Reply #5: The short version is that my rabbi gave a Yom Kippur sermon.

[laconicsax]

It was about how questioning what we're told is an integral part to Judaism, and studying Torah to learn what being Jewish meant to us individually, so I studied the Torah. Half-way through Numbers, I realized that being Jewish, for me, required abandoning the Torah and belief in God. I struggled with it for a while, but came out of it realizing that I was happier not having to try to maintain such dissonant cognitions as those required by my former faith.

Atheism, for me is simply the null hypothesis. They said there's a god and that was his law. I saw no justification for either belief. The Abrahamic god is as likely as Vectron with His kindly Claw.

Show me evidence a god, afterlife, etc exist and I'll consider it with an open mind. There's no dogma, no ritual, and nothing sacred in my atheism. Just an open mind.