To atheists: did you always lack faith in God?

You are an athiest because:

  • Total voters
    32
I took it for granted that there was a god, but never really let it affect my lifestyle. I remember mostly just being pissed off with god when bad things happened. I'd just be confused and think "wtf? Why did you do that? fuck you" when a he-man figures arm would fall off or something like that.

When I was between eight and 10 I read "the trials of life" by david attenborough and somehow I just came to the realisation that the whole idea of god and religion was bullshit.

I wouldn't say I ever had faith, to me faith implies knowing better but lieing to yourself, suppressing rational thought and struggling to hold onto an absurd idea despite it's obvious flaws.
As soon as I first had a rational thought I dropped the idea of a god like it was a hot potato.
 
Neither of my parents ever talked to me about gods, either extant or extinct. They left that up to me to sort out, unfortunately.

I say "unfortunate" because I was left to "go with the flow" and, while I was born an atheist like everyone else, by time I reached the age of seven or so, I accepted that a god existed a priori. I remember questioning this existence many times over the course of my youth. Once, in particular, as I came back from the local Baptist church my cousins belonged to. Their parents were devoutly religious and took their kids so, staying the night with them, I had to tag along.

We had a lively discussion about their god which was, apparently, supposed to be mine too.

I finally abandoned all superstition about gods while in the military. I never really felt comfortable when it came time to "pray" during events and often found myself looking around at the other soldiers expressions, more interested in their dedication to the ritual than the magical words being uttered by the cult leader we referred to as "chaplain."

And it was about this time that I started thinking of religion in exactly those terms. As if I were an anthropologist from an alien planet evaluating the quaint superstitions of a primitive culture.

That period put it all into perspective for me and I haven't felt an ounce of "faith" for any god(s) since. In fact, I don't think I ever really had "faith" to begin with since I was always questioning and curious about why we were expected to believe the way we did. I was always uncomfortable with the silliness of "prayer" and "grace" at the diner table, events, or even in church. It felt fake, put-on, and wierd.
 
Since so far as I can remember that idea of a god didn't occur to me on its own, I would have to say that I was probably born an atheist.
 
Betrayer0fHope said:
Cause Dawkins represents all of the atheists, right?
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Many theists like to base beliefs around authority. Since Dawkins is a well-known atheist, people assume that discrediting Dawkins as a person will somehow discredit atheism in general (in the same way that discrediting the bible could discredit Christianity, or discrediting Mohammad could discredit Islam). You also often see theists trying to do the same sort of thing in reverse, where they argue that theism is likely to be correct because Einstein/Newton/Whoever was a theist. Again, the idea is that since this famous person is supposed to be "an authority" that scientifically-minded atheists respect, atheists will be likely to reconsider their beliefs (or lack of beliefs) when they hear that an "authoritative" person disagreed with them.

Of course an atheist is likely to simply shrug and say "Just because they were right about some physics doesn't mean that they were right about religion," but many theists don't realize that because they just don't think that way - they want there to be authoritative sources of truth, and they naturally tend to assume that other people think the way they do.
 
As a child I had a vivid imagination. I loved the children Bible stories. I liked SciFi and Fantasy books as well. I would have LOVED Harry Potter back then. I also had a love for history. At some point I decided to read up on the history of Christianity and a few years later became atheist.
 
S.A.M. said:
According to Islam there was a Prophet to all peoples, its all one God. :shrug:
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That wasn't my question though, was it?

I didn't ask what the perspective of one religion was, but how many gods man had named, and what percentage atheist that makes you.

You can't cop out and say 'there is one god', because that's not how polytheists think, they have distinct deities.

So, what percentage are you?
 
Betrayer0fHope said:
Cause Dawkins represents all of the atheists, right?
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He does not, of course, but that's not what Sam said or implied.

Anyway, Dawkins's point was specifically about the fallacy of labeling a child as holding some particular moral or philosophical worldview based on the beliefs of the parent, rather than directly about whether atheism is a default state. He does imply, however that atheism is a chosen point of view, rather than default condition.

There is good reason or this. Regardless of the arguments about the semantics of 'atheist' and 'atheism', the term is always used in practice to describe someone who has consciously decided not to believe in a deity.

In other words, saying that a young child is an atheist makes exactly as much sense as saying that a rock is an atheist.
 
phlogistician said:
You can't cop out and say 'there is one god', because that's not how polytheists think, they have distinct deities.
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Cop out or not, there are some that say that polytheists may be both wrong and right: perhaps right, because the gods in question might in fact exist; but wrong, because if they do exist, they are not distinct from the one God.

