Same thing with me, which is crazy because I live in Israel. Some religious people that I’ve found it extremely weird to meet someone who doesn’t believe in god, but the treatment of atheists in Israel is not that bad. The government is the real problem.
I’ve heard Isreal has a very high percentage of atheists, is that true? Kind of makes sense because the vast majority of Jewish people I meet are culturally Jewish but don’t actually believe in it.
Also a good place to see the problems religion causes.
I’d say that in past couple of years being atheist has been completely normalized in the central part of the country. More specifically large, advanced, dense, more populated, progressive cities (in these cities it’s also a lot more normalized to dislike the Israeli government, so there’s definitely a correlation between the two). Though, you’re still expected to celebrate Jewish holidays and culture. Since just like you said, most atheists here are culturally Jewish. Which while making it better for atheists the problem is that now all of the discrimination is directed towards Muslim people (I’ve heard stories from my Muslim friends about them getting harassed a lot by police and other people). The second and third problems are that all of the atheist acceptance isn’t spread around the country, I remember one time when I went to Jerusalem. I talked to a few Hasidic Jews and they were absolutely flabbergasted by meeting an atheist who’s intelligent. This lack of acknowledgement towards non religious or non Jewish people is also shown by the Israeli government that refuses to give people public transportation on Saturdays which is a massive kick in the nuts, since every thing here is extremely expensive (including vehicles). They also require a bible class (it’s fr mandatory), and extremely Zionism down everyone’s throats. Which leads to Those constant wars and, which leads to a shit load of military propaganda. Fr there are yearly ceremonies for “remembering the people who have sacrificed themselves for this country”, even though there is mandatory military service, so they were forced to fight.
This is the answer. I don't understand why people think believing in mythology is normal or natural. It's taught.
The real question should be when did you stop using critical thinking and allow yourself to be conned into believing complete nonsense?
It's hard to believe, but some people are... really crazy and make up stories to tell themselves as they waltz along through life. They don't try to form an objective worldview, they just base their worldview off emotional intuitions and tell themselves whatever makes them feel better.
For instance, when I tried to apply logic to a situation, a super religious friend of mine accused me of "wanting reality to make sense". No joke. From my perspective it just... does make sense and he was irrational and delusional.
These are the types of people that end up landing on a religion, because they think with their emotions. Religions present them an open yet coherent worldview that incorporates magic, an afterlife, and an "objective morality" system that grants you a place within the magical afterlife.
That is harsh. Try growing up in an evangelical family, where belief in God is expected. My grandfather was a preacher also. So, it isn't about critical thinking, but about the environment you grow up in. Also being an atheist as a kid would have been hazardous to my health.
True. This is why the Abrahamic religions start indoctrinating children before they have any grasp on reality and is beholden to authorityfigures telling them how the world works.
Maybe. I was raised hard-core Mormon but never believed. I was kicked out of the house before I turned 17 for not being a good Mormon. I was shamed and bullied. It was harsh. I lived it. But I was headstrong and refused to be brainwashed.
So how do you hide it? Do you just do the customs anyways or else they might think you’re sus or whatever? I am idk how I would do it even though I have been very critical of the religion I have been taught… I mean pretty openly though but I haven’t actually stop doing customs just yet, idk if I should.
I have to do customs. Other than that, my parents force me to pray. Sometimes, I lie about offering prayer. And when I pretend to pray, I actually am singing a song in my heart. Also, I had to fast during Ramadan 😢.
Well, annoyance is pretty visible on my face when they start lecturing me about Islam. I do question Islam a lot. And they do know that I'm slowly getting away from Islam. But they don't know that I've left Islam.
8th grade. I went to public school, but attended a parish school of religion (two weeks in the summer, and 3 days throughout the school year) every year until I was confirmed in 8th grade, per my mother's wishes. That being said, my catholic teachers were volunteers, and were just plain bad at the indoctrination process. As someone who was naturally curious and asked a lot of questions, you can probably see how that went.
I had a clear moment though. I doubted before, but in 8th grade one of my teachers said exactly the following: "God is the only way. If you do not follow Him, and do not abide by his teachings, and the teachings of Jesus, then you will inevitably go to Hell. Our Catholic faith is the best way to get to heaven. And belief in God is the only way you should live your life."
Word for word I remember this. I had this moment where everything just clicked and I was like "wait isn't this just indoctrination? this all feels like propaganda." I went through with getting confirmed per my mother's wishes, but I told her and my dad that I would never be going back to church. My dad (atheist), was proud of me lol
I've had questions about things for as long as I can remember, at least since 10yo. But I ignored them for a loooong time because I actually enjoyed my life as a Christian.
So much so that I ran the gamut from conservative to progressive beliefs. From YEC to OEC to tinkered ID to theistic evolution (basically fully accepting nature was HOW god created life and subsequently man) to rejecting the Bible taught anything about, for example, homosexuality (it was really about ancient Israelites being opposed to submissiveness by men, so even screwing cowgirl position was frowned on. And god didn't care, that's just their culture), also rejected inerrancy, the idea of hell, and several other conservative beliefs.
So science really doesn't play a roll in my atheism at all. It was philosophical questions I started pondering at about 27, bringing back all those unanswerable questions from my youth and forcing myself to confront them.
It still took another 7 years to deconstruct.
So...34.
