Why and how did you become an atheist?

[aaqucnaona]

Ok. So a thread for the Godless. Theists - if we make some logical errors or use an argument you can answer, do feel free to contribute.

Ok, so fellow infidels, how did you come to be atheists? Were you theists once? What convinced you otherwise? What impacts, if any, it had on your personal/public life and you mentality?

Why do you choose atheism? What are the ideas about why you would not want to be theists? And what would you consider to be sufficient for you to believe in God?

 

[aaqucnaona]

Mods - I would want to delete the poll [only], but I cant. Please delete it [if you cannot make it multi-choice]. Sorry for the mistake.

 

[aaqucnaona]

To the rest - Please dont vote until the Mods do something about it.

 

[cosmictraveler]

We already have this thread going....

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=107572

 

[Jeeves]

Too bad a poll can't cover every experience.
I was born into a lax christian family, began to read the bible at age ten, started to understand it and get turned off by 12; rejected all its philosophical underpinnings by 14.

 

[superstring01]

I checked the wrong box, but it somewhat applies. I was once a very strong believer and my studies of science woke me up. Funny thing, I took this journey with my youth pastor, two acquaintances (husband and wife) from church and my little brother. We are all atheists now.

The best part is to see my PhD educated former Assembly of God pastor shred people when they talk the bible. My brother and the "husband" (of the couple who left Christianity) all went to bible college as well.

For me, the thing that started me on the journey was reading Return to Sodom and Gomorrah by Charles Pellegrino. It made me think a lot about the horse-shit contained in religion. This continued--to this day--with numerous other readings:

• Why Evolution is True - Jerry Coyne
• The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
• The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene
• The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
• The Greatest Show on Earth - Richard Dawkins
• The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil
• Why I Became an Atheist - John W. Loftus
• The End of Faith - Sam Harris
• God is not Great - Christopher Hitchens
• A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
• A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
• Trilobyte: Eyewitness to Evolution - Richard Fortey

~String

 

[Dinosaur]

Did not vote: Not of the options seemed to apply to me.

I Attended Sunday school from circa age 6 to circa age 12.

I was too young to have formed any strong opinion relating to god or religion.

The early Sunday school lessons dealt primarily with the Old Testament & might not have mentioned anything from the New Testament.

Two stories struck me as wrong.

First the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. It seemed like an outrageous request. How could anyone ask a father to sacrifice any of his children, especially an only child? I could not believe that my father would even argue about such a request. I would expect him to refuse.

I do not remember expressing an opinion on this story.

When the story of Job was taught, my immediate impression was that god was unfair in his treatment of his most faithful follower. I had a strong notion that good behavior should be rewarded. If not rewarded, at least it should be reason to not to be hurt by a good person.

My feeling of Job being treated unfairly, caused me to voice my opinion on this story. I do not remember many details of the resulting discussion. I do remember the teacher saying that god made it right by restoring Job’s wealth & causing him to have another family. That did not seem to me to justify the treatment of Job & it certainly did not help the family members who died.

I found it hard to believe that anyone would defend the treatment of Job. This situaiton made me remember the Abraham/Isaac story.​

Those two stories started me on a slow path to atheism.

By the time I was circa 13-14 I called myself an agnostic. When I was circa 18-19, I heard or read a quip about an agnostic being a cowardly atheist. It made me realize that I was an atheist calling myself an agnostic due to being afraid to face peer pressure, disapproval from teachers, relatives, et cetera.

As far as I could tell, nobody else was an atheist. Being one made me feel like an isolated individual. Consideration of the history of religion suggested that it could be dangerous to be known as an atheist. While I did not expect to be burned at the stake or subjected to Spanish-inquisition treatment, it seemed quite possible that some religious zealot might physically attack me.

At any rate, I decided to stop calling myself an agnostic in lieu of an atheist. While I did not advertise my view, I expressed it when the subject arose.

 

[arauca]

Ok. So a thread for the Godless. Theists - if we make some logical errors or use an argument you can answer, do feel free to contribute.

Ok, so fellow infidels, how did you come to be atheists? Were you theists once? What convinced you otherwise? What impacts, if any, it had on your personal/public life and you mentality?

Why do you choose atheism? What are the ideas about why you would not want to be theists? And what would you consider to be sufficient for you to believe in God?

Can you post something about science instead all time about religion ? Taka a break

 

[Aqueous Id]

I was raised to think Christian orthodoxy. I don't remember having any doubts until a social studies class introduced me to a demographic of the world by religion.