But regardless, I don't know that it's a productive line of argument. "Atheism" implies lack of belief in any intelligent, powerful, supernatural being - it's not really sensible to apply the term individually to specific god-descriptions.

The only conclusion that particular argument could reach is that someone does not believe in certain things... but so what?
 
Pete said:
Cop out or not, there are some that say that polytheists may be both wrong and right: perhaps right, because the gods in question might in fact exist; but wrong, because if they do exist, they are not distinct from the one God.
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It's not what people think of polytheists that matters, but what polytheists think themselves.

The question is simple; How many gods are there that have been described, and how many of them do you believe in?

Add those up and give us a percentage of your atheism.

Don't meta-analyse, just do the maths please.
 
Pete said:
There is good reason or this. Regardless of the arguments about the semantics of 'atheist' and 'atheism', the term is always used in practice to describe someone who has consciously decided not to believe in a deity.
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By theists. That's a theist, and an over narrow, perspective. The degree to which atheistic people (a better usage, IMHO) consciously decide not to believe is up for debate and varies considerably by individual.

Quite a few theists, as well as atheists, claim to have no real choice in the matter - we don't usually describe a theist as someone who consciously decided to believe in a deity.

Pete said:
He does not, of course, but that's not what Sam said or implied.
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Yes it is. SAM requires of all atheists that they answer for her description of Dawkins's alleged opinions and stances, as representing atheism generally.
 
S.A.M. said:
In other words, were you born an atheist or did you become one after thinking about it?
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You can only convert to atheism by thinking.

Anyway, I was raised christian, and then thought, and know I'm an atheist
 
Interesting. I was raised christian, thought, and tried wicca, thought some more, became an atheist, thought some more, and now I'm back to christianity. I guess it just depends on how much you are willing to think.
 
Mr. Hamtastic said:
Interesting. I was raised christian, thought, and tried wicca, thought some more, became an atheist, thought some more, and now I'm back to christianity. I guess it just depends on how much you are willing to think.
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Okay, you have GOT to explain what thoughts lead you to believe that wicca should be taken seriously. Wasn't that religion just made up in the first half of the 20th century?
 
SkinWalker said:
Neither of my parents ever talked to me about gods, either extant or extinct. They left that up to me to sort out, unfortunately.

I say "unfortunate" because I was left to "go with the flow" and, while I was born an atheist like everyone else, by time I reached the age of seven or so, I accepted that a god existed a priori. I remember questioning this existence many times over the course of my youth. Once, in particular, as I came back from the local Baptist church my cousins belonged to. Their parents were devoutly religious and took their kids so, staying the night with them, I had to tag along.

We had a lively discussion about their god which was, apparently, supposed to be mine too.

I finally abandoned all superstition about gods while in the military. I never really felt comfortable when it came time to "pray" during events and often found myself looking around at the other soldiers expressions, more interested in their dedication to the ritual than the magical words being uttered by the cult leader we referred to as "chaplain."

And it was about this time that I started thinking of religion in exactly those terms. As if I were an anthropologist from an alien planet evaluating the quaint superstitions of a primitive culture.

That period put it all into perspective for me and I haven't felt an ounce of "faith" for any god(s) since. In fact, I don't think I ever really had "faith" to begin with since I was always questioning and curious about why we were expected to believe the way we did. I was always uncomfortable with the silliness of "prayer" and "grace" at the diner table, events, or even in church. It felt fake, put-on, and wierd.
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*************
M*W: Your story is my story. Talking about god in my youth was never brought up. In fact, I always had the innate feeling that talking about god or even saying the word "god," was strictly forbidden. Like you, I tagged along to the local primitive baptist church with my friends. I think it was somewhat encouraged by my parents to go, even if they didn't go. It was time they had alone without me, which I'm sure they desperately looked forward to!

Because of my childhood experience with this foreign 'god' being, I more or less forced it onto my children, going all the way to convert to Roman catholicism and immerse our lives into the RCC. I did this blindly. I did this because it was something I never really had. I look back now, and I think I did this because of my rebel spirit. I never followed the beaten path. I always wanted to be different and stand out (only child syndrome). So, I became a part of something bigger than me. Of course I realize now that religion is what people make of it, and I just don't see it anymore as being something bigger than me. My feelings and my beliefs are more important to me than an organized religion, and I don't have the need to be a part of anything more important than my family. But that's just me.

I wonder how many other people had experiences similar to the both of us?
 
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