When did you become an atheist?

[Moigle]

I started Sunday School at age four and never believed a single word they told me.

But I was a cynical little bugger. I never believed any of the regular fairy stories either.
Talking rabbits, sleeping beauties, and houses made out of gingerbread. What a lot of nonsense.

Of course I did believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy - but I had solid evidence for their existence.

[Ryytikki]

I was a Christian for about 14 years of my life, being born into a Christian family with highly Christian friends. Until i was about 13, i never really thought about my religion, just viewing church as a boring place where people go to listen to a man (i was catholic so no offence meant) talk about how to live your life so the old man in the sky is happy. When i joined year 10, i ended up with a circle of friends, all who were strong athiests. By this time i was a weak theist but slowly, with one of them talking all the time about religion, i became a weak athiest. Because i was still interested in finding out if god exists, i decided to read a abridged version of the bible
I finished as an athiest.
It wasnt what i didnt understand that scared me but what i did.

Since then, ive been very interested in religion, trying to find out as much as possible and immersing myself in debates with people from a range of ages. This has helped me open my eyes to the world and see why most people are theists, fear of death, loneliness, brain like a sheep's etc.

if only the rest of the world were like that

[nikkixsugar]

I was raised Roman Catholic, then my sis, who's 3 yrs older than me, and I started really questioning it. I then changed my religion to Buddhism. Then I looked at Buddhism less and less as a religion, and more and more like just good advice. Then I sort of dwindled in quasi-agnostic religious ambiguity for a while. Then I got REALLY interested in Darwin and Evolutionary Biology. That really (re?)-kindled my atheism.

[Cemetery]

I searched for what made sense to me for years... I have attended protestant churches, catholic churches, a Jewish synagogue, wiccan ceremonies & they all seemed fake to me.  Belief in a higher being who doesn't show her/himself just isn't realistic.  Also, the more I learned about (forensic) science & biology (thx to hubby), the more I realized no religion makes sense.  I mean, virgin births, a magical man who lives in the sky, gods & goddesses living in the trees & on a mountain make no sense & don't exist on earth or on another plain.  If you want me to believe in something, PROVE it scientifically to me.  If logic isn't involved, don't even bother.

~C

[athiest12]

i used to be a jew until my friend brett finally convinced me that there  really is no god. i didn't axccept what he was telling me at first but then i researched the topic and slowly began to understand how the world really worked. he gave me a book called God is Not Great. it really helped clear things up. but saldy i hvae yet to tell my family that i have shed my jewish identity and am now an athiest. i'm not sure how to tell them that i don't beilive in god anymore. kinda a big thing  

[Moigle]

I went to Sunday School for the first time when I was four years old and I never believed any of the stories they told me. I can still remember peering into my teacher's face and trying to work out if she really believed this rubbish, or did adults just tell lies to kids as a matter of course.

[Jolly Sapper]

From the posts in this thread, it seems like there is a resounding lack of "becoming" an atheist and more of a "realizing" or "accepting" a disbelief in god/religion.