Oddman (Sweden)

I was, like all human beings on this planet (although that view may be contested by other people depending how you define the word 'atheist'), born an atheist. I was also raised an atheist, that is; gods and religious dogma were never mentioned in my home. It wasn't until I was about 8-9 years old that I first heard about "religion" and gods, and that was in school. The reason I put religion within quotation marks was because all we ever talked about was the Bible (i.e. Christianity). I treated it as a compilation of fairytales no different from the ones my parents used to read to me when I was young, I had no idea people took them seriously. So to me, the natural state has always been atheism, and I have always had a hard time understanding how people can be theists. It is one of the greatest mysteries in life, from my point of view. "Why would an adult believe in something which is similar to Santa Clause?" was something I pondered when I was about 10 years old. I just didn't get it, and I still don't although my understanding of what theists call 'God' has changed dramatically (especially from the 'first cause' point of view).

So, here I am at the age of 25 and besides a great increase in my understanding of theism, and knowledge about religion (which I am studying at my local university), my own personal view of life and this world hasn't changed much.