Why do people turn atheist?

Question

The reason I ask is because two Jewish colleagues claim atheism.Is their a trend?

Larrisa in your question you claimed you believe in a 'higher power'.

Jason R atheists claim that you evangelicals are shoving the Bible down their throat.
Any atheists agree with the reason Jason gives?

Answer 1

Most people turn to atheists when God does not answer their
prayers then they think that God is a Delusion.

Answer 2

As a former Christian ( Catholic) i believe that I am an now an Atheist which means i believe there is no god.

There is no historical proof of Jesus' existence - The Romans, Jews, Greeks do not mention him until a Jewish Historian?Titus Flavius Josphus at the END of the 1st Century.

God of the bible(old testament) is a revengeful ,jealous god exacting slave like allegiance. The new testament (compiled under the direction of Emperor Constantine from many gospels) is a cruel, vindictive god . Who would threaten innocent little children with Hell and damnation - that to me is pornographic and extreme child abuse. Mohammed with a bride of 9, yes nine, years old!!!!

Atheism is not negative in any sense. I believe in Humanity.
I am enjoying life and try and do no harm to others - a concept which existed before the "church".

Humans are fantastic beings, frail and stupid at times, but if left alone they will care for and love each other.

Answer 3

I Turned Atheist the moment I was made aware of God ! So you can ‘ Blame ‘ my Atheism on Christians for informing me about Theism.

Skylolo : Define what was I before I was an Atheist !

Regarding Trends:
Since Galileo Galilei looked through his telescope there has been a Trend to move away from irrational believe systems , such as Christianity , Islam , Judaism and Zeus. Recently , with have seen great progress made towards our understanding of the world , this leaves little room for Theistic believe based on allegorical literature

Answer 4

I can only answer this one for myself as I'm sure their are millions of reasons completley differant from my own.

I was raised by my ministor grandparents and went to church twice a week and a christian private school. During that time i had many opportunities to ask about the various contradictions in the bible, not only was a denied a reasonable answer but their were various times I was paddled and had soap stuck in my mouth for even daring to ask.

When I got old enough I realized no one had any usefull proof and were most likely just following what their family and friends had believed just like I had been doing.

Edit: Jason R. Makes a good point.
Hypocrasy did not drive me to atheism but it certainly contributed to my desire to seek other answers. That is to say, if I actually believed in the bible to begin with it would have taken more than "sinfull christians" to deter me.

Answer 5

Prior to answering this question, I an amazed at the answers and so pleased. I have now been around a long time and seen the world and faced many facts about the world. I could not believe how so many intelligent people were believers. I know we inherited it and before reasonable education accepted it. mostly I believe through fear of the unknown. I know sometimes business depended on attending church. To me there was never no logic. I remember putting once to a debating course, if somebody tried to start God and the church today would they be charged with a confidence trick, you should have heard the answers. The church do some good, because people including I would like to believe. They are good at making old ladies happy before they join there alleged God.
I'm sorry, if you sit down and think about it how can you possibly agree. Last year about 3000,000 believers, man woman and child died through other and natural causes. If its possible he exists, you are welcome to him

Answer 6

I think that there is a slight trend towards atheism. People are just losing faith in their theistic religion. Either they didn't have their expectations met or they realized that there are some really bad people that claim to be involved with their religion.

I personally became an atheist when I saw the church trying to make people conform. While I am not a non-conformist, I do no believe that everybody should be treated like a robot. I also see that a lot of the people that claim to be Christian seem like weak people in general.

Answer 7

Realizations that what people declare to be "holy" is frequently anything but. The observed behavior of the many representatives and leaders of the various religions. Direct research into religious claims and history. Observation of the web of contradictions, rationalizations, and wild speculations that comprise religious thought.

That plus no "sense" of the divine at all...no visions, ecstatic states, speaking in tongues, or wild revelations. No "miracles", encounters with angels or demons, no healings or divine messages.

Followed by the discovery that often the people who claim to experience any or all of the above are simply deluding themselves.

Direct encounters with folk who hold up scientific ignorance as a virtue. Folk who deliberately misrepresent science and evidence. People who are more interested in getting converts than they are with truth. People who revere religious dogma over observable reality.

Lots of reasons. Like most people, folks do things for a number of reasons...not all of them simple.

Answer 8

They don't. We are all born atheists. We don't know about Gods or God until someone tells us. Theists become theists because most of the time their parents bring them up to believe it. We are told Santa Claus is real and we believe it. It's not until our parents expel the myth that we think otherwise. We are all subjected to religion from a very early age, so most people who haven't been brought up on religion will have been steeped in such myths and will consider the possibility. For example I was sent to a very religious Christian school and had many Christian friends. As soon as a person begins to think seriously about theism, whether they were indoctrinated or not, they will nearly always find themselves swaying towards a non-theist ethos. Why? Because it doesn't make sense to the educated human mind. Further investigation shows us that all the main religions are historically and scientifically debunked. As I've heard said here, every Christian, Muslim and Jew considers the Gods of Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome to be man-made and false. Why would a brand new God that reared its head only couple of thousand years ago be any different and why would anyone believe any differently? The vast majority of people who believe in Jesus Christ were born and raised in Christian families. The vast majority of Muslims were born and raised in Muslim families, the vast majority of Hindus were born and raised in Hindu families, and I could go on and on.

Most atheists I Know or have met, have always been somewhat atheistic. Those others, who weren’t quite sure, like me, describe 'becoming' atheist like waking up. It’s a realisation of truth about the world. It's not scary, it’s not 'evil', it's like a great oppressive veil has been lifted, and the knowledge of freedom of thought is so liberating, that it would impossible to go back.

I can assure you there is no trend. There is continuing scientific advancement and knowledge happening everyday, and every new piece of information, evidence and fact says there is no God, but most importantly, it says there is no need for God. On a side note that I'm not too knowledgeable about is the growing realisation that religion is bad for society and causes great evils to be committed. Many people who usually call themselves humanists are turning their backs on religion for this very reason.

Answer 9

For some people it is a trend mabe, they think it's cool. But there are plent of people who simply can't believe in the supernatural. I don't call myself an atheist, but I never (not even as a child) could believe the stories about jesus making magic tricks, and I was pretty amazed that adults would take it serious.

Answer 10

Short-cuts!

The trend is based on dissatisfaction but reaction is different, person to person.

Some are easily attracted with the interesting Evolution theory and some attempt searching truth in other possible ways.

God Blessings.

Answer 11

You either are or aren't a atheist, you either have God in your heart or you don't. Although, as the seeds that were planted within have a time to take, God's time.
You either have faith in God or you don't, some are seeking God, but if there's no proof ...they go atheism.
The reason why there is atheist people is because these are the brand new created spirits-souls that God created, they haven't live another life....but in time and in more life's they too will learn and come around, because God is patient, and has mercy not wanting to send anyone to hell.