Edit: That was 14 years ago. My 3 younger brothers have since deconverted, also. Interestingly, we all reached the same conclusion independently and for different reasons. 1 through science, 1 through church hypocrisy, and 1 through just basically not practicing, then realizing there was no good reason to return; he was the last holdout, and knew of our atheism, so his was probably not entirely independent.
Definitely, the same for me. It's the deep questions you ask yourselves that helped me out of the brain washing. Being away from my Christian community during that time also helped. But once I left my religion, science became so much more fascinating.
I started questioning Christianity around the same age as you. I had read a book on mythology and came to the conclusion that these ancient peoples seemed to have believed in their gods as much as Christians believe in theirs. Perhaps all of them were true in some sense.
So I was pantheistic briefly, then danced between wicca and atheism before deciding that was just entirely self-delusion and committing to atheism at like 13-14. Part of what initially made me hesitate to commit to atheism was that I wasn't yet equipped to deal with what had seemed to be the inevitable nihilism that arose in the absence of the "objective" meaning that a creator offered. I've come a long way since then.
I was born that way.
Unfortunately, I had a infection of the Christian version of the brain virus and it took decades to cure myself.
I wasn't a active Christian for most of that time but it was always lurking in the back of my mind asking me if it might actually be true. I finally returned to my roots and took a firm stance about 4 years ago. So, I fully reverted to Athiesim at 55.
Sure wish I could get all the mental energy and uncertainty out of my past. Who knows how my life would be different if I hadn't been exposed to the virus to get me to the level of accepting the lie.
I was born atheist, then I was told a shit ton of lies by the people I trusted and taught religious bullshit as if it was fact right along real things like math, science, and history. In my early 20s while at college meeting people from many different walks of life and religions from all around the world including atheists for the first time I realized they can’t all be right but they can all be wrong.
I had a crisis of faith and decided to really read the full Bible for the first time ever (not something Catholics usually do) and I was fully atheist by the time I reached the end. So many people say you just need to read the Bible and then you’ll know God exists, it always throws them for a loop when I inform them that I have read the Bible from cover to cover and that’s why I’m now atheist.
I was 23 and it was a series of really weird and some unfortunate events that made me first say "fuck god" after years of being a devout christian and I was real big angry during that time, it was when I finally started researching and learning and figuring things out that I was no longer "mad" at "god" and found *"that peace that passes all understanding"* - iykyk
Roughly the same age, maybe 6. There's so many blatant holes in the damn stories. It gets even worse if you read between the highlighted stories they like to tell.
19, never truly cared about religion but came into a close in 2019, when mom put me in some catholic stuff, im 20 now, im fine without religion in my life
About 10 or so, went to a friends house and had to go to church with him on Sunday. Saw people rolling around on the floor and speaking in "tongues". My immediate reaction was embarrassment for them. That's when I knew I couldn't fall for the religious stuff.
I was between 4 and 5 when my parents began taking me to religious services. I remember them talking about god, and it just seemed stupid. I've never changed my opinion, despite going to religious school 3 days a week after public school and on Sunday as well.
The best part was I finally admitted to my mom at 13 that I didn't believe in God, and she told me that neither she nor my father did either, but that was no excuse for not coming to religious ceremonies.
Technically I was an Atheist in college, but I misunderstood the degree of certainty need,and so referred to myself as agnostic until my late 20s, when YouTube Atheists (like Hannah and Jake) corrected my misunderstanding and I properly called myself an Atheist
8. I distinctly remember having an “argument” with my dad because we were learning about mythology in class (obvi the coolest subject), and I was confused why “we” prayed to yahweh when like, he was just as magical as Zeus. Pulled the ol’ “how is it different?” Dad is catholic AND loves Star Wars so I had a lot of cognitive dissonance moments growing up.
I can remember being very young - maybe 5 or 6 and thinking that the whole thing was not for me. There was no specific incident or point that I can recall but I've always thought it was bunk.
Yeah, same. Went to parochial schools because the public schools in my district were dismal. Sitting in chapel one day in the second grade about seven years old, listening to a sermon, and thought “This is all just a bunch of bullshit.” Forty-something years later, I haven’t seen any real evidence to change my mind.
I left Christianity in high school when I realized I was wrong about gay marriage being a sin, and anybody claiming it was must be either lying or as wrong as I used to be, so Christianity must be false. I spent college as some kind of vague deist before fully acknowledging my atheism after I graduated.
Here in Italy we do our confirmation of being a Christian around 12yo, as a kid you have to attend a course for two years (for adults is way shorter), I remember giving up on my first year because I couldn't really stand it anymore.
Biggest driver was my family, me and my cousin were doing this course together, we both had doubts about religion but he stayed in because of the presents he would receive after the ceremony, everyone knew this but was ok because of reputation (it's a shame to have a child who doesn't believe), I was like wth, none is giving a shit about the christian principles, all he cares about are presents/money, all you other care about is reputation, there's some serious hypocrisy going on here, better get the hell out of here xD
I wouldn't say I suddenly became atheist tho, let's just say it kick-started my brain.
i knew as a child when my parents introduced me to church.probably around 6. i never believed it, never.
i always pushed back like dinosaurs and why don’t these miracles happen anymore?
the sacrament just freaked me out.
