around 14 years old.been doing great since less worries although i receive more threats and people usually shun me for not believing.

When I was 27 years old around 2001

When I was born. Even though I was sent to a Christian primary school, my parents (who are Atheists) knew I was intelligent enough to know the mandatory songs I had to sing and biblical stories I had to listen to on Wednesdays were bullshit. I even remember thinking that what they kept telling me was just a long fairytale, until I had my first RE lesson when I learned that people actually took it as truth, then I just..

(April 22, 2011 at 2:38 am)TheReligiousAtheist Wrote: Hello my name is Ilias, i live in Greece and im 14 years old. Personaly i stoped believe in god since last summer. In what age did you realise God does not exist? do you think that if our society was stricter about religious beliefs we would still find out or its only a few illuminated that would find out anyway? I apologise for my bad english its not my mother tongue anyway

The fact is, that I never found out that "God didn't exist." The fact is, in English, a phrasing like this implies a level of certainty that just plain does not exist, save for objects which are logically impossible (like Square Circles.) For this reason, I prefer the phrasing "Stopped believing God exists." And quite honestly, I cannot ever recall having ever been a true believer; as early as age six, I figured out that John 3:16 could essentially be boiled down to "God sacrificed himself to himself to change a rule he made himself." When I was in high school, I stopped identifying as Christian. I'm 21 now.

That said, about your second question, there is little need for speculation, and I can simply summarise what has happened; when society was stricter about religion, non-belief was either rarer, or (since absence of evidence is not evidence of absence) was less often spoken about. When society becomes more open about differing ideas, they will come out.

You are forgiven for your poor english. At least it's better than this guy's english.

(April 22, 2011 at 4:26 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: I think it was the middle age, just after the witch burnings.

They're still burning (among other things) witches, Frods. You have to get out more.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18...24943.html

Quote:Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

You're wrong, Gary. It isn't an outrage. It's Nostalgia Night for the bastards.

(April 23, 2011 at 11:48 pm)BeoTurtle Wrote: When I was born.

When you were born???? 1 week old? 6 weeks old? 8 weeks old and you already knew that there was no god??? Impressive. My son is not quite 3 years old and he can't even wrap his mind around the concept of lifting the toilet seat, let alone the complex nature of the existence or non-existence of deities.

(April 24, 2011 at 10:24 pm)Minimalist Wrote: They're still burning (among other things) witches, Frods. You have to get out more.

With acid. Hmmm tenuous...

(April 24, 2011 at 10:24 pm)Minimalist Wrote:

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They're still burning (among other things) witches, Frods. You have to get out more.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18...24943.html

Quote:Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

---

You're wrong, Gary. It isn't an outrage. It's Nostalgia Night for the bastards.

Let's hear for that old time religion!!

Hallelujah brothers!!!!

I don't believe I, or anyone else, has ever "found out that gods do not exist", I simply became aware of the lack of a good reason to believe such a thing, that was around the age of 5-6. I largely put this early realization down to my love of Egyptian mythology, seeing the similarities (and in my opinion the superiority) of the Egyptian religious narratives compared to the "Judeo-Christian" ones while at the same time being told by obnoxious authority figures that the former was false and the later were true for no other reason, it seemed, than the name of the book in which the stories were contained - This is all despite my frequent attendance of "Sunday schools" with friends who had religious parents.

I don't doubt that the absolute lack of religious encouragement by my parents had something to do with it also.