nobody ever had a good reason why 'god' would 'create' mosquitoes. but really i used to 'believe' and really can't remember what made me stop.. i've came to realize that it's all just bullshit. now i can't believe how somebody can believe all that bullshit and buy into it. most of the 'christians' i know aren't very benevolent - some are but most aren't.

LIfelong Atheist. With the universe being so big I once thought there had to be a god that created it. But that was a very brief thought. Barring an actual miracle or something defying the laws of physics, I won't be second guessing again.

I don't know if I ever believed I just went along because everyone else did. The stories never made sense.

It was a gradual process that began when I was a young boy puzzling over biblical inconsistencies and logical flaws. By the time I was 18, I had a pretty good idea that god was made up. By the time I was half way through college, I was utterly convinced. The catalytic classes for me were: History of Western Civ, Bioanthropology, Principles of Logic, Major Ideas in Biology, and Sociology. And the last two decades of life have only strengthened my conclusion from over 20 years ago that there is no god.

There was no specific anything that exposed religion to me for what it was but as I got older -- and I mean my late teens -- it all started to seem a little weird, by the time I was in my early twenties, it was clear it was all bullshit. I just started to examine it critically rather than blindly accepting how stupid it all was. Religion falls apart quickly when critical thinking and reason are applied.

No one moment or catalyst can unbrainwash you if that’s where you’re coming from. It has to be a lot of things working in concert, at least it did for me. Being intelligent enough to always hold onto the fact that none of this makes good logical sense to begin with helped. But I was still brainwashed into thinking the doubts were a sin or trial and it’s amazing the amount of cognitive dissonance certain ultimatums can prompt one to hold.

Actually reading, understanding and studying the Bible is a huge finger on the scales toward disbelief. And often also it will take a major life event, a trauma that could have so easily been prevented if there really were a god that loved us at all who heard prayers. You’ve gotta get over the feeling that you hold an insurance policy that protects you and sometimes the only way to do that is to find everything crashing down with not a god in sight. That’s when you really find out what your deductible is.

I really attempted to be devout for years because I thought it was the right thing. The ideal of unconditional love, grace and mercy being offered to a failure from above, the prospect of redemption is all beautiful, and it’s an attractive philosophy to give some hope. It’s scarier to admit the stark reality that we’re flying through space on an unpilotable craft, hurtling through an indifferent, chaotic universe and we’re the highest authority the universe has come up with. The truth is the expression of what the universe is, however cruel or caring, and what divine grace can be, all rest at our feet.

The biggest fear people have to get over before waking up is the fear of personal responsibility. There’s no daddy in the sky to save us and we don’t need forgiveness for being human. It takes a lot of gonads to stand shamelessly naked in the garden of eden and say yeah, I ate it. You want your fruit back? Chase me! And then when we realize we haven’t been struck down for blasphemy it becomes clear that the only thing we’re responsible for is the shit we’re about to take. We can either let it pile up and stink or take a good honest look, spread it around and make things grow.

Reaching the age of reason and an above average IQ.

What a dumb ass plan for saving peoples' souls. Start in the middle East and let it spread slowly by word of mouth?

I am so sorry for some of the experiences in this post. I feel a bit of a fraud. I grew up as a non-believer in a mostly non-believing country. I went to church schools because most schools are here. We weren't pressured to follow any religion and my lack of belief was accepted in the same way as the faith of the Muslim kids was. It was cool. Research and much reading has led me to the belief that a character named something like Jesus probably existed, Moses maybe/maybe not and Mohammed definitely. They had some pretty things to say. I understand how some human beings can be attracted to these words. Can you imagine for a minute the idea that someone said for the first time that everyone is equal? It must have been mind blowing for an oppressed population. Creating a feeling that it wouldn't matter how oppressed they were, there was a time and place (basically with god) where they would be equal. I totally get that, I understand how a talented, charismatic orator may have blown those people away. I still believe that the words on the whole make sense. However god doesn't exist. There isn't a place where everyone is equal. I won't see my Mum or grandparents again (they are dead). I will not go and live in paradise. I never criticise a religious person because I understand the fear and anxiety that leads them to hope there is a better place. For me, I know where my better place is and thats here. I am not saving my life for a false idea of an afterlife.

Read the bible front to back. Couldn't believe what I read, so did it again. Haven't touched a bible or been to church since.

It might sound silly, but, for me it was Dan Brown's Origin. After reading it, I started to question the existence of a supreme being and became a non believer.

College, professor's, astronomy class, reading the scary bible, etc.

Not unconvinienced about god, but about religion; by!

There was no one thing for me. I had a last splurge with religiosity when I was sent to a Catholic high school for the 9th grade, but it ultimately pushed me over the top. It just that, when I considered the possibility there was no God, everything just made more sense.

There was no specific thing, but a combination of factors. First, as a teen-ager I did not like feeling myself a sinner for having normal thoughts and desires. Second, by the age of 15 I had read the Bible 3 times from cover to cover. Each time, it made less sense. Third was the exposure to new learning and ideas.