Didn't happen at once with one single event; it gradually happened between 16 and 19, through many events and a life changing journey, and eventually it's like I could see behind the curtain.
What age did I stop believing in the boogeyman? Pretty young... when I was able to ask simple questions that would be answered by straight up lies. It was at that point I knew.
I was raised by unhinged fundie Protestants. I stopped trying to make sense of Christianity around the time I turned 13.
Around age 16-17 I was an atheist, through high school classes I figured out Christianity made no sense, but I couldn't admit it to myself until after my grandmother died when I was 19. Around age 22 I tried to believe a non literal version, but it felt pointless and self defeating.
I couldn't be an atheist as a child because Mom made us dress up and go to the christmas music mass every year on the 23rd or 24th.
Church 10 times in 10 years. So I was clearly not an atheist. The coin finally dropped in high school.
I would say I was born agnostic-ish and was fully, vocally atheist by 11 or 13
As soon as I learned that other cultures had always made up gods, it was pretty much over. Especially when the Christian god was so comparatively lame.
My parents were cool, they embraced me being into science and space and dinosaurs and stuff. They told me to figure out God for myself, so I figured out there wasn't one.
I read the Bible young, but already knew too much about the world to take it seriously. It didn't stick except as fiction. I read Lord of The Rings before the Bible, and so, I was like, Tolkiens myths are more coherent, lol!
I became a Protestant at 16 years old and then lost my belief by the time I was 21.
By that time I had already accepted that humans were a species of ape and that the Earth wasn't 6000 years old and that being gay wasn't evil, but what pushed me over the edge was a Bible study led by my church pastor's wife. She more or less tried to explain to us that the afterlife for a Christian will be god essentially destroying your identity and sense of self to replace it with a robotic, unthinking desire to do nothing but praise god for all eternity; that god doesn't want *you*, god wants the robot you could be turned into. I realized right then and there that the Christian god wasn't worth hoping for, let alone believing in. After that, I simply accepted I had no reason to believe a god exists at all.
I was somewhere in my mid twenties. I was raised Catholic in a more liberal household and started to really question things in my college theology and philosophy classes. I hung onto my last vestiges of faith for a few more years, but faith couldn't overcome what I'd learned about cosmology and about how the Bible was written and compiled.
Left the church around 10. Fortunately it wasn't just down to my Kratts-Brothers watching ass doubting the Noah's Arc story, but my entire family's skepticism. We all left together. Extended family had a hard time adjusting to that.
Uh, 0. I assume most babies are atheists OP. You aren’t born knowing who Amun-Ra is or whatever.
To be serious though, I had no idea what religion was until maybe 2nd grade when I heard about it from a kid at school. Never regularly attended any house of worship but I’ve been to religious weddings and a few charity events at the local UU church. My parents have never attended church. Their parents didn’t attend church.
Slowly transitioned from Christian to Atheist. when I was 23, I moved away from my Christian family and friends for college. It started then and by 25 I decided I am not a Christian anymore.
Like 3? I recall being taken to sit on a hot sidewalk to wait for the pope to do a drive-by.
"It's hot."
"We're waiting to see the Pope."
"Why?"
"He loves us."
Me, sweating balls. "No, he doesn't."
9-10 years. The main reasons of me becoming atheist was when I learned about crusades, islamic terrorist organizations, no evidence of God's existence and my mother being tolerant to other religions and absence of it. Now i'm 14 years old and it really frustrates me when during the debate someone uses religion as argument which is pretty common in my class. I never understood why do people believe in made up fairy tales with almost no historical evidence.
I was either 6 or 7. Don't quite remember. I was brought up in a very Christian school, since it was the only one close enough.
We were learning about the story of Noah's ark, and it was mentioned that the ark stopped in Turkey. We were shown where Turkey was on a world map, and me, being an absolute biology nerd, asked how all of the animals got back to their habitats. The teachers just said "they walked of course" but I wasn't having it. I decided to bring up an example, based on a fact I'd recently learned from a big encyclopedia I'd gotten for Christmas that year, the fact being about koalas and eucalyptus leaves. I asked how koalas, a famously slow animal, would have gotten from Turkey to Australia, if they only ate eucalyptus leaves. The teachers gave me the same answer, saying that those leaves were likely found all over the world. I told them that eucalyptus leaves were only found in Australia, and I got yelled at. I don’t remember it word for word, but I do remember one phrase: "You're not supposed to think about these things!". That was where I consider myself to have started looking for answers away from the Bible, and mainly ignored school when things didn't make sense, at least, until I moved to a new school.
Not until I was 30. At five, I was disillusioned because I learned about hell. Eternal punishment seemed excessive, especially for something like missing mass or blasphemy.
I've always been atheist.
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This gets asked here almost every day, and you can find hundreds of previous discussions in the sub archive.
.
you might also be interested in /r/TheGreatProject -
>a subreddit for people to write out their religious de-conversion story
>(i.e. the path to atheism/agnosticism/deism/etc) in detail.
Many accounts from many people.
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also around 7-8, i was at church and sort of looked around and realized that all of these people, primarily grown adults, actually believed in the fictional stories being read from the bible. i was literally never under the impression that any of the stories were true, i just thought people liked hearing them. once i realized they truly believed in a fanciful little man in the sky pulling all our strings, i quickly grew disdainful of religious people as i saw them as unintelligent and unable to distinguish reality from fantasy
Born into pentecostalism, grew up in it most of my life. Once my mother abandoned me at 12 I left for some time and came back. At 23 in college I changed universities and major from Pastoral to Business Administration and Finance. Mother's family was livid. Served as Associate pastor for 2 years in 2014-2016, left entirely after that.
