I grew up in an independent church, a pretty liberal and laid-back evangelical parish. I tried to believe, because it seemed to give people comfort. Then I tried to believe in "well, maybe it's not God as described by Christians, but maybe there's something", which is basically Sweden's main actual belief.

Finally I had to admit that "10% Christian" doesn't really make sense or explain anything and that agnosticism isn't an actual view – atheists don't claim to know there is no intelligent creator any more than physicists who used Newton's laws claimed that Newton's laws were all there was to it – so I had to admit I was an atheist. I've been comfortable with that label ever since.

Mom doesn't believe atheists are real. Nobody could *really* lack any and all belief in their heart that there is a God.