Was there a specific instance where you started to identify as an atheist/agnostic, or was it a gradual process?
I never believed in god as much as i did evil but it was about 13 that I really dived into the ideal
I was never taught to believe a god exists. I was never taught to believe no gods exist. I didn't really call myself anything, though. While doing a Darwin project in High School, I came across Huxley, and then his writings on agnosticism. It described me just right, and I started calling myself an agnostic, and still do.
About 3 yers ago. I was part of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization.
I'm 38. I was indoctrinated at 12 when a "friend" invited me to a "youth group" (indoctrination) event. The premise for the invitation was that of, he thought I needed to be saved. They were supposed to invite people they thought needed to be saved. The "leader" pressured and threatened me with hell and damnation. Being 12 with only a mild introduction to the idea of Christianity, beyond simple cultural Christianity, I caved and became "saved". These fuckers were also Independent Methodists or evangelical brainwashers. My dad went with me to my new church but was concerned with the level of my belief. I think he did it to keep an eye on these people. About 15ish I started to "fall away", as every time I looked at a girl in high school I was "backsliding", and I got tired to having to "pray for forgiveness" every time I looked at a girl's ass.
I continued to believe in the Christian god throughout high school and into college in a Pascals wager kind of way. Then, as I became more educated in history and sociology I began to get a sense that it was all bullshit and that one's religion is based on one's geography. From 2003 onward I became a skeptic about religion, but I didn't actively seek out new information. A couple times when I felt down, like when I lost a job, I would turn to the Christian god. Then at 27, I decided to put up or shut up. Am I going to believe in any of this stuff or not. I sat down and decided to read the Bible cover to cover. I had an open mind until Exodus 32. When Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, he saw people breaking the commandments before he had told them what the Commandments were. The penalty? Slaughter? That's when I became a true Atheist. That chapter defied any sense of rational justice, therefore the god involved could not be just. If a god cannot be just, it cannot be rational, if it cannot be rational, it cannot be a deity worthy of worship. Yes, I do realize that there is ridiculousness prior to Exodus that defies logic and rational thought, and they carried weight. Exodus 32 was the final straw. For the following 6 months, I spent an hour a day studying the Christian Bible with a different intent than when I started. Now my intent was no longer to answer questions about my own spirituality but to dissect this ridiculousness for what it was. So for about 10+ years, I have been a militant atheist/anti-theist.
Now I spoke poke mormons on their bicycles
I'm not sure if I ever believed in God or if I ever truly subscribed to the Christian doctrine. I was very young when I realized I was supposed to believe all these things they spoke about in church were real. I guess I thought we were all pretending. Upon discovering that we were not, that I was supposed to really BELIEVE in God and Jesus and angels and Satan, I immediately wanted nothing more to do with church. When I started saying out loud to people that I equated piety to superstition, and no longer considered myself a Christian, that's when I felt changed and renewed. That's when I felt I had emerged from darkness and was no longer lost.
When I was 19.
I was a Hindu till then. Wide variety of gods to choose from, no rules whatsoever, even if there are any rules nobody forces you to do anything.
Then began to learn about other religions and their concept of god.
Then started reading atheist literature and attending science lectures.
Threw away all belief in god and learned to live confidently without the aid of invisible deities.
I was raised in a christhian home, read the hole bible when i was a kid, but for me it was Music (Heavy Metal) that gave me the confidence to begin questioning stuff and not to be afraid of the consequences of freethinking.
A friend of mine gave me this Iron Maiden album at age 14, and i was afraid of listening the song "The Number of the Beast", because i could be sent to hell, so i just skipped it every time hahaha. But i really liked the music, so eventually i lost my fear and started questioning everything, and when you do that, then you realize that just... there is no god!
Gradual process, it was an accumulation of varying facts that brought me to the conclusion. It happen probably around Junior year of college.
Edit: wrong schooling
When I was about 15. I have grown up in a country where religion has more importance than humanity and over the years seeing all the rituals and fanatic sects and tons of contradictions between various religions despite all of them claiming that there is one god. So I chose to put my belief in me, being a good human, keeping my conscious clean, and doing what feels right.
A decade ago, I never thought I would be.
A 23 on the verge of spontaneous combustion. Woe-is-me
I'm 33 now.... Stopped believing at 23. How appropriate.
Pardon me....
6th grade so about 11 years old. I grew up in the bible belt where you're looked at in disgust if you're not Christian. When I got old enough I didn't care and started questioning religion.