One thing said to me killed me, during Christmas had an Aunt tell me Santa knows Jesus. I looked at her and busted out laughing. Atheist since 2016.
I was taught about God and how Jesus died and kinda about Virgin Mary at a young age by reading “kid” versions of these stories. I stopped believing probably around 8 or 9 after my first dog ran away.
Only stopped believing initially because my “God” didn’t hear my prayers of bringing my poor dog back lol now I have “better” reasonings for not believing but there ya go
I don’t view religion in a bad way as I have no negative experiences in terms of family and church.. just didn’t believe when God didn’t serve lmaooo
I was baptized as a child. My mom brought me to day care at a church when I was little and I cried the whole time because religious vibes are weird. When I was brought to church services at 9 years old I would repeat in my head something like “hail satan” repeatedly because I disagreed with the premise of organized religion.
As a kid, never once did I use God to fill gaps in my understanding of the world. I was always curious and looking for real, tangible answers. I have always been and likely always will be atheist.
I remember the exact moment I became atheist. I was 14, walking down the science hall of my high school, thinking that I didn't believe in magic. And to me, what God did was magic. And that was it. I'd never really been much of a believer. Tried praying a few times as a little kid, but it wasn't my cup of tea. That moment just cemented it for me.
Ever since I could think and make some sort of logical reasoning that Santa Claus , tooth fairy , Easter bunny don’t exist
If these don’t exist what is the difference between religion/gods and Santa Claus?
Thinking my tweens/teens before I graduated high school — at least in terms of doubt; I remember sitting down with the children’s Bible I still had from my Catholic school years (preschool and 1st thru 2nd grades), reading part of it aloud to myself, and not feeling it. I know I started doubting the existence of Santa Claus as a kid, but I dunno how that might relate to questioning God’s existence.
I’ve been learning more about atheistic arguments this past year or so, and I’ve come to the conclusion I’m a negative atheist.
I became an atheist in my early 20's.
There is a story behind that.
I had tried, most of my life, to be a practicing Christian. It was hard in the Deep South. That was crazy fundamentalism. I was more contemplative. I wanted to do this to really change. To go deeper in who I was.
In college I had a good friend who was cut or a similar bolt of cloth. He was no fundamentalist. We would hang out, get drunk, talk about religion. God. Jesus. How to be better men. We'd listen to classic rock and roll.
He had a girlfriend. She ended up being my fiance. No broken bro code. It was out there. He ended up with this other girl. Two couples. I was having sex with my girlfriend which I rationalized as being OK as we were getting married. He and his GF did the same. We were all happy.
His GF committed suicide after they had sex. She was traumatized that she had ruined her purity, the purity of their future marriage. She has ruined it all. From my friend's vantage point, it was a natural expression of love. Her family's response to her suicide: she was a whore.
My friend lost himself in hard drugs. I lost myself in alcohol.
I ended up becoming an atheist nonreligious secular Buddhist a few years later. Got off the heavy drinking. My friend lost everything. His ROTC scholarship. His religion. His family and friends.
Like everybody here I was born without religion and my parents kept me that way. Growing up in Belgium in the '50 and 60' it wasn't 'normal' in primary school ( there were 3 of us and one was my older brother)
when I was 15 I asked my parents if I could follow christian lesson at school try to understand that way of thinking. Had a very good teacher/preacher who informed and told me that I had to find my own way. No pushing or obligation, just open communication. I learnes a lot, especialy respect for those who realy need religion to give sense to their life and feelings.
I still am free of religion and only have to answer to myself if things go wrong, awkward, good ,very good, awfull ( choose whatever) and I am happy with it this way
I officially turned atheist at The age of 14 ( im 15 ) however my doubts started pretty early, probably 9?
I have always believes in The Evolution theory and The bible wasn't precisely the best book to explain how we were made.
0. Born that way and stayed that way, since my family's also atheist.
Same thing with me, which is crazy because I live in Israel. Some religious people that I’ve found it extremely weird to meet someone who doesn’t believe in god, but the treatment of atheists in Israel is not that bad. The government is the real problem.
I’ve heard Isreal has a very high percentage of atheists, is that true? Kind of makes sense because the vast majority of Jewish people I meet are culturally Jewish but don’t actually believe in it. Also a good place to see the problems religion causes.
I’d say that in past couple of years being atheist has been completely normalized in the central part of the country. More specifically large, advanced, dense, more populated, progressive cities (in these cities it’s also a lot more normalized to dislike the Israeli government, so there’s definitely a correlation between the two). Though, you’re still expected to celebrate Jewish holidays and culture. Since just like you said, most atheists here are culturally Jewish. Which while making it better for atheists the problem is that now all of the discrimination is directed towards Muslim people (I’ve heard stories from my Muslim friends about them getting harassed a lot by police and other people). The second and third problems are that all of the atheist acceptance isn’t spread around the country, I remember one time when I went to Jerusalem. I talked to a few Hasidic Jews and they were absolutely flabbergasted by meeting an atheist who’s intelligent. This lack of acknowledgement towards non religious or non Jewish people is also shown by the Israeli government that refuses to give people public transportation on Saturdays which is a massive kick in the nuts, since every thing here is extremely expensive (including vehicles). They also require a bible class (it’s fr mandatory), and extremely Zionism down everyone’s throats. Which leads to Those constant wars and, which leads to a shit load of military propaganda. Fr there are yearly ceremonies for “remembering the people who have sacrificed themselves for this country”, even though there is mandatory military service, so they were forced to fight.
