Ex-believers people, can you share how you became atheist?

What was it that made you lose your belief?

What was it that made you lose your belief? Maybe you were brought up with religion and as you became older you started to question it? Was it the arguments of people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens that convinced you there was no god? Was it seeing the suffering in the world and not understanding how there could be a (good) god that allows things like that to happen? Was it advancements in sciece that has made god's existence seem insupportable/unneccesary? Was it finding "holes" in the logic and morality in the Bible or other religous text? Please share.

It was simply noticing the massive flaws and contradictions in religious scripture and realising that concepts like heaven, hell and life being a test make absolutely no sense. The god of Abrahamic religions is also too anthropomorphic for it not to have been invented by people.

I am a very spiritual person but having been brought up in a multi-faith family I have realised that a lot of it is just not real. I think countries where people live in severe poverty etc, religion provides an outlet and a focus for their hopes and dreams which is good for them to have when they have so little else, but growing up in a developed country, it is clear that religion doesn't contribute much at all to the needs and developments of my life and society in general [imo].

What do you mean by being a spiritual person? Do you still believe in god, but just not a religious one?

What age were you if you don't mind me asking when you started noticing these flaws?

Dunno if I quite qualify for this one, but during my childhood I was never much of a believer. I had my moments of wonderment - once as a child I spent half an hour looking at a stained glass window of Jesus, but I was sensible enough not to take the bible and everything that was said in church word for word. As I grew up and began to learn more about religion, I was amazed by how people would use bits of the bible to justify their actions. Like quoting Leviticus to justify homophobia - it just seemed like poor research to me, especially given the historical context of Leviticus and its purpose - which if followed today would deny the existence of Jesus. And things like original sin - apologising for being myself and existing was also something I never gelled with. Yet I struggled with renouncing the beliefs I'd grown up with as a child. Eventually I talked to my mother about wanting to give up Christianity, but still having the feeling that there was something out there. She gave me a hug and told me she'd brought up my siblings and I as Roman Catholic so we'd have rituals to fall back on in times of need, and it didn't matter if we believed or not. I've always preferred the approach of argument of say, Peter Kreeft rather than Dawkins, as I dislike the general tone of atheism, and the rabid nature of people who attack people for their beliefs, although I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone, only the edgy revisionist 13 year olds I spent a lot of time with in school (poking fun at people is never cool, for whatever reason you give, kids) But now... I suppose I consider myself spiritual and not religious. I like some aspects of Christianity, and other religions. I try and live my life with as much love as I can. I trust my own moral code a lot more than I trust either atheists or Christians, I guess. I'm guessing from the tone of OP that this isn't what they want to hear, and I'm likely to be denounced as a useless believer in this particular thread, but I do believe that science and faith can co exist - they explain pretty different aspects of creation if you actually bother to look, but yeah. Organised religion and all the toxic justifications that come with it certainly isn't for me.

What was it that made you lose your belief? Maybe you were brought up with religion and as you became older you started to question it? Was it the arguments of people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens that convinced you there was no god? Was it seeing the suffering in the world and not understanding how there could be a (good) god that allows things like that to happen? Was it advancements in sciece that has made god's existence seem insupportable/unneccesary? Was it finding "holes" in the logic and morality in the Bible or other religous text? Please share.

It was simply noticing the massive flaws and contradictions in religious scripture and realising that concepts like heaven, hell and life being a test make absolutely no sense. The god of Abrahamic religions is also too anthropomorphic for it not to have been invented by people.