How long?

This is a personal question. How long have you been an atheist/christian/muslim/other?

I've been an atheist for three and a half years.

I think I started being disillusioned with religion about 34 years ago - at about 10 years old. I looked at various forms of spiritualism and called myself a Buddhist for a while, although I couldn't accept the mysticism of it all. By the time I was 16 - and partially because of anarcho-punk, I'd called myself an atheist.

Despite looking into the whole area of meaning and personal spiritual awareness more or less ever since then, I've remained most comfortable with calling myself an atheist.

I think I have been an atheist for a very long time, but I've only really called myself that for a short time (since about 20 or so). Before then I didn't really want to admit to not believing in god because the social hazards that would create.

When I was young I accepted that god existed because that was all I knew. Where I grew up, you either where a christian or worshiped the devil, there was no other religion or philosophy. When I heard about the emotional experiences people had when they were "saved" I used that as a criteria for my own salvation. People told me that they felt "Filled with the spirit of the lord" and that a burden had been lifted from them. I never had that experience, so I assumed that, for whatever reason, I was not saved. I spent a great deal of my childhood trying to replicate the experience all these people claimed to share and I felt that there was some flaw with me that prevented it. I pretended to be "saved" even though I didn't feel like I met the criteria. I never "Felt the presence of the lord." That led to this strange quite shame, I felt like I was living a lie and I started to become cynical about other people's claims of salvation to the point that I though most of the people around me were liars too. All that made for an unhappy childhood.   

My first memory of being a Christian was when I went to a church when I was about 4. I heard about this God and I was very afraid of the idea of him. So, I decided on that day to believe in what the preacher said, because what he said seemed that it would be dangerous not to do so. I didn't go to that church long because my parents weren't active in the church, so my faith subsided except the few times I was in church or when I was thinking deeply. When I was 12, I decided to go to church after some deep thinking and I went even without my parents. I got my mom to go to church and indirectly made her active in it. When I was 16, I decided to become a stronger Christian so I decided to read the Bible. Soon after I turned 17, I got baptized by my own choice. I wasn't baptized when I was a child. However, during this time as I became serious about my religion, I didn't feel that God was serious about me. The stronger my faith grew, the more distant God seemed to be. Eventually, I couldn't take feeling like God wasn't there, so I became an atheist July 7, 2007. The reason that date was significant was because many people felt that day was lucky (7/7/07) and it reminded me of the year before where the the sign of the Devil was present in the date (6/6/06) and I couldn't take the superstitution. Ironically, when I became more Christian, I also became more materialistic. In fact, I would say that besides God, heaven, hell, and souls I believed that everything consisted of matter. So, it was an easy choice to become an atheist, but it was a hard choice to accept the reality of it. I have been an atheist for more than three years, although there was a brief time two years ago that I was agnostic to maintain "neutrality", which is what agnosticism is not.

I've been a Muslim since I was born, so 16 years.ghoklebutter

I take it that Richard Dawkins' rally against babies and children being labeled as a part of a particular religion hasn't really bothered you. Surely you had to conceive of Allah and consciously decide to follow him before you were a proper Muslim? How old do you think you were before that happened?

For myself I'm going to draw a sort of timeline:

Birth------ Implicit weak atheist. No concept of God or associated belief.

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- 7 years old. Explicit weak atheist. Familiar with the term God but without positive belief.

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- 10 years old. Decided that God is pretty silly sounding and not real. Strong atheist.

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- 15 years old. Strong atheist. Beginning to discuss God and think about the concept in a more sophisticated way.

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- 18 years old. Strong atheist. Start posting rubbish in the religious threads on OT. Take my first philosophy class.

- 19 years old. Strong atheist. Fully exposed tot he philosophy of religion via university and gamespot and friends.

- 20 years old. Strong atheist. Leader of a small online atheist community.

- 21 years old. Still a strong atheist to this day. 

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]I've been a Muslim since I was born, so 16 years.domatron23

I take it that Richard Dawkins' rally against babies and children being labeled as a part of a particular religion hasn't really bothered you. Surely you had to conceive of Allah and consciously decide to follow him before you were a proper Muslim? How old do you think you were before that happened?

In Islam, all children are considered Muslims at least before adulthood because of fitrah, the inherent knowledge of God all children are supposedly born with subconsciously. They only become non-Muslims due to their upbringing and later due to choosing that religion of lack thereof in adulthood.

I guess I only really started being a practicing Muslim around 12. I didn't "decide" to be Muslim, though, and I'm still doubtful over some things in Islam. 

[QUOTE="domatron23"]

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]I've been a Muslim since I was born, so 16 years.ghoklebutter

I take it that Richard Dawkins' rally against babies and children being labeled as a part of a particular religion hasn't really bothered you. Surely you had to conceive of Allah and consciously decide to follow him before you were a proper Muslim? How old do you think you were before that happened?

