I never bought into the idea of any gods or goddesses. I was raised as an atheist, practiced and studied Zen Buddhism in my early 20s, and quietly dropped Zen when I got married at 24.

Later on, in my mid 30s, I read a fair number of books and other writings by noted non-believers. What they had to say made a lot of sense to me, which I suppose isn't surprising. For example, Christians often seem to have a response when The Problem of Evil is brought up, but their explanations strike me as being quite holow. Then some theist will spring The Argument From Incredulity on me, after dressing it up in whatever "meaningful-sounding" clothes they can come up with... but it's still the same tired song.

Frankly, if there ever existed a god or goddess that has or had the ability to influence our lives, and if children dying in war zones or of the most painful childhood cancers you can imagine are part of his, her, or its "master plan", then that god can go **** himself because he's not getting any attention from me.

The above may make it sound like I believe and that I'm angry, but in my day to day life I don't think of religion at all. I lack the "faith" language and frame of reference that many people in the US have, and have no desire to change that.