I feel it would be more correct to say that theists make a choice to believe a grand delusion in spite of the fact that there is absolutely no evidence to support it. Atheists on the other hand simply suspend judgement until some valid evidence is put forth. Myself, I guess it is more accurate to say I choose not to believe in these fairy tales based on said lack of evidence but I didn’t simply wake up one day and say “I think I’m going to be atheist from now on”

For me it wasn't a choice to stop believing in my family's religion. I think it was the need to know more how things worked and what made sense in my life.

According to Process Philosophy, atheists and agnostics do not have a choice in what they believe (or don't) because this is where their current level of understanding has taken them. It's basically the same principle for theists as well. We do have a choice whether to remain open to new higher levels of understanding and continue the growth process or to be satisfied where we are because we feel that we have reached our potential or discovered all there is to know. As a wise old sage once said "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." Pretty good advice.

Yes! It's not a choice! It just happens to be logical. If anything religion is the choice of those who cannot accept reality.

"Mom, I decided I'm an atheist," I told my mother in the kitchen. "I don't want to go to church anymore."

"That's fine, honey," she replied. "In nursing school, I became an atheist when I realized a woman cannot turn into salt." She laughed. Raised Catholic, Mom attended Catholic schools through college. Intelligent, athletic and witty, she was a great role model.

My parents didn't care. Dad never attended church. Mom dropped us kids off for Sunday school at First United Methodist Church, where Dad attended as a child. Mom went home to bed.

I don't feel it as a choice, it's just the final step that starts by reading, questioning, thinking...

No. Not any more than it is a choice to believe or not believe in santa clause. You can pretend he's still there and act like he is, but you'll always know the truth that he's not.

I look at it asd atheism is the natural state. Believing in the supernatural, and/or magical thinking is a choice up to a point... some people just don't know any better. Once a person is indoctrinated into religion though, then rational thought has to fight against human instinct for a sense of community, and most choose to conintue because religion gives them a sense of community, which they don't want to lose.

Humans are "herd" animals. As we evolved as animals, being a part of a group made us safer, as in safety in numbers. Our animal instincts are still active and we tend to seek out communities in which we belong, because it makes us feel safe and gives us a sense of well being. That sense of community, in my opinion, is the only positive thing religion provieds, but the instinct to be a part of a group is so strong that many people abandon virtually all common sense to gain that feeling of safety and well being associated with being a part of a group.

Belief is not a choice. Choosing to believe is a lie.

It was a realization, not a choice. At 13, I realized the Bible is just a book of stories written by men.

Michigan had a hard winter that year. Restless and bored, my little brother, 10, and I read the World Book Encyclopedias together.

Reading about rational philosophers Spinoza and Descartes inspired me. In the 1600s when heretics were burned at the stake, they were bravely anti-theist (anti-god), anti-clergy and anti-church.

Their writings inspired the Age of Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized the use of science and reason to advance understanding of the universe and to improve the human condition. The goals of the Enlightenment were knowledge, freedom, and happiness.

It IS a logical kind of 'choice' in that a person can elect to read, study and realize that the Goat-Herders Guide to the Galaxy is 99.99999% bullshit and then opt for living in and with Logic, Reasoning and Reality OR, conversely, opt out and become one of the Faithfools and spend your existence in fear, superstition and fantasy,etc.

I don’t think it’s much of a choice whether to believe what we find believable, and we don’t have much choice in what we are circumstantially exposed to, but we do have a choice whether to dig for deeper exposure or to accept what circumstance has given us.

IMHO is it is a choice... A choice born from reason and wisdom. I thought the whole Bible time was silly when I was around 8 years old!

The older I became (and the more I read the Bible) I became convinced that it was all nonsense.

Well for me it certainly wasn't just a choice. I was convinced there is no loving god of creation. And I lived as a christian for 40 years.

When children are brainwashed with religion, they no longer have the capacity to question or to choose.

It was my choice to be honest about my level of belief/non-belief first with myself and then with others. I could've chosen to stay in denial and pretended to believe, going through the motions. When that became more effort than it was worth. I chose a different path, namely letting go of the illusions.

I don't believe it is a choice, or at least it wasn't for me. From earliest childhood, I never believed the God story, and as hard as I tried to believe in a God, it wouldn't happen, due to logic. God seemed as silly to me as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. As Clarence Darrow once said: "I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose." That said, I am still somewhat of an agnostic, because I can never be sure 100% about what is out there.

I chose to be sceptical of everything I read in the bible...or maybe I was just less susceptible to believing it than any of my friends. I was brought up by my parents to think for myself and to make up my own mind, so perhaps because I wasn’t told what to believe, but was allowed to decide for myself, I lacked the indoctrination of those friends whose parents were believers.

Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

Personally, I am certain that we are all born atheists. Meaning we simply do not believe in gods, religion, anything supernatural, or spiritual.
Everything else requires indoctrination.

You can look at it either way. As a one time believer I was tortured mentally for not following what I believed and it was driving me nuts. Logic and reasoning set in after I heard Jerry DeWitt talk of his experiences on You Tube. Jerry was one of the first graduates of the Clergy Project. It was easy for me to identify with him in this and I felt as if my eyes were opened for the first time. My guilt was gone, fear was all gone, and it all made so much sense. There are no gods.

Bare in mind that along with belief in gods everything supernatural went right out the window as well. If you believe in anything supernatural it is because you do not understand it. Logic and demonstrable evidence is the only way to go.

I think of it more a choice I did not make

All beliefs are a choice. The ultimate questions don't have verifiable answers. Some can accept that and other cannot.

For me it was knowledge learned. You aren't born an Atheist... Just like you aren't born religious. It is what SOME do in life. I don't go by what others tell me... I go by what I see with my own eyes... What I experience personally.

They have a name for people stupid enough to believe everything they are told.

They are called Trump supporters!

I don’t think it’s a choice. I would describe very little of the inner workings of my mind as a choice