What occurred in your life to turn you into an atheist?

Question

I am just curious as a Catholic, and therefore a theist as to what situation occurred in your life that made you believe or put you on the road to belief without a doubt that there is no God?

Please elaborate what was it that you read that made you decide that there was no God?

I am not asking just if something bad happened I am just wondering what brought you to doubt or what caused you to start thinking that there was no God?

Actually I chose Catholicism. I was raised one religion and read and learned for myself and found myself at home in the Catholic Church. I personally thought the church I was raised in was vain and shallow.

Actually I have lived a rather odd life. I do not dring, smoke, do drugs, or sleep around. I am married and faithful. I dress modest and simple. I listen to classical music and love ballet and theater. My favorite pastimes are reading and poetry. I guess I am boring considering the others you have listed. I can tell you that although I wasn't brought up in a strong Christian or theist family. I have felt the Creator's presence in my life as long as I can remember. I spoke to Him often as a child. He has always been with me. And I can remember being two.

And the closest I have been to jail is on a Cub Scout field trip!

Nice to meet everyone. I find this interesting as I like to learn new things and new people.

Answer 1

Nothing happened. It's a misconception that every atheist had some dreadful experience that "turned them away from god."

I, for one, never believed in god, not even as a little boy. I tried to, but it was always quite obviously not true to me.

Answer 2

First of all, I think that the terms 'rationalist', or 'free thinker' are more descriptive of those who you refer to as 'Atheists'. As far as how those people arrive at that point? They learn how to think.... that's all it takes.

Atheism does not necessarily imply that one BELIEVES there is NO God... it only implies that one DOES NOT BELIEVE that there IS a God. There is a not-so-subtle difference there... although subtleties usually are not noticed by Christians. It has a lot to do with knowing how to think. Maybe this will help.

There is some overlap between Agnosticism and Atheism, as I will explain. First, consider the sentence "I believe there is a God."

The word 'do' is implicit in a statement like that above, but I'm going to make it 'explicit', in order to demonstrate something. By making 'do' explicit, the statement becomes "I do believe there is a God."

Now notice that there are two ways to 'negate' that sentence:

1. I do NOT believe there is a God.

2. I believe there is NOT a God.

Both statements describe an atheist viewpoint, but each in a different way.

1. - Implies that there is NOT sufficient evidence and/or NOT compelling reasons to support belief in a diety.

2. - Implies that that there IS sufficient evidence and/or there ARE compelling reasons to BELIEVE that God does NOT exist.

Do you see the differences? The first is sometimes called the WEAK Atheist position, or Agnostic Atheist position. The second is called the Strong Atheist position.

The WEAK atheist position THINKS there is NO God. The STRONG atheist BELIEVES that there is NO God.

A statement of BELIEF is a statement of CERTAINTY... i.e., the STRONG atheist expresses a CERTAINTY that there is NO God. In other words, the STRONG atheist expresses a CERTAINTY that he knows some fundamental TRUTH about the nature of existence and reality.

The WEAK atheist position represents an OPINION... it does not express a CERTAINTY about the TRUTH of anything.

The BELIEF that there IS NO god is just as undefensible, from the scientific standpoint, as is the BELIEF that God exists.

There are other nuances to this, though. The weak atheist position implies that if sufficient evidence were to be forthcoming, it could force a belief in god. Then there is a STRONGER weak-atheist position where the atheist BELIEVES that something like the Abrahamic creator god of desert monotheism (Yahweh, Jehova, Allah) is clearly IMPOSSIBLE in the face of modern scientific evidence... yet acknowledges that some unknowable higher power might have had a hand in initiating the Big Bang, for example.

One thing is consistent throughout ALL of the nuances of atheism, though... and that is RATIONALITY. They all require that in order to believe, there needs to be sufficient REASON to believe. Faith (wishful thinking) does not cut it... nor does marketing, salesmanship, peer pressure, indoctrination, propaganda or a silly book full of the myths, superstitions, fairy tales, bogeyman stories and delusions of a bunch of ignorant peripatetic Bronze Age goat herders and fishermen.

Finally, it is not necessary... or wise... to plug holes in our knowledge and understanding with "God did it." The appropriate rational position in those cases is "We don't know... yet." (Google for "God of the Gaps")

Answer 3

The thing which shaped my 'lack of beliefs' when I was younger was the way I was brought up. My dad was Atheist (or at best 'Agnostic'...) my mom was Christian (although not born-again). My siblings and I never went to church hardly at all...we weren't made to go Sunday School...we weren't taught to pray as children...so up until I was in my early 20's I was an Atheist. I never believed in 'anything.'

then however - I had a very personal experience with God. I happen to go to 'Charismatic' church (because I was "bored"); and when the preacher spoke, it was as if he was describing the things going on within my life, etc...as if he was talking to me personally...sort of weird, considering there was a packed church there at the time...

A couple of months later (after a lot of soul searching) a similar occurance happened, and I decided then to give "believing" a TRY.

I haven't regretted it since! God has been so faithful... and He's always been in control.

