Did you lose your religion..and how?

[Baggy]

Hi! I joined just before the Christmas break and was away for much of the period, so I am easing my way back in by opening a topic - with a question.

Did you 'lose' your religious belief in the process of becoming an atheist or did you just gradually move from a vague non-believer/agnostic to be clearer about it in your own mind.

In my case I grew up in a non practising vaguely UK Anglican family, 'caught' religion in my teens, and lost it almost as quickly. Then throughout much of my adult life I think I was vaguely 'looking', dabbling and so on. It was only when I started reading Dawkins, Hitchens and the like that I finally decided that I had been fence sitting much of my life and made a sort of mental commitment.

[Davin]

I didn't lose it, I left it behind on purpose.

I decided that reality mattered to me, so anything that can't show to be real got left behind.

[elliebean]

I lost my religion... and how!  :hide:

[KDbeads]

I wouldn't say I lost religion, more of an intentional toss.

[hismikeness]

I didn't really lose mine. I grew up Catholic so I never really had any religious beliefs per se, it was more of a habit and an inconvenience going to church and CCD classes. Once I grasped the futility of it all, I did in fact leave it behind, but will occasionally go to church, (mocking everything much to the delight of my wife the whole time) just to appease my mom.

[LegendarySandwich]

I would say I lost my religion. It was more of a gradual decay than any event in particular; in fact, I can't even remember when or how exactly I stopped being a Christian and became an atheist.

All of my life up until one-to-two years ago I was a Christian, indoctrinated from birth. As I entered my teens my doubt/skepticism began to grow, and eventually I started to researched God, science, and religion on the Internet, bringing me to atheism (reluctantly, at first).

[Gawen]

I never had it.

[a-train]

As I began studying philosophy and critical thinking, I started holding myself more accountable for my ideas.  I feel like I gained clarity and lost nothing.

-a-train

[Cecilie]

Religion was never a part of my childhood, so...yeah.

[elliebean]

The church I was in transformed into a dangerous, mind-controlling cult. That provided a distance in my perspective on mainstream Christianity, which had been like a hard drug addiction for me up until then (found something even harder, Lol). Then several events, including a trip to a large religious gathering, gave my perspective just enough distance from that cult. Soon enough, I was able to look at both a lot more objectively. At that point, having seen with my own eyes the logical end of the direction of my thinking, it was easy to see that all of it was bullshit. It was completely intuitive; all the reasoning and logic came later, while I was trying hard to find any details I might have missed, before committing to non-belief, just in case there was a way back in. After about a year of that, I realised I was much happier to be out. That was about 12 years ago and I've had no relapses.

[Asmodean]

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight, I'm
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you

Born atheist. Never changed for the lack of reason to.

[The Magic Pudding]

How come Thomas got to hang out with Jesus for ages, saw the miracles and Jesus Zombie too, even got to feel the wounds?
He got a rebuke I suppose but I don't think he was rejected.
All I'm offered is hand me down platitudes.
I attended Sunday school at St. Thomas' Kingsgrove, doubt's good I think.
But it's better to wipe that stuff off your shoe altogether.

[theclassicist]

OK, i wrote out this whole big answer to your questions, and have decided to delete the whole thing, answering you with 3 words:

Gradually, via Dawkins.

[Cecilie]

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight, I'm
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you

God, I hate that song.

[TheWilliam]

I didn't lose it
It lost me.

With my dedication, work ethic and charisma, I would have been a big earner for the offering plates