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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 Alan on November 23, 2009 at 12:23am

I hate that I actually can't remember when I first said to myself "This is stupid!" I was raised Catholic, minus the molesting thankfully, and went through 9 years of afterschool church school and never really took it all in. Only the fear of death got to me but even that never really pursuaded me into theism. I still say I am an Atheist in part due to some undiagnosed A.D.D. I could just never pay attention in ccd. Before I knew it, I was having duels with my father on a subject in which his team lacked ammunition.... Maybe despite all the GOD around me I was just never gullible enough to believe.

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Permalink Reply by steve tomassetti on December 4, 2009 at 11:10pm

ive been an atheist all my life.
whats strange is that my mother is a minister. no - i didnt rebel and thats why im atheist. and thats right, i said my MOTHER.
apparently, to be a minister you have to take classes in all kinds of religion and philosophy. after struggling so hard to gain sexual equality and equal rights within the church, my mom thought it best to raise me on principles of independence, self reliance, and critical thinking. was there any other possible result other than atheism?
whats even more interesting is that she encourages it, even though it is opposite her own belief structure. she's the one who suggested i start getting on atheist websites and looking for a community who share my viewpoints.
i have this nagging suspicion that the majority of liberal modern xtians are really agnostics, only they are tied up in a community of good natured people and are just too lazy to think deeply about what they actually believe. i'm considering infiltrating these churches just to see if i can press people to the breaking point where they have to admit that they dont really believe. then maybe i can convince them to stop going.
what do you think? is it worth the effort?

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Permalink Reply by Aparna Jayachandran on December 6, 2009 at 9:57am

I've been an atheist as long as I can remember. My parents always had a very relaxed attitude to religion. My father claimed to be an agnostic (when he was really an atheist) and my mother is a non-practising Christian of some description.

I remember having to fill out an admission form to go to a new school when I was about 8 and coming across the "Religion" field. I asked my father what I should put there and instead of telling me what to do put down, he sat me down and explained the tenets of some of the major world religions. He then explained atheism and agnosticism to me and told me to make up my own mind. After that, although I flirted with religion in the form of bible study groups and youth scripture union clubs, I knew that I didn't have the true believer's zest for religion. I tended to use those things as social networking tools.

So, yes, I've been an atheist as long as I can remember. I don't think I thought about those things before the age of 8.

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Permalink Reply by Secular Sue on January 23, 2010 at 5:43am

I've been a non-believer as long as I can remember, I just didn't realize I was an atheist!
I remember singing Jesus Loves Me in Sunday school, age 5, wondering how the heck was I supposed to love the invisible guy that watched me from heaven. I didn't love Jesus. Onward Christian Soldiers was strange to me, even as a little girl. Why do little girls have to sing about war?
I quizzed my grandma, if men wrote the bible, how can it be the word of god? God inspired them, she said. God told them what to write. I didn't believe that.
I asked my Jehovah's Witness great-grandma, what about all the people not in the 144,00? What if they never heard of Jehovah? Well, god would make sure they heard. He would get to them somehow. I didn't believe that either.
When I got saved at church camp I argued with my counselor over the concept of being saved forever. You mean, I could commit murder and still be saved? Counselor says, yes, Jesus will ask god to forgive you if you repent and let Him into your heart.
I was later informed that's not necessarily true, which seemed unfair. Those were the terms when I signed up...
I got baptized. I got dunked. I knew most people came up out of the water, speaking in tongues and I wondered if I should fake it. I didn't really expect the holy spirit was going to speak through me. I didn't fake it. The holy spirit was a no show.
I quit trying to believe not long after that.

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Permalink Reply by Denise Royer on January 25, 2010 at 7:06pm

Looking back on my memories before eight or nine, I don't recall any particular religious beliefs. I remember thinking ghosts were pretty silly but I did have a very definite fear of being kidnapped from my bed by a "bad man." I also feared witches but not in a magic casting way, more like the Hansel and Grettle child eating way.

