To the atheist people.?

1. When I asked my parents questions about God, they didn't have an answer, so they just said "have faith" I didn't buy it.

2. When I asked the pastor questions about the bible, he just said "pray to god and he'll show you" I didn't buy it.

3. They even told me the devil is causing me to think too much. I didn't buy it.

4. I read the entire bible about 2 or 3 times. talking donkeys? raining fish? I didn't buy

5. I studied about every belief including the ancient ones. I began to realize, "this is all bull ****"

6. I realized the Christian god is just as mythical as all the rest of them. The only difference is the time period

7. I began to learn about history, psychology, astronomy, and physics.

8. The more I learned, the closer I became to being an Atheist
Now there's no turning back. I'm 100% Atheist

How has it changed my life? I feel like the one of the few that knows the tooth fairy's really fake. I feel smart, proud and untricked

commonsense - life became more precious and family more dear.

A nice, long, critical look at my former religion and its text made me deconvert from that religion.

From there, I decided that it's best to believe only that which there is evidence for.

Atheism didn't change anything about my family view, morals, or politics. The process that lead me to atheism - rational thinking - is what changed those things.

Views that changed - my stance on evolution, gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, foreign policy, separation of church and state, political party affiliation, etc. Lots of things changed when I applied rational thought and/or began to require evidence.

Having no belief in an afterlife (which is actually not a requirement of atheism) made life much more precious to me than it ever had been before.

I was a Christian and studied it too much to continue believing in it. So I started studying other religions, and realized that religions all evolved from each other and previous religions.

When you realize that the alleged communication of a deity has 'evolved', it kinda makes believing any of it is real kinda silly.

Later, I realized that free will is a literal impossibility in the universe in which we find ourselves, and that pretty much knocked out any hope for any form of theism to be true, leaving only Deism and atheism.

Deism is nothing more than atheism that calls the first mover of the visible universe 'Creator' instead of 'Natural law', so... they're basically the same.

i was never really religious persay,
but what has kept me from religionjust really thinking about it.
the bible was meant either for entertainment puposes or to influence the people,
look into the renaissance, and how religion was handled there.
its absurd,
thats the roots of religion, kinda.
and if god exits then why would everything be this way?
and what happened to dinosaurs?

I don't remember ever being a theist, really, so I can't say I ever "became" an atheist. I just am one, and have been for as long as I can honestly remember (well, at least since I learned about that whole Santa Claus thing.) Atheism hasn't changed my life as much as being open and honest about it, which is relatively new for me. I used to not mention it at all, but in the last couple years I've been more open about it with my family. I still love them, they still love me. I think their religious views are weird, they think my religious views are weird. At the end of the day, we're still family.

On a side note, atheism is probably the root cause of my being a vegetarian, as I do not believe in any sort of god-given right to dominion over the animal kingdom. I don't know if that's really related to the question, but it does kinda frame my mindset a bit for you.

I will just say personal crises (not so much dealing with myself but the environment I was brought up in) I would from time to time pray go unanswered which led only lead me to ask how come "god" isn't listening were my prayers, was it too selfish? If "god" does miracles why can't he at least grant one wish for those who are suffering much as the next. As of today none of my crises have stopped so I gained what was needed to stop hoping god would be real and help out. Now that I think about it a bit more. Why does "god" allow too many bad things to happen refuse to do an intervention?

We actually start out as atheists and then make a decision to change or not. I read the bible and that was my catalyst to atheism. I also asked a lot of questions that people couldn't answer.

you already know my answer to it :P

Nothing "made" atheist to become atheist. To atheist, it is just logical thinking. They can't help being atheist anymore than a Christian can help being a Christian.The mind tells them that it is right thinking so they believe it.

Being an Atheist does not make one significantly different from Christians in regards to life choices and family views. Are you suggesting atheists love their families less? That would be absurd logic. Other than choosing not to go to church and pray, you would find that the life choices (job choices, mate choices, favorite ice cream) of atheists is very similar to Christians. The only thing different between the two groups is religion. Other than that, both are very human. Some atheists are going to support the war in Iraq just like many Christians and many atheists will oppose the war, just like some Christians.

Having to see and deal with death first hand. Ultimately that is what set me on the road to my conclusion that there are no gods. Because if there were, why didn't they help? What kind of a god would create such a world where life is dependent on death.

Also, I had to admit to myself there is no evidence for the existence of any gods, any afterlife, any souls, etc...

biology class in high school opeded up my mind. i LOVE my bio teacher, hes the most awesome person ive met in my life so far. he taught me more moral than a freaking bible would.

Personal tragedy(rape) forced me to look at my life and religion. I began to wonder why all these bad things happening to God's children. Babies even. I got so tired of hearing that it was a test. How many loving gods do you know would test babies by allowing them to be born, only to have their mothers throw them away. What kind of test of faith is that?
So, I started reading up on different religious ideas unitl finally I came to the realization that there is no higher power watching over us. This is cemented by the fact every single time you ask a difficult question, no religious zealot can give you a straight answer.
It hasn't changed my life at all. I still volunteer at my favorite charities, raise my kids, be with friends. I'm still me. I didn't suddenly lose all my morals. What is right is right, irregardless of who you are trying to impress. If people need someone to tell them that it is wrong to lie and cheat, murder, and generally be a jerk than something is definitely wrong with this world.

I didn't change over night. Mostly I changed from taking religion classes and learning more about religion in general. Like, what it was used for in the past and how each part of it came about.

It has not changed my life that I know of. I learned to put my faith in myself and my family instead of something imaginary. Religion mostly came about to keep the poor people happy while they were being slaves for kings and such and to keep them from killing themselves and leaving the kings shorthanded. It's quite simple to look at religion and see it's flaws.

I don't in anyway look down on anyone who believes in a god or gods, it's a personal choice and it's all about what gets you through this life.

Education, learning to think rationally and for myself, and just generally recognizing the bible for what it is -- a collection of badly edited, sometimes absurd, sometimes horrific fairy tales.

Grew up Presbyterian, never really "got" it. Just something that evolved somehow (no pun intended).

started doubting then i came across an essay on the internet "flaws of christianity" which confirmed my doubts.

Education. Specifically religious historial study.

I have a far more humbler outlook on life and my role in reality. I think I cherish my family even more than I did before because I know this is the only life that exists, and I have to make the most of it.

I'm not sure but I'm close to becoming an atheist or close to staying a christian, but all the research that I do only confuses me more and more.

I'll tell you the truth. I was born without a belief in any god. So it didn't really change anything.

No evidence for a god whatsoever. What made you believe in something without any evidence for it?

My family used to be religious, but I've pretty much talked them out of it.

bad experience at church camp...

and my parents dont really enforce any religion on me.

and..
lifes been pretty cool

There are no athiest in a foxhole. Meaning when your about ready to die and you know you are, even athiest believe in God at that point. So let them have there little say what ever they say. In the end they believe :)