At age 13, I realized the bible is just a book of stories written by men. That's when I rejected religion. My parents were fine with it. My parents weren't exactly paragons of religion. My mother became an atheist during nursing training at age 20.

"I realized it was impossible for a woman to be turned into salt," Mom said. Raised Catholic, she attended Catholic schools throughout her life, including college. Her rejection of religion impressed me.

Both of my parents were highly intelligent, well educated and politically liberal. About two-thirds of atheists (69%) identify as Democrats (or lean in that direction), and a majority (56%) call themselves political liberals, compared with just one-in-ten who say they are conservatives. (Pew Research Center, June 1, 2016)

My father was a professional jazz trumpet player from age 14 (he lied about his age to get into the Musician's Union), until he died of cancer at age 51. Dad's band played music on Saturday nights. He got home around 2 a.m. Although Dad was raised in the Methodist Church, he stopped attending church in his 20's.

Mom dropped us off at Sunday school, and went home to sleep in with Dad. They only showed their faces at the Methodist Church on Easter Sunday.

When I was in my twenties. The confession thing got to me and later on the idea that these people thought they could control your sex life...birth control...so that too many children are born.....and then this organization tells you what to name your children...saints’ names. Boy talk about control. And yes....go to church and bring the money! And then of course there is the misogyny.

Some months ago I began watching Neil Degrasse Tyson. Love science. And that led to watching the atheist sites. But even before that, I was drifting, no longer needing what the church and Bible offered. Listening to the truth about the Bible was eye-opening with a clear, no-longer-fearing mind.

2004 During the Bush - Kerry election cycle I watched the swift boat veterans for truth make up ridiculous stories besmirching John Kerry. The christian church I was in whole heatedly bought the bunk. It opened my eyes and I started paying attention. Now that I was paying attention I noticed that bible study was not reading god's word, but twisting god's word to prove the current discussion point.

They have been practicing cherry picking facts and twisting meanings for decades.

Around the age of 12 I guess. I was raised southern baptist, but I never really paid much attention to what was being said at church. I just went because my Mom made me. Then around 12 I started listening to heavy metal and hanging out with people who either didn't believe in god at all or just didn't care. I got into Celtic paganism in my late teens (because of a girl I was dating) but by the time I was 25 I was calling myself an Atheist. The older I get, the more skeptical I get. I'm 38 now and have absolutely no need for religion in my life.

I am not sure I ever doubted it because my parents were atheist and we just never talked about it so for me it was a non runner, I went to a free school till I was nearly nine years old so religion wasnt anywhere in me - I went with different friends in my area to different sunday schools because the streets were bare of children playing out at that time they were all sent to sunday school - it was deadly dull low tide time so going was at least something, but it never touched me in the way that the books I read did. I mean how can you equate the stories without a story line with a book like Black Beauty which has humanity in it

I don't think I've ever believed. It was never on my parents' agenda. While we've never discussed it, and he's officially Church of England, I suspect my father is an atheist or agnostic. My mother pretty much lapsed out of Catholicism through most of my childhood, rediscovering it as she got nearer to death, and thankfully once I was no longer an impressionable child.

So I've never had religion thrust upon me. Unless you count the time in my mid teens when the JW's turned up on my doorstep, lied about being friends with my mother, talked about a whole load of stuff that seemed to make sense, and left me with a book.

I was religious for about 3 days.

11. As soon as my mom started making us attend mass

I was about 12 or 13 and was quite the over- achieving nerd. I had decided at some point I was going to read the entire Bible. I was excited as I had recently been to a church camp and bought a new student edition of the NIV version. Anyhow as I started to really gain ground I noticed more and more that this didn't crap didn't add up. I began to read more and more about different religions and beliefs. Soon I came to the conclusion that too many deities were Christ all over except older and that almost everything sounded more like aliens than gods to me. Past that point I became far more interested in ancient alien theories and from a theistic standpoint I quit believing in anything.

My mom dragged me to church at around 8-9 years old. It never made any sense to me, but I didn't have a choice. Once I was older, mom bribed me with steak dinners. I was never a believer but as long as I got something out of it, I was willing to attend.

I have doubted religion for as long as I can remember.

Once I reached the age of reason

When Sister Emerencia came into the boys bathroom and drug me out still peeing. I think she had serious issues. In any case I had serious doubts on the veracity of anything she said after that.

I just have never seen proof. The Bible seems like a well written story but it is so violent and farfetched in so many instances that I just can't buy into into it. I just don't know why or how we are here. Religion seems like a safe haven for people who can't accept that life just may be meaningless or incomprehensible.. There is some religion in my family but not enough to draw me in or infringe on my free thinking. Life is not explained by a book of rules.

