If you don’t mind my asking, what did you modify?

My doubt in religion ironically started from being around a very religous friend of mine. One day she told me the world was 10,000 years old because the bible said so. She also made comments hinting that evolution was a lie and science is a lie. This was the first time in my life I ever heard someone say that. Even though I beleived in god, I never thought that evolution was a lie. I always tried to squeeze god and science together in the same room. After talking to my friend, I started doing alot of research on the culture war between science and religion. I watched hours of documentaries and read books. And slowly but surely it became very obvious to me. I learned that most americans dont believe in evolution to this very day. I learned about the battles in different school systems around america to teach “intelligent design” in science. I thought to myself “why are these religous people so threatened by a theory that is obviously fact? What does that say about religion if it teaches people to be ignorant of science at a very young age?”

Once the seeds of doubt were planted, there was no turning back. I looked at alot of other issues with religon, like the countless ‘holy wars’, the idea of endless damnation, the bigoted views of homosexuals, the idea of praying to a god, and the fact that “holy books” were written by mere mortals. I realized that it is all bullshit. And I was actually happy to admit to myself that there was no god. I felt like a burden was lifted. My life without religoion is a better one. My mind is now free because i had the courage to challenge what people taught me before I had a chance to think for myslelf. Before this happened I had been led to believe that atheists are devil-worshipers, or rude, unhappy people, and, if anything atheists are more open minded than others.

So, I agree with you in that regard Tim, all the best.

I should mention, I’ve never been to a church service in my life. I was in the daycare center during one once or twice. I once sat through a Tibetan Buddhist sermon for a college project, but that’s it.

I did off and on have the childish ideas of how things are that included stuff like god, heaven, angels and santa clause. I don’t know if you can call them beliefs at that age because at that age you don’t have a concept of something may be not true. Since my dad never said anything about religion or being atheist himself, I never got a counter argument for my Grandma at the time. As a child I read the kid’s bible books my grandma had, heard enough mention of it from her and the people at school. I’d ask vapid questions like “Are there strawberries in heaven?” (of course honey! was the answer. I for a year believed heaven was one long Golden Corral buffet with all of my favorite foods.) I didn’t really believe in a religion, just had some vague idea that there was a world comptroller and heaven. This never really got past the age of complete absorption of knowledge, and once I was old enough to think things out (say maybe 5 or 6) I quickly left the ideas behind with little thought. Once I heard about evolution and cave men and the vast expanse of the universe, I didn’t even have to stop and reason away religion, it just left.

I didn’t believe in a god at all at this point, but I decided that I had come up with a fool proof method of proving it when I was about 7. I was sitting on the toilet, thinking these existential thoughts, and I said in my head to god, “If you exist, give me a sign.” I sat for about a minute in a empty bathroom with no activity in it. I finished, wiped and never had a doubt since.

Though for a while after I left christianity, I would say “I used to believe in god”, I now actually don’t think I ever did, deep down.

I think I convinced myself that I did, so I could get to hang out with some people I liked, and give my life a bit of focus. Focus which, of course, I’ve since found in a multitude of other things.

My (potted) story, with the benefit of hindsight, is this.

As a late teen, I was quite alienated, and somehow (I forget this bit) I hooked up with some teens who were christians. To cut a short story shorter, I got converted, and spent about 4 to 5 years as an active christian, getting involved with the university christian union and a local church, etc.

Then a few negative events in my life generated less than charitable reactions from christian acquaintances, and I also started doing a lot of reading – both christian literature and science/current affairs, and bit by bit my faith came unravelled.

I don’t remember all the details or sequence in which the various doubts I had coalesced into full-blown unbelief (I’m over 40 now so it’s almost 20 years ago!), but I do recall that one big problem I always had was the problem of pain (at C S Lewis put it). That is, if god allows (for instance) the atrocities of Hiroshima, Vietnam, etc, is s/he *really* a god worth believing in?

Anyway, since that I became agnostic, which gradually evolved into enthusiastic atheism as I continued to educate myself through life.

However, my mind is rarely at rest. It leaves to me constantly think about things that I really don’t want to think about, but I do anyway. One of them being religion. For the longest time, I always thought, “So, Greeks had their gods, but they’re OBVIOUSLY false. Who’s to say the current generation of religions isn’t as well?”

