Birth.

Let's see, born default atheist, my parents were pretty much non practicing Christians. So I did believe in God yet I was not brainwashed or pressured into believing the bullshit, hence had room to freethink. And now I'm an evil godless Commie (liberal) bastard, and getting in Newsweek for it baby!

20.

Because there's no evidence supporting the existence of a god.

6 months in denial, maybe a year post-denial.

Very little. But I waited until I'd been living away from my family for years to tell them.

I became an athest around the age of eleven, basically because before, I was kind of choosing to ignore all the holes in Christianity for my own peace of mind and to make my parents happy.  My father's a pastor, so there was a lot of pressure to appear to be a good little Christian girl.  When I finally chose to think about what I was believing by default, it didn't take me long to realize atheism made the most sense to me. 

Coming out as an atheist was a fiasco.  I thought I'd just pretend to be Christian for my parents' benefit, but it wasn't easy, with all the bone-headed things my dad would say.  I think it took a few months for them to figure out that I'd changed somewhat.  They asked me what was up, and I told them I didn't think there was a god, and didn't care to worship any that was.  My mom became really depressed since she thought it meant I would go to Hell, and my dad just started becoming really hostile and rude to me all the time.  Eventually, when I was 14 or 15, they realized that my going to church wasn't helping anything, and that I was sulking every time I went and making them look like horrible parents, so they stopped making me go, which I'm glad for.

I've never had any theistic beliefs. I think I was pretty oblivious of the notion of an adult seriously believing in anything supernatural until I was 7 or 8, at which time I remember coming home from school one day and asking my mother what this god thing was all about. She briefly explained and I decided that it sounded pretty silly. I don't think I really caught on to the fact that the majority of people around the world actually *do* believe in god(s) and everything related to them until my family moved to the U.A.E. when I was 9 and started going to an international school. Maybe I'm just slow

I became anti-religious after a few more years but I didn't feel any need for a label like 'atheist' until a couple of years ago (23 now). Luckily I never had any problems with it because my brothers, sisters, parents and almost all my extended relatives are atheist too.

I suppose I was always an atheist.  My parents were atheist but it was really more of a non-issue.  We just didn't think about god.  It would come up occasionally, usually when some kid would say something mean because I didn't go to church or something. 

I started to really question the existence of a god as a teenager but never really bought into the idea that there was one. 

My mom believed in a god and my parents told me growing up that there was one so like any child I listened to and believed my parents.

When I first thought about it around age 10 I figured that I didn't believe in a personal god but there had to be something that listened to prayers and performed miracles... (again, thanks mom and dad)

I never really thought about it again till I went to college where having a young earth creationist as a roomate made me do more research.  I haven't stopped reading since then.

So I've been a non-believer since age 10 and a full blown atheist since 19.  I was never really into the whole god scene so it wasn't a big deal when I "came out".  My mom is disappointed but refuses to talk religion, so I don't know what she  expects.

I was about 12/13 when I told my mom, she didn't like it, though she never tried to make me go to church again. She prided herseld on raising indepent children who thought for themselves.

I became an atheist after learning the basics of the big bang and evolution in science class. Kids asked my teacher what would have caused the big bang, she said "I don't know". At sunday school a few weeks later, the "teacher", took a bag and filled it with all the ingrediants for a cake. She was trying to show a very poor explanation of the big bang. I asked, if my science teacher is wrong, what caused everything, she said god. My science teacher held a PHD, and said, I don't know, yet my housewife sunday school teacher said she had the answer. I knew then, something was rotten.  

 Now I live in Colorado Springs, and get to argue with fundies constantly. 

Wow, a lot of long answers.

 I remember the exact moment.  I was 18 years old

 

About 10 months ago. I am 25.

Because I was agnostic and at the cusp of atheism. Then I read about five books on atheism and came here. That did it good.

It was a very, very gradual transition. As a pre-schooler my parents sent me to a Lutheran pre-school. they of course talked about how much Jesus loved me all the time, and I thought Jesus listened to my prayers and watched over me behind my headboard as I slept.

