In my case it was not a conscious decision. It’s more like a rope that was slowly snapping thread by thread until one particular day when my mind was a bit busier than normal tackling the usual questions of the day (why evil? why poverty? why life is unfair? why many priests and bishops seem stupid or lying or ignorant? why? why? why?), the rope snapped completely – I “realized” that the existence of “god” and the hypotheses that are built around this “god” was what was distorting the picture of reality. That the reality that supposes the existence of such a being is an illusion we created; the universe doesn’t care and it doesn’t need a “god” to explain many things we – I – already knew. I wasn’t particularly examining the evidence for or against “god”. I was looking at the world trying to make some sense out of what I see and accept as obvious but I wasn’t being satisfied with the “standard” answers that were so far given me by the Truth authorities. I was trying to unintentionally systematize my thoughts and ideas by trying to resolve the fundamental issues not knowing what it would lead me to. I wasn’t even thinking that I was weighing “god” and the arguments for or against it. Then I crossed the line – it’s “god” itself that was muddling things. I didn’t know “god”, I was only made to believe it. At least that’s how I remember it.
I remember feeling proud and happy about my big “discovery”. 
How did you “decide” to become an atheist?
On your statement “not being satisfied with the standard answer”. If the answer is always god then the debate ends. Michael Shermer of the Skeptics Society calls the answer of god the debate stopper. When god is the answer, the debate stops and there can be no more inquiry.
I to was not looking to disprove god, but eventually that is where the road led. As children we learn that there is no Santa, angels do not exist, fairy tails are just stories to learn from and not real. As an adult you (naturally) question things, including faith, belief systems, etc… After thiking about such things (I think) one can only conclude there is nothing supernatural, no psychics or clairvoyants, no chi or ki, no such thing as karma or luck. I see that you are based in the islands so..there are no faith healers and no psychic escrimadors that can read your thoughts.
“I was only made to believe it.” That reminds me of what the philosopher Daniel Dennett says in his book, “Breaking the spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomena.” In it he states that there is belief in god and the belief in the belief in god. I think that as children, and even as adults, that is mostly what we all believed in.
Thank you so much for such a great site. I see that your last post was last month. what’s going on now in the P.I..
Kriss
The “god” answer is stupid now that I think about it. It stifles true knowledge and honest inquiry.
I’ll try to post more by staying away from the other sites that I frequent.
cheers!
KSW
This is great. I honestly thought that atheists in the Philippines were but a small minority, found almost exclusively in the many bowels of UP.
On my part, my atheism was deliberate. My inclination towards agnosticism was the gradual development, heartened mostly by years of schooling in the usual rote of Filipino Catholic schools and “mandatory” family traditions. It was those same questions though (why does evil exist? etc.) that got me going. Those questions, and the Old Testament. For the most part, my atheism really is a reaction against the Catholic church, I realize that. But, generally speaking, I just find the whole idea of organized religion (and its various fundamentalist proponents) malevolent, hypocritical, and atrociously divisive. And that’s why I turned away from it. How can one reconcile the infinite diversity of life and frontiers unknown with this limiting, ultimately *small* and dubiously constructed concept of “God”? All that wealth and wonder and mystery being ascribed to the omnipotence and omniscience of this purported divinity? I just find it so baffling and deleterious! Self-proclaimed prophets and messiahs policing our thoughts and writing laws on the basis of some subjective sense of morality… It’s insulting.
Anyway… cheers to you guys for all this. And, as to the question in your title (i.e. Do we decide to become atheists?) I think we do. And that’s what makes it so freeing. Because, odds are, we didn’t have a choice when our parents had us baptized or sent us to religious schools. All that was forced on us, we had nothing to do with it; but the choice to turn away from all that was entirely ours.
Mine is not a decision, it was (and still is a continuing) development on part… It’s a constant quest for enlightenment (kaliwanagan ng isip). I remember, during my college days at the oldest dominican university in the Philippines, encountering Rene Descartes who stated: “COGITO ERGO SUM”. I Think therefore I Am…
This became the first step into my quest in seeking an alternative Morality devoid of the traditional notion of GOD and religion. I originally wrote my college thesis under the title “Five Ways of Proving the NonExistence of God”, as opposed to the Thomasian principles. Imagine an atheist in the midst of the ‘brethren’, how ironic…
circa 1980′s.
I’m not an ahteist and I was just googling things when I stumbled upon your blog.
This is really interesting. I was an atheist back when I was in college. I started out from questioning God and the supernaturals. And because apparently, even how many people tried to explain “God”, my human mind can’t grasp it. so eventually I turned agnostic then, atheist. But, one time in my life, with my mom becoming mentally ill and at the same time the too proud me was forced to stop schooling, I felt I lost everything, I can’t grasp why even I tried to follow reasons and reality to explain things in my life, those circumstances where something my mind can’t explain nor grasp. I didn’t know why I had to experience those.
This was the lowest point in my life. People would tell me to pray for it, but the very proud me, would neglect and even argue with them, saying that’s irrational and won’t help me.
But, there were just some persistent friends of mine who are Christians, who saw the terrible situation I was, and they never left me and showed compassion and love unconditionally. One day, they asked to pray for me, and the proud me felt humbled and I thought to let them pray for me because after all they have helped me a lot. They laid their hands on my head, and they prayed passionately, They were even crying. I felt weird because these people are just so concerned about me and they pray to a God. On that time, I myself cried, I felt chills all over my body and I knelt down and cried. It was something that I spontaneously felt and experienced. I stopped thinking about what I was feeling and what I was experiencing. I felt freedom, I felt great relief. I humbled myself. I felt gratitude. I looked up and stared at the ceilings of the house and I said thank you Lord.
This was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life. from that day on, I knew that God, faith are things that really can’t be grasped by our human minds. It is an existential relationship. Having faith with HIM, you’ll know He is a living God. because you’ll feel his power working in your lives. It would just simply start by seeking for HIM.
I totally respect what you believe in for that’s your right. I just hope you’ll let my comment be posted here.
Hope for all the best in your lives!