Yes, I'm an atheist, though the way I came to it sounds kind of stupid. ^_^;;;
My family was never particularly religious- I can only think of a handful of times that I've gone to an actual service- but I did go to two kid's church programs non-simultaneously. I never thought to question any of it. I was 11 when we learned about the Big Bang Theory, and all possible puns aside, it blew my mind. It instantly had me questioning the entirety of religion. There's a term for this in Psychology that explains it better, but I can't remember what it is at the moment. Yes, it's a theory, but it made sense, where religion never really did. I'm a scientist at heart. ^_^;;; In that moment, in my Earth Science classroom, I knew that God hadn't created the world like I'd always been told and that God, in fact, didn't exist. And all of a sudden the world made a lot more sense.
Honestly, though, I would've come to atheism eventually anyway. I've always been much more into science/logic/facts than blind faith. If nothing else, I'm positive that I would've realized at some point that a God that says I'm an abomination for who I love isn't a God I can support. I just took the shortcut I guess.
I looked into Wicca in high school at the suggestion of a friend who thought it would be good for me (I think she was just unnerved by the atheism thing). It was interesting, but in the end, I just can't swallow the idea of a supernatural entity. There's actually a little bit of agnostic thrown in there- as in, I'll admit that while I don't believe, it's possible that I could be wrong. I don't have all the answers. But I've been an atheist more than half of my life (16 years, wow), so I don't think that's changing anytime in the foreseeable future.
Re: In the Navy.
My family was never particularly religious- I can only think of a handful of times that I've gone to an actual service- but I did go to two kid's church programs non-simultaneously. I never thought to question any of it. I was 11 when we learned about the Big Bang Theory, and all possible puns aside, it blew my mind. It instantly had me questioning the entirety of religion. There's a term for this in Psychology that explains it better, but I can't remember what it is at the moment. Yes, it's a theory, but it made sense, where religion never really did. I'm a scientist at heart. ^_^;;; In that moment, in my Earth Science classroom, I knew that God hadn't created the world like I'd always been told and that God, in fact, didn't exist. And all of a sudden the world made a lot more sense.
Honestly, though, I would've come to atheism eventually anyway. I've always been much more into science/logic/facts than blind faith. If nothing else, I'm positive that I would've realized at some point that a God that says I'm an abomination for who I love isn't a God I can support. I just took the shortcut I guess.
I looked into Wicca in high school at the suggestion of a friend who thought it would be good for me (I think she was just unnerved by the atheism thing). It was interesting, but in the end, I just can't swallow the idea of a supernatural entity. There's actually a little bit of agnostic thrown in there- as in, I'll admit that while I don't believe, it's possible that I could be wrong. I don't have all the answers. But I've been an atheist more than half of my life (16 years, wow), so I don't think that's changing anytime in the foreseeable future.
*shutting up now*