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.

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

Since I was a child I was skeptical

Since I was a child I was skeptical

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

God, or dog, I forget. Welcome though.

A friend of mine told me his mother made him an atheist, and that if I gave her the wool she'd make me one too.

Logic and Reason

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

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.

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.

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

g

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Reaching the age of reason.

I could write a book on that one, it is a huge part of my autobiography. Long story short - I had doubts for so long that I ignored because being a good christian mom/wife was what I needed to be for the life I had. When the disconnect between who I was and how I was living started to get increasingly uncomfortable, and I could no longer stuff down the truth I had to make changes. I got a divorce and then had to acknowledge the Xian church does really not have a role for middle aged divorcees. They just don't fit in the picture. So being away from the weekly brainwashing allowed all the truth to surface and I had to find a new identity and I embraced my heathen side.

Reason.

I was born an atheist.

I was born a freethinker, religion is taught so is atheist/agnostic.

Common sense.

I was born into a Mormon family and raised to be a Moron (oops, Mormon). As an adult I decided to study the prophecies of Joseph Smith (founding prophet of the Moron church), in order to convince others that he was a true prophet. Instead, the more I studied, the more I discovered that his prophecies did not consistently come true. (Even a false prophet can guess right part of the time.) I found several false prophecies, and concluded that Joe Smith was a fraud. At that point I left the Moron church.

Later, I put the biblical prophets through the same test, and got the same results. Every major prophet in the Buybull made some predictions that failed to come true, and the time for their fulfillment has passed. Therefore, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel are all as fraudulent as Joe Smith. I also found quite a few contradictions in the Bible, and evidence that parts of the Bible (notably Matthew, for example) appear to be satirical. Christian friends and family had me reading various books on apologetics, but all the arguments were flawed or weak. Seeing no good evidence that any gods existed, I became an atheist.