It dawned on me that, had I been born elsewhere, I would have been born into a different religion. Therefore, the result was strictly random, nothing more. There was no plan or design; I was not chosen. In fact, how patently unfair it would be for a God to chose dumb little me over the entire race of Indians, Africans or Chinese. God would have gone around the globe picking out all the saints without regard to race or location, and given them the True Religion allegedly given to me. Who was I to say I was better than most of the population?

So that did it. By the time I got up the next morning, I realized I was an atheist, and began breaking the news as gently as I could to horrified family and friends.

I never once had even the slightest reservation or doubt. It's just a matter of simple logic, and no teaching has ever since even come close to giving me pause. If anything, I have developed a deep aversion to some aspects of religiosity and a strong affinity to all philosophies that respect "logic and proportion" (as it were).

If every human being could be compared to a single cell in a "body politick", so to speak, then the cells that are rejecting logic are rejecting a principal beneficial to the body at large. This would appear to model disease.

I believe the world will someday outgrow this condition. I believe we are just like any other society in history that thought it was living some golden age, on the cusp of an apocalypse, etc. I believe this is just an ephemeral state over the long run, that future generations will marvel at our primitive and sluggish rebellion against evidence and reason.

I don't mean to encroach on anyone's sensitivity to intolerance, but at some point you want to wake up the guy in the seat next to you, the guy with dragon breath who's drooling on your shoulder, hollering incoherently and flailing his arms. You just want to wake him up and tell him, "Hey man, are you OK? 'Cause you just messed up my clean shirt." If that's what atheists appear to be doing to theists, then I would ask: but isn't that reasonable?

 

[Grumpy]

When did I become an Atheist? The first time my Sunday School teacher tried to get me to believe that a snake could talk. It went downhill(metaphorically)from there. Since my father was the pastor there was quite a stink and before long I was allowed to sleep in on Sunday mornings. Win!

 

[aaqucnaona]

Can you post something about science instead all time about religion ? Taka a break

Why? Its not even 2 months since my atheism and unlike some* theists, I like to think, and there's a lot to defrag, so please ignore my religion threads if you wish.

*not you - otherwise you wouldn't be here. But you would have to admit that many theists have never even thought of basic things like "why am I a christian and not a muslim?" or "How do I know if the christian god is real and the hindu god is not?"

 

[aaqucnaona]

I was raised to think Christian orthodoxy. I don't remember having any doubts until a social studies class introduced me to a demographic of the world by religion.

It dawned on me that, had I been born elsewhere, I would have been born into a different religion. Therefore, the result was strictly random, nothing more. There was no plan or design; I was not chosen. In fact, how patently unfair it would be for a God to chose dumb little me over the entire race of Indians, Africans or Chinese. God would have gone around the globe picking out all the saints without regard to race or location, and given them the True Religion allegedly given to me. Who was I to say I was better than most of the population?

So that did it. By the time I got up the next morning, I realized I was an atheist, and began breaking the news as gently as I could to horrified family and friends.

I never once had even the slightest reservation or doubt. It's just a matter of simple logic, and no teaching has ever since even come close to giving me pause. If anything, I have developed a deep aversion to some aspects of religiosity and a strong affinity to all philosophies that respect "logic and proportion" (as it were).

If every human being could be compared to a single cell in a "body politick", so to speak, then the cells that are rejecting logic are rejecting a principal beneficial to the body at large. This would appear to model disease.

I believe the world will someday outgrow this condition. I believe we are just like any other society in history that thought it was living some golden age, on the cusp of an apocalypse, etc. I believe this is just an ephemeral state over the long run, that future generations will marvel at our primitive and sluggish rebellion against evidence and reason.

I don't mean to encroach on anyone's sensitivity to intolerance, but at some point you want to wake up the guy in the seat next to you, the guy with dragon breath who's drooling on your shoulder, hollering incoherently and flailing his arms. You just want to wake him up and tell him, "Hey man, are you OK? 'Cause you just messed up my clean shirt." If that's what atheists appear to be doing to theists, then I would ask: but isn't that reasonable?

Ok. Can you tell me more about who did you tell, how and what their reactions were?

 

[Aqueous Id]

Ok. Can you tell me more about who did you tell, how and what their reactions were?

Everybody. I told everyone I came across. I still do. I learned up front to break it gently, by asking what they believe, then just putting my own cards on the table. So even today, if I'm measuring someone up, like someone I might need to get along with, I'll shoot at them like that: "Say, don't tell me you're a fundamentalist!" It's a good conversation starter. Maybe not the kind of conversation they bargained for, but definitely a starter.

