Atheists:Before you dropped religion did you defend your stance with weak arguments you didn't know were weak?

Question

You know silly questions like the monkeys one or what banged in the bang and where did it come from?

What silly question supported your theism and what made you realize the question was silly?

Answer 1

Yes, I did. That's why I have a lot of sympathy for my neighbors of faith who are doing so now. I never swallowed everything I was told without question, but I liked the idea of there being a book that contained answers to all the questions that ever need be asked. Eventually I came to see that no such book exists. We have to face reality with our heads up, eyes open, and by the guidance of reason. We have only our own strengths and each other to count on for help.

Answer 2

Before I dropped religion, I was so deeply indoctrinated that I didn't even think about arguing about anything. I had been taught, as a child in Catholic school and at home, that certain things were to be accepted as fact. Those "facts" were never questioned; in fact, any child who questioned anything was disciplined. This school took us to the school chapel every Friday. In class, there were songs reinforcing doctrine. It was Sunday school every day, with some physical abuse throw in. At home, it was no better. My mother had been raised the same way and she was no better than the nuns.

As an adult, I had no foundation for my beliefs, I had been brainwashed. I felt that the Catholic religion was the "best" one, and all other religions were wrong. I was proud to be Catholic, and very devout, but I had also been to university by then and couldn't hide from certain things...like sociology, psychology, political science, biology, and physics. The more I learned, the more I had to realize that what I was learning contradicted my beliefs. My faith got shaky, and finally crumbled about a year ago, while I was on Yahoo Answers answering questions about Catholicism. I was answering a question, and it just hit me that I sounded ridiculous. Arrogant, misguided, and ridiculous.

You could have heard the delusion bubble popping a mile away.

Answer 3

Well, just the little things they expected us to swallow I always questioned.

I don't think I ever defended it, because I never grew into an adult, feeling the need to defend it, I've been mostly nonbeliever since I started thinking with a reasoning mature mind.

I grew out of it. And it didn't take much. Once I started figuring out it made absolutely no sense and that science was a better explanation for everything, I dropped it.

You can imagine how pissed off I am that I was taught these useless superstitious untruths rather than being taught Basic Frikin geology, geography, etc. etc. Even life skills...
they teach you all this useless religious rubbish, but don't teach kids something they REALLY need to know, like how to invest and balance your damn checkbook!

Answer 4

Back in my theist days my main point was "you can't prove God does not exist". Also I said "of course there is no proof of the bible. Even the bible itself says you must accept it on faith", and "why don't you prove that the bible is not the word of God".

Basically I always shifted the burden of proof onto the atheist even though I had some pretty big issues with the bible. I believed the bible out of fear and I was afraid to do anything different. I defended it to try to convince myself.

I changed when I grew up and read the bible for myself, and considered the scientific evidence. My father says I am stupid for this, that only an idiot would believe that God is not real. I avoid discussing it with him whenever possible.

What about you, Sho-Nuff? How did it happen for you?

Answer 5

Good question.

I used the “everything is too perfect to be an accident” argument quite often.

The problem I didn’t allow myself to see was that the argument doesn’t apply to Christianity and aside from that, it’s purely circumstantial.

I also had ignorance and misunderstanding of what atheism was based on my grandmother’s preaching’s so I really wasn’t arguing against anything but bad morals.

I was afraid for a long time to even call myself an Atheist out of fear of the “A word”.

;)

Answer 6

Yeah....mostly the "god works in mysterious ways" argument at first. Then it was "well the bible was written by men so one would expect errors". But that leads to suspecting the whole thing as being false - and so it did.

Answer 7

I didn't try to support it. I recognized faith for what it was -- belief in what could not proven. And I always asked questions, no matter if I expected the answers to support or deny my faith.

Guess I asked too many questions and used a little too much reason.

Answer 8

I asked those questions when I was in middle school. Then they taught me about evolution and the Big Bang theory in science class.

Answer 9

I just regurgitated back the same stuff I had heard in the sermon the week before.
When I decided to start thinking for myself, things changed...

Answer 10

yes, the thing that made me realize they were silly was when i was thinking about other things, i used logic in other parts of my life and then logic seeped into every part of my life.