Always..... born into die in the wool Irish Catholic family and my earliest thoughts on religion were what kind of nonsense is this. I have always lacked 'faith' and have refused all of the sacraments except baptism which was done against my will as an infant. In high school I wrote to the Bishop explaining how I was baptized against my will and would like a formal certificate of excommunication from the church. My requests went unanswered...

I became an atheist at around the age of 19. One of my little bros came home from sunday school at about 7 and told my mom that he didn't want to go anymore because it sounded like a fairy tale. What a cute little rebel he was. LOL!!!

I became an atheist as a pre-adolescent in confirmation classes. I became a theist again in my early 20's. Didn't permanently become an atheist until I transitioned and was married to a fundamentalist. Never looked back.

Like everyone, I was born an atheist. Unlike many, I was fortunate enough to have agnostic parents who never tried to steer me in the direction of religion and provided me with books about nature and science; so I remained an atheist.

From about 14.

Way too late.

But, my journey provided me with a lot of education, self reflection and a stronger sense of independence.

Having to trust you can take care of yourself, no matter what, is harder when you once thought "daddy" would always be watching over you.

I thank religion for making me stronger.

Okay, So I was very young. The priest asked the congregation what was in the box. The answer was supposed to be christ's spirit and the bread of life.

I had had enough of that know it all priest. Always asking stupid questions and no one answering his know it all power Trip. As a kid I saw through it. I stood up and shocked the living shit out of that congregation.

I let them all know that it was "air, wine and bread in the box".... "this is all make believe".

That was the wrong thing to say. My mom's nails digging into my wrist. I didn't see the end if that mistake for years. I really went from a young child who didn't know what an atheist was, but knew that the whole religion thing was ridiculous, to a kid who believed he was struggling with an evil inside him.

More than a decade afterwards, In my early twenties, I was an atheist again. Now I am almost 50 and remain the same.

Birth, my parents didn't indoctrinate me so the God stuff i heard at school didn't stick. It just seemed silly.