As a starter I was, probably like most of you atheists and other free thinkers, baptized, but not because my parents were religious, but because a friend of my mother convinced her it would look bad not to do it in such a small and devout town. And she was right, and I know it from experience, because there were rumors that two new kids in town weren’t baptized and people already disliked them for that and for their mother not being married in a church ceremony (in fact at that time, my parents had a church wedding in secret because they were afraid people would find out they weren’t even married by the church and they and my mom’s friend had convinced the priest to baptize me without even being married). So, yeah, I come from a very religious small town, and even my mother and I attended church for little more than a year there because her friend asked her to help her with sunday school and to organize a very important religious event when she was sick, so my mom had to be integrated because it involved more people. But my own family wasn’t very religious - my father was an atheist and my mother was spiritual but wasn’t religious at all for most of my childhood and adolescence, and also for most of it we didn’t attend church except sporadically on christmas because my mom liked the tradition (now she doesn’t even do that). So this is my experience with church: about an year of stupidity, and a few more sporadic events (weddings, christmas, etc.). As for me, I never had a strong belief in god or Jesus as the son of god and his resurrection (I think the correct term to use here would be agnostic), and didn’t even think about it much until I was about 10 years old. We also didn’t discuss this topics at home much. Then, one day I woke up and was sure of my disbelief - after reflecting on it for a while of course. As I grew up I realized I was an “atheist”, and that happened when I was 11 or 12 years old. I didn’t have much trouble with coming out as an atheist, although my parents, especially my mother, wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about when I criticized religion. The questions they asked me, as I was seeking an answer, made me grow more into my atheism, and become a more informed atheist. Later I learned that my dad was an atheist too (although I knew he wasn’t religious already), but not my mother (the best term here is “pantheist”), although she wasn’t religious either… Later, when I was starting high school I considered strong atheism for a while, then I identified as an agnostic atheist (between 5 and 6 in the dawkins scale that goes up to 7) towards the end and when I started college (in a different program than the one I am enrolled now and I’m gonna end up majoring in). Then, I was a militant atheist for a while, although still an agnostic atheist. I’ve written many texts about atheism and related topics like evolutionary science and creationism - yes, including addressing claims that stated evolution doesn’t bring information into the genome, therefore god must have done it, which isn’t true because there are mechanisms that do bring information into the gnome, including gene duplication. I’ve written these texts in my blogspot blogs and google page [which aren’t in english so, I won’t bother to link to these pages], on tumblr in my previous blogs about atheism and even in this last blog. I also wrote about the relationship between mental health and religion (and found religion didn’t always had positive effects), as well as about the relationship between cognitive functioning and cognitive abilities and atheism/ religion, including posts in which I stated studies found a positive correlation between atheism and IQ of 0.6, as well as posts where I based my text on a study that found atheists think more rationally and have what is called a “rational brain”, and stated religious people were more on the emotional side. I’ve also exposed the genetic and environmental influences on religion, spirituality and atheism - tendency to believe is genetic, but religion has to do with culture and upbringing. So I’ve done my part on discussing the topic from an intellectual perspective, and now I’m probably one of the most laid back atheists in the entire world and now I mostly joke about it while stating some truths, and use my knowledge on the topics of atheism and related from time to time.
I’m in my senior year of college and I’m a psychology major with some professional training in clinical psychology and neuropsychology, and I would say I’m now a somewhat mature and adult atheist that is getting tired of refuting the same old tired religious arguments - including arguments about mental health and religion, and including creationist arguments. But there’s one thing I won’t tolerate and that is intellectual fraud - asserting you’re something you’re not just to look cool and intellectually credible - such as people saying they’re deists when they’re in fact theists (and possibly christian theists) and that they’re moderates when they’re fanatics… But then their actions won’t be in accordance with their words and if you’re that person, you’ll be discovered quickly.
So this was my journey into my atheism, I hope I managed to be enlightening.

P.S.: When this was written I was in my senior yer, but now I'm studying forensic science (biology and chemistry branch) for a post-graduate diploma

This is a really good idea, for people to share and read about different experiences...

