At what age did you become an atheist/agnostic? And what brought that about?

[dgauss]

60. Some time later in grade school, but a seed of doubt was planted early on.

When I was 5 or 6 I went to a bible camp type of thing for a few months. I think it was over the summer and probably just a way for my single mother to get the kids out of the house for a few hours.

It was sort of like Kindergarten, but about Christianity. We had fun activities meant to teach us about Jesus, such as singing Christian children's songs. One of them was "I'm in the Lord's Army."

I may never march in the infantry
Ride in the cavalry
Shoot the artillery
I may never shoot for the enemy
But I’m in the Lord’s army!

Something didn't seem right about that right off the bat. We had been seeing pictures of Jesus in the white robe, benevolent, palms up, welcoming to all. Then we're supposed to march in some kind of Jesus Army? That was a seed of inconsistency and stuck with me.

Over the next 5 or so years the gradual introduction of ides about science, history, mythology led me to the Santa moment: Oh, that's not literally true.