Why become an Atheist?

[s0cks]

Hi,

I'm new here. I'm living in New Zealand, formerly from the UK. I'm surrounded at work by deeply religious people, which can often drive me nuts! Anyway, there is one other intelligent collegue at work who is also an atheist and we were having a discussion with another collegue who is a Christian. Obviously any argument against religion is a pointless task as the arguments are usually dismissed with phrases such as "...its true becuase I know it is..." or "...I believe because I believe...". I ended by saying "it seems almost impossible to get through to these people" or something like that. Which got me wondering...

Why do formerly theist people become atheists? I was never brought up in a religious background. Both my parents are athiests and school never really preached this stuff, apart from a few hyms. So I can understand why I never "believed" or ever will. But, what about those who were "believers"? As stated above it seems almost ingrained in the minds of the theists that there is a God and can be an impossible task to make them think otherwise.

I just wondered if some former theists could highlight why they became an atheist? It would be even more interesting if there were some true bible-bashers, who came to our side of thinking, that could give their account.

Thanks,
Gary

[Sophus]

Hello there and welcome aboard.

I was raised a Christian. As a child anything your parents or the majority of adults around you tell you is what you're going to believe. It wasn't until I was in my teenage years when I developed a strong hunger to discover the truth did I become an atheist. The thinking type of folks who are raised in a religious home probably all find new, more rational beliefs when they begin to develop interests in philosophy. I hear this normally happens in the college years.

I don't think that the conversion of the religious to atheism functions the same as converting the secular into deeply religious people. Most secular people are theistic, making them easier to convert. There is no change in the underlying belief of a supernatural being.

Richard Dawkins was actually raised a Christian too. We both converted around the same age.

[Will]

I was raised Christian. I became an atheist because I found out I was wrong. My devotion to personal honesty beat out my dependence on religion. This won't happen for everyone, but I suspect that most people have the potential to change.

[Whitney]

When I was a teenager I use to go online and try to bring non-believers to Christ...I kid you not.  Then I tried to research more about my faith so I could better convert others....well, that backfired and I ended up growing out of religion as it increasinly became less believeable.  However, I didn't go directly to atheism.  That took a lot more personal searching and researching philosophical arguments for and against god.

[myleviathan]

I was raised in the Southern Baptist community. I remember having feelings of strong skepticism around 14 years of age. Even then I sensed something mythological about the Bible. I fought with those feelings for the next ten years of my life. It was eventually study of religion coupled with critical thinking that helped me overcome the fear of hell, along with any doubt that the extraordinary claims of the Bible are fictitious.

[s0cks]

I see a bit of pattern here. Basically, so far, most people seemed to have converted through research and investigation, either at college or through curiosity. Which is interesting in itself, because the sorts of people who would tend to do that are often open minded and intellectual, in my own opinion.

I have yet to meet or befriend a religious person who questions everything as much as I do. I love to soak up as much information as I can on all worthwhile topics, and then make a decision for myself. Not just follow the mainstream point of view.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a sudden change of view. Perhaps a horrible event in their lives which they could not have imagined happening if there was a God?

[newblueradio]

My conversion story is far too boring, but here goes.  I realized at a young age that Santa Claus wasn't real.  Things just started clicking thereafter.

[Loffler]

I was raised a Methodist. I think I became an atheist by random chance.

[karadan]

When I was a teenager I use to go online and try to bring non-believers to Christ...I kid you not.  Then I tried to research more about my faith so I could better convert others....well, that backfired and I ended up growing out of religion as it increasinly became less believeable.  However, I didn't go directly to atheism.  That took a lot more personal searching and researching philosophical arguments for and against god.

I find that rather ironic. Researching more about your religion pushed you away from it.

[gwyn428]

I became an Atheist because I wanted to justify my not wanting to believe in Hell and so that I can do drugs, practice sodomy, and support abortion.

And of course, I was only joking about the sentence above.

My parents are not church going Christians and they believe that a person can only be a Christian if God ordains them to be. So, I never had to go to church and I was never raised to actually follow the religion of my parents. I tried following their religion but I ended up finding too many problems with the Bible. I got into occultism but I was always a sceptical arsehole about the supernatural and divinity. I once became a Moslem but I found too many problems with the Koran. I eventually got into Gaudiya Vaishnavism but I found too many problems with the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavata Purana, and the beliefs in general. For a brief time I didn't know what I was and after contemplating how illogical gods are, I gave myself the choice of Atheism or Deism. The latter, which relies on the Argument from design, was eliminated because I concluded that there is no design. Atheism was my choice, or conclusion, because divinity is illogical, impossible, and too much of a tooth fairy thing.

My website displays what my position as an Atheist is. http://rationem.weebly.com

My life is more meaningful than it was when I was a Theist.  

[Will]

I was raised a Methodist. I think I became an atheist by random chance.

Perhaps it was a random mutation? And your mutation will continue on because it's a survival trait?

[Enoch Root]

I just wondered if some former theists could highlight why they became an atheist? It would be even more interesting if there were some true bible-bashers, who came to our side of thinking, that could give their account.

I called myself a born-again Christian for 15 years.  I evangelized, preached sermons, and read my bible daily (well, almost).  I've now had to reluctantly admit that I don't believe it anymore.

It's really not a "why become an atheist" question, it's "why fake being a Christian" question.  I could no longer force myself to believe something that just doesn't make sense.  An omnipotent and all-loving God provides absolutely no proof to his existence or gospel plan of salvation, and then condemns people to hell for not believing it?  I couldn't swallow that any more.  I realized that for 15 years I had been praying to the ceiling.  Apparently God wanted to have a relationship with me but he was quite content to allow that relationship to be entirely one-sided.

It's funny, I once heard a preacher say "Imagine you neglected to talk to your wife for an entire week.  You still claimed to love her and you wanted to be with her, you just didn't talk to her.  It seems pretty silly, doesn't it?  That's like a Christian who only prays once a week."  I now feel like answering "How about I talk to my wife on a daily basis for 15 years and she never once answers me.  She's as communicative as a statue.  That's like a Christian who prays all the time."

I tried lying to myself and others, for many months, thinking that my "lack of faith" would go away, that I was just struggling through a rough patch.  But I'm not.  I'm finally looking at things objectively.

[verybigv]

Why become an atheist? Because the chicks dig the bitchin' uniforms!

[s0cks]

I called myself a born-again Christian for 15 years.  I evangelized, preached sermons, and read my bible daily (well, almost).  I've now had to reluctantly admit that I don't believe it anymore.

It must have been annoying when you realized that you quite possibly wasted a lot of time over those 15yrs.

[Enoch Root]

I guess.  But no worse than anyone who spent that time watching TV.  Plus it taught me something, I now have a pretty good idea of exactly what I'm walking away from.