I’m am independently atheist, independently vegan, independently secular meditation/mindfulness person. I don’t know anyone that does the things I do, it would be nice but I do what I do because I am creating my own path and not following people I don’t resonate with.

I did religious activities but never really believed. It was just easier to go along. Once I moved across country from my family there was no reason to be even socially religious anymore.

My son is an atheist also. My brother believes religion is bullshit but seems to hold onto some religious ideals. The rest of my relatives spout all the platitudes without action.

Born that way! No religion practiced in my home and neither parent was a believer so....plus, giving it some thought, it just is logical

Education: as I developed the power of logic and reasoning, I began to see the irrationality of religions and the belief in supernatural things called god.

I was born in a very religious family. I practised Hinduism as I grew up. But I also had to opportunity to go to school and learn to read and write. The more I read the more I discover. I started studying Psychology and Science. My views changed and my outlook on religion took transformation. Everything I need in my life is already inside me. The power is within. Thus comes liberation.

After I found out about Santa Claus

Born that way. When people told me otherwise, I looked for evidence and saw none.

I was 13 when I realized I couldn’t be made to believe in religion and proclaimed myself an atheist. I didn’t even know that was an option until brought to my attention(I was raised in the bible belt). It seemed to make sense for myself at the time, even though I didn’t have the reasons I have today. I just couldn’t ever get straight answers. I would get circular arguments or “you shouldn’t question those kind of things.”

I am the only atheist in my family. I told them at 13. They never really said anything about it. I think they assumed I’d “grow out of it.” They actually have always been very understanding and let my siblings and I come into our own views about religion without tryin to force their beliefs on us. They’re kind of awesome like that. These days, they are still believers but agree with many of my criticisms of religious belief.

Nothing made me an athiest. It’s the default position. I think my parents are athiest. I know my brother is. Have I told my parents about my religious thoughts? No. We never really talked about religion when I grew up and we don’t now. Maybe that’s a reason that you were looking for.

I saw a sign on a telephone pole saying "Free atheist lessons with ice cream to follow each session." The receptionist took one look at me and said, "You already know how to discern reality from groundless theological and supernatural fantasies, right?" With one nod, I was admitted to the ice cream social.

It was either that or I knew I was being handed a bunch of malarkey from a very early age.

My vast reading audience is free to decide which version is eminently more likely.

In my town you were Christian unless proven Jewish. At age twelve I realized I (my family) was not Christian. Not only that but upon short reflection, I did not believe in God.

Common sense, math was my favorite subject so I guess what they were teaching me didnt add up. I always wondered what happened to the dinosaurs, how Cain and Able had wives since they were Adam and Eve's kids. And so much more bs.

Having been an atheist all my life I guess I would answer your first question by stating that nothing made me be a theist, rather than something making me atheist. I've tested that through exploration of different faiths and not even came remotely close to swaying me toward belief in a creator or divinity.

Both of my parents were Christian growing up but we never attended a church. And I have a sister who is also an atheist so I have a bit of comfort at family events as her and eye exchange eye-rolls.

Birth father was out of my life early. Vietnam infantry officer with anger issues, met himyears later and he was surprised I was not religious. Mom was apathetic, never really talked religion with her until I was 44, shared myreasons and she was yeah, I always thought it was bullshit. Grew up in the Bible belt and learned to say I was agnostic to avoid being told every spilled milk wastage punishing me. After I grew up I dropped agnostic andthink I treat others well enough I want them to know a decent atheist.

It's probably the same as anyone else except you can pontificate about how smart you are for not getting sucked into religious nonsense and how stupid religious people are because they have

The discussion with John, Time stamp 1:10 clearly describes the difference between theists and atheists. Really worth watching to understand the difference between those with religion (believe in god) and those without.

I often jokingly answer that question by saying reading the bible -- I started Genesis a Xtian and finished Revelations an atheist. It's not that simple, of course, tho that was a big part of my beginning to drift away from belief. In the end, after investigating a lot of different religions from Western to Eastern to Pagan,I simply accepted that I couldn't believe in the supernatural no matter how it was packaged or who was packaging it.

To the best of my knowledge, I'm the only family atheist. They all know I'm an atheist -- I don't parade it but I don't hide it either -- but no one has ever said anything to me about it. We're not a talking or sharing feelings type family.

