I credit my parents’ decision not to indoctrinate me into a belief system with the the way I think today. Moreover, negative experiences with children who belonged to a faith (Christianity, in particular) when I was young made me question the self-righteousness of orthodox religions.

Consequently, having studied religion as an adult (just to get into their headspace and to understand the psychological aspects of why one chooses to invest everything in fantastic and highly-improbable claims and scenarios), I could never become a bot.

Logistics!!...so many gods...and some drugs...never mind...?

Reaching the age of reason.

I guess it was how I'm am put together genetically as well as the unfathomable bullshit of the bible

In junior , we were treated to an inspirational guest lecture almost every week. They were not supposed to be religion, but most of the time they were give by preachers.
On day, a perfect slob came and spent an hour telling us what a great preacher he was.
This guy was fat, dirty and unkempt. His shirt was too small so it was unbuttoned at the throat, yet he was wearing a dirty, gravy stained tie. His grammar was as bad as appearance.
One story he told was how he had picked up a hitch hiking solder ( this was during WW2) and, upon on finding out the guy was not saved, had baptized him in a roadside mud puddle.
M conclusion at the end of the lecture was " their is no god. If there was, he would not have let this guy be his representative.
I had never given it much thought up to this time.

Reading the bible and other religious writings. Even a small amount of logic meant I became an atheist.

My parents and grandparents were secular, so I just never learned it

I was never a believer.
I was fortunate enough to have not been brought up in a religious household.

The need for Christians to have a label for me created a term for me.
Nothing made me an athiest but as there is no god I have been labeled as such for those who believe in magic creatures in the sky.

Two sets of encyclopedias we had in the house when I was growing up. I spent a lot of time reading through them. I'm pretty sure that sparked my critical thinking and curiosity about the world. The juxtaposition of that with my family's hard core Evangelical faith made it pretty clear for me.

Also... heavy metal and weed in junior high chased Sky Jesus away.

I'd say that my Dad teaching me to think and reason things out, question what I was told, research what I was told and the weigh up the results BEFORE making up my own mind pointed me in the right direction , that being towards Atheism and away from the Blind Faith world of religions.

God, or dog, I forget. Welcome though.

If god is real, god sucks. You're a cutie.

For me it was knowledge in biology and social theory that led me to the path of secular humanism. I enjoyed some of the life lessons I learned from Scripture as a Luthetan but was turned off by the absolutism of an arbitrary Creator that reflected the extreme ego of humanity to have a permanent life with only one ruler. I did not want to be restricted to that black and white faith-driven way of thinking, and many elements of the Old Testament merely seemed like rules from a bygone age, especially concerning sacrificial rituals and fastings.

There is also a power struggle by religions to gain followers and ignore the will of individuals. The increasing Christian radicalism and selfish interference in developing countries disgusts me tremendously, but it is the fundamentalist Christian blacklisting of scientific fact that has completely derailed my confidence in the Church. One doesn't need to have religion in order to have a moral compass, and I feel I learned all the lessons from experience and Scripture that are both relevant and meaningful.

Brought up Catholic and have always struggled with my faith. Finally light bulb moment, its because I don't believe. I did not turn into a pillar of salt or had lightening strike me. I felf free; sort of what it must feel like a gay person coming out of the closet. I'm looking for a group that may believe in a higher power, but not all the "stories."

I was never baptized and never really made to go to church ( A couple times as a child but only because my grandparents were watching me and that’s where they were going ) but religion and specifically Christianity were always around me. My stepmother turned into a bible thumper soon after my brother was born. I was 14. My mother turned super religious while battling alcoholism in my late teens. Also, being a voracious reader, I had read the Bible in my early 20s, just to say I had read it. But in my late 20s I thought I was in Love with a hard-core born-again Christian. for three months I sincerely tried to believe the way she did. It didn’t work out needless to say. I realized how much shame and guilt and low self-esteem are a major part of believing in this stuff. And also the rejection of reason. Also the blind faith in utterly ridiculous notions. I went from agnostic to atheist in my early 30s.

**Education, education, education - and life experiences .

realizing there were no gods. it's as simple as that.

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I was adopted by my grandparents, one a southern baptist, the other a Mormon. I would try to go to vacation bible school, just for something to do as a kid, and they would get pissed off if it wasn’t their church. When I became a teenager I met my father, he was a Johova’s Witness like his father. My mother was always in and out of my life and her religion was like my grandmother’s, but more convenient. Well the only things they had in common was they loved to make fun of each other’s religion, they were each the only right one when it came to “knowing”, and they all had been married and divorced over and over. It’s the followers of religion that do it for me. The hypocrisy and righteousness, they can keep it, all of them.

I was born as atheist

I got my first college degree from a Lutheran college where I took 5 of the religion classes. I also taught a couple of the adult bible study classes at the last church I was a member of. It took my third time of reading that book from beginning to end to start my questioning and additional reading. So, all of those things ended my belief in the many "gods" that are described in that book.

I use to think there was something not any specific god but just something.I tried to debate my friend and couldn't really come up with anything that could "beat" him so i did more research (alot) and found people such as Richard Dawkins and it completely changed my mind and made me realize how messed up religion is so I became an atheist. That is pretty much it

Child rape. I was Roman Catholic for years. I could accept all the bullshit fairy tales, but then when the child molestation cover up happened,,, I said, "wait!,,, talking ? Snake, Noah's arch, 6,000 year old earth, walking on water, virgin birth"... All bullshit!

Anyone know how to edit our posts? I just noticed mine is full of errors.

Since I was a child I was skeptical