Path to Atheism

[Jay P]

If by "atheist" is meant: one who has no belief in God, then I've always been

an atheist.

I grew up in a mostly secular environment, and the first I ever even heard

that there were people who believed in something called God was probably

when I was about 5 years old. I can remember thinking at a very young

age that it was incredible that adults actually believed in such a thing. (I

also knew that some people thought 13 and black cats were unlucky, and

I put religion into the same category.)

Growing up, religion wasn't an issue at all, since all of my friends were either

not religious, or else didn't talk about it. And I was always very interested in

science, and the idea of a mystical creator didn't fit with what I knew about

the world. I couldn't have believed in God if I'd tried, because I would have

been unable to integrate that belief with my increasing scientific knowledge.

I also always had a good deal of resistance to Christianity on an ethical level.

I could see that it was a set of beliefs that was used to take money from

productive people and give it to "unfortunate" others who were supposedly

more deserving. Guilt inducing. And I wanted no part of that. I also always

wanted to very much be in control of my life. This was in conflict with what

I heard from various born-again Christians about having God in control of

one's life.

So the whole religion package never had any attraction for me at all. To this

day, it still seems strange that adults actually believe some God exists. I know

some do, and I know that rejecting such a belief is difficult for some and can

in fact be a tremendous achievement that takes a lot of courage.

When I started reading Ayn Rand (I read her non-fiction first) I was quite happy

to discover that she was an atheist. Here, finally, was somebody who was

morally defending capitalism, which I've loved ever since I can remember,

without using religion.