I've been an atheist for as long as I can remember. Even at my youngest point, sitting in church with my grandmother, none of it made sense. I was lucky enough to not be made to attend any such services before eight or nine years old. I'd already learned the truth: All those fairy tales that made childhood so magical, you know, Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, God/Jesus, and the Care Bears were just that, stories.

Now, the confusing bit was why my adult parents (well, my mother, my father's religion is quite newly found in the last several years, though I can't confess to know why,) and grandparents so insisted that "God" was there when they, themselves, had already discredited the others. Sure, there's that big black book with the ancient writings of the original oppressors, but, I mean, this was the 80s... The 1980s... we should have all moved out of the Dark Ages of ignorance and blindly following imaginary figures.

The Earth is round, the Universe is flat (last I checked, that tends to be an ever changing concept,) and there are no gods. These things call to me because they make sense. Rational thinking should always result in the same answer: Science! Thunder isn't God bowling, stars don't fall out of the sky, and when we die, all we've left to do is fertilize the ground (thank you Dawkins.)

By the age of ten, I thought of praying to a god as useful as tossing a coin into the fountain at the mall and making a wish... both yielded identical results; no Mustang for my birthday, no best selling novel, and I'm STILL not married to Megan Fox, Mila Kunis, or Keira Knightley (the names might have been different when I was a kid, but, same concept.) Still hoping on that novel, though... that involves writing it and I just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I'll pray some more.

I came to realize that my disgust (or at least doubt) about the violent god of the Abrahamic religions couldn't be due to my sense of morality originating from that god. Ultimately I decided that if an all-powerful god has a warped sense of justice, I can never be sure of doing the right thing (in terms of my personal salvation) except by following my own standard. My conclusion is that a reasonable being would not condemn you for honest beliefs.

I read the old testament when I was 14.. That was after reading countless scifi books. I found the bible to be even more unrealistic than even the shittiest book i read. So i put two and two together.

I still occasionally read it. I've read the Islamic and jewish and hindu texts as well. Not for religious reasons as im an athiest obviously but I see these books the way not many do. These are stories that were written thousands of years ago by men and that fascinates me. We are literally reading the imagination of someone who lived thousands of years ago. I find it great.

Hi everyone i just joined this is my first post. i think i was always an atheist but i finally admitted it in 2016 and have been reading and gathering information since then trying to understand and learn more about everything and myself. I am an atheist because i don't believe in any super natural powers be it good or bad i don't think that any god is going to save me from anything. i believe that the only life i am going to leave is on earth i don't agree that my best life will be leaved after i die.

The main thing that tipped me over the edge of theism was the realization that there are many different religions, all of which contradict each other. Many of these religions claim of an afterlife, of either heaven or hell. If christianity was right, then ~70% of the people that the so "loving" god created would be sent to hell. If islam was correct, then ~80% of the people that the so "loving" allah created would be sent to hell. It just didn't make any sense to me. If god was real, he would be considered as evil. He would only take his gullable children to haven and burn everybody for an eternity of they used logic and reason to justify their beliefs. I would not want to worship a god like that for eternity.

Welcome to the site.... Nothing ends faith like a bit of intelligence and willingness to read the Bible.

Ah, yes, Bible, the single most effective thing at converting people into Atheists. A good read indeed.

My story is much more simple. I learned to read at the age of five, and given my mother's educational background, various books about biology were some of my very first fascinating reads. I still preferred children tales, like Red Riding Hood, Three Piglets and similar stuff. Especially the abundance of different culture native folk stories, which our family acquired. I still find them as much better early sources of basic moral lessons than anything. But I couldn't help returning to the various encyclopedias, describing plants and animals I had no chances of encountering in my own life.

Either way, given the recently collapsed Soviet Union, my parents figured it was a good idea to send me and my elder sis to Sunday school. Despite themselves not being Christians, they figured we might get better chances in our future if we became ones. Not a bad decision, given the unstable political issues at the time. One that didn't account for our genes. Pops, despite not finishing his education, partly due to the economical pressure due to collapse, was still pretty intelligent. Same as our mother. Needless to say, genetics took over, and we, the two oldest siblings, found ourselves stuck in a weird situation.

