Reasoning, critical thinking, logic and common sense.

Studying the world's religions as part of my minor in history at the University of Hawaii. They are all based in ancient supstition from attempts to explain life, and I think a fear of the permancy of death. To me, scientific explanations, formed through rigorous scientific processes are more truthful. We don't know everything yet, but nature is NOT all about humans. We are one part of it.

I was raised Catholic but as I grew up We never read the Bible, it was interpreted for us. I questioned the things that I was taught. I saw priests violate the 10 commandments. As an adult, and still doubtful, I joined a Protestant church and eventually was ordained a Deacon. I thought it was time that I read the Bible. Before I was half way through I changed from an agnostic to an atheist.

Reading the bible from cover to cover.

Being told to fear god-god exists to punish you. The Book of Job also turned me off.

Religion has never been a big deal to me. In fact, I've always found it to be rather annoying.

When I was a kid, my parents used to send me to catachysm on Wednesday nights, which pissed me off because I couldn't play. In 5th grade, my parents pulled me from public school and put me in catholic school, which pissed me off because I was plenty happy in public school and none of my friends were making the move. Today, as an adult, I see militant religious zealots trying to take over my government, which REALLY pisses me off.

Many who subscribe to a religion say that it's a source of comfort and happiness for them. For me, it's just the opposite. It's like an aggrivating itch right in the middle of my back with no means to scratch it.

I have found that humanists are the people I like to be around. Less greedy, self-centered and superficial. More thoughtful and engaging. Fewer insecurities. When we die, we die. It's the circle of life and quite awesome as it is.

I was raised Lutheran, and attended Sunday School as a youth, catechism as a teenager, and took communion. In grade school, particularly 4th and 5th grades, one of my nicknames was "The Preacher." I would carry a bible everywhere I went but, in particular, I would proselytize on the school bus.

Over the years, I read multiple versions of the bible cover-to-cover (something most people I knew, including my parents and siblings, had never done for even a single version.) I read most of them multiple times. Between that and my budding understanding of science, I began to question the stories in the Bible. So I began to express those questions.

They weren't doubts, not yet, they were simply a desire to better understand God and the history of His children. But I soon learned that questions are severely frowned upon. All too often, the answer to the question was something along the lines of, "God is above logic," or "God works in mysterious ways," or even the occasional, "Asking such questions will result in being sent to Hell."

In other words, I could extract no satisfactory answers to my questions and, sometimes, would get in trouble for asking in the first place. One of the ones for which the reaction to the question was quite severe was the question, "How do we know that Joseph didn't get Mary pregnant?"

Meanwhile, my understanding of science continued to grow. I understood that science didn't all have the answers either, but I was never reprimanded for asking questions. Furthermore, the scientific explanations MADE SENSE to me. I like things that make sense. I dislike things that do not make sense, particularly if questioning those things is frowned upon.

I guess one could say that my quest to better understand God and the history of His children was a success. I get it now. I did not intend for it to lead me to the conclusion that it's all a bunch of bullshit, but that's where I ended up -- and I'm happy about that. I find it peaceful.

I asked questions to better understand what I had been taught, and the answers (or lack thereof) instead led me to become atheist.

I read the Bible. I also read other religious texts- including ancient mythology. But the main reason I am atheist comes to one simple thing. There is so much suffering in the world. Once I opened my eyes to the suffering I had to ask myself; is god helpless to change things, evil enough to want the suffering or simply not real. I believe the last.

Happened so long ago. Religion ran out of steam between baseball, masturbation, history and rock and roll... and a little bit of weed.

At a young age I started questioning the ridiculous ideas of the Catholic religion and over a period of time realized it was all nonsense .I was always interested in science as a child and all these moronic fairytales contradicted these scientific facts .

When logic won over fantasy.

What led you to disbelieve in leprechauns? Oh, and you either believe in them or you don't.

I don't think I ever actually believed. We weren't really church goers when I was a kid.

My first real memory of a church was when, at the age of maybe 11, my friend and I went into the town church which was always unlocked during the day. There was a giant crucified and bloody Jesus on a cross up front. Then we wandered into a back room and she explained the box of wafers that were on a counter. Then she showed me the little cup holders for the grape juice and explained what communion was. She said that the wafer and the juice turned into the blood and body of Jesus. I balked, but she believed it LITERALLY did this. The whole thing sounded like a load of crap to me.

Observing reality of how everyday life on planet earth works.

What has led me to be Spiritual and reject Christianity... To me, there are nuggets of truth in the bible, but it is surrounded by loads bullpoopy used as control mechanism. I see Christianity embracing the world of materialism, me-ism and away from morals and truth. The only evil I have seen are people causing suffering to other people behind the cloak of religion. The ultimate evil is when a government is run by religious policies.

Studying Catholic ethics got me questioning Church teaching when I found I couldn't accept the principles-over-results methods used, and once I pulled that thread the rest started to come undone. I went from Catholic to general theist, then to agnostic, and finally to de facto atheism (and strong atheism in regard to specific gods like Yahweh, whose origin story is heavily rooted in previous polytheistic societies before being adopted by the Israelites and eventually becoming the "one true God" of Judeo-Christian religions).

Logic.

I’ve never considered it a choice, it’s simply how I came out.. What allowed me to remain free of any god beliefs were my parents and closest relatives. Was I blessed

I knew that religion was wrong. My fallacy was my own ego (and I think it is still my Achilles heel). I was angry because "I did not know". My lack of knowledge showed ignorance. That is what agnosticism is:"not knowing". Push gods and goddesses aside. We can be gods ourselves.

math

I really used to want to be a believer... Went to church with friends, lots of different churches, but it always felt so paltry. Finally, I actually read the Bible; and that was the turning point. It was like "WHAM!' this is really bad fiction... Why does anyone actually believe this stuff??

I took some time, and actually read the Bible. That was the tipping point.