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I was raised in a secular household, where religion just wasn't a topic of conversation.I have always been an atheist, but I didn't know there was a name for someone like me until I was a young adult.
Religion was of no interest to me until I became aware of how christian beliefs affected politics. Now it really matters to me.
All I have learned about the bible I have learned here, on this forum. It has been quite an eye opener, and thanks to all, like Arequipa who have really helped explain it.
So, I have noticed that most atheists here seem to be the formerly religious type, and I think there aren't that many here in the US who were raised without religion.
Everyone is born an Atheist. Mental illness is taught by bad parents, and church attendance. Some realize they are deluded by the hype, and sanity returns them to their atheist state.
Everyone is born an Atheist. Mental illness is taught by bad parents, and church attendance. Some realize they are deluded by the hype, and sanity returns them to their atheist state.
This sums it up!
Just think about how it was with me. I grew up on an island with no TV and none of the other "toys" we have nowadays. All that we had was a solitary baby blue colored radio that my grandmother kept on a Gospel station that beamed in religious programming from the American south. That radio stayed on all day and night and the only break from religious programming was for the BBC World News each hour. For the first 8 years of my life I knew of nothing else but nonstop Christian indoctrination PLUS when I left home I was taught it in school, in church and would hear the same radio station in the homes of our neighbors.
That is what you call heavy duty Christian indoctrination. How I managed to break free is the ONLY miracle I was have ever experienced and I am thankful. To go back to that would be like walking back into a mental asylum an being asked to be tortured again.
I don't believe anyone is "born" an Atheist or Religious for that matter as both ideologies result from an awakening of consciousness but I would classify myself as pretty close to that as I never had any belief of any kind from a very early age.
My Father is an Atheist and everyone else in my family is Christian ( many different denominations) but moderate. My Father believed things like Religion and Atheism should come from a personal choice and not be pushed and he made sure I was taught about many world religions, taken to Temples, Mosques, Synagogues, Churches etc... and I got to meet many people of different faiths as well as humanists from an early age.
I think he wanted me to think for myself and made a personal decision based on my ideas not someone elses and I owe him a great deal for this.
Religion never made sense to me at any stage . I used to look at people in Religious places and listen to my Grand-Parents for example as a small child and wonder why they "made believe" about something which was obviously so not true.
It defied logic to me and I was never in the slightest a believer even as a Toddler. I used to pester my Family with questions about God and Jesus etc... and none of the answers even made the blindest bit of sense.
I never had to reject Religion as I never accepted it in any ways. I did however always find it fascinating the sheer variety of Religion and rituals and I think it did awaken in me a great interest in Social Anthropology. Human beings are fascinating in the way they deal with big issues like life and death and the meaning of life and being exposed to so much from toddler-hood definitely whet my appetite for collecting and learning about various people's stories and how they thought.
My Father used to buy me different illustrated children's encyclopaediae and I used to spend hours poring over their Mythology and Religion sections. Fascinating stuff and some of it really quite entertaining too as a kid....
All my schools bar one were Catholic ( mostly boarding) schools , most of them progressive ( Catholic school offering the best academic standards) but of course by that stage I was always "ruined" for the Nuns and having a mind of my own I was never indoctrinated into anything.
We need to respect Children and allow them the Freedom to think . In a way being presented with a world of Religion on a plate allowed me to see them as equally absurd, a fact I am sure did not escape my Father so maybe there was manipulation there but a very subtle one. The sheer variety of faiths and rituals makes all of them look utterly absurd in many ways. It allows a much broader view of the world and a more cynical approach to fairy-tales and mythology.
I am so grateful that my Father had enough respect for me to let me make my own mind up. As an Atheist he could have pushed me towards it and never did so. I felt able to make my own mind up by a process of logic and the acquisition of knowledge. I guess he thought knowledge was power and trusted me .
I was born into a religious home, but never did really take it that serious. I never was a true Christian, even though I did pray the Sinner's Prayer and was baptized by the time I was 12.
Even as a kid, I questioned everything in the bible that didn't make sense. In a twisted sort of way, studying the bible after my "conversion" helped in making me a non-believer. I guess threats of hell and eternal damnation weren't enough to keep me in line.
Your poll is lacking a choice....I was not born into religion or atheism....my family was NOism....I got into church as an adult and stayed there for 14 years. I am with some others on being a natural skeptic. I used to think all kinds of crazy things during church services.....talked to myself in my head arguing with what was being preached! Guess I was/is a little nutty!
I was raised without much religion in the house. Superficially there was some; my parents occasionally dropped me off at sunday school so they could sneak off to breakfast alone, and I went to a Catholic high school (because it was supposedly a better school than the local public high school). However, while I was a kid, my parents pretty much told me to "just smile and nod". They had that hands off approach to parenting of letting kids explore, learn things for themselves, and learn from their mistakes.
I went through a phase of trying to find a religion when I was in middle school, but it was more of an attempt to "fit in" as kids that age do, and not due to any belief in a god. My parents tolerated it and let me explore, but I think they were glad when that phase was over (especially after I came home horrified after "trying" a southern baptist church with a friend from school LOL).
In hindsight I think my dad was probably an agnostic (though we never discussed religious beliefs when he was alive), and I think my mom is what I call a closet atheist (doesn't believe in any higher power but is afraid to admit it).
My parents are not religious and where I was born and raised (Buenos Aires, Argentina) is not the most religious South American city.
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The sheer variety of faiths and rituals makes all of them look utterly absurd in many ways. It allows a much broader view of the world and a more cynical approach to fairy-tales and mythology. 
Guess I was/is a little nutty!