Every week, we walked ~1km to our Sunday school. Something we did out of pure curiosity and free cookies. To this day I believe the cookies were actually the ones most contributing to the conversion of the other children. But despite being praised as blessed, simply because we were some of the few that could actually read, it didn't feel right. Not the bible part, though. The verses we were given to read actually seemed rather intriguing and nice. Much like the fairy tales we had grown used to. The weirdness came from other children getting scolded for not being able to read at all.

I still love my sis for what she did back then. I was just 6 and rather easily influenced, especially by her, so it didn't come as too big of a surprise how she convinced the dumbfounded lady that it had been God's will that prevented the other children from learning to read. Needless to say, her relationship with the people running the Sunday school worsened pretty quickly after that. After all, they were constantly proven false by a little girl, who simply used the God's word against what they themselves were teaching to the children.

In the end, it only took a couple month, before they came to our parents, complaining about her behavior. But despite how much they wanted to get my sis scolded, it wasn't something meant to be in our house, devoid of firm beliefs on any kind. On the contrary, as the Christians had left, she got praised for being smart. But our days of free cookies had abruptly ended with that. Something I only came to appreciate later.

Despite having received some form of basic teachings of Jesus, I continued to read my good old children's books. But I found way too many similar lessons in almost every nationality's folk tales. Following my inquiry why the God needed such a complicated book to convey such simple messages, made my parent's speechless. They later told me they felt both relieved and frightened at me seemingly believing God. Enough to scold my sis for trying to convince me otherwise. That, and my regular retreat to my mother's encyclopedias was enough to seed doubt in my young mind.

Still, it took quite some time of philosophical struggles. What little time I had spent among Christians, had planted a firm certainty of there having to exist a higher power. Enough to make me contemplate different kinds of Woo-woo, despite discarding the idea of Bible or any other holy book being the only true word of the divine power. It was only once I entered high-school, and the deepened immersion in physics mine offered. Only then, going through the curriculum, and slowly making more sense of the world, I finally discarded the last notion of a supreme entity.

10 years, from 6 to 16, I had spent troubled. Despite leaning towards Christianity, I didn't take any religion, be it Judaism or Islam, I had spent still convinced of some higher power or meaning. Thoughts that still occasionally appear in my mind, as I find myself contemplating about recent discoveries or theories in physics. Making me curse what little time I had spent as a child in the seemingly kind environment. But now, having learned that the world can be explained much more simply, elegantly, I've spent the other half of my life enjoying it's wonders.

It's a simple story, how plain bribery and some sweet words can affect young children. Myself for one, otherwise a very smart child, as everyone seemed to think. (Way more lazy though) To this day I remember how I accepted the seemingly free cookies, not even understanding what it was I was giving up in return. Which was my own judgement, concept, that hardly existed for me back then.

I can only feel blessed my indoctrination lasted for such a short time. Else I'm not sure I could've completely gotten out of believing Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows. Even if Christianity itself fell quite soon, the basic concept pushed into me was hard to shake. Enough to make me hate the church system as much as my father seems to. Not the people, I've still met plenty of decent religious folks. But apart from having good relationships with them, I can only feel deeply sorry for them.

After all, I myself experienced how hard it is to fix something broken in your early years. And I can't help but wish there was an easy way to help fix what has been constantly kept in the mint broken condition for years by something other than themselves. God is such a liar, promising us free will, isn't he? At least he sure ain't controlling what his own people are doing in his name, to oppose they own deity's will.

But people don't see it that way, like my parents did. If anything, the rather lax attitude of mine that I should be free to believe whatever, had helped. Maybe not directly, leaving me with no concrete support in my exploration of the subject. But that in itself had saved me from prejudiced views. Something I will be forever grateful for. Because it taught me how to learn, which I hope to do for the remainder of my life.

Just hopefully, I can ultimately learn of a way to show people their misconceptions. Their blindness to their own blindness. And not just with religion. I don't plan on ever convincing larger groups of people to at least reevaluate their views, but if I can show my close ones the limitations in their own mind, their weakness to indoctrination, it would be great.

Hoping to learn some great ways of achieving that here! o/

Haha, that sounds rather interesting :D

My memory about finally managing to read a whole page about various tigers without help is why I remember the biological encyclopedia so well. As for my enjoyment of various other books - Bible not being among the very first probably helped. Besides, various folk tales are mild, generally happily ending entertainment in comparison to Old Testament. For a child they made some very enjoyable winter evenings.

