For atheists only, of all the atheists you know, about what percent of them were formally Christian?

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I know 1 that was a former Muslim, and 1 that was from a family of atheists. Everyone else was a former Christian. So that would probably be around 95%. For location, I will say northeastern USA....Show more

I generally never know the viewpoint that people have on gods or religions, it is not topic that comes up often.
But I have lived in the Soviet union, the Russian Republic, Egypt, and the US.
Hardly any young people in Eastern Europe are religious. They may be described as atheists, which is true, but more accurately, few have ever given any thought about any religion at all. Those few that have would have come from families that, 125-150 years ago, would have been Orthodox or Muslim.

Unsurprisingly most Egyptians come from an Islamic background, also unsurprisingly few speak openly of religion to strangers often, but to my knowledge I never met a college educated Egyption that had any form of religion, although some could have been and I would not have known.

I grew up in the Catholic church, but never assumed the god was real, I always thought of god as being allegorical or as a focal point of moral or mythical stories...Show more

I'd say all whom I know were. Some were part of my family, and we were brought up Roman Catholic, others were from the same faith schools I attended, and one was someone I worked with.

I live in Wales, UK. Some of my family and friends are still religious and I understand and accept that; and they understand and accept that I don't believe in God. I still get hugs and kisses, even from those who are still religious. And we're always pleased to see each other when we get together.

I was religious from childhood, and have always been interested in religions, mythology and science; I was a devout, practising Catholic; I read the Bible, both Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha, several times; and was taught about it in school.

After studying and thinking deeply about faith, I realised in mid-teenage that faith was based upon nothing but itself, that science explained nature satisfactorily without needing supernatural beings, and that religious beliefs were no different to those of ancient beliefs in gods and goddesses.

When I first had doubts about my faith I thought that maybe this was a test of it, which was an idea planted in my mind by those teaching us about our faith. So I made the effort to accept it even more so. But the doubts came again, and I wondered what would happen if we took faith out of the equation; the world and nature still made sense, so I saw no reason to get back into it. And my understanding is that there's no theoretical or mathematical need for a god or gods, and there's no valid evidence of it or them; so there's no reason to believe. At the time this was difficult intellectually and emotionally (I was a teenager, after all).

That was over 45 years ago, and my escape from faith has freed me to embrace what science has to offer, which I consider far more plausible than belief in the supernatural, and is the nearest we can get to the truth about how nature and the universe work. I've felt a sense of freedom ever since, and am happy and at peace with this. And I've found the humility to admit that I don't know everything, rather than masking this by invoking a deity.

I still have an interest in religions, mythology, folklore and related matters, and am fascinated that people still believe in things that to me are clearly just not true....Show more

R&S is mostly Americans so most atheists are former, or in family ties, Christian. I also know many that have, like me, been non religious all their lives. I was essentially an atheist long before I learned the word....Show more

Formerly? I think all the ones over 40. I don't know many older people raised in atheist families. As for the younger generation, it's more like half and half....Show more