About the 7th grade, I remember taunting God to strike me with lightning if I was wrong about something. I knew I was safe because it would never happen. It wasn't until college though that I truly realized I was an atheist.

My mother was a Holocaust survivor. I knew more about WW2 and its ugliness by age 9 then most learn their whole life.
I asked mom "why did god let that happen?"
All she said was "I have some hard questions for god when I meet him"
I decidednthen and there that if god was real he wasn't worthy of being honored as a god.
Later I figured out that man had made god in his own image and it all made sense

When my mother and father, devout church-goers, screamed at me and hit/beat me.

I was very young around 9 or 10 when in a Catholic schooling the catechism teacher talked about ''indulgence'', explaining that one can save some time in purgatory and fastrac to heaven, they lost me after I ask if ''indulgence could be bought and the answer was according to her that it was practiced in some places. I Then ask my father, a high school teacher who sort of admited that he didn't believe but had to go to church to avoid being stigmatized and maybe even loose his job. So I declared myself atheist soon after. I couldn't stand the mass in church so from then on never went.

When I was really small, my mom made me memorize Bible verses and read it. So I did..and I started asking questions. I kept pointing out the inconsistencies in it and asking for explanations that didn't come. However, Santa Claus was "real" and similar inconsistencies applied. So I believed in a god until I was told that there was no Santa Claus.

In public elementary, I distinctly remember being taught Greek & Roman mythology with a "isn't it funny how they believed in these ridiculous stories" slant that made me question how those were any different from the weird Bible stories I learned in Sunday School. I tried a couple of times to get into religion (raised Catholic), but by my late teens I just could not anymore. In college it was cool to be agnostic. As an adult, I didn't believe but generally didn't deal with it - I was closeted, I guess, as my family and friends were believers (though most don't attend church regularly). I was in my 30s before I started getting an inkling, and I finally discovered that 1. I know some other atheists and agnostics! and 2. most people are not as judge-y of my beliefs as I thought!

Probably about 14 or 15. Raised Catholic. Went to Catholic school for 9 years. Went to catechism when we moved to an area where there wasn't a Catholic school Thought it was a total waste of time
I consider ALL religions as controlling and money grubbers. The only difference between a cult and a religion is the number of sheepeople.
I feel that all places of "worship" and any attached properties should be confiscate and turned in to housing for the homeless. Starting with the Lakewood Church in Houston,TEXAS.

I was in 3rd grade after transferring TO a Catholic grade from public schools where I had been mercilessly teased and bullied because me ears stuck out and were pretty big. The teachers stepped in constantly trying to stop it and still every day I went home crying. Then over Easter break of my second grade my parents had some minor surgery on my ears and had then tacked back and slightly trimmed down to make them look more natural.

The following year my parents sent me to a Catholic school to get a fresh start. It was a fresh start alright, from the first day the my teacher constantly bullied and psychologically abused me in from of the whole class. I went home and prayed every night for it to stop and it just got worse. Eventually even the Principal started constantly yelling at me and never believing anything I said. There were a couple kids in my class that would purposely tried to get me in trouble, It was hell. Thankfully by my 6th grade year I had a plan and was firm in my disbelief in a god and caused enough trouble my parents sent me back into the public schools system for Junior High (7th to 9th grade). That was the fresh start that changed everything. By the time 9th grade started the Catholic school kids mostly forgot about me when they entered public high school. The kids that had picked on me the most both went to the Catholic High School in town, I haven't look for god since and I have legitimately faced my own mortality at least three times without faltering in my disbelief.

During second grade I was made to attend catechism on Saturday mornings in preparation for receiving "First Holy Communion" in a Roman Catholic church One week we were asked to bring a small plastic tomato crate, (you know the kind that hold three small tomatoes) the following week. We were made to believe that it was to have a very special purpose and we were not to forget it. This item was not something we had lying around the house so my mom had to buy these tomatoes so I could have the little crate. When I arrived at catechism the following week with the requested item, I was informed by the very old nun teaching the class that we were all going to make a shrine to Mary, the mother of Jesus. At that moment I knew it was all ridiculous and had what I would experience as an adult as an "Oh, this is bullshit!" moment! Many years later I tried with all my might to believe and attended a Presbyterian church, but I could only get to deism. I stayed in the denomination for over 20 years and took advantage of the sense of community and was very active and spewed out the right words when needed. I was a Deacon, an Elder, sang in the choir, was a youth group advisor, wrote Vacation Bible School curricula, etc. I was as honest as I could be with my huge doubts, even to the youngsters. I was a church-going atheist for a very long time until I just couldn't live with myself faking it any more.

