1) I was raised as a Christian from day one. As I grew older, I became puzzled by the concept of Hell. Eventually, I was in mental agony over it. I was trying to remain faithful but Hell? Really? Eternal torment for the ignorant? I struggled with this for nearly a year, trying to find a solution. Finally I realized I couldn't pretend any more. A closer look at Christianity showed that none of it added up. I then shifted to deism. However, when that was examined more rigorously, I found I had just moved to deism as a way to reconcile the problems in Christianity with my desire to believe in god. I was only a deist because I wanted to be. From there I learned in order to believe something I must have a compelling and honest reason. Thus I abandoned all forms of theism and remain unconvinced that a god exists.

2) A religions veracity has little to do with how you present it. I experienced my fair share of cruel, close minded Christianity. But even if it had been loving and reasonable, it all comes down to faith. Walk by faith, not by sight. It was never about reason, primarily. God is always shown as something that supercedes reason, he is above it. And I simply cannot accept that idea: god made me with the ability to think and reason, yet neglects and contradicts this ability? No. It seems much more likely that god is fiction and that is why he fails to stand the test of reason. The only thing that could ever talk me out of my atheism is god himself.