I honestly can't remember not being a tad skeptical in most things, religion included. I grew up in a household that didn't keep a bible or go to church but I do recall going a few times with my great grandmother. I took a more serious look for a few years to try to understand but didn't really believe. Something about it just didn't really seem right. The "proof" ever offered was existence of things but nothing could be shared that it was a god that created it so doubt was hard not to have, even when I was a kid. I try to take things as they are and always have. I scrutinize actions more than pay attention to words and see a lot more that way. Words can be pretty and even promising but actions and behaviors boom quite a bit louder to me. The word says God did it... but I don't see anything, no action and no proofs, that any god had a hand in what is. I do see people having a lot more affect and creating changes without even realizing it sometimes. Science can trace things back far enough to create a pretty good idea on how things developed. That to me seems a lot more trustable that "God did it".

First time I lied under oath? I meant in the confessionary to a priest. And then received holy sacrament under sin. Nothing happened. I even got into a fight expecting punishment I whup that ass. So I started to push and expand the boundaries of sin but never commited murder or really, really desired somebody else's wife. The other 8 I don't remember what they are. I was a kid. But masturbation was not one. So it was no longer mentioned to the priest as I saw it. I started making my own rules. I still am and that thunder striking me never happened.

College. I decided to examine my own religion. Which led me to examine religion itself.

I was raised in a Roman Catholic household I and heard every story about how God does this or that, why Jesus died for our sins, the story behind Satan, etc. When I approached my teens, I began to do my own research regarding many diverse subjects( science, history, archeology, philosophy, etc.) and I realized that it wasn't supported by evidence. None of it made sense to me. I tend to think outside of the box and look at things in a different light. I was never one to just blindly accept what I was told. This led to some serious soul searching, and it was during seminary that I challenged what I had been conditioned to believe.

I. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent

A. I have always heard that God was all powerful. For the creator of the universe and everything in it, that was believable. What I could not believe was that in order for sin to be forgiven, a human blood sacrifice had to take place by way of Jesus. That did not make any sense whatsoever. If God is all powerful, a mere word from Him would be all that was needed to eradicate sin. The blood sacrifice is a human invention, and is found in numerous cultures from all over the Earth.

According to Christian theology( not Judaism), Satan is supposedly a fallen angel, and God’s arch nemesis. He travels around the planet tempting people to sin and shy away from God. If God was the creator of all to include Satan, why not just uncreate him and save everyone the trouble? Why let him run free, wreaking havoc in his wake? That’s just sadistic.

B. If God knows everything, then why do we pray for stuff? God knows what you need before you do. Does He hold answered prayers hostage until called upon?

If God knew that humans would sin and fall from grace, then why allow sin to enter the world in the first place? The world could have been made perfect and free from any wickedness. According to the Noah story, God wiped the planet clean and started over. Have you seen the news lately? There’s evil everywhere! How many times do you have to do that before you get it right, if you are all knowing?

C. God is everywhere. Then why allow children to starve to death? Why allow innocent people to be raped or murdered? Why abandon the true believers when they cry out to be healed of cancer (like my oldest sister)? If God is everywhere and sees all that is going on, but does nothing to stop it…well that is just sick.

One thing that I have taken into account is "free will". However, assuming 'free will' exists, evil acts committed by human beings will always happen. We make our own choices and take the consequences thereof. A victim may not wish to be murdered, but the killer makes a free will choice to commit the act.

II. History, Archaeology and the Bible

A. The Garden of Eden has never been found on any satellite image. No angel with a flaming sword, no magical trees, nothing. The entire planet has had its surface mapped…not that we needed to. The Bible clearly places the Garden of Eden near the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers.

B. The Noah flood story is a copy of an older Sumerian story found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is a copy of the older Ziudsura story.

C. There is not a shred of evidence that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, won their freedom, wandered around for 40 years, and settled in Canaan. There is evidence of a group of people known as the Hyksos (of Canaanite origin) that were kicked out of Egypt, traveled eastward, and founded the city of Jerusalem. Hmmm…

D. The Tower of Babel sounds like a campfire story that some tribal elder told, as a way to explain why there were different languages. God got mad over a tower? Seriously? He must really hate our skyscrapers and space stations.