I have no idea how I got sucked into religion but I'm glad I'm free at last.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Henry on February 18, 2010 at 7:57pm

My mom says that when I was 6 I told her "I don't believe in god, I believe in the big Bang" she thought I was just trying to be a rebel. Well she was wrong about that I always remember saying to my self something here is not right here. I loved Bill Nye the science guy and Magic School bus growing up, both are science themed. So I would say I am a lot like how you went about becoming an atheist it just is who I am.

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Permalink Reply by LeeLah on March 25, 2010 at 11:38pm

It is like this with me. I was raised in a "christian" household. We did not attend church, I was home churched:) Throughout my entire childhood I can remember thinking that none of this stuff made sense and when I got the news on Santa, the tooth fairy and the easter bunny I was naturally waiting for the god boot to hit the ground. It never did, well at least as far as my family was concerned. It did hit the ground with me. I was always worried that I must be evil because I could not "feel" god's presence in my life. I thought I was nuts and that I would be going to hell. You know how folks who are gay and have known most of their lives that they are gay, even as children? Well that is how I describe my atheism. I have always been skeptical but I had to travel that religion road for a short while to get to this point.

I had not started announcing how I feel to most people until this past year and the other day I was having lunch with a friend and she asked me about god and I told her that I was an atheist. She was genuinely surprised and without thinking she said "But your such a nice person." I laughed. She is a good person but she did insist that there was a god. Oh well, I am not interested in converting people to atheism so I did not go any further with it.

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Permalink Reply by godlesstwisted on June 30, 2010 at 7:58pm

I've been an atheist as long as I can remember, religion over here is less of an issue than it seems there in the states, there's more of a live and let live policy, religion is seen as a private matter, so much so that political leaders who start talking about their religion or any guidance from god are widely ridiculed. I was christened as a child but I think my parents did it because it was just something that was done back in 1977. More a chance for a family get-together than any religious significance. I used to have to go to church with the scouts as a child but it was only on a sunday andbeing the "church of england" it wasn't very evangelical or dictatorial, just another chance for people to get together. My mum always taught me to think about the world and try to see things from different peoples perspectives, it made me a bit cynical always trying to find a motive behind any act of kindness but i'm over that now and can accept most people at face-value. a good heart doesn't require a god inside it.

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Permalink Reply by carol case on June 30, 2010 at 10:11pm

It's never been a choice. I can't believe and I can't lie. I've always wondered about the people who become angry/sad/remorseful with me for not believing in a God. They've tried to convince me I'm flawed in some way, I think they would be happier if I just lied to them...I'm fine with what I don't believe...

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Fouts on July 1, 2010 at 9:46am

Ive been a atheist from about the age of 7-8. I am very lucky to never have been sucked in.

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Permalink Reply by Torwaechter on July 29, 2010 at 5:07pm

My parents are very liberal secular buddhists, so they did talk of 'god' (the Vietnamese word is 'sky father') but only in typical ways like 'eat your food or he will be angry / punish you' not as religious education.
I very soon understood that this wasn't the Christian 'god' the people in kindergarten spoke of, because I didn't have to attend religious events as a child, e.g. the German version of thanksgiving. Christmas was for everyone so I attended church masses, and thus I had to question from the beginning: Why do those people believe that? Why do my parents not? I didn't get an answer for myself because both sides lacked in prooving either belief. I also did some tests like 'if there is a god, then X' and boy, never ever did it work. So I remained unsure about it and as a creative person constructed a 'better' belief on my own: God is everything, and everything is god. Perhaps a childish way to get all religions together and stop all arguing. This pantheistic view is still inside me, though it really only is a romantic form of atheism.
So, I wouldn't claim to be an atheist since childhood, I'd say I really tried to be a theist, I gave my best, and it's quite possible that there were times when I had convinced myself to believe it. But somehow I needed real proof. Thus, I gave up on religion very soon. Science books for children did the rest. But then I really did believe in father christmas and in the easter bunny for some time. Gifts and easter eggs were rock solid proofs back then xD

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Permalink Reply by Casey Polska on July 29, 2010 at 9:06pm

I was raised catholic and went to sunday school. I didn't question it until I was older, but I don't think I ever really believed it. It was all just ritual that I thought I had to do, filled with morals and symbols. In retrospect I'd have some very hard questions for the sunday school teacher!