Why do only some people become atheists?

Question

The main reason why people believe in God is that they are brainwashed in childhood.But some people still come out of it.I reslised thre was no God when I was 8 without anyone insighting me.I did not even know there where atheists other than me.Why do only some peoplee realise there is no God?

Answer 1

It seems that only some people are critical thinkers. I too, was brainwashed into xtianity as a child, but it never really took. From as early as I can remember, I wanted to know how and why. Where was the evidence? It all sounded so implausible.

I was naturally drawn to science and nature books and TV, so I had to deal with 2 different versions of reality - one which was fairy tales, and one which was based on real evidence. For me, there was only one reasonable choice.

You know, without the childhood brainwashing, we'd all be atheists. Based on this, perhaps our religion teachers were just not as effective as most others. Nah... I was the only atheist in my classes of about 30 kids.

Answer 2

Actually, it is the other way around. We are all born believing we are the centre of the world. Ask any child psychologist.

We later accept a religion, or a coerced into one by family or social pressures.

So effectively you could say we are all born atheists.

Of course, the religious ones make the erroneous assumption that any non-believer is either a child of the other mythical creature, Satan, or have sold him our souls or something equally strange.

If people want to believe, fine - just don't ram it down my throat. Keep it to yourself, and keep it OUT of politics, government and scientific progress. And forgoodness sake, as a senior politician, don't make stupid statements about not having to care for the environment because the second coming is upon us, as I read in an answer to another question.

By the way - christians comprise only 30% of the world's population - quite a minority!

Answer 3

You can logically conclude that there is no God, unless you've experienced a miracle. Many people change from being atheists to another religion when something happens which makes them believe differently. There are lots of different religions in the world and it is up to each person to be a part of the one that is meaningful for them.

Answer 4

Atheism still isn't very well accepted in today's society, especially in the United States. There are a lot more atheists out there than the numbers show, but a lot of them would probably publicly call themselves Christian anyway, just because that tends to be better received. If you say you believe in God, no one minds; if you say you don't believe in God, suddenly it's an issue with a lot of people ("What?? You don't believe in God?? Why not??").

Answer 5

Because they look at fundamental religious people and observe how they negate all reason in effort to justify their literal interpretations of the scriptures. So those who intelligently can't negate their own reasoning for this try to logically find answers to their existence. And since they to don't understand the scriptures they negate them. So in short Atheists are a byproduct of religious fundies and while the atheists become content in their beliefs and believe they became greater than the fundamentalists, they fail to observe they have moved from one illusion to another because they failed to understand the laws.

Peace

Answer 6

You make the assumption there are only atheists & the religious. I am neither.

How do you realize there is no god?
How can you prove there is no God?
You maybe able to disprove the Bible's image of God.
You may be able to show there is no proof of God.
But you can't disprove God.

So the reason some people become atheists is that some say "If you can't prove God exists, then he doesn't."
Some people say "If you can't prove God doesn't exist, then he does exist."
And some recognize that there are great mysteries in life.

Answer 7

Sometimes parental imbuing with religion is not so strong. Some people have tolerant parents who encourage their children to think independently. These people end up being atheists or agnostics.

The huge, huge majority or christians, and other religious people are subconsciously trying to please their parents in the form of the super-ego, assisted by the pleasure of symbiosis into a greater power other than themselves to stave off loneliness.

Answer 8

Most people have vivid imaginations since childhood, so they re-enforce that fictitious imagination so much that some can't escape it even if they want to because it means losing their sense and presense in the world. Those that lose it tend to be smarter and/or more educated. Some believe that neurologically some Atheists (those that lose it early in life like you) have less tendency towards "spiritual" emotions.

Answer 9

Well, gee, in order to realize something it has to be true in the first place....

Atheism is a faith position: You don't "realize" God doesn't exist, seeing as you have no solid proof that he doesn't. In fact, you have to BELIEVE that God doesn't exist. However, don't get so full of yourself. For all you know you could die an atheist and discover you were wrong, and God will be PISSED.

Answer 10

not all atheists think this way. many later become atheists, many later become members of other religions. Not all people who have faith in God are brainwashed. Some do it out fear, and some do it because they actually believe in God. Maybe they are right.
I'm an atheist too, but please don't come in here making generalization about people who believe in God.