The more I studied the Bible, the more I thought it was bunk. I was astounded by the number of contradictions. Anyone else?
No arrogant theists, and especially some of my school teachers made me an Atheist.
(Including one who tried to teach his pupils that animals had no feelings or emotions, only mechanical behaviour which just seemed to replicate human emotion, and that therefore it was wrong to feel empathy for them. Which made me realize that:- One, if you go down the religious route you will end up accepting any rubbish to make it fit your theology. And. Two, being a complete psychopath is a big help in a teaching career.)
I would qualify (theistic teaching career) I teach people to use (testable, verifiable science and scepticism to make the best informed decisions.
@NoMagicCookie Yes It was just theistic school teachers, that is what I meant, though this was a long time ago and most school teachers were theistic in those days. I am of course talking about the UK where the separation of church and state was never a fact, and indeed R.E. was the only subject teachers were compelled to teach.
The Christian Bible made it so I did not accept that the Christian God exists. As for the other countless gods I have reject too. It was a long process for me to become an atheist. World religion classes also helped. I can't say it was only one thing, but loads of different reasons.
I did forget to mention that continuing on research and learning several fields of science helped as well.
It didn't hurt, that's for sure!
That's what I was going to comment.
It didnt make me an atheist wholly and directly but it strengthened my opinions along the way. Definitely a major contributing factor, along with being abandoned by the god I thought I believed in. I was left with no other choice but to stay angry at god or realize it doesnt exist. Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity, even if it's your own.
I was never angry at any gods because I realized they are imaginary and only imagination lives and controls you through your mind. The big thing was being told he sees everything and is all powerful and knowing yet so much terrible things on the earth gods can't be real. So many wars fought because people thought their gods approved of it. People being killed because of religion was just wrong! I prefer to educate people to the truth so it can break the slave chains of religions! I get told look the good religion does. I say look atthe bad it does and it out weighs any of the good that is done!
Well for me it was my awareness and exposure on science from my teenage years.
The 'Great Book of the Goat-herders Guide to the Galaxy' a.k.a the bible, went a little way to reinforcing my Atheism as did my studying Theology and Comparative modern Religions, BUT, I was an Atheist well before I came to know what an Atheist was.
I questioned everything that they triedt o teach me in Sunday School and School Scripture Classes, go expelled for doing so therefore that was the commencement of my journey into reality and Atheism.
I was born an Atheist.
Though I had to fake it for protective colorization for most of my childhood.
Some of my childhood friends I have found on FB are really shocked when I mention that I have always been an Atheist.
"But you almost always won the bible verse quoting"
"Yeah."
The Bible had nothing to do with me becoming an atheist. I just came to the conclusion at about the age of 16 that it didn’t make any sense for a god to exist. But that wasn’t a very good reason at the time. I got older and more educated about things and stuck with reality. And to follow up what I thought as a kid, no holy book explains how it happened except by pure magic. Creationists need to think of how a god could create a universe from nothing. It’s questions like how, why, what, when, and where. That lead me to the atheist position. Just questions and the terrible answers that follow.
Short Answer; Yes. Long Answer; It was mostly because it was f-cking boring as a child. As I grew, I developed a deep doubt of everything, even the value of life itself. Really screwed me up. Anyways, once I hit High School I had torn through the thing a few times and found that the more I read the more I felt like I made the right decision. Nowadays, I enjoy some of the stories but write it off as old and spiritually valueless drivel.
Not the bible, no, but all of the books I read on ancient Greek and Roman mythology, and the Norse gods I learned about as a child - that pretty much forced me look at the "creation" of gods and goddesses answer the questions we now has science answer! If something was unexplained, it was a god or goddess responsible. Hmmm... If humans do not know the answers a phenomenon, then they create a deity be "responsible"... Now we have scientific explanations, and there is no need for the ancient made-up answers. Easy peasy. I was an atheist from early childhood! (I was an early and voracious reader).
To me, I will have to say, it was my birth. The first time I went to church I thought it was bullshit. That was about the age of 10. The thing is, my mother was a religious nut.
No creo en Dios!
Growing up Catholic the Bible had a small par in our lives. Ours was a benign life as far as religion goes so I stayed until my late 40's. It was actually a combination of a period of time coupled with a religious group. I saw a big contradiction and left. Later, I met and married an Iranian. She was a lifelong atheist and really influenced me to the anti-theist I am today. BTW way I still see many charities as harmful to society and the environment.
I think we're born atheists. Some people backslide.
Never read it. Came to agnosticism through simple age and maturity.