Former religious believers of Reddit, what made you become an atheist or an agnostic?

Religion would have somebody with two arms, two legs, and a head believe that he could be the reason for thunder and for rain... Religion like anything could be misrepresented that way... Religion like anything else has its uses... Religion is useful as a tactic for organizing the present and persistent pattern of ideas we have... But it is not the only tactic, not should it be the only tactic... No, religion should never be the sole arbitrator of our ideas... Religion is useful for providing a means to identify many of the characters we encounter on our wayward journey through here... For me, a former believer, because of a diagnosis of bipolar mania 2, in my early 20s, this diagnosis meant that it was clear where this thing, life here, gets a big idea from all along... I couldn't afford to believe once I knew what the fantastic parts were based on... Once I knew what that sound really was by what it was asking for, it's not farfetched... a sound asking for obedience and for my humility... That sound, informed by a story I heard about for the first time in childhood, the reason I had to leave the fantasy behind, to the true believers...

/r/AskReddit Thread