Question to Godless Heathens: What Made You Become Atheist?

[Risottia]

Atheists often attack Christians for just believing because that's what their parents believe.
But, it seems that 75-80% of the responses here are just the same thing. You're not religious because you weren't raised that way.

You know, this doesn't mean no-one tried to convert me to their cults... so far I've faced the proselythisation attempts of Scientologists, Catholics, Raelians, Protestants, Soka Gakkai Buddhists, Jews, Jeoah's Witnesses, Muslims...
They all failed. Because their arguments just don't stand to any logical test.

I doubted about whether God existed. And I prayed about it,

If you doubted there was a deity, what did you pray to about it?

In the 6th grade I committed my life to serving God

I somewhat doubt you can be ordained a priest at age 12.

Both the atheists and Christians which misread it come from a Biblical illiterate culture.

That might be true... considering that I come from a Catholic culture.

We don't know how to read the Bible, and we don't know what it means.

You don't know. Ok. Do not assume about other people. That would be a bit prideful.

I myself don't have to worry about it, because my Church wrote the Bible. And the Catholic Church knows what it means. It has the oldest interpretation of the Bible.

Yeeeesss.... the Jews had totally no part in writing it. The Septuagint were Catholic bishops who traveled back in time (via miracle, of course)...

[Avalar]

So, what was it that pushed you over the line into atheism?

I believed in God for 14 years until I got interested in the bible and decided to read a few chapters. That fateful day I saw all the contradictions, and the nonsense, and the corruption the Bible had. So I became an atheist. And all it took was reading the Bible.

Non Believer!!! *hits with bible* But I tend to find that if I read the bible too much I start to question my beliefs. So I try not to read the bible very much. Just hit people with it. Much more effective then preaching

[Ai-sha]

In title, i still have not yet become an atheist; i have, since i denounced Christianity, labeled myself a "spiritualist", but at this point, i am effectively a full fledged atheist.

For me is was more a Historical and Political reason. Three notable things happened before i fully denounced religion though. First, i changed from a standard DPS, to an African-centered charter school. Secondly, a Teacher showed my class a video on Christianity; in this video, i was exposed to the deceptions, fallacies, and contradictions of Christianity, as well as it's origin in Khemetic myth. Finally, the same year, soon after being showed that video i read a book title "a raisin in the sun". In that book, what of the characters challenged her christian grandmother's religion, and her reasoning made sense. All of these contributed to me starting to question religion.

This is where the political and historical comes in. Politically, i am a Black-nationalist, and i believe blacks should embody African culture. Historically, Christianity has been used as a tool of oppression, so as long as we hold on to it, the longer we are supporting our oppression. I have personally seen (and see everyday) the truth of this, but that's irrelevant here.

For most Black-nationalists, after reaching this stage (and by "this stage" i mean denouncing Christianity), "we" tend to convert a more socially relevant/pro-black religion IE the nation of Islam, among others; However, part of the reason why i denounced Christianity was because i didn't see any proof that ANY higher power actively dictated our lives. My city has a fairly high murder rate, and every where i look i find proof of humans affecting humans, no "God" involved. In the end, it didn't make sense for me to knowing pick up another religion supporting the idea of something that never made sense to me.

Though as a side note, I am currently compiling a journal of my own spiritual interpretations, though it's a matter of understanding as opposed to belief.

[The Serbian Empire]

I never really did believe in God. I tried to escape church as a 4 or 5 year old and I never turned back to the church again.

[Trotskylvania]

But, it seems that 75-80% of the responses here are just the same thing. You're not religious because you weren't raised that way. I doubted about whether God existed. And I prayed about it, and God answered my prayers. That was in the 5th grade. In the 6th grade I committed my life to serving God and making him the number 1 priority of my life. And not to judge my life based on worldly definitions of success.

No, they're not. Count, 'em, seriously. The majority have been people who at least had some faith, but then ultimately abandoned it. Very few people are actually raised non-religious. Most atheists have had to deconvert.

[Olthar]

But, it seems that 75-80% of the responses here are just the same thing. You're not religious because you weren't raised that way. I doubted about whether God existed. And I prayed about it, and God answered my prayers. That was in the 5th grade. In the 6th grade I committed my life to serving God and making him the number 1 priority of my life. And not to judge my life based on worldly definitions of success.

No, they're not. Count, 'em, seriously. The majority have been people who at least had some faith, but then ultimately abandoned it. Very few people are actually raised non-religious. Most atheists have had to deconvert.

