NORMAN Ralph thinks there are just too many holes in what he calls 'The God Argument'.
He realised this 10 years ago. The only trouble was his parents were both staunch Catholics and he was midway through a course that was meant to end with his Co
nfirmation.
After a few years waiting in vain for his doubts to be dispelled, he finally "outed" himself as an atheist.
So what did his mum and dad make of that?
"Well, put it this way," he says. "I've barely spoken to my dad since."
Norman says there were other issues with his dad that made their relationship difficult, but the years of silence between father and son show the extreme emotions that religion can trigger.
Not that 24-year-old Norman and his colleagues in the Leeds Atheist Society aren't used to being on the receiving end of extreme emotions.
The group – based at Leeds University – is about to mount a week-long, 24-hour vigil in a tent in a bid to spread its message.
Talks listed on its timetable of events include one entitled 'It's Only Water' and the somewhat provocative 'Was Jesus An Atheist?'.
Nicola Jackson, whose mother is Jewish, says complete strangers regularly challenge her over her beliefs, or rather her lack of them.
"If I'm wearing my Atheist Society hoodie in town people will come up to me and tell me I'm wrong.
"But I don't see what comfort you get from religion. You just end up worrying whether you're going to heaven or hell.
"As an atheist I've never been afraid of death in the slightest."
I suggest this may have something to do with the fact that she is a perfectly healthy 21-year-old, but Nicola disagrees.
"For me it's just liberating, it stops me worrying about what's going to happen after we die. It means we get round to enjoying our lives, making a difference and having an effect in this life instead of waiting for the next."
Rationalists' Week – when they take to their tent in a bid to recruit new members – is the highlight of the Leeds Atheist Society's calendar.
Running from April 19 to 25, they say its aim is to raise awareness of rational thought and promote scientific method and reason.
It sounds eerily similar to what the Church is attempting to do through programmes such the Alpha course, which it bills as an opportunity for anyone to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed setting.
The job or organising Rationalists' Week will fall to Chris Worfolk, a 22-year-old computing graduate from Temple Newsam, who is the society's events secretary. It is what his entire year has been gearing up to.
I ask Chris if he will be eating any Easter eggs this year. And if so, does he think that makes him a hypocrite?
"I will be trading Easter eggs," he confirms. "But that's because there is nothing more humanist than my love of chocolate.
"I swap presents at Christmas too because I see it as an amalgamation of a lot of different traditions. So I don't celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but I still celebrate the holiday."
Humanism, a branch of atheism, is the belief in human effort rather than religion – and Chris believes in humanism in a big way.
He is angry, he says, that Leeds University spends money on its chaplaincy and Muslim faith centre when there is little or no provision for humanists.
A regular at Humanist Society of West Yorkshire meetings, held in Leeds at the Swarthmore Education Centre in Woodhouse Square, his visits have convinced him you don't have to believe in God to be happy.
"The people there are in their 70s and they're active and upbeat," he says. "They get a kick out of being humanist. You can live a good and happy life without God."
I tell Chris, Norman and Nicola I find it interesting that they all come from a scientific academic background. Do they think that goes a long way to explaining their atheism?
"Science is a big part of looking at it," agrees Norman, "the way scientists think about things."
But then he's not sure whether he's an atheist because he's a scientist or vice versa. And anyway, there are lots of arts students among the society's 100-plus members.
"The question I ask is what's more likely to be true? Just because we want something to be true, it doesn't mean it is.
"I don't see it as my job to tell people what they think is wrong. But if people come to me I will tell them what I think.
"Just because people get offended by something it doesn't make their view right or more right than the view that offends them."
Norman says his mum has been a little more understanding of his switch to atheism, although she still harbours the hope that he will change his mind.
"Now and again she'll say, 'Jesus is talking to you, he tells me,' but I can't hear him.
"And if I did hear voices in my head I would go and see a doctor."
For more information visit www.leeds.atheistsoc.org.
