For me, all of the above reasons in the survey apply, but if I had to pick one thing that pushed me away from my Catholic upbringing to Atheism, it'd be questioning religious teachings. I kept...
Six-in-ten religiously unaffiliated Americans – adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – say the questioning of religious teachings is a very important reason for their lack of affiliation. The second-most-common reason is opposition to the positions taken by churches on social and political issues, cited by 49% of respondents (the survey asked about each of the six options separately). Smaller, but still substantial, shares say they dislike religious organizations (41%), don’t believe in God (37%), consider religion irrelevant to them (36%) or dislike religious leaders (34%).
For me, all of the above reasons in the survey apply, but if I had to pick one thing that pushed me away from my Catholic upbringing to Atheism, it'd be questioning religious teachings. I kept asking Sunday School teachers questions they couldn't answer well enough to convince me they were right, and that led to me questioning everything else about the basis of the religion.
I'm actually religious, but I don't believe the state needs to know, so I always choose to not answer. Though for my marriage certificate, the registrar refused to let me write "non-disclosed" and...
I'm actually religious, but I don't believe the state needs to know, so I always choose to not answer. Though for my marriage certificate, the registrar refused to let me write "non-disclosed" and insisted on putting me down as "atheist". I noticed that doesn't seem to be an option on these surveys too, so there's probably a few of us too.
For me, all of the above reasons in the survey apply, but if I had to pick one thing that pushed me away from my Catholic upbringing to Atheism, it'd be questioning religious teachings. I kept asking Sunday School teachers questions they couldn't answer well enough to convince me they were right, and that led to me questioning everything else about the basis of the religion.
I'm actually religious, but I don't believe the state needs to know, so I always choose to not answer. Though for my marriage certificate, the registrar refused to let me write "non-disclosed" and insisted on putting me down as "atheist". I noticed that doesn't seem to be an option on these surveys too, so there's probably a few of us too.