I have an interesting story for this. I was about 11 years old when it happened (the age of reason).

although I enjoy the jokes in the comments, I feel like sharing this will show you what it takes to realise gods are a bad thing to accept. I've been typing a lot on this site so this one is going to be short.

well.... shortER.

I lived a minute away from a park (play area, swings and the like) and I was on my push bike. my brother wanted to go do stuff where my bike wouldn't be able to go. so it was agreed I should pop home and come right back. I left the park gates and immediately got to a road, I walked (wadlled and straddled my bike) between 2 parked cars looking both way to cross the road. cars should be driving at a certain speed because of the residential area (15-20Mph) which shuold give anybody time to see a car and wait or cross. I saw no car. began to cross then I heard an engine revving and tyres screeching far enough away but I knew it was approaching. so I stopped and backed up, before I knew it, my bike was hit and I was flung into a curb.

the driver got away with the crime despite my brother describing him, identifying the licence plate, identifying the Taxi rank identification code and everything else for proof it was him who did it. turns out he was in spain at the time so we were just lying.... anyway. I was knocked out for a spell, and when I awoke (only a few seconds later) I had white dots all over my vision, a high pitched tone in my ears, I was groggy and pretty much, all shook up (uh-huh huh). the stars didn't go away. a week later I popped to my local synagogue, church and temple, each one (jew, christian, Islam) claimed these were signs their god was contacting me and healing me. I found it confusing to think each one of these separate religions just happened to know how their god helps people and I was experiencing their particular god. it was the following week I realised how many religious people were 100% certain they had the right god. I concluded it to be bullshit, all because of what I saw and heard.

yes, in the UK we have these things in close proximity. fairness and all that.

a year or so later, I got really depressed because of school and the bullies, so I whacked my head against a wall for a while. I noticed those stars return and it hit me, so to speak, that what I saw and heard was trauma to the brain. a few things dropped in place and it came to my attention I was scientifically minded and inclined. I noticed my depression was the lack of a supernatural carer which I relied upon as a younger child to suppress my dark thoughts or bad feelings. by age 12 I was fully aware of being non religious.

some shit happened between the ages of 16-18 and as a result, I became heavily against religion as a whole, I adopted the title of "anti-theist" and ever since I've had a disdain toward religion. it took me a little while to consider my opinions and I realised it was solely religion which was the cause for most misinformation and tyranny throughout the world. I have forced myself to attack religion and not the religious. the religious are merely victims of a web of lies, I've been inching ever closer to making my mother an atheist, she's renounced and reverted from her faith numerous times. it's upsetting to think she's only happy because of her god. even though I've told her constantly, anything good she's done has nothing to do with her religion and it's only an obstacle making her feel worthless if something doesn't work out. her brothers and sisters, mother and father are all sacks of shit, the same with my brother, her son. despite our disagreements, she relies on faith to make things work, and she only attributes good outcomes to her faith while bad outcomes are what she deserves. it's really upsetting. that is also why I know the religious are just victims who don't know it. it's the florence nightingale effect, she sympathises with her captor and praises it when something works out while she accepts whatever bad thing happens to her as something she deserves.

such wonderful people shouldn't be part of such disgusting ideologies, but they're conditioned to feel bad when they consider leaving, and they're conditioned to feel happier when they assert they accept the ideology.

THAT is why I don't believe or accept the notion of a deity/religion.

quick note. did you know jainism has deaths attributed to the religion? not so harmless now is it Mr. Sam Harris.

I was rooting for him to be right. it turns out, religions kill and harm no matter what they preach. bravo. also, this whole "woke" bollocks. stop it. please. it's retarded and negates the discussion from something respectable to something derogatory and you don't win people over by telling them they're dumb you thick fucks!

I knew that Christian faith had serious flaws after being confirmed Catholic in 8th grade. I saw a god, father, son jesus, a holy ghost, and a virgin mom. NO REAL WOMEN in the after life. Then I was told that I couldn't be a priest because god was a man, father. I attended other churchs but it's all the same bs.

Adult responses appreciated. You aren't Richard fucking Pryor. IE- "I had to pee (aren't I clever?" )

My years of working in academia and my budding career as a scientist and mentor molded me as a seeker of evidence and logic. Religion had no place in my life anymore, and it just plain made no logical sense.

It was the fundamentalists in my family and their actions. Being kicked out of a family home for NO other reason that I questioned theism when I was 16 while the rest of the extended family did nothing and downgraded my family inclusion to an "associate." Also, watching a church official guilt trip my grandmother for not paying enough "tithing" to be allowed in their Temple to the point of beyond tears infuriated me to no end, to which she followed till her death. To tell a child they are guilty of a mythical offense that 2 fictitious beings supposedly committed by eating a piece of fruit that a talking snake told them not to is not only lunacy, it's OUT RIGHT CHILD ABUSE and should have legal protections against.