The most significant turn for me was when I was in an upper level history class and we actually discussed the historical facts surrounding some of the biblical settings, like Egypt. Then there was the fact that the man known as Jesus Christ (some histories don't even acknowledge the certainty of his existence) had died 200 years before the Bible was written.

And of course, I have read the Bible, the whole thing. The contradictions alone make your head hurt, if you're paying attention. If that wasn't bad enough there are the references telling you to be sheep throughout the Bible. Do you know that sheep are the stupidest animals on the planet? They will literally stand in a ditch as the water rises and drown, if there is no sheep dog or shepherd present to herd them to higher ground. To me that says they are telling you to be dumb and easily led ... nah, I think I'll pass on that. Thanks.

It just didn’t make any sense to me. Even though for a few years as a child, I said grace and would go to church occasionally. I always had this thought in the back of my mind that it just wasn’t adding up. Reading the Bible just felt like reading a book full of tales that were supposed to have metaphors to the unrealistic stories with the impossible in reality miracles. The creation story in genesis is what really got me. God setting up two people to fail then punish them for exactly what he knew they’d do. Cain’s Wife coming out of nowhere from Nod when we are supposed to be all linked back to Adam and Eve. God regretting making mankind when he would have already known that. God testing Abraham in one of the most horrible and child abuse type of ways. What really did it for me is the creation of Hell. Who the hell in their right mind would even think to create such heinous place, especially when god would already know who and who wouldn’t be destined to go there.

Too many things in the bible did not make sense to me. I always babysat my younger brothers and sister and cousins and family friends children. I could not accept god killing the first born of the Egyptians who were innocent children. What kind of god shows his power by killing the most innocent and the most vulnerable.

Christian Leadership training and its inability to address moral issues and problems with Christianity.

Puberty hit. My hormones told me one thing and the Church another. Both were wildly inconsistent so I'm not sure why I went with my hormones but once I made that decision I never turned back.

Why most people are kept from knowing the information taught in colleges and seminaries is beyond me. People need to know that their faith is based on myth. And I realize that some people would still hold onto faith, since it's based on emotions and not facts.

Being a minesterial student, I started learning about the origins of the Old Testament and Christianity. I didn't give up my faith after college, but I had my doubts. As I kept studying these origins on my own , I realized that Christianity was just a man made religion I finally concluded that there was no god. All religions are man made.

Time, learning and one pivotal moment (too long to print here) got me on another road. The coffin to religion was finally nailed shut by my relationship with a lifelong atheist from a Moslem country.

Out of 7 kids in my family, only one is still practicing and the rest are atheists.

Going to church. Seriously, church was utterly boring for a 5-year-old like myself. I was so restless and bored, and I came to see church as an hour of torture that we had to endure in order to prove that we were good people. Also, there were all these images of Jesus with happy little children surrounding him, and I thought, "What is it that these kids see in him that I don't?" I mean, it's not like Jesus was handing out candy or playing ball with them. How boring. In that sense, I don't think I ever truly believed, because, quite frankly, I didn't care if God loved me or not. Then, as I got older, I made the following realizations: there is no tooth fairy, there is no Santa Claus, there is no Easter bunny, and, quite logically, there is no God. My family was fine with my disbelief in the first three. But that fourth one? Woah!! I was really confused as to why grown ups still latched on to God even though they could so easily let go of those other three. They all seemed like childhood stories to me.

I questioned everything from a very young age. I recognized flaws in every story I was told. I grew to trust science over myth and continue to this day.

A good education!! Logic and reason took over in 2nd year of high school! Thank you mom!

There wasn't really much talk of religious things at home, just an expectation to conform. Methodists were pretty complacent when I grew up. Questions were confusing to them and simply ignored, so I had to learn things for myself.

GOD made me do it

I was a voracious reading in gradeschool and was on a mythology kick.I saw the overlap of various themes especially the resurrection between cultures and realized Jesus wasnt a new thing

I was writing about this particular subject when you posted this question. How I became a Fundamentalist extremist in my childhood, its affects, and how I got out.

My first step outside of the religion was when I took a comparative religion course in college, and realized that they are all pretty much the same. So much for Catholicism being the "true faith." Then I took mythology and realized that they were aiming for the same thing. Finally, when my sister died at age 40 from breast cancer and I had prayed and prayed and prayed and then everyone said "God has a reason for everything," my response was "Enough."

My parents were never hard-core Bible thumpers, so church seemed more like social hour. So when I started the weekly Bible study leading up to confirmation (12/13 yr old) I still had some freedom to think, and even the real basic stuff just didn't make sense. And I REALLY didn't like the idea of believing what I'm told with absolutely no evidence or obvious reason to believe. I also always hated the whole "sheep" analogy, I've never wanted to be a blind follower Then came the actual Confirmation, when I was asked to stand in front of everyone with a group of other 13 yr olds and promise to follow this belief system forever. I remember standing with this group of kids all being told to repeat after the minister, and my mouth moved but I couldn't bring myself to actually say the words, because I had been taught to never lie and making that promise would certainly be a lie. I didn't put an actual title on it until 6-7 years later when talking to a friend and we both realized that Athiest isn't the bad word we'd been taught it was.

So much sorrow, abuse, and death in my family. That made me leave the religion.

Over thiesm