I was raised religious all my life I was raised in a Hindu family I was raised in Florida too so, yeah a bit of a culture difference it's definitely caused me some issues meshing with other cultures due to the fact a lot of Florida is Christian and it's hard to find people like me there.
Around 13, I was at the beach one day, I was questioning religious beliefs and the things I grew up doing. When I got home I asked my parents about it. 13 is old enough to start questioning things but not old enough to have very complex conversations. I was mature enough to start questioning my beliefs but I wasn't mature enough to support my arguments and back up my beliefs. My parents started having a deep conversation about beliefs that I was too young to comprehend, I felt that wasn't an appropriate conversation that I could understand easily or give a proper answer to, I was only 13 and I had a lot of pressure to answer these kind of questions and things I could not comprehend. My parents didn't accept me for who I was and was constantly trying to convert me until I molded myself back in to fit into their circle. No one should have to do that. No one should be pressuring you to fit in you should be allowed to be yourself
Around 15 was probably the worst point in my life because I had a lot of mood swings, I got back into religion and I was definitely religious, my religiousness was also causing me to have delusions, my religiousity caused me to lose some critical thinking abilities too. It was a very bad point in my life where I felt a lot of desperation.
Then I started to question. I was going back and forth between being Hindu and being atheist.
Around 16, I slowly weaned off religion and now at my current age I'm not religious. I'm a strong atheist and the trauma I've been through has shaped me a lot. I don't wish to associate with religion and I think religion is bad for people because it hinders a lot of critical thinking abilities.
What is your guys story with religion. What is your background? How did you become atheist?