Answer 75

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Question 75

How many atheists became atheists after attending a religious school or university?

I was born in 1967 in Spain and then (up to 1978 when we got our Constitution) catholicism was a state matter. So I became atheist while I was attending a catholic school. We had mandatory prayer in May (Mary's month) and in other schools they had daily. (Angel Arnal #1443)

My school was not exactly a religious school but as it was a boarding school we had to attend morning service Mon-Sat and a 2hr service on Sunday. We were also encouraged to get confirmed. I became atheist at the age of 16 whilst still attending this school, however I cannot say that being forced to attend made me an atheist, that occurred during a long spell in hospital. It did mean though that I knew Christianity very well and was well versed in the bible. These did contribute to my becoming an atheist, when I started to question my faith, I could suddenly see yawning gaps in the Christian faith. (Alan Ferris 1211)

The college I attended was a Lutheran liberal arts college. But the reasons I attended were quite secular: it has an excellent math department, and it has been kind of a family tradition to attend.

Actually, although it's a Lutheran college, religion is not enforced in any real way. I remember my biology professor ridiculing creationism, and religious dogma was questioned and attacked in our religion classes. In fact, the only real effect the college's Lutheran affiliation had on me was that we were required to take 3 religion courses. (I ended up taking four -- I really enjoyed learning about Buddhism and Taoism!) (Chris Nelson #135)

I also attended a Lutheran liberal arts college; however, I was nominally Christian at the time -- i.e. I hadn't really thought about it too much.

I would have to say that two courses in particular led to my eventually becoming an atheist: Philosophy of Religion and Critical Thinking. Philosophy of Religion devoted several weeks to the "problem of evil", and of course Critical Thinking pointed out how to pursue topics more logically.

(Are there any U.S. secondary schools that have a logic course? It's sad that I had to go to college to take a Critical Thinking class.) (Tukla #1347)

I attended the usual state schools. Having an Established Chuch in the UK meant that some religion was compulsory (interestingly, there wasn't as much as there is now). I was brought up by racist, sexist parents - in fact they had every bigoted stance I can think of, and then some! - with self-contradictory attitudes to religion. As I had been told by my father at an early age that I was, to him, no more than a financial burden and told repeatedly that I was incompetent, stupid, useless and so on - I was the ideal fodder for an RE teacher at school. He was a lay preacher with the local Methodist circuit and clever. His first lesson was spent picking out the contradictions in Genesis. He then went on to turn things round - I'm still not quite sure now, but I do trace my religious years back to those lessons, in conjunction with the self- loathing atmosphere engendered by my parents.
When I got away from that, found that I was none of the things my parents had said, and started to think for myself, the weight lifted and I was a free atheist. (Diem Marshall #1459)

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