Also, another turning point was once glancing at a list of religions. It was long. I simply sat there thinking, “How are you ALL right? I know you all believe in your own religion, but you’re not ALL right.” That led me to being agnostic. The only thing keeping me from being an atheist was the Big Bang Theory. I just didn’t think it could be possible to create everything we have now out of nothing.

The road to atheism was simple. More thought. I contradicted my own Big Bang Theory by saying that our modern science can’t tell us everything…quite yet, and maybe the Big Bang theory isn’t right. After awhile I simply thought, “No. I simply do not believe in a Star Wars Force-like being who controls all things and has a grand master plan for everything.”

As for enforcing my atheism, I’ve been given hell for not believing. From “being worried about you going to hell”, to just being plain stubborn and ignorant about the Bible being an all knowing book of sages.

For anyone trying to prove a point to a die-hard Catholic, tell them this. “Ok, let’s go find a die-hard Muslim. You can argue who’s right.” You can guarantee everything your Catholic friend has to say about them being right will be shot back at them by the Muslim. Have fun.

Oh, and having Baptist parents helps.

I went to church a few times a year when I would visit my grandparents. They were southern Babtist (I don’t know if that has anything to do with it), but I always thought it (church) was very strange, and that the other people there were somehow different than me… because they feel the need to believe in a story that is unbelievable.

My parents never discussed religion with me, so it’s not like they told me it was wrong or anything.

I would be very curious to read a study that found out the rates of religious people vs. non, and if they were raised with a lot of religious influence, a little, or none.

I would guess that mostly, people raised like myself, would take the same path of questioning, rather than devoting faith blindly.

>Because god gave me a brain.

I am with this one.

When we were given the ability to think rigorously, or at least have some critical thinking skills, we will inevitably start to doubt at least the Bible doctrines. In this sense, intellegence is sin.

Remember the apple that gave us the Original Sin? It opened Adam’s eyes and mind, and it is from “the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. I think God agrees with us that being stupid is just the right thing for him. And to enter Heaven, we have to be stupid enough not to dismiss any word of God.

Hey, aren’t these just consistent with the Bible?

I was raised religious. My mother was Baptist, and my father was Seventh Day Adventist. When I was young, we moved a few times, so we were always sampling different churches in the area to find the right fit. I went to Calvary Chapel, Episcopalian, Evangelical Free, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Latter Day Saint, and Catholic church services. When we finally settled down, we decided on a small Baptist Church in our rural town.

As a young girl, I was very familiar with Bible stories, I prayed often, and went to church regularly. I accepted everything that my family and the church told me because I trusted that they knew best. I remember being so concerned with not sinning that I would pray for forgiveness if I let a mean word slip or if I was disobedient to my mother.

When I was 15 I went to a Baptist summer camp. It was a great experience. I was surrounded by other young people who loved the Lord, there was great music, and lots of fun. During an emotional sermon I stood up and “accepted Jesus into my heart”. I cried, and everyone cheered for me. I felt completely filled up and good.

When I got home from the camp, those feelings soon faded as I realized I could not maintain that kind of elation in my daily life. I began to discuss baptism with my pastor, but everything seemed hollow and meaningless. When I was baptized at 16, I felt nothing and knew something was not right. I stopped taking communion and started doubting the things taught in my Sunday school class. I remember sneaking onto the computer one afternoon when nobody was home, and googling “atheism”. To me it seemed like a dirty, evil word and I was frightened of being caught. But I just wanted to know, did they have any valid points? But my guilt over this urge was overwhelming and I didn’t look any further.

At 18 I went away to college and during my freshman year I took a course on the religions of the world, anthropology, and geology. Learning about the many different religions in the world made me wonder, how could all of the others be wrong when they were all so convinced of their beliefs? In anthropology and geology class I discovered that the real world contradicted many of the stories in the Bible that I had been taught to interpet literally. The world was millions of years old, and humans had only been alive for a fraction of that time! At first, I began to accept the fact that perhaps the Bible was not to be taken literally, but that God was still important and my faith was not at odds with science.

But the more I learned about science and the world, the more I realized that my religion was just plain wrong; my Bible was filled with cruel and ignorant stories and it could not explain how the world began, and my fellow believers were sometimes intolerant and hypocritical in the name of God.

This is when I realized that I was an atheist. Since that point, I have never regretted this discovery. The only time I have felt a loss, is when I instinctually begin to pray at moments when things aren’t going my way. I have to stop and laugh when I realize I am talking to myself.