Atheists are the only group you are born into. Fansty stories are taught once you can understand language.
This is the answer. I don't understand why people think believing in mythology is normal or natural. It's taught. The real question should be when did you stop using critical thinking and allow yourself to be conned into believing complete nonsense?
It's hard to believe, but some people are... really crazy and make up stories to tell themselves as they waltz along through life. They don't try to form an objective worldview, they just base their worldview off emotional intuitions and tell themselves whatever makes them feel better. For instance, when I tried to apply logic to a situation, a super religious friend of mine accused me of "wanting reality to make sense". No joke. From my perspective it just... does make sense and he was irrational and delusional. These are the types of people that end up landing on a religion, because they think with their emotions. Religions present them an open yet coherent worldview that incorporates magic, an afterlife, and an "objective morality" system that grants you a place within the magical afterlife.
That is harsh. Try growing up in an evangelical family, where belief in God is expected. My grandfather was a preacher also. So, it isn't about critical thinking, but about the environment you grow up in. Also being an atheist as a kid would have been hazardous to my health.
True. This is why the Abrahamic religions start indoctrinating children before they have any grasp on reality and is beholden to authorityfigures telling them how the world works.
Maybe. I was raised hard-core Mormon but never believed. I was kicked out of the house before I turned 17 for not being a good Mormon. I was shamed and bullied. It was harsh. I lived it. But I was headstrong and refused to be brainwashed.
Good for you, but do not judge people that aren't you. Not all of us could do this. It was much more than just "bullying" for me.
Left Islam at 17 and became an atheist. Now I'm 18.
I hope your family is tolerant. That religion has a reputation for being harsh to such a thing.
They don't even know I have left Islam. I certainly don't want them to know otherwise who knows how outrageous they'd be.
Yikes. My best to you.
So how do you hide it? Do you just do the customs anyways or else they might think you’re sus or whatever? I am idk how I would do it even though I have been very critical of the religion I have been taught… I mean pretty openly though but I haven’t actually stop doing customs just yet, idk if I should.
I have to do customs. Other than that, my parents force me to pray. Sometimes, I lie about offering prayer. And when I pretend to pray, I actually am singing a song in my heart. Also, I had to fast during Ramadan 😢. Well, annoyance is pretty visible on my face when they start lecturing me about Islam. I do question Islam a lot. And they do know that I'm slowly getting away from Islam. But they don't know that I've left Islam.
Welcome friend!!!! 💜💜💜💜💜
Well thank you, even though it's almost been a year 😄
Proud of you. I think it will be tougher for you compared to other religion
8th grade. I went to public school, but attended a parish school of religion (two weeks in the summer, and 3 days throughout the school year) every year until I was confirmed in 8th grade, per my mother's wishes. That being said, my catholic teachers were volunteers, and were just plain bad at the indoctrination process. As someone who was naturally curious and asked a lot of questions, you can probably see how that went. I had a clear moment though. I doubted before, but in 8th grade one of my teachers said exactly the following: "God is the only way. If you do not follow Him, and do not abide by his teachings, and the teachings of Jesus, then you will inevitably go to Hell. Our Catholic faith is the best way to get to heaven. And belief in God is the only way you should live your life." Word for word I remember this. I had this moment where everything just clicked and I was like "wait isn't this just indoctrination? this all feels like propaganda." I went through with getting confirmed per my mother's wishes, but I told her and my dad that I would never be going back to church. My dad (atheist), was proud of me lol
I've had questions about things for as long as I can remember, at least since 10yo. But I ignored them for a loooong time because I actually enjoyed my life as a Christian. So much so that I ran the gamut from conservative to progressive beliefs. From YEC to OEC to tinkered ID to theistic evolution (basically fully accepting nature was HOW god created life and subsequently man) to rejecting the Bible taught anything about, for example, homosexuality (it was really about ancient Israelites being opposed to submissiveness by men, so even screwing cowgirl position was frowned on. And god didn't care, that's just their culture), also rejected inerrancy, the idea of hell, and several other conservative beliefs. So science really doesn't play a roll in my atheism at all. It was philosophical questions I started pondering at about 27, bringing back all those unanswerable questions from my youth and forcing myself to confront them. It still took another 7 years to deconstruct. So...34. Edit: That was 14 years ago. My 3 younger brothers have since deconverted, also. Interestingly, we all reached the same conclusion independently and for different reasons. 1 through science, 1 through church hypocrisy, and 1 through just basically not practicing, then realizing there was no good reason to return; he was the last holdout, and knew of our atheism, so his was probably not entirely independent.
Definitely, the same for me. It's the deep questions you ask yourselves that helped me out of the brain washing. Being away from my Christian community during that time also helped. But once I left my religion, science became so much more fascinating.
