I struggled to get there, but when I finally admitted to myself I didn't believe in magic anymore I felt nothing but relief.

Not sure how he can label himself atheist when he holds on to belief.
In my progression, I knew my religion was bullshit, so I sought other religions, soon to discover they were equally full of it. So god was out the window. So like many others checked out paganism, and the dreaded eastern philosophies.... then went down the I am spiritual path....then came to the conclusion that none of it was real, and none of it mattered. Only then did I consider myself atheist.. did any of you follow the same path?

I'm glad I was never converted .

My path toward non-belief started by converting God. God simply had to change, so I changed him! I made him an "it" or "he/she" who would never harm, and whose nature has never been accurately depicted in any religion or writings of any kind. I sought to bring God into the 21st century.

But if no one has ever accurately depicted God, much less interacted with him/her, then it seemed likely that God was unknowable and undefinable--God was a guess. And at this point what was the point? What would it matter whether or not I believed in God? And so I basically forgot about him/her, much as one forgets an old classmate who never made much of an impact.

The irrelevance of God, once realized and understood, is the best antidote for any pang of guilt.

Good answer but a long answer. I still find this man's guilt as hard to understand. I have no guilt about abandoning gods. I've never woke up in the middle of the night with dreams about hell. Is it possible that I had a better understanding of atheism? Maybe I'm just at a different stage in my life than the letter writer. All people are not the same.

Excellent answer.

Any kind of change is hard. Like breaking away from gambling or drug use, and can take many years for the body to recover from years of use.

The same applies to the changing of faiths. I will always point out it took me nine years to declare myself an atheist after I stopped going to Sun. Mass.

He has to learn to let go. But never forget what religion did. I have let go of all religion with no anxiety or guilt.

He'll get over it in time.