I do not know if I really ever really believed but certainly once I began to think about the teachings as they made no logical sense

When I was put in a Christian school. The more they tried to teach me, the less sense it made.

It was after high school in 2013, age 18. My family and I had stopped going to church on a weekly basis slowly during my high school years, and I had looked into research and others views as to why there is no God.

I think my first doubt was at age 7. I contemplated the idea that maybe God doesn't exist, and I might stop existing after death. It scared the hell out of me so I brushed it off and continued my Christian life for 9 more years.

I was in elementary school when I began doubting and eventually became a reformed Baptist <grin>. I saw too many dichotomies between what was in the bible, what was taught from the pulpit and the actions of the leadership of the church (in general, not specifically). I was a preteen during the civil rights era and I remember the minister of the church I grew up in state that Blacks were welcome in our church as long as they sat in the back and remained quiet. I'm paraphrasing sure, but that was the gist of his comment. Haven't seen much since then to change my view or to prove to me that a God exists.

When I was in high school I encountered the writings of Gandhi and asked my minister if Gandhi would be in heaven or hell? Formally, Gandhi should be in hell as rejecting Christianity and adopting a polytheistic religion such as Hinduism. But my minister had no good reason what Gandhi's fate would be. I see no reason why any fundamentally good person should be sentenced to everlasting condemnation (or anyone else for that matter). His answer that god's reasoning is beyond our understanding could not be acceptable - on a matter so basic as our ultimate fate, we must be able to comprehend his reasoning. My only conclusion was that this entire line of reasoning must be false and the problem is with religion itself (Christian or not).

When I went to a religious gathering at my church and heard the words "We don't believe the dinosaurs existed before humans". Biggest slap to my face. I was about 14

I grew up atheist it's in my family

when i was very young actually, i was roughly 7 and i remember my dad telling me that its impossible to fly and its impossible to have any of these supernatural powers. So when i heard a minister talk about god and the stories in the bible in school and i doubted it very much. Ever since, i have always questioned it.

Even though I grew up in a Evangelical household, I believe, to myself anyways, I kinda' always have doubted religion. I remember sitting on the church pews as a little boy and wondering where those people get that feeling from.....flash forward to Age 21. I began to doubt that power, more, and more until finally I became Agnostic. I was Agnostic for a few years while earning my B.S., in Geology, and it was like a gradual "coming out of the fog", type of experience around 32. From around 32 on I feel that god is a man-made figure used by the early church/Romans, whomever to control the mass public....and, whatya' know??? It still works...

6 years old. Found about Santa and seen way too many parallels.

When I was at High school one of the teachers ran a religious club for any students who were willing to join. He was a mean, nasty, evil little creature with black beady eyes and he gave me a jolly good caning for doing nothing wrong.

My Grandmother was an Assembly of God evangelical who pushed, pushed, pushed her religion on me. Even when I was in grade school I knew I could never believe in it the way she did. I found it quite depressing because there were people I admired who did believe and seemed to get a lot out of it. When I got older I finally refused to go to church any more or pretend that I had any interest or belief in religion. It really drove a wedge between us, which is unfortunate. However the older I've gotten, the more convinced I am that there is nothing to it but wishful thinking on the part of some people and opportunism on the part of others who use it to get money and political power. I am happier without it.

never felt the hand of god any god in my life.

very early, 10 or 11 yrs old. It just didn't make sense to me and I saw no evidence to support it.

last year after reading some prophet crime

When it was first introduced to me it sounded like any of the other fairy tales I was told as a kid. I had more respect and fear of witchcraft and voodoo than I did of mainstream religions growing up.

I asked several Christians....Adam and Eve were created by God and they had 2 sons. I asked them where did the sons find wives. Some of them couldn't answer me. One said that there were more people before Adam and Eve. That was when I started to doubt religion.

I don't remember exactly. As a child it just didn't make sense. The neighborhood Christians were always trying to take care of "save" my brother and I when our mom was out drinking and not taking care of us. They would try to frighten us by saying that our mother would burn in Hell for what she was doing. Once my little brother and I went to stay with a pastor and his wife and they wouldn't allow us to go to the service because we were "ragged", not dressed right,,, we were probably around 5&6. I recall going to a little country church to get saved so I'd get the free pencil ,,, I recall this but no other details... When I was a bit older I was expected to just sit in church and not ask questions but most of what I heard made no sense to me...when I did ask anyone questions I was alway shhh-ed! I felt there was a God - a God to whom I prayed. Praying to God kept me sane in my insane and dysfunctional world. But whenever I thought about it I couldn't get it through my mind how God could allow so many bad things to happen to me and to other children and to the world. Still, I held on to prayer as a familiar safety net. I now feel that I choose to keep my dream of God alive but that for many years now I have known that there really is no God. I don't know,,,, I also believe if there is a God - He is the one and only and is a God of love. I do not believe in organized religion except for the community benefits that many people need otherwise they'd be lost.

Around the age of 6 or 7 when I started really paying a little attention to what was being taught in Sunday School and in the church services. It occurred to me that it all sounded like fairy tales.

As a kid, about 7. I asked my grampa who did he know there was a god. His answer was "how do you know your mother is your mother?". Made no sense to me.

I was 4. I asked my mother about lesbians, and she told me that they burn in hell for all eternity while worms eat their body. At that point, heaven seemed possible and hell did not.

Since I came across it.

Before the age of 10

the first time my grandmother made me go to sunday school, I was 7 I think.