Fast forward to middle school (because I don't remember much about what I thought of god in grade school) and I decided to start reading up on quantum physics (which I really did not understand at 13) and then got into astrology and wicca and other junk like that. I read the Conversations With God books by Neale Donald Walshe, which I loved. they made a lot of sense to me and painted more of a picture of a deist god. I liked that. I read those books as they were published into high school.

In high school I met thid dude who I ended up dating, he went to a lutheran church but still had his own ideas about god and wanted to make up his own religion. So I went to church with him, but I didn't believe the Lutherans, I held on to my deist god. I began to get pretty disgusted in church seeing him sit there worshipping. It made me sad. When I graduated high school, I had the chance to give a sermon.

What a sermon I gave. I spent a lot of time on it, and I kept asking my boyfriend's mom (who is sort of a christian pagan diest I guess) if what I was saying would make anyone mad. She kept telling me ust go to for it. I painted a picture of god in my sermon who was somewhat pantheist. I think I still have a copy somewhere but I think it was pretty good for a sermon. I expected them to try to lynch me for outright claiming heavan and hell did not exist and only existed in your mind. Afterwards the church members stood and applauded.

In college I majored in philosophy, I was still deist and decided that determinism made a whole lot of freaking sense since there is no good way to argue out of it. I am still somewhat determinist I guess.

After undergrad, my ideas about deism began to fade away, because there just wasn't any freaking evidence. The idea of god as presented in the Walshe books is very poetic and attractive, but that's it. It's NICE, not REAL.

I am now earning my doctorate in Occupational Therapy. Believe it or not, one of the big things they drill into your head is that we need evidence, evidence, evidence. We need evidence that our therapy works because otherwise why do the therapy? That and without evidence that our therapy works, we won't get paid.

So I thought... yes evidence. I need someone to explain to me in solid, nonsupernatural terms how this universe "came to be". I also wanted to read up on solid "evidence" for god. Of course there isn't any solid evidence for god. So I devoured some books and here I am, proud athiest.

As an aside, Neale Donald Walsh with his stupid Indigo Children bullshit makes me so mad. what an asshole. The idea that your misbehaving child is misbevhaving because s/he is an evolved psychic huan who doesn't understand customs is such a damaging idea. I used to respect the man. Not anymore.

Not much. My friend says she doesn't believe I am really an atheist, but she is a goofball new ager and isn't mad at me, she is just giving me shit in a good natured kind of way. My friends are used to me being the non-emotional, rational one out of the group, so I guess they aren't too surprised, though some of them are a little "sad" about it. My parents don't care too much, they sent me to the pre-school but other then that wanted myself and my two siblings to decide for ourselves. We're all atheists. I am actually the last to become atheist but I have also thought about it far more then they have.

You managed to get excommunicated? Cool! 

That had to be fucking funny! Be even better to start blaspheming in a satanic voice!

I've never really believed in any higher powers, so in that aspect I've been an non-theist all my life. Actual denial of the existence of any higher power might have started when I was around 10 and the therm atheism I think I encountered a few years later.

I've never considered myself an atheist, but I deconverted from Christianity about a year ago.  It was gradual though, and I don't think I will ever be fully rid of its influence.

No epiphany that I recall; I suppose it was simply the shedding of a childhood fiction.  Growing up in the bible belt, I do remember observing that people who talked about Jesus all the time were pretty ignorant.  Still think that.

Interestingly I toyed with the idea of a philosophical god when I first read Plato; the writings were that impressive to me.  I later came to regard his work as more poetry than truth.

I also discovered that, at least historically, religious belief can lead to creations not requiring belief.  I am continually astounded by Bach while remaining untouched by Lutheranism.

I was 17

I think you need to look at it this way.

You were born an atheist, before your parents or surroundings ever began influencing you. If you were 20 years old, rather then 20 months old, then you would demand evidence to support the existance of this "god". Before this point you would be classified as a gnostic-atheist because you know of no religion, you've never heard of the word religion , so you know there is no god. When you are finally introduced to religion, you will ask, where is the proof? Since there is no proof whatsoever, then you will logically conclude that there is no god.

