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Has anyone else been an atheist as long as they remember?

I only ask because most people seem to say they are converted from a religion, or at least went along with it in some way until they reached an age at which they started to actually think about the practicality of religion. I never remember believing in god and was actually kicked out of bible school when i was about 8 because I couldn't get anyone to answer me when asked how people could believe in something they had never seen, or known and when not getting the answer I was looking for said I didn't think they were right. They probably thought I was possessed LoL.
I have often wondered if this was due to having a rough childhood that made me question authority at a very early age or if it was a more common occurance.

Scott

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Permalink Reply by Ursula on October 8, 2009 at 1:02am

I haven't gone to Sunday school since my brother told the visiting bishop that he refused to be a cannibal or vampire.

I love that!! LOL!! I wish I would have said something clever like that. Maybe I'll steal his line someday if the topic ever comes up.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Goldin on October 5, 2009 at 11:10am

I never really fasted on Yom Kippur...I like eating too much, I guess, and now that I'm diabetic it would be dangerous. Besides, I never felt I'd done anything that bad I needed to atone for.

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Permalink Reply by Cara on October 5, 2009 at 2:49pm

I was born into a mixed religious family and my mother decided to let her children decide for themselves what path we wanted to follow. She felt this decision was important and had read somewhere that a child didn't develop critical thinking skills untill around age 7.

In our family at age 7 we would be educated (in a non biased way) about different types of religions and worldviews, including atheist. Before the age of seven, no family memebers were allowed to express their religious views in front of us. We were then given the option to choose our path and have never been treated different for our choice.

I feel fortunate to have been raised this way and have done the same for my children. I did have to tell my children that people believe different things at an earlier age, due to being exposed to it at school.

Everyone that has been given the choice in my family, are atheists.

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Permalink Reply by Venger on October 5, 2009 at 4:00pm

Considering I can rarely recall what I had for lunch yesterday...yes.

Sadly, documented evidence tends to suggest I've only been officially atheist for a few years, and maybe a decade before that as an atheist who didn't realize he was an atheist and was trying to cling to theist ideas. Though I had dumped the vague anglican religious views I was raised with much earlier than that.

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Permalink Reply by lyndax on October 5, 2009 at 4:23pm

I was never raised with religion. My parents pretty much left my siblings and me to our own devices, let us decide things for ourselves. What exposure to various religions I had were via friends or classes or academic trivia. I explored various faiths in college and grad school, mostly through texts and talking with people, not actually attending anywhere at that point, but didn't find any satisfactory answers to my questions, and met a couple too many, shall we call them passionate to be polite, individuals who decided it was their mission to convert me. So I stayed with my head firmly where it's always been comfortable: science. Having found so many various skeptical and athiest podcasts and blogs and websites over the last year or so has helped me become more aware of the fact that this is my niche, and really always has been. I just never put a name to it before.

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Permalink Reply by katalyzt on October 7, 2009 at 8:00pm

I was never indoctrinated in to a belief in any type of deity. Like Tank and Dozer from the Matrix I never had plugs inserted in my skull to feed me lies about reality and blind me from the truth.

P.S.
But sadly after speaking to a lot of atheists on-line; I found that I seem to be a minority among atheists(in most cases former theists) :O/

Katalyzt

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Permalink Reply by Charles on October 7, 2009 at 10:37pm

I didn't come to see myself as an atheist until I was in my 20's.I never met anyone that called themselves an atheist back then.It has been about 20 years for me now.

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Permalink Reply by sacha on October 8, 2009 at 12:14am

I am a lifelong atheist. It is not common at all in the US, even in the atheist community.

There is a group called Atheist Since Birth that you may want to check out.

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Permalink Reply by SJ on October 8, 2009 at 12:25am

I was raised by atheist parents and have atheist grandparents. They were never against religion, it was just never discussed as any credible doctrine. It would have been like discussing whether we should worship Odin or not. Being Danish, Odin would have been the only real choice ;)
It has always made me wonder though what would have happened had I grown up in a religious family. Would I still be an atheist?

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Permalink Reply by Chrys Stevenson on October 8, 2009 at 1:15am

You can worship me, if you like. Tracked back my family tree and apparently I'm a descendant of Odin (as far as one can tell that far back!) Anyway, I'm real, Odin's a bit iffy, and I'm happy to accept any homage, sacrifices, or Western Union cheques anyone cares to throw at me. ;-)