I have just found this newsgroup.  Let me introduce myself...
I grew up with religion.  I used to believe in God, but I no longer do.  I'm
not overly intellectual, though I like to think I'm reasonably intelligent. 
I'm not into science, in fact I'd rather just sit and wonder about things,
rather than actually figure them out!
Here is how I came to change my belief system.
I used to think that God watched over me, helped me, was there if I asked and
all that.  I didn't belong to any religion, though I was raised in the Baptist
Church.   

My 11 year old daughter was raped.  I started seriously questioning my beliefs
about God after that one.  How could a God allow this to happen?  I drove
myself absolutely nuts with trying to figure out what I had done wrong, or not
done right enough to have this happen.  People told me my daughter suffered
because God gave people free will and sometimes we have to pay the price for
someone else's free will.  Stupid stuff like that.  I still believed in God
though.

Then my husband had a psychotic break.  He was diagnosed with paranoid
schizophrenia.  I eventually divorced him, after a long time in hell
(yep..right here on earth!), trying to deal with his illness.

That really got me.  If my thoughts, feelings, beliefs originate in my mind,
what is my mind?  Well..it's nothing but a glorified piece of meat with some
chemicals and electrical charges thrown in (I think anyways...like I said, I'm
no scientist!).  I watched as my husband's brain convinced him of all kinds of
things.  I watched his thoughts, feelings and beliefs change to the point I
didn't even know him anymore.  Then the doctors added some more chemicals and
it got a little better.

My beliefs, thoughts, feelings...all that I am is so fragile.  It's so
changable!  It could all be altered forever in a heartbeat...ever know anyone
with a major head injury?  So what of my belief in God?  If my belief in God
could be wiped out so easily....where did that leave the devine being? 
Non-existent?  unimaginable?  I would go to hell simply because I got some
screwed up chemicals that made me not believe or know anymore?  It didn't make
sense.

I started thinking....for myself...and found that I could no longer buy it all.
 I can see how a "god" might be useful to some people...it can provide a
feeling of security, a feeling of control over life.  It can help people to
feel safe, but it can also help them to feel guilt, shame, unhappiness, a sense
of failure.  I can see how it all works, but I just can't buy it anymore.  

I have seen the truth and I can't go back.

I've been sort of amazed by the things people say to me about my new beliefs. 
I pretty much just keep my mouth shut now...they tell me I'm just blaming god
for what has happened in my life...my daughter and my husband.  Well...if there
was a God...shouldn't I blame it???  I don't know..I'm sure you all have heard
it all too.  It gets old and it gets hard to take because now I can see the box
that these people are in, but they do not have the courage, the insight, the
whatever to get out of it.  Of course, neither did I until circumstances were
so very painful for me I either had to change my beliefs or go crazy myself.  I
do not try to challenge them...I can understand if they are not ready to let go
of god yet, but they do not give me the same respect.  
Oh well...they have not walked in my shoes and that's ok.
I don't know.  Since I quit believing in God, my life is better.  I have been
able to make better choices, because I know they have no mystical implications.
 I can do what is best for me, because I'm not trying to please some mysterious
being.  I feel better than I ever have...and I am much less judgmental of
others than I ever have been.  I am happier, more compassionate, just a better
human being, because I know this is all we get.  My life has plenty of meaning.
 The only way I will go on is by leaving what I have of myself.  Through my
children, the people I help or befriend, a lasting impact on others.  Of
course, all that will be gone within a couple generations of my death, but I
still find great satisfaction from attempting to leave the world a little bit
better for me having been in it.  That's meaning enough for me.
I'm sure someone will tell me I feel better because I'm being lured by satanic
forces or something...but whatever!  This is the truth and there's no going
back.  I know what I know and I can't go back to the imaginary comfort of a God
that doesn't exist. 
I understand that life just happens.  Some people are mean and hurt others. 
Sometimes things go wrong and people suffer.  That's just the way it is.  I
find much more comfort in that than thinking that some god has some demented
plan for all this!
Well...this is plenty long enough!  It is nice to find others who think like I
do, even if maybe we came to be here by different paths.  I will be reading....