I didn't always know atheism was an option

[JonDarbyXIII]

I didn't grow up with any religion other than my mother's desire to instill the Golden Rule into me. Yet I still believed in God, simply because I did not know that there was any other option. Sure, I knew of other world religions, but I really didn't see any of those as anything other than 'what those backwards people on the other side of the globe believe.'

In high school and college, I knew a few people who claimed to be atheists, but these were generally people who were more anti-establishment. At the time, I still didn't particularly see atheism as anything that was a serious logical claim.

It wasn't until the first time I came across an atheist book in a bookstore that I thought, "Holy shit! There really are people who have logical reasoning for this--enough so that there is an entire book on the subject.

I have spent the past decade studying all religions, reading everything from the Bible, to the Qur'an, the Tao Te Ching, the Book of Mormon, et cetera, and I have come to the conclusion that they are all complete crap. I have now even written my own book on the subject with the goal of making sure that no one else has to grow up knowing that atheism is an intellecually tenable position.

What I want to know is.. was I naive as a child, or are there other people who just didn't know they had options?