Altho my Dad would sometimes use my atheism to his advantage. He and my stepmother joined a Presbyterian church and when I visited them Dad liked to take me with him to his Men's Sunday Bible study group. I could ask the questions he was too polite to, and discomfit the group bully.

Certainly reading the Bible contributed, there is so much in there which does not gel with my notions of the world, evidence and truth. My father is pretty much an atheist, although like the rest of the family he doesn’t talk about it much. The atheists and the Christians in my family have a live-and-let-live policy where we avoid discussion and proselytising.

It just seemed so unlikely to be true, while the motivations of the people who expect you to believe are pretty obvious & totally unspiritual.

A family member inplying I was going to hell if I changed religious sects and little to proof there is an god. I'm became an atheist on my and the only one in my family that I'm aware of. I'm still an closeted atheist , but hope to be out one of these days. I love thinking for myself and thinking about reinventing myself.

Life without a belief in a deity is pretty straightforward. No need to twist and bend reason and logic when God fails to do what you think God should do, due to the simple acceptance of the fact that the universe works on a whole different set of principles than "God controls it".

I considered myself a secularist. Spent a great deal of time independently studying religious and social construct. Through observation and experience, I felt religions and spriritualists without a dogmatic approach to a single God were more in keeping with my value set, behaviors and desired social justice beliefs.
My family knows my beliefs and I choose to share socially with caution. Some agree and some don’t but we can, for the most part, agree to disagree. They have always acknowledged my refusal to go with a flow just because it was part of the assimilation process. Often because it was part of the assimilation process.
Life is. I’m free of dogmatic guilt from not meeting the obligatory expectation of a specific religious structure, but also remain largely on the fringe of a belief system that is often stereotyped incorrectly. I’m not really a hippie, not a devil worshiper (still a God to those who worship), not some cult follower.. but those are common misconceptions if you say out loud you don’t believe in an understood context. That said, I’m content.
Hope that provides some insight, at least from a single perspective.

Lack of evidence combined with a questioning and scientific mind (an interest in nutritional therapies made me aware of the scientific method, placebo effect, controlling for variables, double-blinding, etc.) had me half way there by the age of 17 (Agnostic, non-religious, secular). It was more than 20 years later before I could bring myself to embrace the label Atheist, which came about within a year of becoming aware of all the evidence that religion is bogus. It probably started with seeing some Hitchslap vids on youtube. Further research led to knowledge of all the errancies, contradictions, absurdities, mistranslations, and shady origins of the Abrahamic religions (embellishment, fraud, political power/control.) Before that I thought Atheism was a somewhat dishonest and arrogant position. But I simply didn't know enough yet. Do your homework.

I am an only child and my father is deceased. My mother is a believer to this day, but didn't have much to say about it when I revealed my doubts at age 17. These days I largely avoid the topic at work, but if anyone wishes to challenge me on the issue, I know enough that they will get destroyed in argument, and probably flee as their faith starts to become shaken LOL. The main stress for me of being an Atheist is concern that I am not making the most of this one life. But that is also a motivator to try to make the most of things.

Logic. There are a range of spiritual/religious beliefs in my immediate family from a believer in angels to a christian missionary to my atheist self. My family are aware of it through casual conversations as are most people ( i didn't have a 'coming out' ceremony to announce my atheism ?). Most of the time it is irrelevant to my day to day living. ?

Strangely enough my elder brother always referred to us as freethinkers. My parents got married when the Nazis were still running the show. So my parents had to produce ancestoral records as proof of their aryan family tree whose trunk was rotten to the core. The most interesting aspect, for me, was the discovery that the issuing authorities had been the churches: Catholic and Lutheran. Btw the Lutheran church tefers to itself. at least in Germsny, As evangelical.
Until the early 1920s there wasn't a single nominal atheist in my mischpoke. Yet apart from the rituals: weddings, baptisms and funerals, there never any reference to any divine authority.
I have 2 brothers. Together we produced 6 offspring. The first wss bsptised in1967 by the Lutheran Mafia and 2 by the Catholic Mafia.
My children were not.

Reading the Bible. No. The ones I told pretend like nothing was said.