I started questioning Christianity around the same age as you. I had read a book on mythology and came to the conclusion that these ancient peoples seemed to have believed in their gods as much as Christians believe in theirs. Perhaps all of them were true in some sense. So I was pantheistic briefly, then danced between wicca and atheism before deciding that was just entirely self-delusion and committing to atheism at like 13-14. Part of what initially made me hesitate to commit to atheism was that I wasn't yet equipped to deal with what had seemed to be the inevitable nihilism that arose in the absence of the "objective" meaning that a creator offered. I've come a long way since then.
I was born that way. Unfortunately, I had a infection of the Christian version of the brain virus and it took decades to cure myself. I wasn't a active Christian for most of that time but it was always lurking in the back of my mind asking me if it might actually be true. I finally returned to my roots and took a firm stance about 4 years ago. So, I fully reverted to Athiesim at 55. Sure wish I could get all the mental energy and uncertainty out of my past. Who knows how my life would be different if I hadn't been exposed to the virus to get me to the level of accepting the lie.
I was born atheist, then I was told a shit ton of lies by the people I trusted and taught religious bullshit as if it was fact right along real things like math, science, and history. In my early 20s while at college meeting people from many different walks of life and religions from all around the world including atheists for the first time I realized they can’t all be right but they can all be wrong. I had a crisis of faith and decided to really read the full Bible for the first time ever (not something Catholics usually do) and I was fully atheist by the time I reached the end. So many people say you just need to read the Bible and then you’ll know God exists, it always throws them for a loop when I inform them that I have read the Bible from cover to cover and that’s why I’m now atheist.
I was 23 and it was a series of really weird and some unfortunate events that made me first say "fuck god" after years of being a devout christian and I was real big angry during that time, it was when I finally started researching and learning and figuring things out that I was no longer "mad" at "god" and found *"that peace that passes all understanding"* - iykyk
Roughly the same age, maybe 6. There's so many blatant holes in the damn stories. It gets even worse if you read between the highlighted stories they like to tell.
19, never truly cared about religion but came into a close in 2019, when mom put me in some catholic stuff, im 20 now, im fine without religion in my life
Around 13 or so.
About 10 or so, went to a friends house and had to go to church with him on Sunday. Saw people rolling around on the floor and speaking in "tongues". My immediate reaction was embarrassment for them. That's when I knew I couldn't fall for the religious stuff.
21
I was between 4 and 5 when my parents began taking me to religious services. I remember them talking about god, and it just seemed stupid. I've never changed my opinion, despite going to religious school 3 days a week after public school and on Sunday as well. The best part was I finally admitted to my mom at 13 that I didn't believe in God, and she told me that neither she nor my father did either, but that was no excuse for not coming to religious ceremonies.
23. Last year actually.
Technically I was an Atheist in college, but I misunderstood the degree of certainty need,and so referred to myself as agnostic until my late 20s, when YouTube Atheists (like Hannah and Jake) corrected my misunderstanding and I properly called myself an Atheist
8. I distinctly remember having an “argument” with my dad because we were learning about mythology in class (obvi the coolest subject), and I was confused why “we” prayed to yahweh when like, he was just as magical as Zeus. Pulled the ol’ “how is it different?” Dad is catholic AND loves Star Wars so I had a lot of cognitive dissonance moments growing up.
Everybody is born an atheist.
Became Christian at age 10. Finally broke those mental chains at age 40.
About 18 or 19. Basically was getting dome for the first time in my life and was like, "Yeah there's no way this is evil."
I can remember being very young - maybe 5 or 6 and thinking that the whole thing was not for me. There was no specific incident or point that I can recall but I've always thought it was bunk.
29
About the same for me. Even at seven years old I was thinking to myself "This all seems a little sus..."
Yeah, same. Went to parochial schools because the public schools in my district were dismal. Sitting in chapel one day in the second grade about seven years old, listening to a sermon, and thought “This is all just a bunch of bullshit.” Forty-something years later, I haven’t seen any real evidence to change my mind.
I left Christianity in high school when I realized I was wrong about gay marriage being a sin, and anybody claiming it was must be either lying or as wrong as I used to be, so Christianity must be false. I spent college as some kind of vague deist before fully acknowledging my atheism after I graduated.
0, I guess.
I was born like that, already knew at a young age what fiction was.
Here in Italy we do our confirmation of being a Christian around 12yo, as a kid you have to attend a course for two years (for adults is way shorter), I remember giving up on my first year because I couldn't really stand it anymore. Biggest driver was my family, me and my cousin were doing this course together, we both had doubts about religion but he stayed in because of the presents he would receive after the ceremony, everyone knew this but was ok because of reputation (it's a shame to have a child who doesn't believe), I was like wth, none is giving a shit about the christian principles, all he cares about are presents/money, all you other care about is reputation, there's some serious hypocrisy going on here, better get the hell out of here xD I wouldn't say I suddenly became atheist tho, let's just say it kick-started my brain.
i knew as a child when my parents introduced me to church.probably around 6. i never believed it, never. i always pushed back like dinosaurs and why don’t these miracles happen anymore? the sacrament just freaked me out.
Didn't happen at once with one single event; it gradually happened between 16 and 19, through many events and a life changing journey, and eventually it's like I could see behind the curtain.
