How long have I been an Atheist

[McCulloch]

In another post, Al Ayeti asked me how long I have been an atheist. Since it had absolutely no relevance to the debate, I did not answer him there. I will answer him here.
Like everyone else, I was born an atheist. Early in my life, my parents taught me about a god. Shortly after I started school, I realized that, in spite of the effort my parents made to bolster my belief in that god, they really did not believe in him. So I stopped believing in Santa Claus.
Later, my parents tried to teach me about another god. This time they spent less effort. They only sent me to Sunday school to let others teach me about this god. I was not fooled. They really did not believe.
In my late teens, I felt the need for meaning and certainty in my life. I turned to the god that my parents luke-warmly acknowledged, except that I did it with the full intent of doing it right. After all, if this god stuff is real then it logically must be the most important thing in life. I was a literalist, evangelical christian.
However, as I studied the scriptures daily, I found that the questions were not being answered. My wife and I really wanted to believe. But after a long and difficult struggle, we determined that religion is just a complex veneer over wishful thinking about denying the reality of our own mortality and the lack of fundamental justice in the universe.
We are now humanists.

[Bro Dave]

Congradulations! You made what is probably the most difficult step in finding truth, by discovering what is false.

I made a similar journey, but with a different outcome. After rejecting the prepackaged god of Christianity, I decided to toss out everything that I could not absolutely prove. Well, that was not possible, and I nearly lost my mind! One day at work, while thinking only of the circuit board in fron of me, I suddenly got this "loud", what I call a "bulletin board sized" message that flashed into my mind. it said, " TRUTH IS NOT FACTS; IT IS A STATE OF REALIZATION". Darned near knocked me off my stool! But it showed me that truth would seem to grow as my understanding grows. And ever since, it has been true; As I have continued to ask the "hard" questions, always have I been lead to an understanding with in my grasp. Were these answers absolutely true? No, but each level reached above the last, until now I can see the Universe and it purpose, and where we all fit in. And that is for me quit an accomplishment!

Bro Dave

[aschenox]

I wish I had the years and experience to compare to both of you. I was raised in a Charismatic church background, but after witnessing my parents divorce and my mother's chronic 180 swings from devoted to apathetic, I stopped caring myself. I don't think I ever really believed, but that lifestyle was all I ever knew. When, as a (younger) teenager I started going to a youth group in an attempt at socializing, I realized that it was all crap. Fascinating, but still crap. So I began reading the bible and all sorts of histories, and find myself more learned in religion (albeit I still know only like 1.3% of what there is to know) than any of my "Christian" friends and family members.

But original question- probably all of my life, but I acknowledged my proud atheism in early 2004.