I’m jealous! I was a believer until after 40. I left at 39 but continued searching for a few years. I divorced at 39 and remarried at 51, by which time I was agnostic. I guess I’m a slow learner. My wife is Catholic and wanted our daughter to learn Catholicism but after attending CCD for a year she had had enough. Later when she asked me about the Bible, I gave her one to read. Start at Gen 1: 1 and go for it. She made it all the way to Lot and he having sex with his daughters did her in. She’s been an atheist since. She was about nine at the time. My wife is very understanding about it and respects our stance and the way I handled it. I think it is wonderful that now so many young adults are already thinking critically.

When I was maybe 7-8 learning about the LDS beliefs on the afterlife and god living on a planet named Kolob. Seemed more like something I'd read by Isaac Asimov than how things actually were.

Ideally as soon as you are born but more likely when you can think for yourself rather than be lied to bad enough your parents lie but then you are dragged off to a place of abused and lied to even more and the bible aint even fiction it's a book of lies. Yeah right me mum died she's in a better place now, utter rubbish she went in the crem you idiots she aint in heaven, heaven is even more made up lies.

When the Catholic priests scandals broke.

I think I've always had some doubts about the existence of God, what really made me doubt the existence of a deity was when I started reading the publications "Free Inquiry" and "Skeptical Inquirer"-that really cemented my belief that gods do not exist.

I think I've always doubted it, but I never had that self confrontation until much later in life. At that point I had to ask myself, "Do you honestly believe in a God?" I had to say no.

I was very young. Kintergarden or 1st grade at most (Lutheran church)

When I learn that religion was used to kill or submit aborigine tribes. The believe that a benevolent God protect some "chosen" people and kill others, doesn't make sense to me.

I was brought up in a Lutheran home. My father and step father were both ministers. My mother taught parochial school. My Lutheran legacy goes way back. I attended parochial school for 9 years. I questioned stories, particularly from the Old Testament like Abraham being ready to sacrifice his son and the extreme anger of god that was expressed. The Lutherans believe that ever thing in the Bible is to be taken literally. I can't believe that. I have now idea why Christians feel the Old Testament is part of the Bible or the same book. Christ's existence is something I question now. I just don't know. I attended a Bible class with a friend at a Baptist church. It was on Joshua. In that book, genocide is encouraged and all kinds of things. No wonder the Jewish people were persecuted. The Palestinian and Israel situation is very complicated, but I feel for both sides. Religion, including the Muslims, have made that area a hot bed of controversy. Religion is behind so many conflicts.

I began to doubt religion in about the 5th grade, but I was well into adulthood before I finally gave up all thought that MAYBE there was something I just wasn't getting that most other people understood. Uh... nope. Now I realize it is THEY who don't get it.

Shortly after doubting Santa Clause.

I was a bit of a reader from an early age. My dads fault. Got into mythology ( Greek , Norse etc ) about 9 or 10. Loved it. Found sci fi. Loved it. Was given the Bible to read. Didn't really like it. Now, some 40+ years later ... I still don't like it. Kinda crappy book. Probably a good read in it's day , but , it's a book.

I've questioned all my life. I changed religions as a minor and then essentially gave up religion after honest exploration of several as a young adult.

About 20 years old. I was a Catholic up to 16 then got involved in a West Coast cult for a few years before seeing the light. I was not very vocal about my atheism - I live in the UK. The US sounds quite oppresive in some states with atheists actually suffering verbal and physical threats. It makes me so sad.

Never, as was never religious.
Both my parents were indoctrinated by their parents to be RC, however, they never forced their views on myself or my brother, and so both of us have always been atheists.
Neither of us were ever believers.

I doubted religion from my first visit to a church. I was 5 or 6. The church sent us kids to the play room during service and told us about Noah. My young brain knew then that the idea just isn't possible. I remember the animal I specifically remember where ants. I thought "how could two ants know to and have the ability to travel to a boat." I've literally never in a day believed in anything spiritual.