In Islam, all children are considered Muslims at least before adulthood because of fitrah, the inherent knowledge of God all children are supposedly born with subconsciously. They only become non-Muslims due to their upbringing and later due to choosing that religion of lack thereof in adulthood.

I guess I only really started being a practicing Muslim around 12. I didn't "decide" to be Muslim, though, and I'm still doubtful over some things in Islam.

I've always thought of theism as a conscious belief so this fitrah business doesn't make much sense to me. It's very interesting though. In the Islamic worldview is every single child, even those born to hardcore Christian families or Hindu families, a Muslim at birth and early childhood? I'd love to see somebody explain to Joe Christian that his baby boy is actually a Muslim. I don't think it would go down too well.

I'm not sure about the whole idea that we have a native, hard wired concept of God in us. I'd say that we definitely have certain tendencies to over use teleology, pattern recognition, facial recognition, agent recognition, trust of elders etc which naturally lead to a concept of God. I'd not put so much confidence in a God-concept that is subconsciously wired ino our brain at birth though. Theism comes in way too many different forms for that.

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"][QUOTE="domatron23"]

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]I've been a Muslim since I was born, so 16 years.domatron23

I take it that Richard Dawkins' rally against babies and children being labeled as a part of a particular religion hasn't really bothered you. Surely you had to conceive of Allah and consciously decide to follow him before you were a proper Muslim? How old do you think you were before that happened?

In Islam, all children are considered Muslims at least before adulthood because of fitrah, the inherent knowledge of God all children are supposedly born with subconsciously. They only become non-Muslims due to their upbringing and later due to choosing that religion of lack thereof in adulthood.

I guess I only really started being a practicing Muslim around 12. I didn't "decide" to be Muslim, though, and I'm still doubtful over some things in Islam.

I've always thought of theism as a conscious belief so this fitrah business doesn't make much sense to me. It's very interesting though. In the Islamic worldview is every single child, even those born to hardcore Christian families or Hindu families, a Muslim at birth and early childhood? I'd love to see somebody explain to Joe Christian that his baby boy is actually a Muslim. I don't think it would go down too well.

I'm not sure about the whole idea that we have a native, hard wired concept of God in us. I'd say that we definitely have certain tendencies to over use teleology, pattern recognition, facial recognition, agent recognition, trust of elders etc which naturally lead to a concept of God. I'd not put so much confidence in a God-concept that is subconsciously wired ino our brain at birth though. Theism comes in way too many different forms for that.

I was wrong in my last post. In this Wikipedia article, fitra is more clearly explained: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitra

Links aren't working right now. Glitchspot is at it again! :x

5 years of atheism 

[QUOTE="domatron23"][QUOTE="ghoklebutter"][QUOTE="domatron23"]

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]I've been a Muslim since I was born, so 16 years.ghoklebutter

I take it that Richard Dawkins' rally against babies and children being labeled as a part of a particular religion hasn't really bothered you. Surely you had to conceive of Allah and consciously decide to follow him before you were a proper Muslim? How old do you think you were before that happened?

In Islam, all children are considered Muslims at least before adulthood because of fitrah, the inherent knowledge of God all children are supposedly born with subconsciously. They only become non-Muslims due to their upbringing and later due to choosing that religion of lack thereof in adulthood.

I guess I only really started being a practicing Muslim around 12. I didn't "decide" to be Muslim, though, and I'm still doubtful over some things in Islam.

I've always thought of theism as a conscious belief so this fitrah business doesn't make much sense to me. It's very interesting though. In the Islamic worldview is every single child, even those born to hardcore Christian families or Hindu families, a Muslim at birth and early childhood? I'd love to see somebody explain to Joe Christian that his baby boy is actually a Muslim. I don't think it would go down too well.

I'm not sure about the whole idea that we have a native, hard wired concept of God in us. I'd say that we definitely have certain tendencies to over use teleology, pattern recognition, facial recognition, agent recognition, trust of elders etc which naturally lead to a concept of God. I'd not put so much confidence in a God-concept that is subconsciously wired ino our brain at birth though. Theism comes in way too many different forms for that.

I was wrong in my last post. In this Wikipedia article, fitra is more clearly explained: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitra

Links aren't working right now. Glitchspot is at it again! :x

If I'm reading it right fitra is a set of the essential elements that make us human, which includes an innate knowledge of God. You weren't really wrong then, you just forgot to add that along with knowing God, fitra involves having intelligence and what have you.

So the question remains. According to the Islamic view is a child born to a hardcore Christian family a Muslim until it deconverts? 

Moreover do you believe that everyone one is born with an innate knowledge of tawhid/God?