Childhood Experiences with atheists?

[TrueChristian]

Have any of you had any experiences with atheists as children? If so, what did you think of them?

How many of you have been atheists since childhood?

Personally, I never really did, or at least not atheists who were vocal about it. I grew up Catholic in Minnesota. Many of my friends and family friends were Catholic, Lutheran/mainline protestant with a few jews and (fewer) evangelicals thrown in as well.

To the extent I knew about atheists I thought they were sad,mean and unhappy people who just hated God and were selfish.

I realize that was a mistaken asssumption.

I didn't really get the whole "atheism" thing until college where I met a number of atheist (or at least agnostic) people and began researching the topic more.

Although Im not an actual atheist, Im something of an agnostic with one foot in the RCC and one foot out of it. I don't really get the whole "why would a good God allow suffering" question and the various answers I've received never really were able to explain the really atrocious things that happen to people, and why the "free will" of the victims of the atrocities is rarely honored.

So.. thoughts/experiences?

[Chad32]

I didn't evangalize much when I was a kid, but I remember trying to talk about Jesus at school once. The guy said he wasn't real, and the bible was full of lies, and I was kind of shocked. I didn't know how to deal with someone who didn't believe in Jesus at all, since I lived in a bubble and thought everyone believed he existed. It was just that some people chose not to follow him. So I just didn't associate with those people.

Now look at me. Posting on an atheist website, wondering why anyone in this day and age would even believe so much in that book. Or any other holy book.

[downbeatplumb]

I have been an atheist all my life. But to be honest in the UK religion is a private thing so most people I know would not know it and what they believe is also private. Americans seem to make a big thing of religions and broadcast it to whoever is in the vicinity but the only times you would know what people believe here is when they get married and die. Oh Rick was a catholic you may say at his funeral, Stacies a Jew at her wedding. the only real exception is female muslims who still have to wear head coverings etc. It still un-nerves me seeing a woman in full medieval Islamic garb doing the shopping or something and then their husband rocks up in jeans and a t-shirt.

[drfuzzy]

I was raised completely loony-bin fundamentalist. Private schools, churches with speaking-in-tongues, all of that crap. I remember my Mother reading an article about Madalyn Murray-O'Hair and just going off on a rant:  How the woman was probably the Anti-Christ, surely she was at least demon-possessed, and somebody needed to go shoot her in the head.  It was good, though, because it was proof that the Rapture was surely going to happen very soon.  That's pretty much my experience with atheists before the age of . . . oh, about 18.

[Losty]

My parents taught us that atheists worship Satan and sacrifice kids and animals

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I was taught to eat babies from a very young age, and have thus been an atheist my entire life.

[vorlon13]

Had one classmate in grade school and him and no one else in that family would ever talk about religion. We all assumed atheism, but never knew. Still don't know in fact, although the dad has since passed and there is a cross etched on his stone. Curiously, mom has been dead 3 years now and still is not next to husband or acknowledged on the stone. A minor mystery I guess, but I have bigger things to worry about.

Uncle Ed was apparently an atheist, but with a twist, he might have actually been religious, (hard to tell) but his incredible cheapness precluded him from ever setting foot in a church where he might have been hit up for a donation. No funeral for him or his wife, both were cremated and scattered on a remote beach in
California by a family friend. My parents would have NEVER brought up the subject of atheism around the kids for fear of putting weird ideas in their heads. Same with suicide, stillbirths, homosexuality and a few other topics. Never speak of it, then it doesn't exist.

[Athene]

My mother became more and more fundamentalist in her beliefs (Pentecostal) throughout my childhood and adolescence, but my father was always a quiet atheist. I never harbored any ill-feelings towards him because it, despite being a casual believer at the time. I actually appreciated his more rational approach to solving problems. 

Much of his family were atheists, as well. I always enjoyed it when they came around. Never gave much thought to their being atheists though, because it wasn't important to me.

[Iroscato]

Ah, a delightful picture of our beloved Dark Prince, Satan, in one of his myriad of guises.

[AFTT47]

My great grandfather may have been an atheist but he never talked about it. I had a childhood friend who confided in me that he doubted the existence of Jesus Christ when we were somewhere around 12. It was about the same time I came to the conclusion that God = Santa Clause.