Wat age did you START the journy to atheism

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Lmale's picture
Wat age did you START the journy to atheism

Ive asked this on quora ( im william robb there) and i am asking here , im considering an attempt at writing based on a hunch, iive had a good but small response way way too low a sample to make claims but my hunch seems a good possibility so far.

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Snake's picture
What are you writing? Hunch

What are you writing? Hunch on what?
Um I was in different religious preschools and then I started questioning my church based off of the ideals of what I though was right or wrong or how well the church was performing in that
I've associated myself as a Atheist since around I found the word, when I was.....12-13? Maybe lol
Are you asking when I associated myself or what age I started doubting the church?

Sloth's picture
When I had just turned 15.

When I had just turned 15.

Steampunk Atheist's picture
Well it is hard to really put

Well it is hard to really put a date on it, but the closest I can come to is about 14. I had always kinda questioned the religion I grew up with (Christianity), cause, well come on. Talking animals? Mass murder? Rape victims having to marry their rapists? It was all bullshit. SO yeah I guess that is it.

ImFree's picture
I was raised in a Church of

I was raised in a Church of Christ home. The first time I remember doubting was at the age of about four in bible class. The Sunday school teacher was telling the story of Adam and Eve and the talking snake. I remember thinking that sounded odd; however, I went along since authority figures said it was legitimate. Years later, the final straw was in college when I took Geology (age 22) which included a field trip. After examining fossils in and out of the classroom and taking into account the massive age gap of 4.5 billion years – 6,000, I could no longer give creationism the benefit of the doubt.

Weinhagen's picture
It was the day I asked about

It was the day I asked about the dinosaurs when it was open mic with the priest (15)

JadeB's picture
I started disbelieving in 5th

I started disbelieving in 5th grade when I had an Atheist science teacher who began explaining the true age of the Earth and it made much more sense than what I was learning in church. I began researching different paths at 12 when I entered junior high school and gained access to the library which contained many different helpful books against religion. I denounced Christianity in 9th grade. My junior year I found Paganism and identified with that for about a year and a half. I have been full-fledged Atheist since I was 18. So, I would say I started my journey to Atheism at 12.

doniston's picture
Ive likely been at it the

Ive likely been at it the longest I started at 13 72 years ago

CyberLN's picture
It was never a journey for me

It was never a journey for me. I've 'lived' here in atheist land since age zero.

doniston's picture
If you want to write it, I

If you want to write it, I have a lot to say, See my threads elsewhere on his forun titaled OBI=WAN KANOBI and LET THE FORCE BE WITH YOU ( they should be interesting reading) I also posted below.

Lmale's picture
Its been quite interesting i

Its been quite interesting i saw the spikes i expected and saw something i didnt expect a man who became an atheist at 70 did not see that coming but when he explained iunderstood lets just say at that age you dond bend you break.
So theres 4 groups in order of most to least: early teens (highschool), late tens to early twenties (college), preteens motly from never fully accepting the stories and finally the least adults no surprise there once your an adult theists chance to change is very low. I didnt expect as many preteens but the order was expected.
Exposure to new knoledge seems to be the key up till mid twentyies after that it will most likely be a reaction to trauma depressing that adults supposedly able to understand are near impossible to change.

Lmale's picture
So i think ill try to write

So i think ill try to write an article about concentrating on exposing people to unbiased knowlege from 10 to 25 no need to tell them to be atheist that will come naturally if you can get them interested in learning. Ill be including some of the responses but anonymously of course.

Nyarlathotep's picture
I was lucky enough to have

I was lucky enough to have never believed. I'm sure this was possible because I was raised by my grandparents who were Socinian Unitarians (an extremely progressive Christian denomination). So when I expressed doubts, they were encouraged not discouraged.

I have a great deal of respect for you (the majority of people on this forum) who were raised in an environment where their early doubts and questions were suppressed instead of encouraged, yet still managed to escape the shackles of religion at some point.

ex-christian_atheist's picture
I was 18. When I had moved

I was 18. When I had moved out of my parents house and was old enough that my parents didn't hurridly answer any question I had that might challenge my faith. And when I didn't have an immediate answer to explain away every hard question, my faith was gone very quickly.

SonOh1's picture
My parents were teaching me

My parents were teaching me to be religious, but I'm not sure if I remember believing in god. About 9 years old I had the last straw with religion when reading a history text book in class which brought up a few ancient Egyptian gods. People had once believed in these gods, but obviously we know that they are not real now, and I saw no difference between these gods and the one my parents insisted was true. I hadn't heard the term Atheist until three years later and it took another year before I knew what it was.

Timothy Nimmo's picture
I don't think it was any one

I don't think it was any one moment. I remember in my mid to late teens beginning to question a lot of things the preachers said. The answers were always lame as hell. The one that stands out most, and got me to really start asking tougher and tougher questions: I asked one of the preachers, "If god sees everyone as the same, and looks only at their soul; then why is it wrong for black people to marry whites? " He thought for a while, then came, "Well if you notice in nature, there are grey squirrels and red squirrels. They are both squirrels but they don't mate with each other. It's the same with blacks and whites... it's just against god's natural order that they should marry." I thought 3 things simultaneously. 1) That's not in the bible, that's just something this you made up to support your own racist belief. 2) That's all you've got? Really? That's the weakest eff-ing thing I've ever heard. 3) What a douche-bag!