My parents didn't actively push religion onto me, but society and culture certainly did. So, in a sense, I was still raised to be religious.

EDIT: Although, now that I think about it, my mom did send me to a Sunday school for a few months.

[Tubbsalot]

Atheists often attack Christians for just believing because that's what their parents believe.

But, it seems that 75-80% of the responses here are just the same thing. You're not religious because you weren't raised that way.

I haven't seen anyone here saying they were raised atheist.

[Astrolinium]

I wasn't raised religiously. The most I did religiously was that I went to a Jewish preschool. Oh, and one time my papaw tried to take me to church. Boy, was my mom pissed (her being Jewish and all that). Anyhow, at some point around 13, I realized that I simply had no reason to think there was a God. So, until such a time as I am shown legitimate proof to the contrary, I am an atheist.

[Cameroi]

heathens were people who lived on the heath. they were not godless. they had their own. as i have beliefs of my own as well. that we don't live in a universe that requires anything to be infallable, nor a higherarchy of unseen things.

since nothing needs to be known or imagined in order to exist, there is no reason there couldn't be god-like beings. and if so, among them one more so then others.

the problem is with everything humans pretend to know, being something other humans made up themselves. and thus, no real reason to expect whatever actually does exist, to resemble it.

[Krakosov]

i have always been an atheist.
my family is not very religious, wich is very common.
here in norway 80% of people are atheists.

[Atalem]

...it was really a combination of being raised on the latest advances in physics and evolution and the fact that I'm not very good at accepting logical paradoxes. In fact, someone once assumed I was a robot because I tried to figure out a paradox.

[Stuker National Socialist North Amerika]

At one point I "believed" in God. My parents sent me 2 catholic school, I was bathtised, everything. But as I was growing up I also watched many science shows and everything started 2 contradict itself, I found it easier to understand science then the bible. So I switched to atheism and my life is now great, even though my family is all roman catholic.

[Samuraikoku]

I have always been an atheist, despite having taken communion as a child and whatever.

[Northern Dominus]

I wouldn't necessarily call myself atheist, but then again I'm not pious either, so I suppose that means I get thrown into the agnostic heap. I used to be a good Churchified kid, but then again the denomination I spent the most time in growing up was an ELCA Lutheran church (which is just a hop skip and a jump away from full blown atheism in some circles anyway). However after we moved we bounced from church to church, but this was in the outer fringes of the bible belt and the whole hellfire and damnation message really put me off, especially since the pastors of my previous church were all about helping others and seeking personal clarity rather than clambering for divine intervention. I suppose I started losing my faith completely after I enlisted in the US Coast Guard, finished my A school, then got my first assignment in Miami. That is where I really started to lose a lot of my preconceptions regarding faith-based morality and society.

On the one hand I do take umbrage with everyone who picks up a holy book of any kind and uses it to start beating everybody else with it because they don't believe as they do. The most odious problem with that is the faith is usually a cover for blind bigotry and hatred, or perhaps even dangerous harmful deviance.

On the other hand however I'm well aware that science and reason has yet to explain every single thing in the universe, and perhaps there are some intangibles that science will never explain. In my experience for every deviant religious group out there, there is a congregation willing to follow those parts of their scripture that involve taking in the unwanted, the shamed, the downtrodden without any sort of preconception or qualifier.

However, there's also a third notion I've been entertaining, that the Quakers may be onto something. Perhaps the divine isn't an abstract being in the sky or wherever it is ascribed to be, maybe the divine is within every human. Perhaps the only way to truly worship the divine is to be kind, generous, and accepting of all regardless of superficial differences or cultural bias. Perhaps it is a greater sin to simply chalk up the big complex questions to an abstract omniscient being and disengage our wonderfully capable brains rather than to ask the questions and seek the answers without a preconception of what they are.

I dunno. On the one hand I've yet to be definitively convinced there is a divine supernatural agent acting in the universe in some capacity.
But then again I haven't been completely unconvinced either.

[Helgrin]

*gets pop corn*

I actually went and got popcorn for this thread.

EDIT: Now I am out of popcorn.

[Ashmoria]

So, what was it that pushed you over the line into atheism?

