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Life-Long Atheists

I've never believed in the gods. I was raised in a religious environment but just couldn't ever take that stuff seriously (and I'm not sure how aware I ever was that I was even supposed to take it seriously). I don't think there's any sense in numbering my generation, though, because I wouldn't be sure whether to count either of my parents and I don't & won't have any kids. :D
 
Life long atheist here. My dad became an atheist around the time he enlisted and went to Vietnam, which coincided to the passing of his father. My mom was raised Anglican but was agnostic by the time I was born. My sister dabbled in Christianity for a short time in her teens but she is back to Atheism.

I remember having to recite the Lord's Prayer in grade 1 but it had no meaning beyond being a daily class ritual following the singing of O'Canada. While everyone else had their eyes closed, the other non-Christian, a Sikh girl, and I would make faces at each other, trying to get a laugh while avoiding the watchful eyes of the teacher.
 
Life long atheist here. Me dad was one, as was his. Me mum was raised in a Dutch Reformed family, but she left the church a few weeks after her marriage and my parents didn't feed their children religious beliefs.

A (non-observant) jewish woman I used to live with once observed, I think correctly, that the god I don't believe in is the Calvinist god. I blame society.
 
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Seems to me that as the numbers of "converted" atheists like myself go up, that the numbers of life-long atheists (who would likely be their offspring) would as well.

As others have said, religion is pervasive.... I came from a German/Catholic neighborhood and literally did not know anything else... And the Catholic school I attended made no effort to even mention that there might be other religions till the upper grades where we were exposed to comparative religion....In a warning sort of way.
I don't even recall hearing of atheism till perhaps high school.
 
My parents were not heavily religious. My mother used to make me and my brother get up and go Sunday School, while she went back to bed. (Not a way to impress a child with the importance of anything, btw.) I went for about two months, and then the preacher sent a note home asking Mom to not send me back. I had been asking questions about Noah's Ark that the Sunday School class leader and the preacher couldn't answer. :D

My brother continued to go by himself and is religious to this day.

He has other bad habits as well.

Like voting Republican.

We don't see much of each other.
 
Life long atheist.

Grew up in the Bible Belt (central NC), parents weren't overly religious but I did attend a religious after school program through out my early school years. Pretty much from the time religious concepts were explained to me they didn't make any sense to me.
 
Same here, life long atheist.
Read the bible to see what it was all about, and realised I did not like the guy portrayed in it.

Henry, I like your Calvinist atheist, I think I am one too.
 
Dave Rogers said:
Actually, my four little fourth-generation atheists are pretty much all growed up too. :)

Dave
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So, one of the "arguments" against the veracity of religion is that it seems to mainly flow through a community and family. Very rarely does a christian family end up raising a bunch of muslims, or a bunch of jews raise a bunch of hindus. It's something that is indoctrinated as it were.

Reading Dave's post, it got me to worrying that perhaps that argument needs some refinement as we are getting generational atheists? In the case of my daughter, I haven't been raising her atheist per se, but rather allowing her to rationally examine and understand the forces of religion in society, and ask questions. (Child of atheist parents like Dawkins said in The God Delusion.)

Sorry, don't mean to derail.
 
I stopped believing in "the good lord" when I was, I dunno, maybe 5 years old. I never believed in Santa to my recollection, or stopped believing so young that I don't remember, and God seemed as likely as Santa to me.
 
Another lifelonger (UK).

Went to catholic school but just thought it was a bunch of fairy tales or parables or whatever. In fact, it wasn't until I was about 9 or 10 that I realized anyone took the bible itself seriously.

But it was basically a default position. It would probably be another 2-3 years before I could articulate why I didn't believe in god, and shoot down all the main "proofs".
 
I never believed in God though I did believe in Santa when I was little. I mean, there was actual evidence in favor of Santa. I went to bed on Christmas Eve when there were no presents under the tree and when I woke up, there they were!
 
I had completely given up on the concept of God by the time I was 13. That's about the same age as when I began questioning anything. I don't know if that counts as life-long.
 
I've always been an athiest. My sister and I were raised by our mother (our father died when we were very young) and she was much more concerned with making sure we were safe, healthy and happy to think too much about religion.

My grandfather was a devout Jehovah's Witness. He spent most of his spare time going door to door all over Long Island trying to recruit new Witnesses. Whenever he preached to me I listened, but to myself I always thought how ridiculous what he was saying sounded. It didn't help his cause that he believed that birthdays and holidays should not be celebrated. My grandmother totally disagreed with my grandfathers religious views and refused to raise her children according to those views. Thankfully my grandmother had (and still has) a strong will and her house was,for the most part, religion free.
 
Helen said:
I've been an atheist all my life; my parents, as well as both sets of grandparents, were also atheists. It didn't occur to me until I started school that some people thought there were gods that might actually exist; I was brought up on bedtime stories of Greek and Norse mythology, and merely felt that the Christian god was no different, only far less entertaining.

I don't think this was usual, not even in Sweden, when I grew up. Nowadays, atheism, or perhaps apatheism, seems to be the default position. I don't know anyone, regardless of cultural background or age, who believes in any gods.
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I don't think it is usual, but itäs not unheard of. I don't think any of my set of grandparents are/were religious, though not sure if they were/are atheists (in fact, I'm not sure if any of them would be familiar with the term). One of my grandfathers was one of only two people in his class who did not have a confirmation. And that was in rural Sweden.

I don't know anyone who is religious either. You can safely assume that people you meet are not religious, or at least simply uncommitted.

I recall from my university years meeting a person who had been a missionary to SE Asia. However it seems he eventually rejected religion. I never asked him about it, but all his "liked" religion-related pages on Facebook wasn't on his profile anymore.
 
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