Discover Atheism

[Anonymous]

Atheists at what age did you discovered that there wasn't a "God"or that any deity did not exist? Was it through a life changing experience, your parents, your understanding of science, etc? Also, did you get ostracize or rejected by your family and friends once you told them that you were an Atheist? Have you ever suffer discrimination because of your belief or lack of?

[Anonymous]

I was always agnostic. One day I was watching Law and Order SVU and I turned atheist. Nobody care about my beliefs, my grandmother is praying for me, she wishes I was baptized, but it doesn't have any impact on our relationship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Atheists at what age did you discovered that there wasn't a "God"or that any deity did not exist? Was it through a life changing experience, your parents, your understanding of science, etc? Also, did you get ostracize or rejected by your family and friends once you told them that you were an Atheist? Have you ever suffer discrimination because of your belief or lack of?

I have yet to discover there is no god -- that would be impossible - like discovering there is no Zeus. I stopped believing in god as an adult when I learned about religion from an academic point of view. And of course, I never believed in Zeus. I was told he was a mythical character from the beginning -- a god people believed in long ago, but not anymore.

I learned there are many gods out there that people still believe in and that in some cases, e.g., Christianity, there are strong punishments for not believing (hell) and strong rewards for believing (heaven) but both are ideas, not actual places. And while there is no way to prove that God doesn't exist, there is no way to prove he doesn't. I learned lots of other things but those were the main reasons for no longer believing.

[Anonymous]

This thread has https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ written all over it

[Anonymous]

None of this is persuasive.

[Anonymous]

I had doubts as a young child, but it wasn't until I was 22/23 where it just clicked, and I felt the freedom to disbelieve. It went rapidly from not believing in religion, to not believing in a god (which god? why not many gods? if you don't have religion, where are your ideas about 'god' coming from except conditioning).

I've definitely faced some negativity - having been told that atheists can't have morals or ethics, can't have a purpose, must have made their decision out of trauma or anger at "god."

It was none of those things for me. It's a purely rational decision based on the absence of evidence, and the realization that religion - and the gods attribute to those religions - are entirely made by human beings and based on the needs and situations of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Atheists at what age did you discovered that there wasn't a "God"or that any deity did not exist? Was it through a life changing experience, your parents, your understanding of science, etc? Also, did you get ostracize or rejected by your family and friends once you told them that you were an Atheist? Have you ever suffer discrimination because of your belief or lack of?

I have yet to discover there is no god -- that would be impossible - like discovering there is no Zeus. I stopped believing in god as an adult when I learned about religion from an academic point of view. And of course, I never believed in Zeus. I was told he was a mythical character from the beginning -- a god people believed in long ago, but not anymore.

I learned there are many gods out there that people still believe in and that in some cases, e.g., Christianity, there are strong punishments for not believing (hell) and strong rewards for believing (heaven) but both are ideas, not actual places. And while there is no way to prove that God doesn't exist, there is no way to prove he doesn't. I learned lots of other things but those were the main reasons for no longer believing.

Speaking as a theist, I think this is the most sensible post in the thread and I agree that atheism is a system of belief, or organized non-belief, rather than discovering a scientific fact.

Also, there are still people who believe in Zeus, but that's neither here nor there.

[Anonymous]

I don't think I ever truely believed, but it was in middle school when I became certain that there is no god. I was going through a really rough time. Was depressed, had an eating disorder and had thoughts of suicide. I stopped believing when I realized that there was no god out there to help me, and that I had to help myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ written all over it

OP here. I never heard of Reddit before until you posted this link. I can assure you that I'm not from Reddit. I'm not here to debate religion or with Atheists at all. I'm asking this question out of pure curiosity and incite. I'm wondering if Atheists knew from an early age that God didn't exist or did they discover this later in life? I'm going through a current journey myself as a lifelong Catholic. For the first time in my life I'm addressing feelings that I had suppressed as a child. I always wondered about the existence of God and rather or not I should leave Catholicism. I can honestly say that even though I adore some of the teachings about Christianity I never believe in the existence of God. However, I have always lived my life as a devoted Catholic. Also, I'm a science person. Everything that I have studied about the world, evolution, biology, etc. contradicts the things that most religions teach. There are other reasons as to why I feel this way as well. I don't want this thread to turn into bashing religious people or an anti-Atheist debate. I sincerely want know from Atheists when did they come to the conclusion about not believing in a God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of this is persuasive.

Nobody is trying to persuade anyone. That wasn't the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ written all over it

OP here. I never heard of Reddit before until you posted this link. I can assure you that I'm not from Reddit. I'm not here to debate religion or with Atheists at all. I'm asking this question out of pure curiosity and incite. I'm wondering if Atheists knew from an early age that God didn't exist or did they discover this later in life? I'm going through a current journey myself as a lifelong Catholic. For the first time in my life I'm addressing feelings that I had suppressed as a child. I always wondered about the existence of God and rather or not I should leave Catholicism. I can honestly say that even though I adore some of the teachings about Christianity I never believe in the existence of God. However, I have always lived my life as a devoted Catholic. Also, I'm a science person. Everything that I have studied about the world, evolution, biology, etc. contradicts the things that most religions teach. There are other reasons as to why I feel this way as well. I don't want this thread to turn into bashing religious people or an anti-Atheist debate. I sincerely want know from Atheists when did they come to the conclusion about not believing in a God.

As an Atheist I don't spend anytime thinking about it. I also don't like history, so I really have no interest in religion or world evolution or anything that happened in the past. The question I get is "Why am i not scared of death if there is nothing after" and "why do good?". Both questions seems silly, especially the question about doing good thing. It's just good to do good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this is persuasive.

Nobody is trying to persuade anyone. That wasn't the question.

Forgive the evangelical, she thinks it's SOP to push beliefs on others.

[Anonymous]

For me, there was no lightbulb moment. It was a slow accumulation of absence of evidence.

[Anonymous]

I grew up evangelical and as a teen was really involved with the youth group at my church. I went to youth camps with these stirring sermons and often felt compelled to join in the alter calls to "rededicate" my life to the lord. But when it was all over, I remember feeling it all felt empty. I remember having daily devotions in the hopes that something would click. It never did and I stopped trying, but still thought I believed. Then there was this moment in college...can't remember what exactly was said, though I know we weren't actually talking about religion or faith...but I realized I didn't believe. Felt like "oh, duh."

I say that I am an atheist because I don't hold any faith in any of the current concepts of god. But the one thing I know about the universe is that what we don't know is way greater than what we do. And I find a sense of awe, wonder, and peace when I ponder that. Watching Cosmos, for example, stirs me and leaves me with the sense of peace that was always lacking when I went to church.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a pretty non religious place and no one I knew really took religion or god seriously, in fact it was weird if you did, and it still a functioning society with laws and justice etc. I find all the current religious ideas of god very lacking. I used to want to be religious, but now I'm very much at peace as an atheist. like the PP I find the universe/nature awe-inspiring.