Like I mentioned before; that was the point where I began asking harder and harder questions. Kind of like when you have something wooden that cracks and groans. You start twisting it, leaning on it, or placing greater and greater weight on it to see how much force it takes to break it. The harder the questions became, the weaker the answers got.

bigmanboom101's picture
I asked my preacher that same

I asked my preacher that same exact thing, but the only thing he told me is that "it is gods will that we marry someone of our own race", I thought he was a loving and caring god? Not a judgemental ass

bigmanboom101's picture
I was a Christian my entire

I was a Christian my entire life up to about when I was 15 and I was a freshman in high school. I started questioning the bible and the church when they told multiple different stories of the same act and everytime they collected a "offering" I wondered where the money went, then they started renovating the church and I figured out by myself that it was only a offering to stingy assholes

Lmale's picture
You know what if religion

You know what if religion didnt always ask for money there would be a few less atheists.
Their greed has caused doubts in so many and doubts are the beginning i havent ever managed to convince a theist that had no doubts to begin with.
Im also seeing the immorality of the holy books are a large source of doubters someone said i forget who 'properly read the bible is the greatest force for creating atheists' even more than the number of people who doubted because of evolution.

Kataclismic's picture
My step-father was a devout

My step-father was a devout Catholic, read the bible everyday and prayed to Jesus every night. When I was about six our family dog died and I said that I would just have to wait until I went to heaven to see her again. My step-father was adamant about correcting me, saying that dogs don't go to heaven, only people with souls do. I decided that if my dog wasn't there waiting for me then I didn't want to go. That was the beginning, years later it occurred to me that he could lie about Santa Claus all day long but couldn't possibly leave me to think I might see my dog again. Then Disney told me 'All Dogs go to Heaven' so he was wrong anyway.

Disney Fan Greg's picture
I am so very envious of all

I am so very envious of all of you people that became atheists at such a very young age. It would have saved me so much grief. I grew up in the Assembly of God Church, which, for those of you that don't know, is VERY fundamentalist. I realized as a boy that I am gay, and you can't imagine the head trips that were laid on me. I still call those experiences, "child abuse."

I didn't start on my path to "disbelief" until the late 1980, in my mid 30s. It started in, of all places, Alcoholics Anonymous, which for all intents and purposes is a "religious" organization, relying on belief in a "higher power" and communication through "prayer and meditation." The group I attended was so very diverse, that I began to question, "What belief is the 'correct' belief.

I began to study religious history. When I discovered that the Jesus narrative was cooped from other more ancient religions, I could no longer hold on to Christianity. This was quite traumatic at the time. I took the label "deist" for a few more years until I just couldn't see any reason to hold on to the idea of a supernatural being.

Eventually, this became freeing. I stopped taking life so personally, and embraced the randomness of life.

CyberLN's picture
Welcome, Greg, nice to have

Welcome, Greg, nice to have you join us.

Disney Fan Greg's picture
Thank you! :D

Thank you! :D

Jeff Vella Leone's picture
have a nice watch about

have a nice watch about christian origin.

i know that you must be curious of why Christianity was invented.

http://vimeo.com/69145519

SwollenGoat's picture
I was raised in an Anglican

I was raised in an Anglican household, attended church weekly, did Sunday school, was part of the youth group and also was an altar boy.
My mother gave my siblings and I the choice at 15 to either continue with the church or we were free to do as we wanted. I always had serious doubts about the existence of a god from a fairly young age, so the choice to break from the church was an easy one for me.
I didn't really become a serious atheist till my 30s when I started seeing all the damage organized religion had done and was doing to this planet. The idea that these archaic systems of belief still hold such influence over all areas of the world, to me, is mind boggling.
First post here, I've lurked for a bit and like what I see here. I hope to be a contributing member.

Lmale's picture
Thanks everyone who answered

Thanks everyone who answered its been real interesting reading.
Notice no mentions of atheist brainwashing lol
You should all be proud the fact that you broke the brainwashing of religion is a testiment to your mental fortitude.

Jeff Vella Leone's picture
Thanks Lmale, it was not easy

Thanks Lmale, it was not easy thing, especially for kids which only saw their parents as always right.

ImFree's picture
Thanks Lmale, a big part of

Thanks Lmale, a big part of the problem is most people don’t actually read, much-less question their bibles. They just sit in a pew on a weekly basis and agree with whatever cherry-picked verses their preacher puts in the sermon that day. The internet is helping to change that though : )

Lmale's picture
Yep reading the whole thing

Yep reading the whole thing started me the lack of evidence and evidence against came much later.
I didnt have the internet and took 4 years i think the internet would atleast have halved that time for me.
It annoys me when theists try to flip the brainwashing accusation onto atheists and the media. No one tried to influence me (except my parents ofc lol) it was a personal struggle. And the media part is ridiculous when their side has fox news which statistics showed only 16% of the crap they said was true.
The internet is a great help to atheism but the bible read completely is better. No truly moral person (current day morals) can accept the morality in the bible (if they read it all) though preachers work hard to mitigate the evil morality in the bible by saying things like leviticus doesnt count or id didnt really endorsed slavery it was just sayong how to survive being a slave.

Jeff Vella Leone's picture
yea what they do not know is

yea what they do not know is that the priests just lie to their faces.

They make people repeat every mass:

God is all knowing, can do everything and is love but in reality, god is not all knowing and cannot do everything.
Nowhere in the bible does it say that god can do everything, and if he is all knowing then he knows our future precisely, which means there is no free will at all and judgment becomes meaningless since he already knows the result.
Also he is definitely not love except love for evil.

This are just extra bits the church invented and exaggerated with time to make god appear too great.

Though hell is in the bible contrary of what some people think.

Lmale's picture
Lol a little dig at benames

Lol a little dig at benames there? :)

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