I'm so grateful that God changed my cynical attitudes towards Christianity, and removed the 'Blinders' from my eyes.

It just goes to show that God still performs miracles...and that all we need to do, is just give him a 'chance'... Atheism can't explain alot of things...science only goes so far... and when it comes down to it; Faith in oneself only proves to be very dissapointing.

What man appoints, God dissapoints.

He's in control.

Answer 4

Ok, I'll answer this one since the first batch of idiots all chimed in to a question not even directed to them.

I can't say any event "happened". I grew up going to church every Sunday. I was bored the entire time and never had any interest because what was preached seemed illogical even at a young age. Bible stories made no more sense than fairy tales and yet I was asked to believe in Jonah but not in Mother Goose. Believe in Noah but not in Spiderman. All four of those share the same level of plausibility to me... none.

Maybe the message just never clicked before I went to college. I think religion has to get you early before you study any type of science. Isn't it called indoctrination? Get you while you are young and green. Then you'll be a good lifelong tither.

Answer 5

Actually you have the question backwards. It should be atheists that ask you what caused you to believe there was a god. In case you didn't know, you weren't born with the belief that there was a god. It was drilled into your head by your parents and a great deal of society. Nobody is born Christian. They're brainwashed into it. But we ARE all born atheist. So what changed you from an atheist into a Catholic?

Answer 6

hi. well I like to think that nothing happened and thats why I can come to my own conclusions and not simply believe what someone else is telling me.... but of course I was influenced in nonbelieving as well. My wife is Catholic and we've talked many times about the roads that led us to out current religious status (Catholic/Athiest)... Best put, her mom was Catholic and my parents were athiests.
Just as a side note: I really prefer the term "freethinker" over athiest. It means I don't think according to religious athourity, I make follow my own path. Thats not to say that I'm not happy for any religious person...

I'f guess the common responce will be "nothing" happened. We weren't "taught" to belive somehting therefore we don't. Blind faith is aweful and the only way to objectivley analyze a religion is to NOT be a member...

Good luck

Answer 7

Atheist
"a·the·ist Audio pronunciation of "atheist" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th-st)
n.
One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."

Atheism
"a·the·ism Pronunciation (th-zm)
n.
1.
a. Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
b. The doctrine that there is no God or gods.
2. Godlessness; immorality."

I often wonder this myself. I personally believe there are three main resons ppl turn to atheism.

1. They are rebelling against the religion of there parents. Many parents force there children to go to church, and to believe what they do. Even if deep down inside they do believe in God, they turn away from it to make there parents mad.

2. Many ppl try to "play games" with God. like they pray for something, say a relative or loved one is dying, they pray for God to save them. And if the person does die,. they take this as there being no God. They forget that sometimes the answer is no. And they look beyond the point that maybe there grandmother that died was old. And maybe they don't see the fact that the person smoked, and got lung cancer. Maybe God was trying to teach them something, like not to smoke. All they see is the hurt.

3. They are misled by other ppl, and or manipulated by friends. I think this is a mistake made by many ppl, even non atheist. I don't think you should ever become anything, even a christain, just because your friends are. And there are many very convincing ppl out there, that will try to make you think that there opinons are facts. Maybe they themselves had an experience like my 2nd example, so they try to persuade others to believe in there belifs. While I do believe in God personally, I am always up to hearing others views, especially if they have facts to back them up. But often all these ppl's "facts" are, are iether opinions, or the bible misinterpereted.

Answer 8

Actually, I've discovered that all the people that believe in god so strongly are the people who used to be drug or sex addicts, alcoholics, criminals, gang-bangers, etc. So, which one are you?

The atheists are the ones who were smart enough to stay away from all that crap in the first place which means our minds were clear to see things as they truly are...no god.

I think the question should be: what happened in YOUR life that made you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that god exists? And don't say "the bible" because that answer is horse crap.

Answer 9

Not all atheists believe without doubt that god does not exist.

There are weak atheists; those who do not believe because they have never found a reason to believe (such as myself), and strong atheists; those who do claim with certainty that god does not exist.

In my case, I grew up. Nothin bad happened, I was never traumatized (in fact I have had a good life). I just realized that christianity is no more credible then any other religion.

Answer 10

I was raised a Catholic. I am glad religion does things for you. I have studied other religions and read up on them. In my heart I believe their is a Universal One. That does not mean God the way you mean God. I am solely responsible for me. And the crutch that religion is does not appeal to me. There was no moment, no catastrophe just a conclusion after years of thinking.

Answer 11

First off, the whole concept is a real stretch lacking all logic. Its the same as magic dragons. Silly at best. There was nothing to believe in. I had more luck clicking my heels.

Second off, bigotry performed by most Western religions that I have been in contact with. Most so-called "Christians" are nothing but hate-filled sheep scared by damnation.

Lastly, people siting passages from the Bible really have turned me off. Its like they have to keep shoving it down my throat to prove it to themselves so they don't lose faith. That's a sign to me that its all junk! I'm more likely to believe in leprechauns.