I haven't "come out" yet, as I am unsure as to what  I really am at this point... though, I must ask: Delphic, why DID you have the satanic bible at your house?  I mean, in my opinion, Satanism is more stupid than Christianity - and you must have realized that, living in a Christian household, having that found would get your ass kicked.

  Not much happened when I told my friends/family I was an Atheist.  I've only been an Atheist for about 4 months now.  I wasn't really religious to begin with though.  My mother is a gnostic Christian (I think that is what she said), I have no idea what my older brother is, my younger brother doesn't deal with the issue, and my sister is spiritual.

When I talked with my younger brother is seems like he was more of a deist than anything, but when I asked him why he kept putting god( something he doesn't know exists) to answer the question why does anything exist another something he doesn't know, he said I have no idea, so maybe I can get through to him.   He really doesn't take issue with most things.  He thinks Christianity is messed up and most religions, but still believe in a deity, at least I think he does.  Getting him to talk about it is the hard part, I don't think he likes the discussions.

My Mother and I talk every once and a while she is into the Psychic's like Sylvia Brown.  I try to show her youtube videos of Sylvia's mistakes, but I don't know if that is the correct path to get her away from theism. I figured since she took me to church every Sunday for so many years, at least I should be able to try to convince her otherwise (payback).  According to her she used to by psychic and predicted a plane crash one time, which caused her pastor at the time to quit his position, so at least he helped in that bit.  I don't know if the story is true as I only have her and my grandmother to back it up.  She didn't seem disappointed or displeased, and for some reason she still thinks all good people go to heaven, or something Sylvia Brown told her. With that in mind I don't know why she still thinks of herself as a Christian.

My sister, I think had the hardest problem with it, not anger, but she has a lot of fear of death.   She has argument's like of all there is, is material, then love isn't real.  I am trying to remember the counter arguments.  She also says something about meaning, and I tried to tell her about local or personal meaning, but nothing beyond that and I think her fear is what is keeper her from searching for deeper answers.   Any suggestions on overcoming that fear that I might be able to help her with? She also thinks most Christianity is a bit crazy.

 Have not told my Father, I have not talked to him since November of last year, for other reasons. Probably will never talk to him again.

I have not told my older brother.  I don't know what goes on in his head most of the time.  He isn't collected in thought.  He will answer questions you asked him days ago, in the middle of a conversation not related to the question.  Most of the time he doesn't even tell you what question he is answering until you pry.

My other extended family (cousins, aunts, uncles), area bit more on the crazy Christian side.  I have not told any of them outright yet.

My Aunt Rosie, is crazy she believe in being subservient to her husband. That Satan is responsible for bad things.  When her husband got run over by a semi (he lived), she said it was the work of Satan.  I told her it was an accident. When she gave me detail about it, I show her where she was wrong, and she told me to speak with her husband because she wasn't allowed to talk on the matter. I don't know what that means.

I have not talked to any of my cousins, yet. 

My other uncle Mike, is by far the craziest.  Over the past 7 years he has been creating a family tree that roots "our entire family" back to Adam/Eve.  He lives to far away to really talk to him about the subject.  My Mother and Grandmother both think he's a little too far off the deep end.

    I was raised to always question everything by my father. For the longest time I held the posistion of a deist. Until christmas of 2005 when I became sick with a rare condition known as RHS, or Ramsey-Hunt Syndrom.

From there I hoped beyond hope there was a personal God to hear me pray for healing through all of 2006. I attended church with my grandmother and prayed everyday in the shower.

Well my condition worsened as I developed shingles and then PHN, or Post-herpectic Neuralgia. After far too long of feeling ignored by a God I hoped existed I turned to the other side and began investigating the arguments for and against Gods.

Now here I am. Still ill, but because of Atheism teaching to care for myself and not depend on an imaginary God crutch, I have found the strength to diet, excersice and slowly work my way back into the working world and off Social Security.

Then I went and broke my leg... But all in all that's my story. Hope it didn't bore too much.

When I became an atheist at 15, I didn't want to go to church anymore, for obvious reasons. When I told my parents they were not pleased. They thought I didn't want to go because I was being rebellious and I wanted to sleep on the Sunday morning. Both true but not the main reason. And I was not ready to tell I was an atheist yet. Every week this became an issue on Sunday. Until one day in a heated argument with my parents I said "I don't want to go to church, because I don't...... believe......in....." I stopped before I said God. My father whom I love and respect had raised his hand and was about to hit me. I was 100% sure if I would have said "God", I would have got a smack (he has never hit me!). I never talked with my father about my personal beliefs, or lack there off, again. Years later I talked about it with my mother and she is ok with it now. She thought I didn't believe because I was lazy or not interested in religion. She was shocked to find out that I studied the bible and Christianity to a far greater extend than my sisters, who are all still theists. She respects the fact I made a conscious choice.