The people closest to me were shocked. Some of my immediate relatives continued to hope to change my mind, but even then they couldn't begin to handle a prolonged conversation over the logic of the matter. Especially the ones who looked at it as heresy (or apostasy). Others were of a like mind, they had very similar reasons as mine for not believing. I think it galvanized me to have that kind conversation with them. It corroborated my belief. On the other hand, the fundamentalists among them seemed to have only myth and superstition to guide them. So I never had any reason to change my position, since the debate (for me) was over before it ever started.

 

[aaqucnaona]

@AI - Ok, Thanks.

 

[wynn]

Everybody. I told everyone I came across. I still do. I learned up front to break it gently, by asking what they believe, then just putting my own cards on the table. So even today, if I'm measuring someone up, like someone I might need to get along with, I'll shoot at them like that: "Say, don't tell me you're a fundamentalist!" It's a good conversation starter. Maybe not the kind of conversation they bargained for, but definitely a starter.

Do you bring this up with coworkers?

 

[Aqueous Id]

Do you bring this up with coworkers?

Hey wynn.

Not as a general rule. It depends on the situation. In a casual setting, I will be the first one to jump into the fray. I think the main aspect of this that would challenge any technical worker is when you are observing an anomaly that needs explanation and a coworker attributes it to God or secrets we are not meant to understand. That's where my train jumps the track and turns around.

It may seem odd that God would come up in technical observations, but consider the case of calibrating against the cosmic microwave background. For me, it's just nature. The coworker who claims it's God's footprint right there on the screen will tend to be the same one who will cave in to the belief that random processes are not truly random; God can turn a Gaussian process into some other distribution at will, and maybe just to throw us off. There are actually people like that in the workforce, and I've had the odd occasion to engage them in the underlying rationale against determinism as a result.

Another aspect of religiosity I have observed among technical workers is a club mentality, almost entirely in fundamentalists, that will tend to pull to one side, generally exhibiting the conservative and low-risk methods of tackling problems, which can include a troubling mix of bad science and bad politics. If a policy decision is going to be based on this kind of dead-end thinking, then hell no, you won't shut me up, I'm going to to be the first to nail anyone who's advocating lunacy or driving some idea down the primrose path.

These are some of the more rare and extreme examples. Normally these interactions are much more subtle, during attempts to bond and team together. That will generally be where I mark my position in the sand.

 

[scheherazade]

As a child, I was indoctrinated into religion through Sunday School, Bible Camp and Bible studies as a teenager in a small town, by my mother, who was of the Anglican persuasion at that time.

I have not found persons of theist beliefs to be any more honest, kind or trustworthy than those who speak of no religion.

Observation and study of nature led me away from organized religion and in retrospect, the consideration that there are so many religions in the world and many of them in conflict with each other, just made the whole notion seem so terribly illogical and impractical.

I seldom even contemplate that I must therefore be an atheist or agnostic if I am not theist.

Fortunately, I live in a part of the world that is fairly tolerant of religious beliefs including those who state no preferred position on the topic.

It is not a topic that has come up at work and very seldom among my acquaintances.

 

[aaqucnaona]

As a child, I was indoctrinated into religion through Sunday School, Bible Camp and Bible studies as a teenager in a small town, by my mother, who was of the Anglican persuasion at that time.

Quite hypocritic of them to call Dawkins' free think, critical thinking, evolution camp a "atheist brainwash camp" when they are doing much worse.

I have not found persons of theist beliefs to be any more honest, kind or trustworthy than those who speak of no religion.

They tend to be more open-minded and objective, which again inspires some irony from theists.

Observation and study of nature led me away from organized religion and in retrospect, the consideration that there are so many religions in the world and many of them in conflict with each other, just made the whole notion seem so terribly illogical and impractical.

A proper study and understanding of Biology & cosmology in particular and science in general is highly corosive to religious beliefs. Thats how it was for me and thats how it apparently was for you too. Wow, to imagine we have progressed enough that education has overtaken the previous prime maker of non-believers - reading the scriptures cover to cover.

I seldom even contemplate that I must therefore be an atheist or agnostic if I am not theist.

Then you are technically an apatheist - someone who doesn't think or care about religion, but doesn't subscribe to religious beliefs, a pragmatic/practical atheist.

 

[Enmos]

Do you bring this up with coworkers?

Why do you ask this?
I will tell anyone that asks that I don't believe in god, including coworkers.
In fact, I regularly discuss religion and atheism with some coworkers (the ones that are interested in the topic of course) during lunch-break.

 

[Thoreau]

Can we answer it if we were once an Atheist but no longer?