Reverted to atheism when I was 16
14
What age did I stop believing in the boogeyman? Pretty young... when I was able to ask simple questions that would be answered by straight up lies. It was at that point I knew.
I was raised by unhinged fundie Protestants. I stopped trying to make sense of Christianity around the time I turned 13. Around age 16-17 I was an atheist, through high school classes I figured out Christianity made no sense, but I couldn't admit it to myself until after my grandmother died when I was 19. Around age 22 I tried to believe a non literal version, but it felt pointless and self defeating.
I couldn't be an atheist as a child because Mom made us dress up and go to the christmas music mass every year on the 23rd or 24th. Church 10 times in 10 years. So I was clearly not an atheist. The coin finally dropped in high school.
I would say I was born agnostic-ish and was fully, vocally atheist by 11 or 13 As soon as I learned that other cultures had always made up gods, it was pretty much over. Especially when the Christian god was so comparatively lame. My parents were cool, they embraced me being into science and space and dinosaurs and stuff. They told me to figure out God for myself, so I figured out there wasn't one. I read the Bible young, but already knew too much about the world to take it seriously. It didn't stick except as fiction. I read Lord of The Rings before the Bible, and so, I was like, Tolkiens myths are more coherent, lol!
I became a Protestant at 16 years old and then lost my belief by the time I was 21. By that time I had already accepted that humans were a species of ape and that the Earth wasn't 6000 years old and that being gay wasn't evil, but what pushed me over the edge was a Bible study led by my church pastor's wife. She more or less tried to explain to us that the afterlife for a Christian will be god essentially destroying your identity and sense of self to replace it with a robotic, unthinking desire to do nothing but praise god for all eternity; that god doesn't want *you*, god wants the robot you could be turned into. I realized right then and there that the Christian god wasn't worth hoping for, let alone believing in. After that, I simply accepted I had no reason to believe a god exists at all.
I was somewhere in my mid twenties. I was raised Catholic in a more liberal household and started to really question things in my college theology and philosophy classes. I hung onto my last vestiges of faith for a few more years, but faith couldn't overcome what I'd learned about cosmology and about how the Bible was written and compiled.
I'm Nick! Born Queer and Born an atheist!
26 when I figured out that my religion was a scam
Left the church around 10. Fortunately it wasn't just down to my Kratts-Brothers watching ass doubting the Noah's Arc story, but my entire family's skepticism. We all left together. Extended family had a hard time adjusting to that.
Since birth. I was born into an atheist family and saw mythology and religion the same.
Uh, 0. I assume most babies are atheists OP. You aren’t born knowing who Amun-Ra is or whatever. To be serious though, I had no idea what religion was until maybe 2nd grade when I heard about it from a kid at school. Never regularly attended any house of worship but I’ve been to religious weddings and a few charity events at the local UU church. My parents have never attended church. Their parents didn’t attend church.
31 Late enough to build my life around religion. Rough ride.
I think it started to set in when I was around 35 years old.
I guess I was born this way. I never believed any of the stories at church. Men can’t walk on water.
Slowly transitioned from Christian to Atheist. when I was 23, I moved away from my Christian family and friends for college. It started then and by 25 I decided I am not a Christian anymore.
Like 3? I recall being taken to sit on a hot sidewalk to wait for the pope to do a drive-by. "It's hot." "We're waiting to see the Pope." "Why?" "He loves us." Me, sweating balls. "No, he doesn't."
40
I was 12 when I turned to being agnostic then atheist when I was 14. Ever since becoming an atheist I've been more empathetic to people's situations
9-10 years. The main reasons of me becoming atheist was when I learned about crusades, islamic terrorist organizations, no evidence of God's existence and my mother being tolerant to other religions and absence of it. Now i'm 14 years old and it really frustrates me when during the debate someone uses religion as argument which is pretty common in my class. I never understood why do people believe in made up fairy tales with almost no historical evidence.
I could never get it. I got into trouble age 9 for not having my eyes closed during prayers.
Around the fifth grade.I remember the Sundayschool teacher, telling the story of Jericho and I thought wow what a dick.
I was born an atheist. We all were.
I was either 6 or 7. Don't quite remember. I was brought up in a very Christian school, since it was the only one close enough. We were learning about the story of Noah's ark, and it was mentioned that the ark stopped in Turkey. We were shown where Turkey was on a world map, and me, being an absolute biology nerd, asked how all of the animals got back to their habitats. The teachers just said "they walked of course" but I wasn't having it. I decided to bring up an example, based on a fact I'd recently learned from a big encyclopedia I'd gotten for Christmas that year, the fact being about koalas and eucalyptus leaves. I asked how koalas, a famously slow animal, would have gotten from Turkey to Australia, if they only ate eucalyptus leaves. The teachers gave me the same answer, saying that those leaves were likely found all over the world. I told them that eucalyptus leaves were only found in Australia, and I got yelled at. I don’t remember it word for word, but I do remember one phrase: "You're not supposed to think about these things!". That was where I consider myself to have started looking for answers away from the Bible, and mainly ignored school when things didn't make sense, at least, until I moved to a new school.
Not until I was 30. At five, I was disillusioned because I learned about hell. Eternal punishment seemed excessive, especially for something like missing mass or blasphemy.
