News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

The Making of an Atheist

Started by Jagella, March 27, 2020, 10:37:02 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Jagella

What would you say made you an atheist, or were you always an atheist? For me, reading the Bible and finding contradictions and false prophecies in it along with its glorifying genocide and murder made me realize that the "author" of such evil could not be a perfect god. But here are other possible reasons to be an atheist:

êž³ Wanting to be Free of Religious "Morality"
êž³ Disgust with Religious Hypocrisy and Evil
êž³ A Desire to Think Freely
êž³ Wanting to be Different
êž³ Politics or Economics
êž³ Curiosity about Science, Philosophy, or History
êž³ Inability to Believe in a God Who Allows Suffering
êž³ Disinterest or Apathy With Religion and Theism
êž³ A Desire to Oppose Religious People
êž³ Seeing Religion as Irrational or Even as Mental Illness
êž³ Wanting to "Sin" in the Religious Sense
êž³ A Fear that a Horrible God Does Exist
êž³ A Desire to Imagine People Living in Peace for This Life Without Countries or Faiths to Die For  and the World Will be as One


SoldierofFortune

A newborn is an atheist.
And then religion is imposed on them.
Freedom from religion? relatively easy.
Freedom from the likely possibility of God. Hard to do.

Mine adventure? Later...

Mike Cl

I don't remember a time I believed in god---ever.  But I do remember a time when I felt I was lacking something for not believing in god.  But the more I looked into it, yearned to become a believer, the more I realized it was not possible.  The deeper the study, the more I read the bible, it simply reinforced not believing.  Nothing about organized religion--not the people, not the leaders, not the material, not the teachings--lead me to becoming a believer; all of that lead me to simply being reinforced in my nonbelief.  Each day, I understand more fully how truly evil religion is.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Mike Cl

Quote from: SoldierofFortune on March 27, 2020, 11:02:58 PM
A newborn is an atheist.
And then religion is imposed on them.
Freedom from religion? relatively easy.
Freedom from the likely possibility of God. Hard to do.

Mine adventure? Later...
Followed you until this sentence (2 sentences actually) :Freedom from the likely possibility of God. Hard to do
I have studied enough, pondered enough to know it has been proven (to me) that it is not possible for a god or gods of any kind to ever have been.  I is not a likely possibility that god(s) exist--it is an impossibility!  Without a shadow of a doubt!!
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Baruch

What made me a free-thinking theist?

A Desire to Think Freely (I see this as a birthright of all people).

Curiosity about Science, Philosophy, or History (I don't see a conflict between physics and anthropology).
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Jagella

Quote from: SoldierofFortune on March 27, 2020, 11:02:58 PMFreedom from the likely possibility of God. Hard to do.

Well, I suppose it's hard for some people to find freedom from the possibility of ET abductions and Bigfoot, too. Like ETs and Sasquatch, mere possibility is what belief in God thrives on.

Jagella

Quote from: Mike Cl on March 27, 2020, 11:44:32 PM
I don't remember a time I believed in god---ever.  But I do remember a time when I felt I was lacking something for not believing in god.  But the more I looked into it, yearned to become a believer, the more I realized it was not possible.  The deeper the study, the more I read the bible, it simply reinforced not believing.  Nothing about organized religion--not the people, not the leaders, not the material, not the teachings--lead me to becoming a believer; all of that lead me to simply being reinforced in my nonbelief. 

My experience with theism is like your own in that I thoroughly looked for a god. And like you, the harder I looked, the more false claims of gods seemed. These experiences expose as slander the claims of Christian apologists that we atheists don't want to know the truth of Christian claims.

QuoteEach day, I understand more fully how truly evil religion is.

That's one of the reasons I'm an atheist. I do not wish to support the evil of religion. If I had found a "good" religion, then it's less likely that I would be an atheist today.

Jagella

Quote from: Baruch on March 28, 2020, 10:24:11 AM
What made me a free-thinking theist?

We're going off-topic, but I think it's safe to say that free-thinking theists are very rare. Most people who believe in some god belong to a religion, and as we all know religions maintain tight control over their followers' thinking. "Religion" is essentially synonymous to limited thinking.

QuoteA Desire to Think Freely (I see this as a birthright of all people).

I don't know if free thinking is a "birthright," but oddly most people don't seem to want to think freely. Maybe they fear they will arrive at conclusions that will disturb them. Religion, then, may act as a protective barrier between comforting thoughts and what people don't want to know, the harsh facts of reality.

