Atheists, did any of you stop believing because you were scared, lonely, rebellious, depressed....?

Question

...seeking attention, or lacking knowledge?

On my last question, these were the reasons given by former atheists (now believers in God) for why they were originally atheists.

I can honestly say that none of the above reasons are why I stopped believing.

What about you?

Gen, no, I am not assuming that. However, it is true that most of us were raised to believe in some type of higher power, yes.

Answer 1

My reasons...I would have to say that it was a lot of things that took a few years. There wasn't any one thing. But the biggest was never feeling gods presence of any kind at any time. After a while, I just stopped believing.

Answer 2

I never stopped believing because of any kind of reason listed above. I was raised christian and just always wondered how all these people around (like in church) said they felt the presence of god and I never did. I truly believed at the time, but it just never worked for me no matter what I did or said or wanted to feel. Then as I got a little older, the stories in the bible became more and more like something you would read in mythology or better yet a fairy tale. When I started reading on different religions and different old beliefs, I seen similar stories that were a lot like the bible stories, these stories being labeled mythology and dating back thousands of years before christianity came about. This only furthered my suspicions and then came things like the earth doesn't move and others the bible states that have proven to be otherwise. Then it built on until I came to the conclusion that I no longer believed any of it and that the very idea of a god was ridiculous and the idea of going to a place with earthly features like pearly gates and golden streets. It seemed like a poor man's dream. Logic got the best of me :)

Answer 3

As a matter of fact, there is nothing more lonely than being an atheist, where there is no hell below us and above us only sky. Its a decision that faces the possibility that we have left in this world all alone to define our own destiny. That no higher power is there to guide us as on what's right and wrong.

If you've ever read The Lord of the Flies, you'd know what I've talked about.

Answer 4

that's the way i've got consistently seen it. If i concept, as a lot of human beings of religion do, that this existence replaced into in simple terms a short-term, worry-ridden blip till now an eternal afterlife of bliss, then i may be finding to die as quickly as conceivable. That sounds like the only logical end, and explains why the religions that instruct this also have a prohibition against suicide. a minimum of, the powerful ones do. Heaven's Gate isn't precisely a immediately spreading faith. Me, i'm gentle with the thought there is no afterlife, and attempt to extract the main excitement and know-how from this existence that i'm able to. i'm no longer able to assert that's universally genuine for all atheists, in spite of the indisputable fact that that's an physique of strategies that seems straightforward between the others i know.

Answer 5

It seems to me that if I were scared, lonely, depressed, ignorant or seeking attention I would be driven to religion, not away from it.

I can understand how someone wishing to be rebellious would declare themselves an atheist, but the rest of those reasons are poppycock.

I stopped believing because after trimming religion of all the BS atheism is all that remained.

Answer 6

Well, since I was an adolescent at the time I suppose I was all of those things at one time or another. But I was also an avid reader and blessed (cursed?) with an excellent memory, so when I read the myths from various parts of the world it was easy to compare them and note the many similarities. This was my first big clue that religion is just another form of mythology.

I followed this up many years later with a thorough reading of the bible, and that squelched any remaining impulse to believe.

Answer 7

Nope.

Scared: I kept trying to believe because I was scared (Pascal's Wager worked on the 12-year-old me).

Lonely: Again, that's what kept me in the so-called fold longer than I would have otherwise.

Rebellious: Had I been, I would have mentioned my burgeoning atheism to more than two people.

Depressed: Well, I am. But I was when I was a Christian, too.

Seeking attention: See rebellious.

Lacking knowledge: I'd say it was the search for knowledge and not truthiness that caused my atheism.

So no.

Answer 8

None of the above reasons apply to me.
I don't think I ever really believed anyway. I was born and raised in a Christian family and indoctrinated.
When I left home and had the opportunity to broaden my mind the truth came flooding in. I only needed to see the other side of the debate, which had been denied me throughout childhood.

What a lucky escape I had!!!

Answer 9

I'm not an atheist but I bet most don't believe because they feel they are so educated as to believe there is no scientific support of God.

I don't think people stop believing because of being scared, lonely or depressed. They become angry because things do not go their way but always keep God in the background as a fall out. Once you have felt God, you know He is there even when we are upset with Him. Atheists have never known God and the power He possesses.

Sandy :O)

Answer 10

No, I had events in my life that made me question my beliefs (none of the above), but it took me 2 years of research (reading, rereading and rereading the entire bible, reading many books on religion and just plan common sense) before I finally admitted to myself that I didn't believe a word of it. It was very hard for me to denounce something that I had been told was fact my entire life.