E. Revealed religions are those that came about through divine revelation. God chose a prophet, gave him a message/dream and told him to spread the word. The Hebrews had Moses. The Christians had Jesus. The Muslims had Muhammad. The problem is that once the message leaves the original recipient, it is no longer divine revelation, it is hearsay. True divine revelation would be for God to send EVERYONE the same message/dream. A byproduct would be the end of all but one true religion, since everyone would be on the same page.

F. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, along with the Book of Acts, were all written by anonymous, third party authors, decades after the death of Jesus. None of those authors were eyewitnesses. That makes the entire Jesus narrative, hearsay. It’s also why the Gospels don’t agree with each other on several key points, such as who all went to the tomb, what was seen, etc.

After looking at everything and rationalizing the information, I headed down a different path than the one I grew up on. There were times that I felt blasphemous or like a heretic, but that was me overcoming the brainwashing that happens when you attend a church year after year. It is scientifically proven that if you repeatedly hear something that is false, you will begin to believe that it is true. In psychology, it is called the illusory truth effect.

Around the same time, I started getting interested in astronomy and cosmology. Experiencing the world around me and understanding the complexity of the universe, made me wonder if a "god" existed, but I could not, in good conscience, maintain a theistic (Abrahamic) belief.Transitioning to as an agnostic removed so much guilt and weight off my conscience. It opened my eyes to a higher philosophical position and sense of freedom. It also allowed me to embrace science without a contradictory holy book getting in the way.

We possess intelligence; we should use it and think for ourselves. As they say" you either use or lose it".

I was probably 7 or 8 and I was in a Sunday School class. My teacher was telling us the story of Jonah and the whale. Everyone was completely glued to her and at the very end she told us that it was true. All of the other kids said "Woooow!!!!" and then I thought "Wow! People actually believe this stuff?"

As far back as I can remember, about the age of 5.

Around the age of 12, 13, 14 I started to doubt the utility of religion. It didn't seem to solve or deal with real life problems or comport with reality. Selfishly, I was concerned with my problems and religion offered no answers. "Oh lord, please provide me with a girlfriend." Religion didn't make me feel confident in myself or connected. I also read some 'occulty' materials that I slid in and out of believing, a fascination-belief. I became acquainted with oriental religions and they seemed to have as much validity as Christianity. By the time I was in college I was through with the majority of faith-based systems. I'd like to think, (although I'm sure that some still lurk in the dark corners of my mind) that I am rid of all of them at this time.

I was not raised in a religious family. We never went to church as a family. We had a few neighbors that felt a real need to "help" my sister and I learn about god. We started going to church with these neighbors, I was around 9 years old. I've always been a person that has a lot of questions. Even as a child I asked lots of questions about everything. I wanted to understand things I guess. Anyway, after going to church with our neighbors several times, the neighbors were asked NOT to bring my sister and I back to Sunday school anymore. Apparently, all my questions in Sunday school kept the "teacher" from teaching her class and she just couldn't get anything done with me there asking questions about what she was teaching. I always had questions about stuff in the bible and determined that much of it was just plain silly. I mean really, a whale can swallow a man and the man can still be alive? Even as a child I knew most of it was baloney. Don't know where I got the bug about asking questions but sure am glad I have it!

I've doubted religion since I was 9 when my parents put am and my siblings in a catholic school but I confirmed that a god doesn't exist when I was 18 in Ecuador I had 2 bullet holes 1 in each leg but not serious what looked to be a man came out of a heat haze type of setting and said follow me. I did I was in what he called an energy pocket of universal energy and we can appear in many different shapes they did appear as human to me the communication was a thought transfer process not spoken words I did learn a lot and we can control some of the energy in the universe with our thinking 2 hours latter my wounds where healed up and I was 50 miles from where this hole thing started.the healed up wounds tell me I wasn't hallucinating Believe what you will

when I first felt a real spiritual side to myself. That was it , it was not what religion told me.

I was raised in a fairly liberal church environment by my mom. My dad wanted no part. I have no regrets, especially to have such an awesome mother. She was very compassionate to homosexuals, even in the 1960s and 70s (at a time when I was not...). She was not highly educated or schooled-- just a good person. What I learned from her hit me later in life, some time after she passed away. When I was about 12, I attended a Southern Baptist middle school (she thought they were nice people, but didn't care for their dogma bullshit). I quit the school in 10th grade. When I was about 22 or 23, I decided that any remaining vestiges of theistic belief I still clung to were simply a fear of letting go of my childhood beliefs, much like Santa Claus. I finally made the leap. I went very far the other direction and hated religion (still do in some ways). I came to practice meditation in the Buddhist tradition and now feel that any extreme belief or worldview is harmful and not productive. Good luck to you and anyone reading this!