oh okay" and there are a few fundies about

Answer 2

My conversion to atheism was gradual. It started when I was about 15. I use to be a hardcore almost fundamentalist christian.

For a while I had been getting this twinge in the back of my head about a scenario. The scenario was, what if the atheist are right? Then I am wasting my whole time for a place that does not exist. Even worse, I could die with a false belief meaning that it be a life of ignorance to the truth. This bothered me deeply. So I began my research.

Many of the arguments atheist had were good. My problem back then was I was still blind and would argue away their points with my points which had not scientific backing what so ever.

I think one problem was I was having out of body experiences which were hard for many to explain. Then I found out about ketamine, the wonder drug that could cause disassociation hallucinations.

The thing that helped the most was my promise to my self that I would always be opened minded and try to see everyone point as having credence in some way or another.

The more I pondered the more I came to realize several things. I would not be a christian if I was born in the middle east. If god would reject me because I was a African native worshiping bats, but I was a good person, what kind of god is that?

The bible is repulsive, saying to stone ones own son if he is a drunkard. Kill those who don't believe in the same god as you. To divorce a women causeth her to commit adultery even though she may never sleep with anyone, but the guy was OK.

I finally walked through the curtain and into the light of the truth. My religion was one of many false religions. Each just as false as the other. Each just as certain as the other.

I woke up and became an atheist.

Answer 3

Not cold turkey. At first i was just struggling with religion. I tried learning and understanding what it meant to be a christian. I read the bible, i talked to different clergy of different denominations, and i talked with friends and family. At the same time i was learning more about science and evolution. It all makes a lot of sense, but still to me God and evolution could coexist. Who can say it isn't God behind the evolution? Maybe that is how God works. But in the end i couldn't get past the idea that Buddhists, who chose to harm no one and live a good life, will end up in hell. And Jeffrey Dahmer who asked God for forgiveness for his sins will go to heaven. Maybe not Jeffrey Dahmer, but you get the point. I don't see why god would punish good people, and forgive horrible ones. It doesn't make sense to me. There are other reasons i don't believe, but this was what started it. and i don't want to go any further into it. That could be a book. Maybe later in life i will find god again. Who knows what the future holds.

Answer 4

Always believed in god as a child. Accepted Christianity by default because I was raised in the U.S. Read the bible and saw that people lied about what it said and got to the point where I could no longer believe it and eventually became an atheist after learning science.

Answer 5

I was raised by a Jewish mother and a Catholic father... I believe in God or as some may say... a higher power. What I don't believe in is the bull crap involved with organized religions. Just because one religion follows a different story of what happened or didn't happen thousands of years ago.... doesn't make them wrong or right from my point of view!

Answer 6

By the time I was eight, it had become obvious that the biblical tales could not be reconciled with science. Since science is obviously right (it works!), the bible had to go. I have kept an eye out since for any evidence of the existence of any sort of god; I have found none, and have no reason to believe that anyone else has -- ever. For a discussion of evidence, see:

Answer 7

it truly is likely the incorrect answer you've been searching for, yet i trust it quite is the finest of the lot: "it truly is idea an particularly unique set of circumstances created existence in the international consisting of liquid water, tides, an surroundings and a molten middle. there is a few threat undemanding existence could exist elsewhere in our photo voltaic gadget. it truly is confusing to make any precise predictions previous that considering we've not been able to study different photo voltaic structures in that a lot element yet. it truly is an argument of biology and astronomy, not faith." answer 5.

Answer 8

I became an atheist after a lot of reading, debating, arguing, visiting "holy" places, and so on. I have found that it is all the same. It is what is within us that counts not some blind following of religion. It has made me more tolerant, more understanding, more open-minded and more accepting. Then again, I can only speak for myself. :)

Answer 9

Probably not.I mean either you would have been thinking about it for awhile and just not saying it or you give up with the one belief and have a time where you figure things out and then decide to go one way or the other.

Answer 10

By the time I was eight, it had become obvious that a pure naturalistic explanation for the world didn't match reality. Since the Bible is obviously right (it works!), naturalism had to go. I have kept an eye out since for any evidence of the non-existence of God; I have found none, and have no reason to believe that anyone else has -- ever.