Why are so many atheists brainwashed?

Question

Disclaimer: Not ALL atheists are brainwashed.

A common “argument” is that Christians are brainwashed into believing what they believe. However, many people who become Christians after the age of 20 are far from “brainwashed”, but come to this conclusion through reason, logic, and scientific evidence. C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel are all examples of atheists that became Christians through faith strongly supported by logic, reason, and science. I, too, am a living example. I use to be an atheist who sat down to prove the Bible wrong, foolish, contradictory, and/or antiquated or mythological.

And although I still see that some people who call themselves Christians act as if they are brainwashed (and they may or may not be true Christians; only God knows)…I have come to discern that many atheists are, in fact, brainwashed!

A brainwashed person blindly accepts underlying assumptions as true. When confronted with anything that may suggest that this underlying assumption may not be true, they will completely dismiss it by absolutely ANY means possible…

In the case of a brainwashed atheist, their underlying assumption is:
There is no God.

And when they are confronted with ANYTHING that may suggest there is a God, they will completely dismiss it.

For example, regarding the thousands (if not millions) of testimonies of people who have a personal encounter with the supernatural, they will IMMEDIATELY dismiss it as “hearsay”, a downright “lie”, a “delusion”, or an “illusion.”

Furthermore, ANY scientific or natural evidence, logic, or reason to suggest the existence of the supernatural is automatically dismissed as simply an extremely improbable coincidence or simply as a “mystery” – i.e. “an aspect of science that we just don’t understand exactly.”

Why?

Because of their underlying brainwashed assumption that there is no God.

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“The fool has said IN HIS HEART, ‘There is no God.’” –Psalm 14:1



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Again, as I noted at the top of my question - not all atheists are brainwashed.

Secondly, "brainwash" may be a "harsh word" or "not quite right" - but there are multiple "definitions" of brainwash, and I even explained which one I referred to. I use it the exact same way MOST atheists use it when referring to Christians - its fairplay, and is equally appropriate for some of each.

...and, perhaps, a *subtle* counter-ploy to put a seed of doubt into doubt.

...thanks to all for answering with seeds of faith.

My God bring growth for an abundant and fruitful harvest!

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= As for the "best answer", it was difficult =
wordman, misty, sassinya, and mia:
Thanks for your encouraging words!

Adam B:
Thanks for the testimony!

Booth:
I agree

Jestandillusion:
I agree; excellent insight.

Cordsoforion:
Thanks - perhaps I should have chosen you for best answer; its an excellent and biblical answer others should read, especially Christians (it is the last answer).

Answer 1

I don't see them so much as brainwashed but as gullible.
(They have hissy fits when I call them that.)

Nothing they learn at school is ever questioned. Schools are still teaching Miller's experiment as proof of how life began for goodness sake!

They dismiss the Bible because it's old. Where is the logic and reason behind that? Where do you think all of our ancient history came from? The Bible has better credentials than any other ancient document.

And it's just plain ignorance when they ask us things like this:
"So you really think women should be stoned to death if they don't scream loud enough when raped?"

Believers are the ones questioning conventional beliefs and pop culture yet we're the ones called brainwashed.

They always tell us we are stupid and ignorant because we "reject" science. I will just quote nanoscientist James Tour regarding that:

"Only a rookie who knows nothing about science would say science takes away from faith. If you really study science, it will bring you closer to God."

Answer 2

Up until maybe a year ago, I was an Agnostic.
Religion was never forced upon me or my siblings, even though both sides of my family were, or once were Catholic.

For a long while I was happy to just believe there was something great out there and not worry about it.
I wasthough, to my grief an Existentialist.
I'd ask the big questions to the point that they would be a heavy strain on my mind.

Once I found God though (through my own decision and exploration) things became lighter for me. I haven't looked back since.
This is my Faith as I know it.

As far as atheists being brainwashed, maybe it's just the fear of the unknown. Faith as a whole seems to have been placed on trail due to many issues people have. I still wince when I see and hear loud-mouthed street-preachers shouting about 'Doom' and 'Sin' and 'Hell' and I can realte to why people think what they think about Chistianity and Catholicism. Not to mention the horror stories regarding certain aspects of the Catholic church.

But really it's not for me to question anyone's life. Let them live their own. Simple as.
'Brain-washed' is a harsh term.

Answer 3

Yes it is possible for atheists to brainwash their children, if they constantly preached to their children about the lack of God. But the thing is that most atheist parents don't do that, and if they do then they are just as bad as the Christians who do it. What typically happens is that god does not play a part in the family life, so the child typically hears about god but doesn't totally understand Christianity or the concept of Jesus. But the kids are encouraged to form their own opinion of religion. And in my case, my parents even offered to take me to church if I wanted. But I formed my own opinion instead and it opened so many doors for me because I did believe in God at first, but in my own way. It wasn't until a few years later that I decided that I didn't think there was a God at all. So I mean sure, you could brainwash your kids to be atheist if you wanted to. But all the atheists I've personally met were mostly raised the same way I was, or with a Christian background. And I think it's better not to brainwash your kids because it makes them better critical thinkers, which will help them in any aspect of life.

Answer 4

Beats me, everyone is brainwashed to a certain extent. We are all individuals and prone to some sort of conditioning from the environment. I don't know if I would consider myself brainwashed into believing there is no God, that is not even my belief. I lack belief in gods (a term well used, but in all honesty it applies best to my outlook on gods). This lack of belief was from observations I made on my own along with outside influence and a lot of questioning.

