How many religions would you have to go through before you became an atheist?

Question

This is a PURELY HYPOTHETICAL question, and isn't meant to belittle anyone's faith. Answer the question directly, please--no "I would never abandon my faith" types of answers. Obviously, the question only applies to people with a chosen religion.

If your religion, by whatever means you choose, was proven to be false beyond any doubt, how many other religions would you go through before you became an atheist? Which religions would you go through, and in what order? In other words, which religions do you identify the closest with other than your own, and how many of them seem more plausible than atheism?

Again, I'm not implying that anyone's religion could or would ever be completely disproven; it's just a hypothetical situation. I'm not an atheist, and I'm not "for" or "against" any religion.

Answer 1

thank you first, for making a point that you didnt want to offend anybody and you respect all religions. If Christianity was orven to be false in the aspect that "Jesus was not our messiah" and he never lived at all, i would go to Judiasm, because it has the same basic principles, i would have to go through judiasm and muslim after christianity and then become an atheist. but i hope it doesnt come to that

Answer 2

I am only professing to be a Christian. As such I do not have a denomination that I follow. All religions have fallen short somewhere along the line and are having trouble being a cohesive unit when so many who are talking the loudest about being a particular faith are caught literally and theoretically with their pants down. I have looked into most of the religions and do not really know that I would call any of them close to what I believe. It is hard to be close to any one religion when there are so many view points to consider. And so many religions carry many of the same beliefs within the core. All I know is that organized religion has basically become a breeding ground for enmity and strife among other faiths. The devil can qoute scripture just as well if not better than most holy men. I choose to read and comprehend my own bible in my own house. I draw my own conclusions and do not expect anyone else to understand. I do not force my opinions on anyone and I respect everyone's right to choose what they believe or do not believe without any interference or ridicule from me.

Answer 3

Well to answer your question dave, I was born a Catholic.....(well baptised anyway), at 14 i chose to become baptised under the christian faith, as an older teenager, after the christian faith, not making any sense to me and many unanswered questions about life, i then chose to go on to study the many different religions in university.....albi'et an interesting subject but just as confusing.....in regards to answering lifes questions. I am now in my late 20's, an have been (not quite) athiest for almost ten years....Instead of claiming to be athiest, i choose to be a theologian, which means i would sooner learn about life and the impact that religion has on the general public. Instead of blindly beleiving something i am told to beleive, i would sooner learn about the history of the world around me, and make my decisions based on those facts at some later point in life.

Answer 4

If you look at the history of all religions, they are all based on man's misuderstanding of events that happened many years ago. This was a time, for example, when the cause of disease was not known and was attributed to a god and not viruses and bacteria. Today we know better.

It is therefore just the general " it doesn't make sense" nature of religions that puts me off all religions.

Answer 5

Well, for me, it was several. But I am a slow learner.
I dabbled with several religions before I sat down and seriously tried to develop a personal epistemology. The end result was a general lack of faith in superior beings (of the mystical variety ... there are still "women" and I generally believe in them).
Today, I am happy and sane. I live without fear of death (how can you fear nothingness?). And I appreciate my fellow man (in the general sense of the word).
This is not to say that any of the religions I sampled were "proven" false, only that I have utterly failed to find "faith" and ultimately came to the personal conclusion that "faith" is a response to "fear" - of death, of life, of responsibility, of fate, or whatever else it is that we naked monkeys find to cringe about.
So I have replaced "faith" with "courage", and it has worked for me.
Thanks for asking, though.

Answer 6

Well first off if youre a man who has faith in his heart, then no matter what religion you go to, you will always know that there is, and can be only One God.

Therefore, even if Islam would end up to be forgotten to the extent that no body knew what it was about, I would still have my faith. It is the one thing that tells me Im alive...the one thing that I know keeps me going: There is a God and He is my destiny.

Edit: Am afraid faith is not a response to fear at all. Faith in God is what tells me, if I have been downtrodden by my fellow humans, if they have hurt me, belittled me and got away with it on the justice system of humans, they will surely pay for it in the end.

This is the faith by which we put our trust in, the absolute fairness that shall befall everyone else, when their time comes. Nothing else, makes sense. Because the non presence of God simply says: anyone could get away with whatever they do, if theyre not caught on earth. Total BS.

Answer 7

Actually, I would argue that Atheism is a faith in and of itself. So is science.

To those two belief systems you can be devout.

In case no one else has noticed, those two devout groups spew forth as much hatred and intolerance as anyone else on here.

They are just fighting for something different.

As for me, I walk the line. I believe in science AND the possibility of God. I've had enough experiences to recognize that it's very possible that there is something larger than ourselves around us (spiritually).

Answer 8

There are about 27 religions in the world
representing about HALF the population ..

Your question reminded me of a HORSE RACE In the Caulfield Cup (Melbourne/Australia)
I could not pick the WINNER .
so I "coupled" 7 horses in a Box-Trifecta
and made a handsome profit ...

If ones studies the "numbers" , it would show
50percent of humans are atheist ....

Answer 9

i replaced into no longer "converted" to atheism, I basically wasn't brainwashed into prepared monotheism. I did grow to be a Christian for a pair of year, then found out i myself did no longer have self belief. i replaced into in basic terms attempting to get by a no longer hassle-free time in my life and lack of self belief. i myself study the bible and found out no loving God may well be so merciless as to recommend and command genocide of adult men, women people, babies and animals for basically being of a different faith. The bible is in accordance with myth and a few historic actuality and it comes from the attitude of a tiny little tribe. i desperate then to discover the myths and historic previous of my own people. So i attempted Paganism (the religion compelled out of Europe by skill of those witch-burning Christians), which regarded plenty extra of a organic extra healthful, yet i found out I in basic terms could no longer have self belief interior the Gods. So, i'm a deist now who has accompanied his ancestral way of life and methods. i've got self belief God is the spark that ignited the technique of evolution, no longer a residing God.

Answer 10

I could never go Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim or the hundreds of others. If what I have failed, there'd be nothing-- it's just how I am built.

What would remain is faith in God, if man's religion failed.

Peace.