SINGAPORE, May 7 — He was raised a Catholic and began attending mass independent of his family from Secondary 1, Amos Yee said in his statement to the police.
The blogger, who is facing charges for posting an obscene image online as well as content intended to wound the religious feelings of Christians, said he had considered himself a practising Catholic until some incidents caused him to become an atheist.
One such incident took place in 2013 when he was kicked out as an altar boy for swearing at a meeting.
The statement was given to the police on the night of March 29, a few hours after his arrest. In it, Yee said he was asked to leave the church in 2013, when he told a priest his reservations about being confirmed as a Catholic.
The “major impetus” for embracing atheism was his advocacy of logic and reasoning, Yee said. He questioned the implications of his confirmation in the Catholic faith and began doing research on Catholicism and Christianity by watching YouTube videos and reading blogs on atheism.
Yee became a fan of a YouTube channel called The Amazing Atheist, and said he grew convinced that God does not exist and, even if He did, “nobody rational would ever follow Him”.
“As a result of my research into atheism and possibly, the emotional catalysts that drove me away from my church, I stopped going to church in mid-2013 and stopped practising the faith altogether,” Yee said. It was not mentioned which church he attended. — TODAY
