Do atheists have a choice in their atheism?

Question

I just find it interesting how often we are called upon to renounce our (un)beleifs and join up with the religon of whoever is issuing the call.
I didn't exactly feel like I had a choice in my athiesm. In actuality, my becoming athiest was really just a process of finnaly giving in to what I knew was true despite my huge (and still present) desire to beleive otherwise.

What do you guys think about this? Did you have a choice?

Answer 1

I agree. I didn't make a conscious choice to be atheist. It just happened. I wasn't like "I want to be atheist and I'm going to study it," I just couldn't logically accept God and I don't lie to myself. Hell no. Life would be a lot easier if I could just accept what I am told, and just believed what everyone else believed...but then I wouldn't be me.

Answer 2

I have no idea. I have been raised and Atheism my mother is a Atheist, my dad is a Atheist, my step dad is a Christian who doesn't believe in the dogma. On top of that i live in England (one of the most Atheist countries in the world) and my primary school had shoved Christianity so far down my throat i was turned away from it. The only time i have ever believed was when i was four years old and it was presented to me as a fact.

If i had a choice i would choose Atheism, but the way i see the world means i can not believe in a god.

Answer 3

If you have a huge desire to believe otherwise, or any desire to believe otherwise, I suggest you do a study of the Catholic Church. It is the first Christian Church, the original.

Get a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or better yet, attend some RCIA classes this fall at a parish near you. At the least you will learn what Catholics REALLY believe and why. We should all understand each other better.

If that is to big of a step, just tune into EWTN (Catholic TV), you can watch in the privacy of your own home.

I do respect your right to not believe, and Catholics are not as radical as some people would lead you to believe.

Peace!

Answer 4

I was a catholic then Buddhist, became atheist by acquiring knowledge. Guess I could go back but some of the reasons I don't are:

1. Not enough money. (churches and god need it now)

2. I'd feel silly. (got married by the church after becoming an atheist)

3. I would be a Hypocrite. (tried but can't convince myself that the bible is true)

Answer 5

As choice goes.... to choose athiesm is to abstain from making a choice.... essentially.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with simply not choosing... not in the slightest... as it is a sort of choice in itself, but it cannot readily be compared to the other choices as for all intents and purposes it is only defined by their lack. It is the option at the end which says "Other" or "None of the above"...

Then of course you have Nihilist folks like me, who would burn the survey paper rather than lower ourselves to ticking boxes. I humour the people who believe in "choice" for the sake of my amusement, but ultimately "choice" is just a fallacy anyway.
In theory, I COULD choose to believe whatever I want.... but ultimately I know that it doesn't matter one way or another what I believe, so at the core I will always be a Nihilist.

Answer 6

Not really.

You are either convinced or unconvinced, given the evidence you've seen. You do have a choice about whether to look at the evidence and research it. Though, for me, that's only made me more of an atheist.

Now, once someone knows that a god exists, then that person might have a choice of whether to follow that god or not. Until then, though, we really have no choice.

I figure that if a god exists, he would have no trouble convincing me that he exists. You've convinced me that you exist, and that was just from your question posted. Surely, a god would have an easier time than that.

So, if a god exists, he has really limited our freedom of choosing whether or not to follow him, by not convincing us he exists.

Answer 7

I didn't really. I guess I have higher standards of evidence than theists. And I'm unwilling to give up my ethics and morals in order to conform to those espoused in a particular theology.

Edit: Such as the guy below me. I cannot condone torture. Or any acts of violence which are not strictly for defensive puposes. Ergo, even if the Abrahamic God did exist, I would be unable to worship him.

Answer 8

Of course you have a choice. My parents didn't believe children should be indoctrined at an early age. Their philosophy was that children shouldn't have any religious instruction until they were at an age they could make their own minds up about religion. I'm now over 60 and I fully endorse that philosophy.

Answer 9

I'm pretty certain that if a God appeared and asked me to believe in Him, I'd readily do so.

Believers seem to think that I should respond the same way if a poorly educated, rude and insulting person on the internet who can't spell or put together a logical argument posts a collection of lies intended to support his claim to have proof that there's a god and threatens me with eternal damnation if I don't join up with him.

Answer 10

Yes I had a choice.
I used to be a believer until the day I was raped by my stalker.I ended up thinking how can a god have one of his messengers attacked in such a brutal way. So I think religion and god is a massive joke to the entire human race.

Answer 11

Certainly, I went to church for many years. I heard bible stories over and over and over. The more I heard, the more I questioned. Finally I decided that none of it made any sense at all. I decided for myself that nature is all that we have and all that we'll ever get.
If it's not natural, it's supernatural. If it's supernatural it's just plain superstition. I have no superstitions at all now.
Sure we have a choice. We can believe in gods and ghosts, angels and zombies, curses, spells, witchcraft, devils, and all the rest of the superstitions, but not for me.