Agnostic-Atheism exists only because people feel that they began religious, and converted to atheism because they believe (the definition of agnostic is to believe, and gnostic means to know) god does not exist, but since you cannot prove he doesn't exist then you are left sitting atop a fence.

However, since you were never rational thinker when you were first introduced to religion, you shouldn't be held accountable for your beliefs. Once you become a rational thinker can you really hold any opinion that is rightfully your own. Therefore, if at ever you call yourself a name in the spectrum of atheism, that means you have become a rational thinker and were therefore never actually a theist to begin with. You had just been a mindless zombie following the mob. People who have mental conditions get that same type of treatment everyday from the court of law because they were never actually a wrong-doer, but just a "mindless zombie" as a result of their condition.

Since we KNOW that religion does simply a fairy tale and there are literally thousands of arguments to support this, then the only real debate these days are about the existance of a higher power. However, we then we need only to question how this higher power came into being. From there you see how illogical it is for a higher power to exist when by that same logic we'd demand to know what created this higher power. This is where people get really baffled, the anwser is that there was no "beginning". The universe has always been around. It could be very similiar to evolution, a simple beginning of a super super dense material that was so dense that is exploded, and became known as the Big Bang, and then this super complex organism that the universe is now (such as human beings relative to single-cellular organisms) will eventually collapse on itself due to gravity and the cycle continues.

Then there is the argument made by just supporters of religion suggesting that without it, we'd have no morals. Well even now people ignore parts of their holy books, so where do we get the morals that tell us that these parts are immoral. (Jesus said that if we don't live by the laws of the Old Test., we go to hell, and in the OT there are laws that demand stoning raped women and gays and even worse things). We get these morals that tell us to ignore these parts of the holy books by evolutionary and social neccessity.

I can go on and on, but there comes a point when you just have to cross the line and flat out deny the possibility of god, or then you have to accept the possibility there is a teapot orbiting mars.

I find this the most hilarious thing ever. I guess I was a devout christian from 7 years to 13 years old. I was Baptized at Twelve, and i did what the church asked. I never got anything from it. In fact i was depressed and had thoughts of suicide. My Uncle was the lucky dude to open up my mind in fact. He saw that i was being "Indoctrinated" or wutever, and spoke to me. He spoke to me of the bible, and made several arguements. My mom told me never to listen, but hey.. It's my choice right? Then my uncle told me to think for myself, don't listen, but look for yourself. And I Did. Guess what? God isn't there. I guess A servant a god should be kind and should accept, and never push to believe. I stayed in denial from 12, til 12 1/2. Til I finally came out. I Dont believe in god. My mother went crazy. From There i was pretty much discriminated by my family, and lost so many friends. And damn that was a hard time, but i thought that people were just being narrow-minded. I never pushed towards anyone about my belief, they asked, i gave them what they wanted to hear, and oh my atheist god!!! I converted people. Thats when more and more people started discrimnated against, disowned me. Sad sad time. I actually ended becoming a writer, a depressed one from being abandoned. Then people read my poetry, saw what they were doing was wrong. While alot came back to me, others remained narrow-minded, and wont accept me as an atheist. A.k.A My Family. They always bothered me about it, asking me why i don't believe, and after giving several explanations, they wont give up. Alot mention things like: "God is real because he has done so much for me." or against my vegetarianism. "God made meat for me to eat, so I eat it" Then i usually make a smart comment about the bible including how people never really ate meat, and the whole thing of forbidden meat to eat, and blah blah blah. They then shut- up. Or say that's not true, thebn i tell them to read the bible, but they never do it, because they are afraid of being wrong. Now im just an atheist anarchist / Smartass to adults, and do not have clouded perception of things. I see things for how they are. The truth: There is no god.

They are atheist not in the sense that they disbelieve in God, but that they have no belief in God. Religion is learned. Atheism is the default.

The baby didn't need to know anything. What I was trying to point out is that babies, and young human beings should NOT be accountable for their own beliefs because religion were forced upon them and these kids have not developed rational thinking yet. Everyone, rational thinker and religious, reckonize this under the court of law.

When these kids come of age, they can finally look at the claim themselves and decide what is real or not. Rationally, they will figure out that religion is false.

