I've seen lots of debates on the internet involving atheists and theists. What strikes me most is how in a lot of discussions i see simmilar phrases or retorts in a lot of these discussions. Often quoting the same sites and books. They've all read the god delusion, watch george carlin and refer to hitchens. I wonder if people assume atheism because they feel to be held back by religion but also the need to be part of a group. In 2000, i was nine, i wanted to see if there really was a god, so i asked him to show himself to me. Based on that conclusion (and the fact i hated going to church, i'd rather do what i wanted) i became atheist, a crude form of scientific method so to say. I had no grudge against the church whatsoever, although lately i feel good not to be associated with it. It was in 2002 that we got a computer and internet, dawkins launched to fame in 2004. I've known i wanted into the field of science ever since i got high-school mathematics in elementary school. To me it almost seems atheism has become a pseudo-religion with it's own books (god delusion, the selfish gene), prophets (dawkins, hitchens) and doctrine (science). While the whole reason i think atheism isn't a collective because we have one thing in common. So, is being an atheist a fad of wanting to be different from others, or is it an ideology people assume because they think it's the truth?