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When did you start to identify as an atheist/agnostic?

Was there a specific instance where you started to identify as an atheist/agnostic, or was it a gradual process?

AshleyM1997 4 Oct 4
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112 comments (76 - 100)

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Right after I started being able to understand geologic time. For a long time I couldn't fathom the time scales. Once I could... The walls fell

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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

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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!

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At 25, after I took a hard look at religion and questioned every reason I gave myself to believe in a deity. Turns out, none of the reasons could withstand scrutiny.

Marz Level 7 Nov 21, 2017
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I myself have always questioned but I have to say I became 100% agnostic atheist 2 or 3 years ago

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19 years old

2

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.

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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.

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In the womb.

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Probably about 12

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Always.

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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 🙂

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About 3 yers ago. I was part of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization.

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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.

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I never believed in god as much as i did evil but it was about 13 that I really dived into the ideal

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I've never believed in God, gods, or so called supernatural stuff. If it existed...it would be natural!

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Catholic school

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I was 9 years old. I was brought up in a religious family who were regular church goers. There was so much bickering and bitchiness, even at 9, I could see this went against the notions of God I'd been taught to believe. From then I saw religious communities as hypocrites. This coincided with me getting a telescope and learning about astronomy. There was no evidence of God being present in such an expansive universe.

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I was very young. My parents didn't like it. The church youth group (that I was still dragged to) didn't like it. I didn't care cos I was 'trouble' lol

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In 7th grade, My parents raised me to think for myself. Was never made to go to church or forced into religion. 7th grade i truly wanted to see what religion was all about. Plus this girl I had a huge crush on at the time was a huge christian, so I went to 2 bible school events. After questioning everything that was being preached, and getting terrible answers. I decided religion was a made up tool to control my mind. I was way ahead of my time 😀

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I ever considered this my natural condition. But essentially started labeling myself as such in 10-th grade.
For some years considered myself "atheist". But then had some... let's say "religious experiences" and started considering myself agnostic or following a one-man religion.

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At age 35, mired in a deep depression and having prayed to a god for 35 years who never once answered my prayers. Just suppose there is a God---I did not give up on Him, He gave up on me.

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I started to identify as agnostic in the 6th grade in Catholic school when I just couldn't get myself to believe what they were trying to get me to believe.It wasn't a specific instance, but rather 6 years of Catholic school that didn't make sense.

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Never being invested in any of it despite being surrounded by it helped me see it all for the BS that it was. At best I was agnostic when I was young, but late teens and on wards I still remained thoroughly uninvested and unconvinced, so I was pretty much atheist at that point. Religion class in school is one of the driest, most boring, and repetitive classes to sit through as a kid. They mostly taught us the new testament stuff and the more lubby dubby happy go lucky roman catholic stuff. And when I started to see how inconsistent all that crap was with reality, I took it as seriously as any fairy tale.

1

After 8 years in all girl catholic school.

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