My oldest sister and youngest sisters are Theist. They don't go to church and are not really Christians, but believe there is something. They don't mind I am an atheist and were not really surprised when I told them. They never married, but are in loving relationships and have children (not baptized) with their long-term boyfriends. I must also admit my parents have become really open minded about these things and my father had mellowed a lot. My middle sister is a different story. She has always been religious and so is here husband. I told here once I didn't believe in God and she looked at me as if I was insane.

All my friends were Christians and I lost them all. That was a surprise for me at the time. I told some of them and they didn't really react. The next time I saw them they took me apart for an intervention. They tried to convince me I was wrong and took turns to argue with me. When they saw it was useless, they said they would exclude me from the group if I persisted. I remember sagging against the wall and sitting on the floor in shock and then getting up and walking away, leaving all my childhood friends behind. I was dead to them from then on.

Now I am open about my atheism. Which is not very difficult here in Holland. I think you actually run more risk of ridicule when you are an active Christian/Theist than being an agnostic or atheist.

i was born and raised in Kansas, and my parents were very casual christians. they didn't go to church, say grace, or even talk about religion at all, really. when my two older sisters and i were just starting school they took us to a lutheran church and said "give it a try. if you like it you can keep going". and so i went to sunday school, was baptized and confirmed.

i enjoyed the social aspect of church, but even after reading the bible cover to cover i had a hard time swallowing it. so when i was 12 i decided i couldn't fake it anymore just to hang out with my friends at youth group, so i told my parents i didn't believe in god and i was done with church. i don't remember their exact words, but the gist of it was "ok, whatever is right for you". 

i told a few close friends and they thought i'd lost my mind. but it blew over. by the time i graduated high school i wasn't the least bit concerned about announcing my atheism in public. maybe it's the town i grew up in, but it's just never been a big deal.

my parents are still believers, but they never question or criticize my atheism. everyone that's ever met my mom and dad swears their the coolest parents that ever walked the earth. i'm inclined to agree. 

No wonder you're an atheist! 

Not boring at all! I love to hear other people's stories. I'm sorry your leg is broken. I hope it heals well.

--Sarah-- 

My mom is a very fundamentalist christian and raised my sister and I to be the same. I might still be a Christian if I hadn't been raised to see Christianity in such a fundamentalist, bible-literalist, young-earth type of way. After I moved out of my parents' house at 18 and quit going to church every week, doubts slowly but surely started creeping into my mind. There were so many things that didn't make any sense to me about it, and I simply didn't believe in anything else like that (ghosts, psychics, astrology, etc.) But I was afraid of going to hell, so I'd just push those things out of my mind.

My faith ran into trouble that it would never recover from in 2006. One of my best friends told me that she was an atheist that year. I came to learn that she had been molested by her own dad when she was younger, and could see that this was a large part of the reason for her atheism. My mind was completely incapable of reconciling this with a loving god. How could god send her to hell for that? This caused me to start identifying myself as an agnostic.

Back in January 2007, I saw a book in Borders called "The Varieties of Scientific Experiences" from Carl Sagan. Over the past few months, I'd found myself wanting to believe in god but not being able to find any reason to. So I picked up the book, and that was the first time I encountered the Problem of Evil. Having majored in computer engineering in college, the logic behind the Problem of Evil just spoke to me. There it was, looking right at me: proof that an all-powerful compassionate being does not exist. I tried to dismiss it or find an argument for god that was as good, but there was nothing to be found. (Brings to mind a line in a Bad Religion song that goes: "What good is searching, if nothing's there to find?" )

Eventually I picked up "The God Delusion", which confronted and dealt with the few remaining issues I had with atheism. I still wasn't comfortable calling myself an atheist until I watched the RRS debate Way of the Master. The look on Ray and Kirk's faces when Brian asked them "If god can be infinite, why can't the universe be infinite?" was priceless! After watching that debate, I actually felt proud to be an atheist and started being outspoken about it around my friends.

A few of my theist friends still try to debate me, but I'm good enough with logic that I can easily dismiss their arguments. They don't really judge me, but I think I may have sparked some doubt in them since they keep trying to show me evidence that god exists. My family is a different story though, I'm being more careful about how I come out to them. I told my sister over the phone a few weeks ago. She was suprised, and I told her that I'd talk to her about it if she wanted to. She told me "No, I'm sure you have good reasons for it." I'll tell my dad soon, I don't really think he'll care much, he never really went to church with us growing up. He may even be an atheist himself, but never told anyone. My mom is going to be another story altogether. I know that once I tell her, she's going to lose it and start giving me all kinds of jesusbooks and stuff to show me that god is real. I've been writing a lot during my deconversion and plan on putting it into book form and giving it to her once I tell her so that I don't have to explain everything to her. I've thought about trying to publish it, but I dunno, we'll see how good it is once I re-read it.