Bobbybanned

No, I am not Equus, but I qualify as Anyone, I think.

I actually (more or less) converted from religion to spirituality to atheism. Of course that's the condensed version.
I was once a strict Christian. Not a bible thumper by all means, but very set in my ways. Firm in my belief. Proud too (at least I thought so). But, questions were asked, things were wondered about. Ideas, feelings, all sorts of things simply weren't adding up. I became uncomfortable with my position.

I saw something (many things) in religion that bothered me. I rejected it, but remained spiritual. (at least I claimed to be).

Eventually I discovered I was agnostic. I believed in something and accepted that I didn't understand it and I was okay with it. I needed to have that 'something' though. The idea of nothing was extremely frightening to me. I wanted something looking out for me.

At some point, probably late twenties, I kinda removed myself from the equation as I continued to consider things. Upon doing that, the lack of my emotional responses allowed me to see what I was seeing much clearer, which basically was nothing.

Of course there is a great deal of philosophy behind my conclusions, but in a nutshell, I decided to believe in what I could understand. Once I did this, it was incredible the way things began to make sense, the way questions I always had were beginning to get answered to some degree, if not completely.

Accountabilty is at the heart of atheism. Personally I like the idea of adopting values and morals based on good verses bad. I like the gratification that comes with my living up to my own standards, as well as standards that others have helped me with. Being an atheist has lead to, or at least helped, with my feeling - to some degree - proud of myself. I like that.