Question for the several self professed ex-atheists on Y!A R&S: What was the basis for your past atheism?

Question

What had been your reasoning? Had it been based on reason at all or was it more of an emotional thing?

And *DO NOT* explain to me why you are no longer an atheist - that's NOT part of the question and I don't want to know. All I want to know is why you had been an atheist, not why you changed.

bregweidd, can you elaborate? Was it simple indoctrination without explanation, or were you raised an atheist because it was explained to you when you could comprehend such concepts, and you said "that makes sense to me"?

Answer 1

I was raised baptist. I one day read some stuff, and one thing led to another, and I had this epiphany: This God crap? It's a lie! A kind god would not allow his people to suffer. A just god would not throw people who dont' believe in him into hell. A loving god is not jealous or cruel. I learned about the theory of evolution (granted, at age 11 my understanding was limited, but I knew enough) so there went the whole "God made the world in seven days"

I jsut didn't see that there were more to those statments than met the eye. Obviously, i figured that out.

Eh. It's a little more complex than that. but i figured you don't need the long drawn out version.

Answer 2

I was raised agnostic while both my parents were atheists, but they always had an open mind and were ok if I believed in a god. I didn't believe in any God for nearly 20 years before I was introduced to Christianity. My initial reason for being agnostic for those years was my parents. However, recently I came to fall back into the agnostic category. My reason this time was no matter how much I tried and how much I wanted Jesus, I never felt like Jesus was never there to catch me when I fell, He was never there when I needed Him most, my prayers were unanswered and His absence caused me to not believe.

During this time I have always felt the presence of God, but never of Jesus. If I had never felt the presence of God, I would be an atheist. But I have a great feeling in a God, or Gods that I cannot deny. Because of this I have my agnostic belief.

The reason was more so emotional. But reason played a part in maintaining the belief.

Answer 3

Maybe because theist is pronounced differently to atheist. The atheist makes the ei sound like "e" instead of "a" but I'm not totally confident that that is the reason. Perhaps it is true, as creatrix suggests, that atheists are for some reason better spellers. If it were it would certainly result in atheist being spelt incorrectly more often as atheists use the word theist most often while everyone uses the word atheist.

Answer 4

I was raised agnostic.

My mom is an active Atheist. She abhors funerals and thinks they are over-sentamental claptrap over the disposal of an empty shell.

My father is an Agnostic Theist. He believes that there must be something out there "bigger and badder" than he is, but he does not know what it is.

I am still a Hard Agnostic on the subject of a Creator. I do not think that any of us will ever really know for sure.

I was forced to believe in a non-human intelligent power (deity) by personal proof (against my will and belief at the time).

Answer 5

The basis for my past Atheism was surety.. I was at the time sure I KNEW that no god/s existed. As I grew and learned more I realized that I don't know anything really when it comes down to it, how could I profess to say "I know God does not exist" when that was only the BELIEF that I held. The same kind of statement from a Theist always lit my fire, "I know God does exist"... I realized then that not a single one of us can say "I know" with regards to god/s because truly none of us knows, there is no evidence either way enough to even satisfy the most casual debate. Who are we to think we have all the answers? I know one thing only for sure, I am ignorant of any god/s existance, and I couldn't find balance until I accepted that. That's why I define myself as Agnostic now instead of Atheist.. I still don't believe in god/s but I don't claim that I know they don't exist.. All I claim is my own ignorance, and proclaim my open-mindedness... I don't know if god/s exist, I don't believe they do and any of the god/s portrayed in religions that exist are repugnant to me anyway.. I choose to disbelieve instead of claiming I hold the knowledge of truth. Call me a fence sitter if you want.. I don't look at it that way at all.. I look at it like this.. Atheist(I know)----Agnostic(I don't know)-----Theist(I know) Between the black and white lies the grey area... thats where I sit awaiting 100% proof positive before I pass judgement.
Don't get me wrong, I see what evidence there is against the religions of the world being true, and I accept that but the fact remains that we may debunk all the bibles and holy books and religious writings we want it does not prove that a being fitting the definition of God, does not exist.. it just proves that the god/s depicted by religion are unlikely. I have nothing to prove to myself satisfactorily that no god/s goddess/es of any kind have ever existed. I don't believe it, but I don't know it..

PS Sorry I unintentionally ended up explaining why I changed sorry.. I did answer your question though.. I was an Atheist because I thought I KNEW.. I used to say things like "I know God doesn't exist" now I say things like "I don't know if god/s exist but I dont believe they do"

Answer 6

Apatheism for several years.

I had been a raised as a Catholic and probably recognised the same hypocrisy you recognise in many religions, and the feasibility. I went from disbelieving to also thinking concerning myself with such things does not help me or anyone.

I realised that religion was quite obviously incorrect and dismissed the possibility of an interveining deity existing.

This was based on a myriad of errors and flaws I could see in the teaching worldview. I reasoned it as false.

I could go on to explain how I am no longer, but you specifically asked that I dont.

Answer 7

it did start with Christianity ( and yes I was angry at it at the time ) not adding up for me
starting to see the inconsistencies in it
at the time ... i was like many other people I suppose
and equated the Christian God ... to God
not realising this was just one of many religions

I did look into the other Mono religions for a while ... just to make comparisons
still nothing made sense for me

I found a lot on Buddhism that made sense to me , although didn't strictly follow it
but followed a lot of their principles
I tried to read on Hinduism and again , what I was reading I could relate to in many ways
but still the God thing wasn't doing it for me

so I guess it was a mix of reason and feeling
I was Atheist for 11 years until reading some other material after my personal experiences
and then things started to make a little more sense

Answer 8

My uncle was an atheist for about 30 years and during a conversation with him where no sub context was present, he said he started doubting God's existance and he read so many books on atheism that helped confirm his doubts about God until he gave up faith altogether and filled his life with reasoning taking precedence and ruling above all else including and beyond the nature of faith and trust that all things don't come with an evidence receipt tag.

Answer 9

You may need to define what you mean by ex-atheist. I know a few people here who are former atheists but are still non-theists. They simply have abandoned the word atheist because they feel it's been hijacked by theists and redefined.

I'm actually wavering on the verge of this myself. I think there are some "atheist groups" who are hand in hand with theists in redefining the word.

Answer 10

Wouldn't the basis of not believing in God be something on the order of having never experienced or found any logical reason to assume that there is a God...? I would guess that to be the actual case and I really wonder, quite honestly, how that would have ever changed.

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