How and why I'm an atheist!

Well I'm an atheist, and I have been from day one. Growing up I never quite grasped how people could believe in a God, in what sounded to me quite silly. But I never questioned, I kept quite for years tip-toeing around people's faith with respect. As I entered my late teens, I was fascinated with the sciences, Biology, Physics, Astronomy, etc. I'm a huge fan of critical thinking and rationality. Always reading, investigating and learning, I became more aware and fascinated with our natural world. But at the same time I could always hear this constant nagging white-noise in the background, like an irritating jackhammer sounding outside, while your trying to concentrate on something. It was religion.

It started with a frustration as to why religion kept voicing these counterintuitive remarks and accusations at science and scientists, which after all are the only ones spending the effort and putting the hard yards in to bring forth knowledge, discover truths and progress our understanding of our place in the cosmos. I was bewildered that these parties of faith would freely (yet poorly) criticize, without even lifting a finger themselves to contribute in the search for knowledge and truth, but relish in not knowing. So to be fair I started researching religion along side science as to see their side of the story, concentrating on the Judeo-Christian God... This was what sent me down that rabbit hole. The more knowledge I gained and more I read, the more antagonized I became with religion as I saw it's malignant effect on the world, while at the same time the stronger my passion and respect for science got. Steering me to the conclusion that I hold to this day; Theism... Stunts knowledge, discourages curiosity and glorifies ignorance.

...I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day!