I believed in God for 14 years until I got interested in the bible and decided to read a few chapters. That fateful day I saw all the contradictions, and the nonsense, and the corruption the Bible had. So I became an atheist. And all it took was reading the Bible.

it started with thinking as a child that some of the things that the priest said were pretty stupid....."the day of jesus' return is getting closer" well geee mr theological expert i dont see how it could be getting farther away! i doubt that i was 10 years old.

then there was the stupid dogma fights over exactly what believers in jesus christ as the only begotten son of god believe exactly the right thing that will get them into heaven. and realizing how many billions have lived and died (or not died yet) without any communication from the one true god of all humanity--that doesnt make any sense.

and i began chipping way at the basis of belief. if some parts of the bible are obviously false--starting with the garden of eden and the great flood--whats the reason to believe that other stuff is true? once you pick and choose you come to realize that there is no reason to believe any of it.

so i dont. i am an atheist because religion isnt true.

[Zottistan]

When I was twelve or thirteen or somewhere in that area, I was on a plane to America (long flight from Ireland), and I thought to myself "If God is omnipotent, how do you explain the holocaust? People say "Everything happens for a reason", but surely, if he was omnipotent, he could achieve this reason without killing all those people?"

I thought about this for much of the flight, and arrived at the conclusion that either:
(i) God doesn't exist.
(ii) God isn't omnipotent (and let's face it, if you can't achieve your goals without killing a load of people, you probably can't raise the dead), or
(iii) God's a dick.
I decided that whichever is true, I'm not going to waste my time worshiping a god who either doesn't exist, can't reward me or is a dick.

[AustriaHungaryBohemia]

Also... if you don't understand a book, wouldn't it make sense to talk to the person that wrote it? Well, if you don't understand the Bible... talk to a Catholic priest, we wrote it

No, you did not write it. The catholics did not write it. The old testament was mainly written by Jews during the Babylonian time. The new testament was written by different writers of the first and second century C.E. and then compiled by the emerging church.

[Gigaverse]

New Skrilenian Kingdom.

I am not atheist, but above is the price for being over-religious.

[Divair]

I was never religious. My parents are both atheists and raised me in a neutral environment.

[AETEN II]

Meh, let's see, I'm 17 now and I started the facepalming when I was 14? Although really I stopped carring about religion when I was younger, but it was when I was 14 or so that I realized- wait one fucking second, where's mah evidence?

Also,

[Khadgar]

My mother's an atheist and I've never been to church. I'm like on of those atheists in a Chick Tract. Quick tell me all about Jesus and I'll instantly convert!

By the time I took any interest in religions I was 19 or so, which is far too late for a successful indoctrination.

[Risottia]

i have always been an atheist.

Then explain me why you registered as member of this Church.

[Chinese Regions]

Because I am rational and use reason to answer problems not god.

[Khadgar]

Atheists often attack Christians for just believing because that's what their parents believe.

But, it seems that 75-80% of the responses here are just the same thing. You're not religious because you weren't raised that way. I doubted about whether God existed. And I prayed about it, and God answered my prayers. That was in the 5th grade. In the 6th grade I committed my life to serving God and making him the number 1 priority of my life. And not to judge my life based on worldly definitions of success.

Also, I'm not surprised about the responses saying the Bible made you an atheist. Look at all the thousands of interpretations of the Bible out there nowadays... most come from Christians reading it themselves and interpreting it their own ways. Both the atheists and Christians which misread it come from a Biblical illiterate culture. We don't know how to read the Bible, and we don't know what it means.

I myself don't have to worry about it, because my Church wrote the Bible. And the Catholic Church knows what it means. It has the oldest interpretation of the Bible. So, if you want to understand what the Bible actually says, I'd talk to some Catholics, or some Orthodox (though they're pretty rare in the U.S.) Because, if you think the Bible contradicts itself then you don't understand it. There was an old covenant and a new covenant... and around 1,600 years of Judeo Christian history before the Bible as we know it today was finally compiled [1,300 B.C to 325A.D.]

And, if this is TLDR for some people... what I'm saying is this: PRAY. I questioned God. And I sincerely prayed about it, and He answered those prayers. So... it would seem that the absense of talking about prayer in these posts shows that there's been an absense of prayer in your lives. Well... you can't follow God if you don't ever talk to him. PRAY.

Also... if you don't understand a book, wouldn't it make sense to talk to the person that wrote it? Well, if you don't understand the Bible... talk to a Catholic priest, we wrote it

Here's the reason people are the faith they're raised as. Because if you're not shoved into a religion by age 14, the conversion rate for people drops like a rock. You never wondered why they're so intent on getting religion into schools? Because if you don't get the little proto-atheists before age 15, you'll never get them.