Religion has been a large part of my life for the past six years or so, which is hard for many to believe, due to the fact that I am an atheist. I haven’t always been, though, and I think that I dedicated more of my life to a “search for God” than most people. When I first became interested in religion and spirituality, I was twelve years old. I had beliefs, but no name for them specifically. After some research, I found people who believed in the same basic principles as I did, and that's when I began to practice Wicca. Even though my views have drastically changed since then, I do not regret that part of my life. I envy my former faith, and I think that the four years of being Wiccan really helped me learn, not just about religion, and deities, but about defending my views and not accepting ridicule. I truly believed my views were the correct ones, and though my views are different now, I still believe that I am right. And I suppose that's faith.

During high school, my religious views troubled me. Sure, I believed in them, but at the same time, almost all my friends were going through a strong Christian phase. They (you) are probably all still Christians, but during high school, everyone was so much more into it. I spent my days at the after school Christian bible study, and at friend’s youth groups, not because I was a Christian, obviously, but because this was what my friends did, and I knew it was right to support what they believed, even if I felt incredibly uncomfortable and out of place the whole time. And I did.

I had questions that I never had the courage to ask out loud. I couldn’t understand how so many people could believe in God, when you think about it, its totally incredible. I mean, the whole theory of a god goes against every fact you are taught in school, but somehow, most of the world still has faith, without any evidence whatsoever. It works for most people, but it got to a point in my life, where logic took over my thought process completely and I lost all hope of any deities or supernatural. Late in my junior year of high school, I declared myself a strong atheist.

Atheism is, in itself, a religion. You have hardcore beliefs, at least, strong atheists do. You believe that, beyond a doubt there is no chance for a god to exist, and science has put an end to all questioning. I once again knew that I was right in my way of thinking, and it astounded and disgusted me that so many people could be persuaded into believing something so easily without any proof or even thought. Its true, most people never take the time to question or think about their religion, they just believe what is instilled in them to believe. I, unfortunately, was never taught religion as a child, so my first encounter with any of it was at an age in which I was forced to think and question everything. Science held all my beliefs at age 17, and Wicca was just as far out to me as Christianity had been my whole life.

I am no longer a strong atheist, however I am not an agnostic either. I’m just an atheist. I believe that no gods exist. That is a fact in my mind. However, I do believe that there is a slight possibility that some sort of powerful extraterrestrial life form, more of an alien, may have godlike powers, and that might have something to do with Christianity. There's not a good chance of that in my head, but its completely impossible for me to believe in God as most Christians view Him.