And yeah, the early taint isn't easy to get over with. If anything, I'm planning to look around and see how other people came to realize their lack of beliefs. maybe that will give me some clues.

Either way, glad to be around, hoping to learn tons indeed ( ^u^)

Im 19(just turned!) , from Iran.
Here is my story :

I was burn in a shia muslim family.You know here being muslim equals to being a fundamentalist muslim.Many read and act to Quran literally and believe that we can extract scientific facts from this book.My family wasnt an exception.
I remember first time i asked my mom about qualities of paradise , my question was if i can bring my computer there or play with computer in heaven! and the answer was obviously no you cant! It was the first negative feeling about anything of religion i can remember i had.

i didn't get abused physically so much from my father.But when it happened the reason was just religious moral teachings.
Once for entering our neighbors home while she didnt wear hijab(And I was 8 years old).I know its weired but it really happened.
Several times because i wouldnt like to wake up for namaz in the early morning(and i was a child and didn't even reach the age of reason(15)).

But It didnt work since i was a child and a lonely nonsocial child.I couldnt understand these horrible actions origin is religion.

The first time i really started questioning religion was last year.I was doing good at university.Enjoying activities i liked such as studying books , programming , etc.For the first time i felt that i can do much more in my life after painful school age.I tried to be a bit more social.Near the end of year my parents prepared a religious trip to Iraq(It was their dream since my childhood).I wouldnt like to go with them because i knew i will have to waste so much time there.I forgot to bring my books and laptop and just brought my ipad.In the first day my Intellectual ability flourished rapidly and i googled so many questions.My interesting problems were problem of hell , existence of free will.
It was a mystery for me what god should do with a brainwashed innocent Isis kid that kills people.what god should do with brainwashed terrorists.
Will he burn them in hell forever? I was looking for solution all the time.I got sick and depressed , lost weight so much.
In quora I saw answers from Atheists.
It was unbelievable for me how an atheist can live without belief to afterlife , to a divine source.How they get on fear of non-existence , fear of losing , etc.
I was scared and confused.It continued for several days.My parents said it may be better for me to ask my theological concerns from mulla of travel group.It seemed pointless to me.
I didnt expect a good answer from him because he seemed ignorant to me.But my depression got worse and i finally decided to talk with him.
For the Isis kid he gave me this answer : People whom can not think well(Mostazaf) will not go to hell.Kids specially will be servants of ahl-al-bait.
For the grown up terrorists he gave me this answer : they will go to hell because of their decisions , if not decisions in this world , in pre-birth world(Alame-zar).We have hadith that there are people who act evil because in Alame-zar they didnt say "ashhad" clearly and undoubtly.

I was so weak and depressed , i dont know how but his answers seemed acceptable to me(I was just seeking for answer , but couldnt think logically at that time).
After a week we came back home.Guess what , I got depressed again.It got worse and worse since my parents couldnt understand me.I was really confused and scared.
I got familiar with Richard Dawkins , Sam Harris and other popular Atheists.Their speeches seemed joyful and logical to me.I spent time several weeks just watching videos and googling to find answers.I dont know exactly when i became atheist.Because i hated labeling myself atheist.

Its about 3 months that Im atheist.I love my parents but its illogical for me to tell them the truth.Theyre really emotional persons.

and sorry for my bad English!

PS : Site throws a php exception when i use emoji in comments!

And like many religious people you think you have become something different than what you are. YOU DO NOT BECOME ATHEIST. There is no such thing. You have only stopped being Muslim. You have stopped being a human being with a label. To wear Atheism like a label is to make it no different than a religion. Atheism is the lack of a belief in God or gods. Buddhism is the belief in Buddha and his teachings. Christianity is the belief in Christ and his teachings. Judaism is the belief in God and his teachings. Islam is the belief in Muhammad and his teachings. Atheism is not a belief. Atheism is only a position that asks, why should I believe? And thus far the religions of the world have only offered up fallacies, stories, condemnations, and threats of death to support their positions. Why should I believe anything on threat of death? Atheists are still waiting for the evidence.