Even in my youth I never believed in any fairy tales or Santa Claus or religion, any religion.

I seem to always have suspect it to be BS. I just gradually gravitated toward facts, logic and reason which made a lot more sense to me.

When I started thinking about the resurrection of the flesh. And I had the epiphany. Then I was done with religious dogma and its nonsense.

When the religious adult concluded the conversation by saying 'You must have faith. Some things can't be explained by logic' with a 12 year old me.

My mother, thinking she was doing good, baptized me into the mormon cult, at 8 years old..four years of their lies, bullshit, and abuse, I walked away, never looked back, and over the years, became a complete and total atheist. Today i am repulsed and sicked by the abuse by "DECEIVERS," profiting and abusing "believers..."

Hard to say, I grew up Methodist light. But I am aware that a Catholic Priest abused many people in my ex's family. I also read "Misquoting Jesus" and "Jesus Interrupted" which added to my distrust of relegion.

I know... You have. ????

It was pretty gradual here too. Listening to comedians like Lewis Black, George Carlin. Listening to philosophers and outspoken atheists like Alan Watts or Penn Jillette. Being passionate about science because of people like Bill Nye and Neil Degrasse Tyson. And reading Chet Raymo’s the soul of the night all had a big impact on unwinding the indoctrination of lies for me and I’m eternally grateful to all of them. The moment I most suddenly became full bore atheist is a long story for another time but I wouldn’t have had the choice if it weren’t for these formative things giving me other ideas as options.

I was 8. They gave us a test in Sunday school and I failed. I was told I was not getting into heaven because God didn't let dummies in. I began studying all religions I came across, not just my parents. From the on I never again took anything on blind faith.

For me, it was a gradual unwinding out of ministry that took years. Dan Barker's "Godless" and Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" were like a scary but welcome gut-punch to my faith-based life. The final straw was a book by Irwin Lutzer "The Doctrines That Divide". This is a well-known and respected Christian theologian who made a circular argument before the end of the first chapter that caused me to shut the book and say, "I'm done. I just can't believe this any more."