For those who had past experiences of believing in God or whatever you call it, who or what convinced you the most from becoming who you are today?
I was a voracious reader, even as a very young child, and some of the earliest books I remember were about Greek gods and goddesses. I decided that gods and goddesses were created by ancient cultures to justify the questions to which they had no answers. As science and information became accepted and understood, the NEED for gods and goddesses became obsolete. My parents had gently attempted to indoctrinate - whoops, to "introduce" - me (and my siblings) into christianity, but when I announced that I did not believe in the christian god as presented to me every Sunday, my parents respectfully accepted my choice, and my decision to never again participate in religious rituals of any kind. There was no way they could convince me that the rest of the religious hyperbole was either true or necessary in my life.
A college class in Cultural Anthropology and the student who sat next to me who happened to be the first atheist I had ever met. His sense of humor about religion(and a lot of other topics) was contagious. And as you discover the functions of religion in a society, there are universal similarities...enough to cause doubt about 'one true god' once you gather all the similar stories of human origin (creation myths).
As for me, I spent my life searching for answers in books that I regard as holy but my own conscience and skepticism kept me to believe not to believe unless proven otherwise. There were many flaws and contradictions for both those who follow such books and those who really made them to be the real deal. I was a fool and still a fool up until now for I can't base solely on rules that were written with all its fallacies. I was reading some books to keep me on track with reality and what makes the truth to be the real thing. All logos and not ethos nor pathos is all I am asking for. I want to know who or what made you guys convinced to change the way you see things. I want to seek some perspective that I can gain insights from. Some authors/speakers or circumstances perhaps?