I was never raised in any religion by my parents my Mom grew up Catholic but my Dad hated religion.
Over the years I never gave it much thought either way, I simply didn't care until a few years ago.
Then I started to get interested in politics and I started to become very angered by the far right, evangelical GOP politicians who were trying (and in many cases succeeding) in getting their religious beliefs passed into laws.
This all made me look at the concept of a god and the more I thought about it the more ridiculous it was.
Now at this point in my life, god is no more real than the tooth fairy.

For me, it was a pretty gradual process. I was raised in a Christian household and sent to a Catholic school until eighth grade, so my beliefs were pretty strong until then. I went to a public high school and discovered a whole new world, new music and started questioning things. It was in college that any doubts I might have had vanished and I knew there were no gods. Critical thinking and learning about other cultures, studying mythology and history... really opened my eyes. This is one of the reasons I think the first two years of college should be mandatory and available to all!

When I was 5 my parents made me say Jesus could live in my heart and I didnt want someone to live in my heart. I was scared put off and I think I cried. At 12 I was a skeptic and remember questioning "proof" of religion vs science. College - full atheist maybe sooner. 21 realized all the implications. : )

I didn't start calling myself an atheist until I was 10 because that's when I started using the internet and I didn't know what to call a person who didn't believe in God before that.

I was about 22 years old and I'm now nearly 71. It was a gradual process and I was in the closet except for maybe two people until just two years ago when I retired.

10 months ago when I came to terms that all the miracles described by main stream religions where a mixture on coincidence, scientific phenomenon and myths.

I started to "come out" as an atheist at around age 40. I had been living in Texas, and working as an attorney, and felt intimidated to express my views due to the common belief that atheists are amoral. I didn't want to be judged by family, friends, judges, and colleagues. At a certain point I just decided to face the backlash and be open and honest when the subject came up. I certainly felt more self actualized and honest which helped me to become a better person.

I was about 7, in Sunday School. They told me Jesus wants to save me. They asked me if I could hear him knocking at the door of my heart. I cried and said yes and they were moved and gave me kool-aid in a paper cup and a cookie. But I cried because I felt nothing and I said yes because I was ashamed and afraid. Over the years the more I doubted the less I feared damnation. It wasn't till my teens I realized I could find my own purpose in life. And I was in my 20s when I realized the oblivion of death was not infinite darkness but the same oblivion I was born from and would someday return to. "I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." - Mark Twain

There was for me. It's quite funny how some memories stick with you so well. My mother who is now what I call a spiritual atheist (one who doesn't believe in a soul but feel as long as her body returns to the Earth without being cremated she will unconsciously live on as nutrition in plants and animals.) I kind of like her philosophy. When I was born, she was a Catholic, and my father was an Atheist. She insisted on sending me to Sunday school and church. My father would tuck me in at night, and we talked about all kinds of things. He'd tell me stories about what the Earth was like a very long time ago, and he would ask me questions about God and then ask why I believed it was true. I gave the typical 5-year-old responses. He told me that he didn't believe in God. At five my father was the smartest man in the world to me and if he didn't believe I didn't believe. It's odd, and this is the part I remember so well, but he told me he was disappointed after he had just told me I shouldn't just take peoples word for it. He wanted me to think before I believe. I've written this story before on other sites, and the responses were negative toward my father. Most said my father shouldn't have done that to me at five years old. I disagree, I never felt unloved by him, and his disappointment kept me from indoctrination. I'm sure it was the last thing he wanted to do, but when I asked him years later, he claimed to have no memory of that night. I don't think I believed him.

16 years old

pretty much always

It was a gradual process to get there, but I made the decision to become an atheist in February 2015, and pretty much identified as one from the very beginning.

Looking back on it, it wasn't just one instance, it was many instances that kept leading me on the path towards being an atheist. It was an "A-ha!" moment when I took the plunge, but it still took years of "soul" searching to get there.