Question for atheists only please?

Question

whrn did you decide to become an atheist? what made you want to become an atheist?

Answer 1

I like puppies.

it's hilarious when a trolling question like this gets answered at all, notice the thumbs down? who doesn't like puppies. christians, that's who

Answer 2

It was a long process, and certainly not something I "wanted." I don't believe those atheists who say they're totally happy with the idea. Personally, I'd rather live in a world where there was a supernatural being looking out for me. I just don't confuse my wishes with reality. Sometimes I don't want it to rain either, but reality has always done what it wants, regardless of my thoughts.

Atheism was a process, not a choice. Getting an advanced degree in science helped, but not in the way you probably think.

98% or more of scientists are atheists. But most religious people make the mistake of assuming that's because people with science degrees are know-it-alls, and that their pride and arrogance in being right is what drives them away from the "humbleness" of religion. The reverse is actually true.

In getting my degree, what was destroyed by studying science was CERTAINTY. As I learned theory after theory, and tested things in labs, it became abundantly clear that there are very few things in life anyone can be certain about. There is so much we don't know. Dark matter? Dark energy? The first living organism? The extent of the universe? The details of the placebo effect?

In all these things we are humbled by our vast inferiority to comprehend, and so the certainty with which religions pretend to know the answer to life, the universe and everything is just a turn off -- particularly when that answer cannot be verified or checked in any way. We don't even know what the weather will be like precisely in two weeks, yet religions pretend to know what happens after death? Such hubris.

I'm an atheist because there's no verifiable or falsifiable evidence for a god. That's all there is to it.

Answer 3

It started when I was about fifteen... I'd become irritated with the RCC's stance on homosexuality and I thought that if the church could be wrong on that, then they could be wrong on other things too. I dared, finally, to ask questions. So I did... and I wondered how 1+1=1 (Jesus being fully god and fully man), how 3=1 (the trinity), how such biological impossibilities as the virgin birth and the resurrection and transubstantiation could occur. I questioned why a supposedly loving god would kill all those people in the flood, and why the bible had been changed in translations and editing over the years. I wondered why the vatican had authority even though they'd really messed up over the years. Basically, what I'd been raised to believe as far as religion was contradicting what I'd learned about science, history, and ethics.

About this same time, one of my friends shocked our catholic high school by "coming out of the broom closet" as a pagan (not a wiccan, mind you). Everyone was suddenly scared of her and ridiculed her, but I wanted to know what she thought and why, so I researched her religion. Though I didn't believe it made sense, I found it fascinating, and I began to see what other religions said. I thought it was marvelously interesting to see what other people thought about the cosmos, and I still do.

I was also introduced to logic and philosophy around this time. Admittedly, it was because I'd just come upon Monty Python and I loved the Philosopher's Drinking Song, but I wanted to know who Immanuel Kant was besides a real pissant who was very rarely stable... who Heidegger was other than a boozy old beggar who could think you under the table. So I started reading philosophy books from my local library, and books about formal logic and fallacies and whatnot. I also kept a journal in which I mused about what I'd learnt or thought about.

It was my frustration with the RCC's homophobia that first got me to question, but it was the comparative religions and philosophy/logic that led me to believe that there is no god. I did not want to become an atheist, actually, but I felt I could no longer believe in something so improbable. For the longest time I worried that the improbable god of my childhood would smite me... it's illogical but I was afraid. It was not until I heard Dawkins talking at a university that one needn't live in fear of the Judeo-Christian god anymore than one need live in fear of Thor that I became comfortable in my assertion.

Answer 4

One doesn't "decide" to become an atheist. One decides to pay attention to the evidence and go where it leads. Granted, we have chosen to continue searching, but it's inevitable that we reach the conclusion, based on what we've learned.

The only people who have engaged in similar searches who remain theists are those who either (A) have had personal experiences that they ascribe to god, but are better objectively explained as psychological phenomena or (B) have given into the "God of the gaps" argument, which says that if something remains unexplained it is evidence for God, or (C) cannot abide the social consequences of leaving faith behind.

I can hold some respect for (A), none for (B) because it is an intellectually dishonest position, and pity for (C) whose entire relationship matrix is based on denying thought.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 5

Around 18 or 19. I just started to question religion because I couldn't believe some of the things that it was claiming, and after examining it, I just realized that I didn't believe that religion was correct and soon after I stopped believing in god all together. I just think religion is all made up, and looking at the state of world, it naturally follows that there prolly isn't a god watching over us each other. There's no GOOD proof for me to believe in a god.

Answer 6

Not a question of "wanting" or "deciding" to become atheist. When you come to a point where you just don't believe in gods anymore, then you would be labeled as atheist. And some people never believed in gods, thus were always atheists by default.

Answer 7

I did not aspire to become an atheist nor did I one day decide "From here on I shall be an atheist". For me it was a long process of learning and letting go. Then it came to a point where I just couldnt pretend anymore. It was a real challenge and not something I did quickly.

Answer 8

I realized from a very early age (while being raised Catholic) that the Bible was nothing more than an allegorical tale and that the concept of a "loving father" who flooded the Earth because He was disappointed did not make any sense to me.
It was a pretty easy transition from there. I did not want to become an atheist anymore than I wanted to stop believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny- I just faced reality as I see it.

Answer 9

Born into a family that didn't believe in god. The bibles of all the different religions are an interesting read though.

Plus, god can't be everywhere at once listening to people, and if you did believe god could multply himself, then there wouldn't just be one god would there?

Also, there are other gods/goddesses too and you can't ask people to believe in all of them because there's basically no proof that they're there.

Remember when people believed lightening was a sign god was mad, or in the Salem Witch trials?
Well it's just clouds, and it turns out after so many people died, none of them was a witch, so there.

If you really want more information on why, then why didn't god stop the war? Why can't he stop bad people? If he forgives everyone's sins, then why is there hell? Why does go have to be a man? Who created him?

It's just that simple. I'm not trying to offend the religous people, but that's what I believe, and they have their own beliefs as well, so I believe that they have no right to disagree with what I'm saying because it's a BELIEF

Answer 10

Reasoning and critical questioning of the religious texts make you realize there is no evidence whatsoever of the existence of a God. The truth is still to be found. Even though born and bred in a Muslim country, I find religion is for simpletons

Answer 11

I was 9 years old in the 3rd grade in religion class at my parochial elementary school. I asked many questions, such that I was sent down to the principal's office then home with a note for my parents.

I was later expelled because I refused to stop asking questions about things that I either did not understand or did not make sense to me. I was taught earlier by my parents to question everything I did not understand, and to dig for the truth. I still do.

Now that I am much older (in my 40s), there still isn't any evidence to support the existence of any gods. Thus I still don't believe in them.