Baruch

Quote from: Jagella on March 28, 2020, 05:01:47 PM
We're going off-topic, but I think it's safe to say that free-thinking theists are very rare. Most people who believe in some god belong to a religion, and as we all know religions maintain tight control over their followers' thinking. "Religion" is essentially synonymous to limited thinking.

I don't know if free thinking is a "birthright," but oddly most people don't seem to want to think freely. Maybe they fear they will arrive at conclusions that will disturb them. Religion, then, may act as a protective barrier between comforting thoughts and what people don't want to know, the harsh facts of reality.

I am different from anyone else here.  Not an echo chamber contributor.  But I wanted to respond in this case anyway.  Per anecdotal evidence, your list of items are real for some people.  So I am not criticizing.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

Inability to find credible evidence for a god. 

That was huge, and for me was an unfulfilled quest that began around the age of five.  Now a five year old is probably going to be somewhat limited in resources at spotting credible evidence, but as my mind matured, even the pool of possibly credible evidence began to shrink.  In addition, much of my lack of knowledge that could be explained by a god was filled in with information that explained why a god was not necessary.  As the years went by, my predisposition to believe lessened until I recognized God as a concept, more than an actual thing.  The scale that measures "god/not god" became so unbalanced as to be interpreted as simply "not god."

aitm

Frankly, I think the world has far more atheists than we are aware of. Being an atheist, reaching that conclusion, I think, is easier than we admit. The real issue is the “freedom” to say you are. We have always had the “freedom” to say we are an atheist, but we had the sensibility not to, simply because the social ramifications were at the least, ostracized from said society, or more easily with the added bell of future deterrence, death.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

SGOS

Quote from: aitm on March 29, 2020, 09:24:59 AM
Frankly, I think the world has far more atheists than we are aware of. Being an atheist, reaching that conclusion, I think, is easier than we admit. The real issue is the “freedom” to say you are. We have always had the “freedom” to say we are an atheist, but we had the sensibility not to, simply because the social ramifications were at the least, ostracized from said society, or more easily with the added bell of future deterrence, death.
True for me.  And it wasn't admitting it to my friends, as much as admitting it to myself, which kept me searching for so long.  I've wondered at times, when I became an atheist.  Was it when I started doubting when I was five, somewhere in my 20s, or when I finally recognized it in myself and said with surprise, "I am an atheist?"

Jason Harvestdancer

Quote from: aitm on March 29, 2020, 09:24:59 AM
Frankly, I think the world has far more atheists than we are aware of. Being an atheist, reaching that conclusion, I think, is easier than we admit. The real issue is the “freedom” to say you are. We have always had the “freedom” to say we are an atheist, but we had the sensibility not to, simply because the social ramifications were at the least, ostracized from said society, or more easily with the added bell of future deterrence, death.
That's why many people in eras past called themselves "deists".
White privilege is being a lifelong racist, then being sent to the White House twice because your running mate is a minority.<br /><br />No Biden, no KKK, no Fascist USA!

Baruch

Quote from: Jason Harvestdancer on March 29, 2020, 10:27:58 AM
That's why many people in eras past called themselves "deists".

At night, called night-ists ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Jagella

Quote from: SGOS on March 29, 2020, 08:53:12 AM
Inability to find credible evidence for a god. 

That would come under philosophy. Philosophy is very useful and important in helping us answer questions regarding what is evidence and how much evidence is sufficient to come to a conclusion. As far as gods are concerned, I see the evidence for their existence as being deficient.

QuoteThat was huge, and for me was an unfulfilled quest that began around the age of five.  Now a five year old is probably going to be somewhat limited in resources at spotting credible evidence, but as my mind matured, even the pool of possibly credible evidence began to shrink.  In addition, much of my lack of knowledge that could be explained by a god was filled in with information that explained why a god was not necessary.  As the years went by, my predisposition to believe lessened until I recognized God as a concept, more than an actual thing.  The scale that measures "god/not god" became so unbalanced as to be interpreted as simply "not god."

My quest was like yours in that it started when I was a Catholic schoolboy. The religion I was taught just didn't seem right but more than that the people who taught it to me didn't seem right. When I was old enough to think for myself, I finally found the key to free myself from the religious prison. That "key" was knowledge. It's no wonder God punished Eve and Adam for eating from the tree of knowledge. God knew that with knowledge, we would discover that he was "the man behind the curtain."