I was trying to argue that agnostic-atheist have a hard time deciding if they need to prove god doesn't exist because they had originally believed he existed. However, it SHOULD be that they should KNOW that god does not exist until someone provides the evidence to show that god exists. There should be no fence sitting. That is how science work.

"Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby"

Ummm well for most of my life I had a very lose theistic belief. I was only really taught any kind of religion when I went to church with my grandmother when I was like 8. My parents were extremely apathetic towards it until I was about 13. By that time it seemed to be to late to really get me believing anyways, but they kept trying (my parents got really religious after my father had to have surgery on his spline). I became a theistic pagan at 19, a pantheistic pagan at 21, and then an atheist at 22.

On a side note, my beliefs in an afterlife were always lax. Basically anything I did in this life had no effect on my afterlife. But of course I don't believe in that stuff anymore at all.

I would say that I was Evolving into an Agnostic as I hit 20 and around 21 I became a full Atheists after I decided to fully study Evolution with as open of a mind as I could. I used to accept Creationism as fact hahahaha yes let the insults fly. I also used to think that the bible was the Inerrant word of "god", once I studied a bit more of that I was also wrong...now I am a Happy, Freethinking Atheist.

Do we even want to know what precipitated this event? 

My mom was taking premed when I was 4-5 years old.  Along with cat in the had, I was looking at anatomy coloring books and micro biology text.   The was kind of anti religion at the time.  Then when I got a little older, my do gooder grandmother got her claws into me and and started taking me to church.  Just within the last few years have I been able to sober up and throw off the shackles of indoctrination.   I'm free at last, free at last, thank (_____ fill in blank with deity or secular humanist belief of your choice_____) I'm free at last.

I was about 17 when I realized I might be Agnostic. Then I spent several months fighting feelings of guilt and fear. I then discovered the RRS and after reading, researching, studying and asking myself the 'hard' questions I finally started calling myself an Atheist. It was hard though, feeling like you were going to hell, afraid the devil was working through you. All really silly now but back then it was terrifying.

I was Catholic but my family never read the bible. My mom gets very surprised when I tell her about Leviticus and all the stupid stuff it says about Homosexuality etc. I had to show her the bible passage. I grew up in PR, so I had to deal with having to ask the elders in the family to 'bless me'. It didn't bother me though, because it felt nice to have that 'security' of god protecting you.

My mom doesn't have a problem with my Atheism. She says that the people on this site bring up a lot of good points. I have her doubting god. Not on purpose, when I told her to check this site out it spark doubt and then when we talk about god and things like that she says it makes her doubt god. She never questioned anything about it before because she was thaught the whole 'don't question, it's test blah blah'. My grandmothe reaction was funny. I wrote about it:

 http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=183340877&blogID=289957185&Mytoken=494B0DAD-A54F-4A0A-B9DC26C97C31840F3640921

I have a friend who's a Theist and he said he didn't have a problem with it. He respected me regardless of what my views were. He was real cool about it. I did lost one friend because of the Atheism. She never said it, but I knew it was because of that.

Apart from that, I've gotten the usual stupid pesponses. I was asked if I did voodoo by a 12 year old. And I was called sad because of my disbelief by a guy who by Xian standards isn't all that great either (drugs, pre-marital sex etc). I tried explaining to that person my views but once I mentioned Evoluton I lost him. He didn't know what Evolution was.

I was asked where did I think I came from. I said my moommy and daddy loved each other very much and you know...

Anyways, I'm 18 now and ever since I deconverted,  I've never felt freer (cliché alert ) 

Default at birth - exposed to religion off and on through childhood (mostly threats of be good or go to hell or the forced viewing of billy graham when i was 'bad&#39  By around age 10 I realized that none of what I was hearing from church, Sunday School or even Billy Graham made any sense to me and I wondered why nobody "came clean" with me. I mean, this all had to be made up...they told me about Santa, why not god!

I am now 36 years old and it has taken a good portion of the last 20 years to figure out what my non-belief means. I stumbled upon the term "atheist" about 5 years ago. At that point I finally knew I wasn't strange, there were people out there just like me that held no belief in a god.