When did you come to terms with not believing? [View All]

[Fleshdancer]

My husband received a cryptic IM from a business colleague early this morning that said "I use to agree with your wife, but now I agree with you". It turns out he thought I was a believer and that my husband was an Atheist which is funny to me because I'm the Atheist while my husband is Agnostic.

This man is middle aged and was a devout believer for the past 16 years, but now he isn't. My first thought was "Damn, what happened?" I'm honestly concerned that something horrible happened to him and now I'm questioning why I would instantly think that since I didn't become an Atheist this way. Then again, I was never a strong believer and my philosophical views on religion were formed at a young age. My hope is that my first thought on this man is completely wrong, but I don't know if I'll ever find out.

Now I'm curious about the journey of other Atheists. When, why and how did you come to terms with not believing?

Me: I remember riding in the backseat of my parent's car thinking about religion and Christianity in particular when I decided I no longer wanted to pretend to believe any more. I was 12 at the time. When I announced this to my parents, my mom looked back, smiled, and told me she understood. That's when I found out she was an Atheist too and that my father was Agnostic. They decided not to discuss their views with me prior to that point because they wanted me to come to my own conclusions.