Is there any gods, who knows. So far it seems not very likely.. I don't think that there is a way to prove if there are or not, but I am not going to start believing in something because I am told to by a book, or by people that can not give me any reason why other than what I have heard multiple times already. I need some sort of evidence I can grab a hold of, something that supports a belief in gods.

Answer 5

The problem with your premise is that there is a huge void between the argument that there is a god and that particular god is the god of the bible. In other words, just becuase there may be a god does not mean that the bible is true. I was an atheist. However, to me at least, when I look at a tree, a bird, a river, or whatever else in nature, it is not difficult to see evidence of something more powerful than man. But, how does the fact that there may be a being more powerful than man lead to the conclusion that the xian interpretation of the bible is true? The bible contains nothing more than the claims of man. To doubt the bible is nothing more than doubting man. That makes it a very weak instrument of faith. True, some atheists may be "brainwashed." So what. While they may be avoiding what I believe to be strong evidence that there is something more powerful than man, at least they are not basing their belief in god on the probability that man actually got it right.

Answer 6

I can't see how "not believing" in something would be classified as being brainwashed. When I look at the sky and see that it is blue, am I brainwashed into thinking that it is blue or is it really blue or is it really no color at all and I'm simply seeing the blue rays of the spectrum being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere making it impossible to see into space or did God make the sky that way so don't question it?

When someone says "God ex-hists", I say prove it. But don't give me any quote from the Bible. I don't consider information in a book written at a time when people thought the world was flat as proof. Give me current , physical and non-emotional evidence to look at and I will consider it. If everyone in the past lived strictly on their beliefs rather than seeking proof, we would still be thinking the black plaque was caused by the Jews, people with epilepsy are possessed by the devil and we wouldn't have electricity in our homes because learning about electricity was once considered wrong because scientists were messing with "God's power".

I was a devout Catholic for 33 years until logic, reason, and science convinced me that Christianity and religion preys on people's emotional fear of death. Religion is all about money, power and control of people and politics! Religion is what is keeping science and research ffrom happening...ie. stem cell research.

It's funny how people who claim to be such good Christians are always the first to be judgmental towards others.

Answer 7

Well, let's see... Your C.S. Lewis had serious doubts about his faith up until his death - recently, Mother Theresa's memoirs came out where she stated that she wondered if Jesus was even real or if God was even there, Lee Strobel and Josh MacDowell were not "practicing" atheists - they were basically disinterested - JMac was a Coach, for Christ's sake!
If there's a brainwashed person, he's not a real atheist, he's probably someone who has faith.
It's called REASON. There's no REASON to believe in God. There was no historical Jesus (Eusebius forged Josephus, etc.) We have the documentation, history, science, our own REAL experience, facts, boldness to face life on our own merit without a crutch or stretcher.
Show us God and we'll show you yourself. God is merely the Universe, nothing less... There is no crazy Hell, nor is there Judgment, as you sanctimonious types froth at the mouth over. Atheism is the ONLY hope for mankind and it is the ONLY direction that is logical for evolution. Faith is dissolving around the world (google great britain faith statistics) and we are headed for a rational enlightenment where people won't need some transcendental shylock to provide them for the impetus for morality. It will come through reason and genuine human kindness and love.
You obviously were never a true atheist.

Answer 8

In these times, it doesn't seem to matter what you believe; you're labelled as brainwashed. If you're talking about brainwashed as in Patty Hearst and the so-called "Stockholm Syndrome" (which I did an extensive paper on in college for one of my psychology classes), it would appear that anyone, atheist or not, can succumb to powerful influences that basically reduce one's mind to being no more than a "Pavlov's dog".

Answer 9

I'm glad you pointed that out and you stated it well.

I always found it ironic that atheists are the first to call someone brainwashed and yet never consider that they are just as susceptible and actually more susceptible since they consider themselves immune to such things.

Many do not even realize how brainwashed they are. They accept so much as fact/truth without a single shred of evidence. And even when evidence is presented, they shrug it off. It amazes me.

Answer 10

There are multiple different answers to this question, and I'll try to cover them, as short as possible......

1) Young athiests, and most young people as a whole, love to piss people off. And what better way to urk a believer than to tell them there's no God. This sends some people into a fit of soapboxing and fingerpointing, which is exactly what they want.
When in reality, they're confused about what they believe, but say athiest because...... it's fun.

2) Another main reason is because they've found a flaw in the only religion they know.
Most people, unfortunatly, only know the religion they've been force-fed as children. Now, if they don't believe all of it, or don't like their parents, they spurn God as a whole, without looking at the other THOUSANDS of religions in the world.
This, in my opinion, is the main one.

and 3) The honest, looked-but-didn't-find nonbeliever.
Now, as I said above, alot of these people haven't looked hard enough yet. (And it's my personal belief that if you keep searching, you'll eventually find God). But some have looked for God, and simply not found him. Instead, they've found alot of stuff proving otherwise.

To these people, I usually find that their perception of "what God is" is jaded. Ask them once.

To all athiests, I say "you can't find something you're not looking for, especially if you don't want to find it."

But most importantly, to ALL religious debates, be calm and relaxed about it. And stay that way.