Atheists: Were you raised in a religious household?

[humblesmurph]

Were you? Is it common for atheists to be raised in a religious household, and at what age do they typically become one? Do they tell their parents? What is that experience like?

 I was raised by parents who were raised Christian and claimed to believe in God. My mother never went to Church, my father barely ever went.  My older brother went to catholic school for a few years, but by the time I was old enough for school, we couldn't afford catholic school, so I went public.

I never became an atheist, I always was one.  I told my parents. My father never graduated from highschool, and he pretends to not even know what I'm talking about. I guess it's denial.  My mom understands my views but finds them unappealing.  Our relationship is unaffected by my atheism unless I bring it up.

[notself]

I was raised in a religious home and went to a religious school until I was a teen.  My family are all very devout and go to church every Sunday and sometimes more than that.  They know I am not Christian but since I have never been asked, I haven't told them I am an atheist.  

I am trying to remember exactly when I became an atheist and I think it was around the time I read the bible and started to really listen to what was said in church.

[skwurll]

Were you? Is it common for atheists to be raised in a religious household, and at what age do they typically become one? Do they tell their parents? What is that experience like?

I was raised in a religious household. I became an atheist at age 13. I told my mother recently just a few months ago, it was awkward.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Mine was a religious household, in a quiet way.  I attended church two, and sometimes three, times a week.  Sunday School on Sunday.

My parents weren't very vocal about their faith, but in both families ostentation was spurned, so their silence is explicable.

I broke my programming when I was 14.

[notself]

Mine was a religious household, in a quiet way.  I attended church two, and sometimes three, times a week.  Sunday School on Sunday.

My parents weren't very vocal about their faith, but in both families ostentation was spurned, so their silence is explicable.

I broke my programming when I was 14.

How did that happen?  With me, reading the bible did it.

[Asmodean]

How did that happen?  With me, reading the bible did it.

Interesting thing, that... The first attempt I had at The Bible, I was reading a book by Jules Verne in parallel and so I couldn't help myself but compare the two books. And I remember thinking about the Bible, "What a load of CRAP! How can THIS be the most read book worldwide?!" ...And then I put it away until I picked it up again at a more grown-up age when I became a conscious atheist.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Mine was a religious household, in a quiet way.  I attended church two, and sometimes three, times a week.  Sunday School on Sunday.

My parents weren't very vocal about their faith, but in both families ostentation was spurned, so their silence is explicable.

I broke my programming when I was 14.

How did that happen?  With me, reading the bible did it.

It's a long story, long enough to give rise to a book as yet unpublished.  Put shortly, the dissonance between the Bible's description of God and my eyes reportage of His creation put paid to the lie.

[Tank]

It may be interesting to note that I carried out a poll at RDF asking people what religion they had followed prior to becoming an atheist. The highest number were ex-Catholics, not surprising as there are a lot of Catholics. If one does a crude adjustment for the size of the congregation I would say that the most likely religion to spawn atheists are the Jehovah Witnesses, small congregation proportionally lots of atheists. Also of note that atheists who have been Witnesses are very unlikely to tell anybody because of the shunning. There were a disproportionately high number of ex-JWs on the poll and most of those were still hiding their atheistic world view. There was also an 'innate atheist' option that one could select if one had never been subjected to a religious upbringing.

I was also interesting that by a small margin 52/48 the atheists at RDF were ex-theists. Now this could well be an example of sample skew caused by the fact that the poll audience (the RDF membership) were self selecting as people who are actively interested in discussing theistic matters. It may also be indicative of the fact that ex-theists are a little bit more likely to seek out support for there new world view than innate theists.

[notself]

There was a similar poll on a Buddhist forum.  The majority by far of theists who became Theravada Buddhist were ex-Catholics.  The proportion in this instance was much larger than the percent of Catholics in the world.  Theravada has practically no ritual, does not require a teacher or guru and is the most clearly atheistic.  I know I studied Theravada when I became interested in Buddhism for these reasons.  

If it weren't for immigration from Mexico, the percentage of people self identifying with Catholicism would have dropped significantly.  

Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration.  http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

[Cecilie]

No. Religion was never a part of my childhood.