When did you become an atheist?

Question

what drove you away from your original religion?

Answer 1

i'm a born atheist.

Answer 2

There never was any one defining moment for me.I was raised in the christian belief system and pretty much believed because that's all i really knew about.Even at a very young age though,i noticed some strange inconsistencies within the bible.I happened to be looking at each account of the baptism of Jesus and found in each case,the story changes dramatically.Jesus goes from being baptized by john to john not even doing the baptism,just watching from afar.It always stuck with me so when i further investigated it,i found out in historical terms,it's know as the criteria of embarrassment.In other words,certain biblical authors didn't like the idea of Jesus being baptized.So they changed the events so it wouldn't seem so embarrassing.I kept reading christian books that people told me were such good proof that the bible was inspired.But i have a tendency to be able to see through word salad and the dressing.It was actually apologetical books that kept using poor reasoning,bad arguments,and outright deception that started me on the path to a weak atheism.Still to this day,that's all i see or hear.

Answer 3

I had been dabbling with Atheism since I was old enough to ask my first question about god. It took a few years to finally muster up the courage to red the entire bible and base my decision on what I read and what I have experienced in life. I came to realize that the bible is full of contradictions, and the "GOD" depicted in the bible is not something I would like to stand behind. After reading the bible I found god to be a lot less powerful then people had made him out to be, and very cruel, petty, and overall short sighted. If the bible was really inspired by an all knowing all powerful being then all the answers we ever would think to ask would have already been answered accurately and without the need for translation.

Answer 4

I stop believing in God when I was about 12, which was 10 years ago. I dropped the Christianity that my family tried to impress upon me because I found too many holes in their logic once I gained the capacity for philosophical thought. There was no event or specific person that drove me away. I think I sort of outgrew religion.

Answer 5

Religion is a belief system most nations are founded on them. Charity, humanity, giving, hope, trust, dignity, forgiveness, integrity and so on are a part of them, driven by a belief in God. Without God what holds humanity together. Would the words charity, humanity, giving, hope, trust, dignity, etc. etc. become meaningless, or would we want to keep these words in place to protect our own butt. Many preachers and religious practice rather befuddle me but then I’ve only been on this earth a little over seventy years and seen a lot of trash. For my own protection I wouldn’t kill out religion or God if I could because I don’t know what the long term alternative would be. As far a being an atheist I don’t think I want to go there just yet.

Answer 6

i grew up catholic, but began the process of leaving the church around the age of thirteen. (i had problems with the mystery of the immaculate conception).

for a while i wondered if i might be some other kind of christian, but by my mid twenties i was fairly sure i was a strong agnostic.

i didn't start to hate christianity until i saw the way ronald reagan was stirring up fundamentalist prejudice to keep the cold war alive (and the russians in power) in the 1980s.

when american fundies attempted to sabotage clinton's work against communism in central europe in the 1990s, christianity slid a few rungs lower down the foodladder as far as i was concerned.

then the dover country case &c &c &c

(not to mention what i have seen here)

Answer 7

I started out raised Catholic...

Then I got older and realized that all of the so called truths that were preached to me, were really just opinions.

logic insued..

See everyone has their own version of truth....but nobody seems to have any facts. Faith requires belief, but facts do not. You can't substantiate faith by calling it truth, without any facts.

I neither believe nor disbelieve in the existence of god. I doubt the Christian version of god due to the many inconsistencies that come with that particular label...

Instead I relent to the only thing I know that is the absolute truth... that is that nobody really knows the truth, no matter how many people believe in that version of truth.

I accept that I do not know, and I leave open all possiblities. If that sends me to hell, then my maker damned me to hell at the instant my being was created...because he allowed me to have the free will to examine the logic behind the ideology.

Answer 8

It's hard to name an exact date because I considered myself an agnostic for many years -- although the nature of my agnosticism was that I didn't believe there was a God, but I thought that God was at least logically possible. At some point, I ceased to believe that God was logically possible, but I'm not sure when. It's been years, though.

I left my former religion because it ceased to make sense to me. I had nothing against the church.

Answer 9

I was an Atheist for maybe 6 months.. Before i found my religion. Which after that I realized how boring and dull life would really be with out an flavor.

Answer 10

I was raised mostly athiest but left it. I left it because 20 years ago, I had a 100% physically real supernatural encounter with Jesus saving me from hell. I remember at the time I was 'floored' by the experience because up until then I believed only in natural scientific laws. I still believe in natural laws, but in the supernatural and God as well. I find the Bible to be very logical and very soundly supported.

Answer 11

When I reached the age of reason.
I began my life being brainwashed into Christianity by my parents and the church. It worked for a little while but as soon as I was old enough to think and reason on my own I saw how illogical it all was. LOGIC ALWAYS PREVAILS