I moved from being a religious believer as a child and adolescent ty being an agnostic as a young man, to becoming an atheist as a mature adult. The transition was easy -- almost natural. Yes, I feel much more confident, much less afraid, and much more independent.Yes, there are believers in my inner circle. I live by the stance that you have a right to believe as you choose, and so do I.I do not engage in discussions about religion, except in cases in which a person is trying to deal with troubling questions and doubt.

Focus: behaving morally in a morally bankrupt world. Serve fellow Man.

Interaction with remaining inner circle believers: N/A. I don't have many close friends, my two sons are pretty much like me. With the neighbors I hang with, theology never comes up.

Feel different than before? I guess I'm more Nihilistic. I was always depressed, but I think I'm better now. I don't have to worry about an imposed morality, and can respond more naturally to what I consider morality and ethics that have resulted from the evolution process of the modern human.

Process? Idk

My message: we are here to connect with and support our fellow Man. Strive towards empathy. Try to be the tide that raises all boats. If you must lose for me to win, let's play a different game. (Opt, but preferred: And eat lower on the foodchain for fuck sake.)

I didn't notice a transition. Personally or socially. My few friends accepted me back then, and they still do. They are my family.

No change in my focus. People who feel the need to pepper their conversations with stuff like "Praise the Lord" I avoid as much as possible. As long as I am not subjected to frequent topics or reminders of people's religion or politics then that's a non issue for me. I do not feel different transitioning to be an Atheist but, I think like most Atheists, I was an Atheist long before I openly began using that moniker. Christians have a specific message to the world, I simply try and model the person I think that a person ought to be but not with a megaphone..

"What is your message to the world?"
Be excellent to each other!

I left the bonds of religion many years ago and did not live up to the idea of my "calling." My transition was long, slow and painful, but once I realized I was atheist and knew what that meant, I felt enlightened. My message to the world is that gods are imaginary, but those who have known me forever and know my past still think that "god might save me."

If you believe in gods you are wanting to believe that we can know everything in our past and all of our destiny simply by believing a big book. How is that possible? I now challenge you to study this book, how it was put together and when it was put together, what was omitted and why, and you will find that the book was many smaller books that can do no more than contradict each other. The early church fathers were not contemporaries of Jesus and neither was Josephus. Paul is credited with writing almost half of the New Testament and he never met Jesus. This tells me a lot about Christianity and in no way does it support it.

I left my church first and then several years later became agnostic. I learned to deal with church members during that time and the principles are the same. I have been where they're at so I can speak their language.

I build on their beliefs without compromising mine. I address their issues according to their understanding, like I do with my kids. I quote scripture to them if that's what they need. If they ask, I explain my beliefs but they usually don't ask. Most of my friends and family still think I believe in Jesus and the scriptures.

My focus is on encouraging good values in them, like respect and kindness. I feel comfortable using whatever belief system they need to support those things. Religion has a lot of bad advice but also a lot of good. I just skip over the bad parts.

My focus is on family and helping those who need it, supporting those who need support and in learning all that I can.
Those who accept my atheism are welcome in my life no matter who they are, those who don't are not worth having as friends or family, since they value church over me.
I value nothing more than those I love, even if that means accepting their choice to reject me.

As long as they don't try to "sell" me, I treat believers as I would anyone else !

Treat all others with full dignity and respect and try to live in such a way that you uphold that idea. At the same time, build for the future, but try to live every day to its fullest extent -- not in the snese of trying to cram m experiences in, but in the sense of seeing the enjoying the little things that add quality to our lives.

I stopped believing in any gods when I was 15. My focus at the time was boys & partying. At 17, when my son was born, my focus changed to supporting myself & son & not going on welfare. I never have. At 22, When I got married, our focus changed to finding a place we could settle down & raise a family. My point being, each phase of life requires a different focus. I don`t think atheism had any affect on my life. It may have, but, I was too busy to notice or let it affect us.

My focus in life is being productive and trying to enjoy the rest of it.

Most of my friends are "believers" in religion, new age beliefs, or conspiracy theories, but they know I'm an atheist and don't believe in magic of any sort. Most of my relatives are religious and if they're much older than me, I just tell them I'm not religious, if they bring it up.

My transition from theism to atheism took a while, but wasn't too hard.

My message to the world: Enjoy life, be productive, and fall in love.

sorry, i believed in personal god until i was 15 but was not surrounded by particularly religious people, least of all my family, secular jews. i still got pennies thrown at me for being jewish; no one knew or cared that i was an atheist; no one asked. i didn't announce one way or another when job-seeking, later, but was denied some jobs for being jewish. only one job was affected by my being an atheist, and the boss really shouldn't have asked. i answered honestly. so... no trauma, really. i'd already gotten beaten up and called names and chased around for being jewish BEFORE i realized there were no gods, and i wasn't religious then; all i had to do was have a jewish name and i got dissed for that. being an atheist? online is where i take shit for it, but only from strangers, and who cares about that?

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