Read the bible and take notes.

Years ago I lost my religion for equality. I'm speaking of male/female equality here but it can be applied to race, sexual orientatation, etc. It happened during my first semester of college when I absorbed critical thinking and studied the history of western civilization. It became evident to me that "religion" was a way for men to control women by ascribing the right to do so to a "Higher Authority", mystical in nature, whose laws could only be interpreted and enforced by "chosen" men. In history it was impossible to challenge those ideas when they were proliferated by the majority of men who ruled with impunity by creating fear and meting out sever punishments. Of course, the reality of it has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with secular power and control.

I'm sure I believed at one time when I was little, Santa, Jesus, The Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. At least there was direct evidence for some of them. Eventually I realized I wasn't buying any of it anymore, sometime in Junior High, I guess.

Actually reading the entire bible is a sure-fire way to wake some of them up.

I was raised by people who believed in a higher power but did not actually attend services when I was really young. By the time I was exposed to church, I was at a questioning age. My questions were met with anger and punishment and instead of putting the fear of god in me, I felt resentment and had more questions.

Then I was forced to read the bible by people who had never read it themselves LOL

As we get older we out grow the notion of Santa. We come the the realization that he is mythical. Grown ups, sometimes mature in such a major that they outgrow religion. Christopher Hitchens once said "Athiesm is not chosen, it is discovered."
Many people are so indoctrinated and wish to be accepted by their family and community so much they would never think of questioning reality.

By eventually using their sense of reason

I opposed a campaign to change people. The athiest crusades shall ride without my blessings or participation.
Let people find their own ways.

A believer becomes a non-believer through knowledge and awareness.
I used to be religious. I wore skirts below the knee, went to church every Sunday and prayed everyday. I became a non-believer when I realized how divisive religion is and how there is really no proof of God except for personal testaments and the Bible.
I researched on the Bible and I realized that it is not credible. The moment I discredited the main evidence Religion uses, I became a non-believer and stuck to it.

A basic understanding of science and reading bible cover to cover.

I read the Bible. If you read it, comprehend it, you quickly realize it is just so much bullshit with made up facts that are not supported by reality or stories stolen from previous cultures. Then if you go one step further and look for actual corroboration in secular history you find Jesus is not mentioned and the facts in the Bible do not line up with the historical facts that we do have verifiable proof of. In other words, one quickly realizes the Bible is just so much fiction and no more worthy of worship than say, Harry Potter.

The Truth Set Me Free...in other words seeking knowledge...I don't remember any major epiphany, but it happened rather quickly and has been a profound experience ever since.

I used to go to church on Sundays but it was primarily to take my grandmother. She had a series of falls and hurt herself so we walked together holding arms. But due to a poor and bad education system my parents put me on a private, Catholic school. It was more for the education than the religion. When I was 6-7 yrs old they had me scared that I was going to hell for eternity so I did not mind taking Grandma on Sundays. I already had serious doubts about the gruesome teachings of the church. I eventually exploded the day a priest at school yelled at me saying that God was going to kill me for failing to go to church for a month. I was 8 then. I don't know but the devil must have come from inside me and I yelled back to the priest demanding that he send God to kill me. When it did not happen, I felt quite reassured and did not go to Sunday church again. I would go to church only in matters relating to school and rites such as confirmation. because I had no choice, but by then I was a non-believer. My lack of belief was reinforced in my teen years when I was in a technical school learning electronics, which is a branch of physics. My love for dinosaurs also contributed as I read what happened to those poor creatures. I had the "privilege" of observing UFO phenomena with witnesses and that caused a profound change in my view of our world. This happened during my teen years as I became an amateur astronomer and spent countless hours at night ob serving anything that moved in the sky.. So here I am. I feel very alone but rather be alone than having Jesus freaks all over the place,

By actually reading the bible, not just the approved parts.

Paying attention plus common sense.

For me it was a mixture of things. At events I never felt Christ like others. I wanted to, but what I really liked was being with people I felt accepted me. However that changed when a church member (the pastor's wife) said I only came on days my friend was there. This friend also happened to be my ride. But that was enough on top of not feeling anything drove me from the church. I also didn't agree with pretty much everything they taught.

For me it was enough to allow myself to stop and think.

While I was in college, I read the New Testament twice and fraternized with Christians in the hope that I might receive the Born Again experience. I could not get past the hatred directed toward scientists in general and evolutionists (like myself) in particular. As much as I wanted to have a divine experience, nothing happened.

I believe that both Christianity and Islam are intrinsically prone to radicalizing their believers, and that this tendency makes these systems an immediate danger to everyone.

When I was like 10 or 11, my pastor took me to a room, sat me down, and told me that if lesbian sister went to hell it would be all my fault for not saving her from damnation by turning her away from evil gayness, or whatever. I was horrified, I cried, and for the first time in my life I questioned what my family and church told me. Once you have one doubt, the rest just kind of come out of the woodwork. Eventually I was like, yeah, this seems like bullshit. And that was the end of it.

For me it was a long term (2-yr) search in my late teens. Did not believe the tennants of the Catholic Church anymore because it was not in line with the Bible which I had read. Looked for a religion that made sense. Didn't find it. One day I had an epiphany, that there was no real evidence for any religion and yet so many people believed. I prayed that night for the last time in my life. I prayed for a sign that the Bible was true, any sign. When I woke up the next morning, with no sign, I was done with it (it being religion). Never looked back, but that was on scary and emotional night.

Read religious text using logic, reasoning and critical thinking.

awareness

God simply said no to me each and every time I spoke to him or asked for guidence and help. With everything that has happened to me in the past ten years, he can shit in his hat. I am learning to go it on my own.

As Carlin said, "l reached the age of reason."

I have been an agnostic almost all my life, but after I moved to the US (in the South to be exact), I found that religion is extremely pervasive and I started getting allergic to all that. To cut the story short I started looking into myself and I concluded that there is no a single reason for a god to exist. I became then a full fledged atheist. I do not hate religions or gods, but certainly I don't tolerate people trying to "save" me.