When, Where, How and Why did you become Atheist?

[AFTT47]

I was indoctrinated to Christianity as was most Americans but even at 5 years-old, I didn't accept the Genesis story. In fact, I remember being confused as to what the point of this story was as it obviously wasn't true. I accepted the God thing though until I was somewhere around 12 when it just hit me that it wasn't any different from Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. The whole thing just never resonated with me.

[Faith No More]

Why don't you tell me, bambi? I've never talked to an evangelical Christian that wasn't itching to tell me why I became an atheist.

[bambi_swag]

I became an atheist when the wheelchair in my picture fell on top of my buttsex.

Guys. Stop.

---

When I was a Christian I was very interested in apologetics. I was also a Creationist. Long story short, the more I researched for credible evidence for my beliefs to give to non-believers the less of it I found. The most important thing for me has always been to know truth, whatever it may be, which meant that I could no longer deny the truth which the evidence was pointing to, that there is no god.

So you were a Creationist too?

---

I was indoctrinated to Christianity as was most Americans but even at 5 years-old, I didn't accept the Genesis story. In fact, I remember being confused as to what the point of this story was as it obviously wasn't true. I accepted the God thing though until I was somewhere around 12 when it just hit me that it wasn't any different from Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. The whole thing just never resonated with me.

I've noticed that people around d the 12 thirteen mark become Atheist. Maybe it's the hormones and atheism is one giant hormonal rage? jk

---

Why don't you tell me, bambi? I've never talked to an evangelical Christian that wasn't itching to tell me why I became an atheist.

Idk. I want to see through your eyes.

[Mr Greene]

I was sent to a Catholic primary school;
Around the time I was 7(ish) we were marched into the adjoining church for 'first communion', -just the wafer at this point, no wine...
Afterwards one of the girls in my class started babbling about how, "It was like Jesus was right there beside us".
Next time we went in I stayed very still and quiet whilst the priest stuck the wafer on my tongue and mumbled under his breath, and I experienced;
**** all, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.
Then I started looking for corroboration on the claims, I found; 
**** all, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.
So I've been a non-believer ever since.

[Crossless2.0]

It wasn't a Eureka moment, per se, as I had doubts throughout my childhood. But things crystalized for me one Sunday in my early adolescence when I realized, during our congregation's recital of the Apostle's Creed, that I hardly believed a single word of it. It was a while before I began to identify as an atheist, but I knew then that I definitely wasn't a Christian.

[houseofcantor]

I remember being like 7 when I first started reading the Bible. I was like, "this is WTF they're talking about? Tribal desert nomads?" I thought someone was trolling me.

That got me to agnostic pretty quick. The essential certainty I have about revelation being a product of non-standard functioning of mind from having a revelation got me the rest of the way.

I became an atheist when the wheelchair in my picture fell on top of my buttsex.

Guys. Stop.

You have to watch them all the time. They're like kids.

Why don't you tell me, bambi?  I've never talked to an evangelical Christian that wasn't itching to tell me why I became an atheist.

Idk. I want to see through your eyes.

I think you were supposed to say "because you hate god" along with some vigorous finger-waving.

[drfuzzy]

I was raised Southern Baptist, then my parents moved right-ward into Pentecostal wacko land.  

I tried to hold onto my beliefs for decades.  I still play the organ for one Catholic Mass each weekend, and for 25 years I was playing 3-4 services each weekend.  

I'm kind of a perpetual scholar though.  I like Scientific American and Discover and books on comparative religion and philosophy.  And the more I studied, the more the Bible passages sounded ludicrous.  I clearly remember one service where I was just holding my head and moaning over one reading.  I actually asked a choir friend if she thought the reading was something to celebrate.  Because the story I heard was pure evil.  

I've been known to say that scientific facts kicked my dogma to the curb.  Poor dogma.  All gone.

[abaris]

Gradual process. Starting as a child, when I didn't want to believe what the priests were telling us kids. Hellfire and god taking what's dearest to us if we sin, didn't sit so well with the supposed image of an adorable deity. A long period of I don't give a shit and the final click, some 25 years ago, at a Catholic Via Dolorosa in the woods and the final answer, this is all to simplistic to be true.

[Ravenshire]

How did I become an atheist? I was born. That's it.

Don't get me wrong. I was raised in a christer home. I sought, I asked, I prayed, I fucking begged for a sign. I never found anything to believe in.

Is there something there? I can't prove there isn't, but I've never seen any convincing evidence. Hell, I've never seen anything that actually meets the criteria for evidence.

[Mister Agenda]

Though reading the Bible twice cover-to-cover cured me of being a Christian, it was exposure to apologetics and logic that tipped me over to atheist about 15 years later. Understanding burden of proof was a big part of that, along with the realization that there is no such thing as good apologetics. I don't know exactly when it happened, one day I realized I had stopped believing in God entirely.