I was never really in a religious frame in my life. My parents have never gone to church, I went a few times growing up with my neighbours because I wanted to hang out with there kids not sure I really took anything they said too literally. I went to a Catholic high school because the location/circumstances... worked better for my personal situation, after grade 10 I opted out of religious studies. Now years later I've actually spent a fair amount of time listening to podcasts that compare and contrast the origins of religions because I find the topic pretty interesting.
All of that said, the two biggest influences on me being out talking about being an atheist instead of just declining to think about or consider religion, were first and foremost hearing others willing to make similar declarations. But also almost as important was my inability to comprehend how religious people square their own personal morality. I've heard it so many times "So and so is a good person because they have faith." "I did x because that's what Jesus would do"... And I think myself how can these things possibly seen as litmus tests for morality? How can someone think there is some list of rules that eternally define what a moral action is? The inability of religious people to grapple with and engage in real thought about what is good just blows my mind, and then the way that they hold themselves as some moral standard while refusing to independently consider their own moral framework is laughable.
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