What changed your mind?

[Good and Godless]

I had an atheist boyfriend in college who I argued with about beliefs and eventually tried to convert to Christianity (to no avail, of course).  He may have watered my seed of doubt, but I think it had been planted for a long time.  I was already disenchanted with the Catholicism of my childhood, and soon found that no other religion made any more sense to me.  I read the God Delusion.  I read  the End of Faith.  Atheism started to make more and more sense, both from a logical and moral standpoint.

For me, the final moment of clarity came when I thought about this:  I CANNOT explain or justify human behavior within the framework of any deity- personal god or uninvolved creator.  Classic atheist arguments aside, I simply can't accept that we are the product of an intelligent and powerful designer.  However, I can totally justify human nature as a product of evolution.  We are simply another species.  We are selfish, territorial, ethnocentric and competitive because nature rewards that.  Sure, we have evolved to a point where we can see the benefits of building community and seeing to the needs of others, but deep down, we are still largely run by our primal urges and the need to propagate our species.

What is surprising to me is how free and beautiful my life feels without belief in the supernatural.  When I was a believer, I (like most believers) thought that an atheist must live a sad, meaningless existence.  On the contrary, I feel a much more immediate sense of appreciation and awe for the world and a genuine desire to do good in THIS life for the sake of doing good, not because I feel obligated to earn some reward.

Plus, I get the satisfaction of knowing I am right, and that feels pretty damn good, too.

[Velma]

For me, it was arguing with my grandmother about abortion.  I was a fundamentalist christian and she was a feminist who never called herself one.  One day it dawned on me that someone was lying to me and my grandmother had never lied to me a day in my life.  That was when the cracks started appearing.  I started questioning and searching for myself - god and the answers to my questions had to be out there somewhere.  At first, I returned to the catholic church I was raised in looking for answers, but it did not take long for me to realize that there were no answers there either.  It took nearly five years, but eventually, my search for god led me to atheism.

[Asmodean]

...

You followed a religion because you were being bullied..?

Me, I just stuck a fork in a guy... VERY satisfying. 

[Siz]

What is surprising to me is how free and beautiful my life feels without belief in the supernatural.  When I was a believer, I (like most believers) thought that an atheist must live a sad, meaningless existence.  On the contrary, I feel a much more immediate sense of appreciation and awe for the world and a genuine desire to do good in THIS life for the sake of doing good, not because I feel obligated to earn some reward.

A perfect reflection of my own feelings. It's almost insulting to the powers of nature to attribute it's beauty to god... or it could be considered the biggest complement.

[Attila]

Nothing changed my mind since I never held a theist thought at any point in my life. I've been fortunate enough to live my life having very little to do with anyone who believes that stuff, or, if they did, had the intelligence to keep it to themselves. "Don't ask, don't tell" policy works well for theists.

[DeterminedJuliet]

Real nail in the coffin was college. Biology teacher walked in and said "oh and by the way: we come from monkeys. Evolution is scientific fact, not a "guess", it's fact.  Religion is bullshit, god has no place in science, and I have no time to discuss any of that in my classroom.  If you have a problem with that you should drop this class right now and run off to church.  The rest of us, we'll be learning the real truth about life on this planet."  He was the first real atheist I ever knew who spoke openly about religion being bullshit.  

When I was doing my undergrad, I had a sociology professor who flat out told us that all of the best academics are atheist. It was so refreshing.

He also said "many of you can't write worth a damn - if you want to do well in this field, you need to start getting your little boyfriends and girlfriends to read over your work. If they're already doing this and your writing still sucks, you need new boyfriends and girlfriends."

He was pretty much the Gregory House of sociology, I loved him 

[Heisenberg]

For me, the final moment of clarity came when I thought about this:  I CANNOT explain or justify human behavior within the framework of any deity- personal god or uninvolved creator.

This is probably a point that atheists don't try to make enough. This perfect god of theirs can produce such vile creatures (serial killers, rapists, Sandusky, etc). Can anyone explain this? This type of behavior is the antithesis of everything he is supposed to stand for.

[Heisenberg]

He was pretty much the Gregory House of sociology, I loved him 

House is my fuckin boy. I was thinking today about how I'm kind of becoming more like him as time goes on. It was a bittersweet thought to say the least.

[Happy with no god]

I have not believed for as long as i can remember. I was never christened and my parents never went to church although may mother would always say "there must be something" when asked about the existence of god.
One thing that always puzzled me was the way children are led to believe in Farther Christmas, but when they get older and question the fact how can he visit every child's house in one night and that he comes down the chimney, they are told "its just as story" Also when at school we were told of Greek, Roman and Norse gods but again we were told these were just stories. Yet in RE lessons and in morning assemble we had to sing hymns and pray to god/jesus. I remember thinking how hypocritical this is.
So you could say i have been an atheist since i stopped believing in Santa, but at the time i did not know of the term atheist. Now having read the satanic bible, I would call myself a Satanist as the philosophy of it fits well with my outlook on life.

[not your typical...]

Some guy offered me ten bucks and a coupon for a free 44oz. Slurpee at 7-11 if I'd renounce my faith and deny the holy spirit and be an atheist from that point on.

Totally worth it. Just glad he wasn't a scientologist.

God I love slurpees.

Really?! I wish I'd have met that guy.....

[not your typical...]

I started out by researching to make my faith stronger...it had the opposite effect.

you'll understand when you're older. 

I hate hearing that response. I remember the first time I heard it, I questioned my faith and honestly sat a debated why I was Christian and whether i was just being a poser for my family's sake.

[not your typical...]

What is surprising to me is how free and beautiful my life feels without belief in the supernatural.  When I was a believer, I (like most believers) thought that an atheist must live a sad, meaningless existence.  On the contrary, I feel a much more immediate sense of appreciation and awe for the world and a genuine desire to do good in THIS life for the sake of doing good, not because I feel obligated to earn some reward.

You thought that about atheist? I find them to be the funnest, most accepting and liberal people I know. Once, in church I was asked about and atheist musician that I really like. The guy asked me would I marry him, and I responded with "if we work out, then yeah." I was then shunned because "You can't marry and atheist and put God first in your life." I know that's not true, because an old couple that's a friend of the family manages it. He's and Atheist, she's a Christian, and she still wakes up every Sunday morning and heads off to church. And personally, I think they have one of the best relationships I've ever seen in my life.