Former Seventh Day Adventists pastor Ryan Bell, 43, set out in January to live a year without God

Almost immediately he lost his job teaching at two Christian schools who were unhappy about his decision

Since then thing shave improved and he has a new job and has found love with a woman who is a devoted Christian

At the end of the month Bell will decide if he will remain an atheist or return to God in 2015

A former Seventh Day Adventists pastor who set out in January to live a year without God could be set to become a full-time atheist when his eventful experiment comes to an end later this month.

Ryan Bell, 43, made headlines in January when just days into his 'intellectual experiment' to explore atheism he was fired from his two teaching jobs at Christian schools near Los Angeles.

Bell was left struggling to support his two young daughters, aged 10 and 13, until an atheist blogger set up an online fundraising site and helped raise over $27,000 to help him support his family.

During his year without God, Ryan Bell has found love with Rebecca Pratt, who is a devoted Christian

For 19 years Bell had been a pastor, most recently the senior pastor at the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventists Church.

Then in March 2013 he resigned his position due to differences over his liberal views - including campaigning against the same-sex marriage ban for gay and lesbians - that didn't go down well with the church.

With his 17-year marriage also headed for divorce, Bell suffered a crisis of faith and in January 2014, he began a yearlong journey to explore the limits of theism and the atheist landscape in the U.S.

He decided to write a blog about that experiences called Year Without God - A Former Pastor's Journey Into Atheism.

'For the next 12 months I will live as if there is no God,' he wrote in his first entry.

'I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else's circumstances. (I trust that if there really is a God that God will not be too flummoxed by my foolish experiment and allow others to suffer as a result).'

With his 17-year marriage also headed for divorce, Bell suffered a crisis of faith and in January 2014, he began a yearlong journey to explore the limits of theism and the atheist landscape in the U.S.

The past 12 months has proved many testing times for Bell, but he tells the L.A. Times that his also life has started to feel good again.

Bell got a job teaching life skills at PATH, a nonprofit helping the homeless, and has also started dating again.

His girlfriend, Rebecca Pratt, is - ironically - a devoted Christian but has been open-minded about his journey to live without religion for a year.

As the months have progressed, Bell says he has became more and more comfortable with his new life.

He currently describes himself as a 'weak atheist' and says he is comfortable with not having all the answers about the meaning of life and why we are here.

Bell was left struggling to support his two young daughters, aged 10 and 13, until an atheist blogger set up an online fundraising site and helped raise over $27,000 to help him support his family

Over Christmas, Bell says he has no plans to attend any church services, although the former pastor he still loves the rituals.

Then on January 1, his journey will be over and he is expected to make an announcement on his blog about if he is to remain an atheist or return to God.

'I do think I've now seen both sides of the coin,' he told the L.A. Times.

'Being with the atheists, they can have the same sort of obnoxious certainty that some Christians have, and I don't want to be a part of that. It feels like I'm stuck in the middle.

'I want to be for something good, but I don't want boundaries, and religion just feels like a very bounded thing.

'The question I am asking right now: Why do I need religion to love?'