I don’t have a compelling story or anything, but reading some of the recent religion related questions reminded me of the way my attitude towards religion has sort of evolved since childhood.
I was not raised religious at all, but I remember still being interested in Christianity as a kid, reading our children’s Bible, and going with my friend (whose family was strongly religious) to some of her church events. I didn’t really believe anything though.
Then as I got a little older I experienced some mild bullying in school and one night I decided to pray just to see if there was anything to it. I remembering praying for the people who picked on me, hoping they’d get relief in whatever it was that compelled them to bully others. It felt good, I liked it. In hindsight I think I just liked the feeling of being the bigger person by wishing well on those who wished me harm. I still didn’t really believe what I had done had any real power.
The bullying got slightly worse in the winter and one night I prayed for a snow day because I didn’t want to have to deal with school the next day. Then I guiltily added, but I don’t the weather to be too bad, because I don’t want anyone to get in car accidents or anything, okay God?
Overnight it didn’t snow much, but the temperatures got so low that a water pipe burst in my elementary school and school was cancelled just for us. That was proof enough for me, for a while.
As I grew and learned about confirmation bias and started to become more of a skeptic, I looked back on my past feelings towards religion and didn’t feel so sure of them anymore. My final decision to call myself agnostic was caused mostly by my acknowledgement that I am very young and my ancestors have been pondering this question for thousands of years, and it would be quite presumptuous to believe that I, a mere 19 year old, knew anything about the nature of the universe.