15

34

I was 17. I attended a Christian Brothers high school. As an assignment we were given a science paper to write. My brother studied biology in college, so he had a bunch of books about evolution and similar subjects. So that was my topic - natural selection. The more I read the more sense it made to me and the less I believed in Christianity. My parents sent me to the school for a religious education and I ended up an agnostic.

16

Probably 5 or 6. I found out Santa wasn't real from another kid at school and began to wonder what else was not real.

It always seemed faintly ridiculous to me, but I didn't put any real thought into it until my late teens, when I decided I was agnostic, although what I really meant was "don't know, don't care".

I became Atheist in my mid 30s although since I had not been part of any organised religion anyway nobody really noticed

It just kind of phased in..

I never realized I was religious and never was... so atheism is just the absence of a false belief so from my perspective no realization was needed. I only use the label atheist as shorthand for not religious but it isn’t an actual thing.

21 or 22 when I was in the Army

i was 15 when i realized there were no gods.

g

I was 16. None of the fairy tales that I heard made sense to me for years. I finally decided I will take the path of rationality and seek measurable evidence, not the absurdity of faith.

Still at school. Donkey's years ago.

That's a tough one to answer accurately. I went to Catholic school early on, & like most kids just accepted what I was told. But, I had problems with a lot of the stories from a very young age. From before I was a teen I knew I wasn't a xtian, but being a child of the '60's there was a lot of mysticism & woo floating around, along with psychedelics, Eastern religious influences (& young ladies into one or more of these things!). During my early to mid teens I 'dabbled' but nothing made total sense, even if some outlooks had apparent 'truths'. A lot of Hesse, Castaneda, Nietzsche, Jung & even Ayn Rand!
I think I knew I was an atheist for sure by about twenty years old, maybe sooner, but there was no a-ha moment to it, it was just a culmination of things, & didn't really mean much, it just was, somewhat like hair color. As the evangelicals started trying to influence more & more of public life, I became more cognizant of my atheism & more active. By the time the "new-atheists" arrived on the scene, especially in the form of the "Four Horsemen" I could finally hear an echo of my own thoughts communicated in clear, rational & intelligent terms that could give my philosophy a more solid structure on which to base a more cohesive outlook.
It was a process to get where I am now. Not the struggle that many who were theists until they were adults had to grow through, more a slow growth & maturation.

I remember being about 4 years old and riding my red bike past a bull everytime I went to my cousin's house. I was afraid it was going to charge me. My older brother tried to comfort me by saying that it was Easter weekend and Jesus would protect me. Even then I knew that was bullshit.

I can't really remember when I started to question the existence of a deity, Jesus. I grew up Jewish, had my Bar Mitzvah and celebrated the Jewish holidays - though only in a traditional sense. I do, however remember in high school, talking about the existence of a being, energy that gives us humans the ability to do the things we do, aside the things that other beings on this earth can do, such as flight, swimming under water, etc.

I honestly don't ever remember not being an atheist. Religion was just never discussed or pushed down our throats when I was growing up and although my two older brothers were Christened and baptised, I was neither. My parents said I was free to choose for myself so I did. Australia is, in any case, a largely atheistic country, the first time I went to a church that wasn't for a wedding was when I was an exchange student in America and my host family were very devout Methodists. I had to go every Sunday and mumbled my way through the hymns.

Early teens when I could be considered as agnostic. Didn't fully commit to atheism until my mid 20s

Early to mid-20s, coincided with college education.

Eleven

Around 30 years old. It was a conscious decision after much thought and I remember the night I made it.

Early grade school.

I was in my late 40s

I was in my late 40s

My late 20's. I was a late bloomer.

Mid-forties.