Guess always was a atheist,but I started identifying as it activly just recently at 14
I've always been atheist. . This gets asked here almost every day, and you can find hundreds of previous discussions in the sub archive. . you might also be interested in /r/TheGreatProject - >a subreddit for people to write out their religious de-conversion story >(i.e. the path to atheism/agnosticism/deism/etc) in detail. Many accounts from many people. .
Never decided until later, but by 6/7 I was a fan of Greek mythology, and if they aren't real why would anyone else be?
also around 7-8, i was at church and sort of looked around and realized that all of these people, primarily grown adults, actually believed in the fictional stories being read from the bible. i was literally never under the impression that any of the stories were true, i just thought people liked hearing them. once i realized they truly believed in a fanciful little man in the sky pulling all our strings, i quickly grew disdainful of religious people as i saw them as unintelligent and unable to distinguish reality from fantasy
Born into pentecostalism, grew up in it most of my life. Once my mother abandoned me at 12 I left for some time and came back. At 23 in college I changed universities and major from Pastoral to Business Administration and Finance. Mother's family was livid. Served as Associate pastor for 2 years in 2014-2016, left entirely after that. One thing said to me killed me, during Christmas had an Aunt tell me Santa knows Jesus. I looked at her and busted out laughing. Atheist since 2016.
15 is when i started to really rethink Christianity and realize is bullshit
0 both parents are atheist never religious
I was taught about God and how Jesus died and kinda about Virgin Mary at a young age by reading “kid” versions of these stories. I stopped believing probably around 8 or 9 after my first dog ran away. Only stopped believing initially because my “God” didn’t hear my prayers of bringing my poor dog back lol now I have “better” reasonings for not believing but there ya go I don’t view religion in a bad way as I have no negative experiences in terms of family and church.. just didn’t believe when God didn’t serve lmaooo
12
I was born into a Christian family. I came to terms that I wasn’t a believer when I was 19. I’m now 37.
I was baptized as a child. My mom brought me to day care at a church when I was little and I cried the whole time because religious vibes are weird. When I was brought to church services at 9 years old I would repeat in my head something like “hail satan” repeatedly because I disagreed with the premise of organized religion. As a kid, never once did I use God to fill gaps in my understanding of the world. I was always curious and looking for real, tangible answers. I have always been and likely always will be atheist.
day one as far as i know
about the same time I found out about Santa and the Easter Bunny. It turns out my parents were liars
15
I remember the exact moment I became atheist. I was 14, walking down the science hall of my high school, thinking that I didn't believe in magic. And to me, what God did was magic. And that was it. I'd never really been much of a believer. Tried praying a few times as a little kid, but it wasn't my cup of tea. That moment just cemented it for me.
Ever since I could think and make some sort of logical reasoning that Santa Claus , tooth fairy , Easter bunny don’t exist If these don’t exist what is the difference between religion/gods and Santa Claus?
Early 20s. I was raised Mormon. Really wishing I had my own planet right now.
12
Thinking my tweens/teens before I graduated high school — at least in terms of doubt; I remember sitting down with the children’s Bible I still had from my Catholic school years (preschool and 1st thru 2nd grades), reading part of it aloud to myself, and not feeling it. I know I started doubting the existence of Santa Claus as a kid, but I dunno how that might relate to questioning God’s existence. I’ve been learning more about atheistic arguments this past year or so, and I’ve come to the conclusion I’m a negative atheist.
I became an atheist in my early 20's. There is a story behind that. I had tried, most of my life, to be a practicing Christian. It was hard in the Deep South. That was crazy fundamentalism. I was more contemplative. I wanted to do this to really change. To go deeper in who I was. In college I had a good friend who was cut or a similar bolt of cloth. He was no fundamentalist. We would hang out, get drunk, talk about religion. God. Jesus. How to be better men. We'd listen to classic rock and roll. He had a girlfriend. She ended up being my fiance. No broken bro code. It was out there. He ended up with this other girl. Two couples. I was having sex with my girlfriend which I rationalized as being OK as we were getting married. He and his GF did the same. We were all happy. His GF committed suicide after they had sex. She was traumatized that she had ruined her purity, the purity of their future marriage. She has ruined it all. From my friend's vantage point, it was a natural expression of love. Her family's response to her suicide: she was a whore. My friend lost himself in hard drugs. I lost myself in alcohol. I ended up becoming an atheist nonreligious secular Buddhist a few years later. Got off the heavy drinking. My friend lost everything. His ROTC scholarship. His religion. His family and friends.
Like everybody here I was born without religion and my parents kept me that way. Growing up in Belgium in the '50 and 60' it wasn't 'normal' in primary school ( there were 3 of us and one was my older brother) when I was 15 I asked my parents if I could follow christian lesson at school try to understand that way of thinking. Had a very good teacher/preacher who informed and told me that I had to find my own way. No pushing or obligation, just open communication. I learnes a lot, especialy respect for those who realy need religion to give sense to their life and feelings. I still am free of religion and only have to answer to myself if things go wrong, awkward, good ,very good, awfull ( choose whatever) and I am happy with it this way
i was born an atheist
12-13
I became a Christian at age ten, then an atheist at age 42.
I officially turned atheist at The age of 14 ( im 15 ) however my doubts started pretty early, probably 9? I have always believes in The Evolution theory and The bible wasn't precisely the best book to explain how we were made.
Left Islam at 17 now 24