I don't believe in gods because growing up, the more I matured and the older I got the more I questioned. The more education I received, the more I could see that leaders in the church were not educated. The more questions and the more education, the harder it is to believe in myths and fairytales (especially when other myths and fairytales have more evidence or make more sense than religion).

In the third grade in a Seventh-Day Adventist church school I was told dinosaurs were just cow bones that scientists put together to make a fake creature and that space travel was not possible and the moon landing was fake. I was also taught that all other religions were wrong, and those practicing other religions were going to hell; something at the time I found utterly ridiculous, and something I've since discovered to be common theory among many religions. I overheard church leaders describe the evils that public school taught, pushing fear upon parents so that they would pay to send their children to the private Adventist school. I saw prejudice against people for not dressing nice enough when coming to church and others extensively questioned about their absence from church the week prior.

My father was not raised in the church; he refused to follow blindly and questioned things. Adventists do not drink alcohol or eat meat; when my father queried about Jesus drinking wine and eating lamb, the church elders insisted that the wine was really grape juice and the lamb was only used for sacrifice and not really eaten. Another time my father shared a song with some from the church, the song was modern and up-tempo and had a very uplifting message with Christian innuendo. The elders were upset with my father for exposing people in the church to something so evil; in their opinion drums were an instrument that led to evil music, and the upbeat tempo could lead to dancing -something they would not allow because they linked dancing to idol worship. My father stopped going to church but my mother continued to take us; that fall my father enroll me and my brothers in public school. Not long after the elders approached my mother and advised her to consider divorce because of the evil influence her husband was having on her children. My mother stopped going to that church, and even after changing membership to a different church did not attend regularly anymore. I was in fourth grade.

I tried again in high school. Although I had quite thoroughly rejected Adventism, some part of me had some faith left and wanted to believe. I was hanging out with some friends who often hung around the youth pastor from an Evangelical church. This was my first exposure to a church leader that was actually educated. He encouraged me to question the church and its teachings, and to question the Bible. This along with more modern teaching and a social aspect reeled me in; I spent over two years as a member and was baptized. But I also discovered that all the questions I had been encouraged to ask were answered with innuendo, or answered in ways that created even more questions, or just not answered at all. Towards the end of my senior year of high school I became disenchanted, and continued to attend only for the socialization.

On a side note, a story I tell to illustrate the ignorance of some religions, and to remind me how lucky I was to escape the Adventist church. During high school I worked with a lady that was a Seventh-Day Adventist; she shared with me a problem they were having at the school: pregnancy. In a student body of 40, they had five girls under age 18 that were pregnant. Here?s what it boiled down to: sex was such a taboo subject that they did not provide any sex education (not even ?abstinence?); and since reproduction involved sex, the basic science of how reproduction occurs was not taught either (not even how animals reproduce). These girls were essentially being taught that they could not have children unless they were married; but as we all know science and nature don?t follow rules like this.

Once I left for college I tried out a handful of churches in a new city. Each seemed worse than the previous, and I became more and more disenchanted. I finally came up with my own little quote that I used to answer friends and family that pressured me about attending church: "The Bible and my faith are enough for me; organized religion is a farce and the church is antiquated and corrupt." This spurred a few conversations but was mostly met with silence and no further argument. When my dad heard this the first time, overhearing me telling my grandmother, he told me it was genius and he was proud I was standing up for myself.

Some college courses, an exposure to the larger world, and a stint in the Army drew me to more and more conclusions that the church is a control mechanism. By the time I was getting off active duty (2004) I had pretty much lost all faith, but still wasn't sure what I believed in. I did some soul-searching-reading - eastern religions, pagan beliefs, lots of mythology, and a little on the origins of Christianity and Islam. Then in 2006 I saw the Zeitgeist movie - the banking section is a tad conspiracy theory, and the nine-eleven conspiracy is way over the tip - but the religious section hit home so hard that I watched it twice. Then spent weeks researching facts that it gave. I finally had interpreted that nagging feeling that had been plaguing me: I didn't believe in God. I soon realized I considered myself atheist.

The more research I've done, the more I see that the church and organized religion are relics of the past (I truly think religion is what is holding mankind back from that next big leap and from any hope at world peace). Many of the organized [Christian] churches we see today draw their roots from England in a time when the government controlled the church and the church controlled the people. The people that left that oppression and thus began the founding of the United States left there to escape the government controlling their church and religious choices. Today I believe we've seen too much swing in the opposite direction here in the US; the church has too much influence and control in government decisions.

I believe that in the modern world there is no place for the church as we know it. There may be a place for religion; everyone is entitled their faith, belief, and opinion (but should not be allowed to push it upon others). The church we know today is corrupt, hypocritical, meddles in politics, sparks wars, and presses its prejudices on the populous and even into law. Religion is the root of all evil; and the church is its right hand.

I'm an Information Technology Security Specialist, I served 6 years in the Army (was lucky and stayed stateside), and I've been married 5 years (and consider myself lucky to be married to a woman who shares my views).