How Did You Become An Atheist? (page 6)

AK - Jeff

NewChap - I could have written almost the same thing regarding my journey.

I think the steps were roughly as follows:

1- Jehovahs' Witnesses were wrong.

2- Investigated a few churches and saw the same mindset/attitudes/worldviews.

3- Investigated the Bible and found it full of inconsistencies/fallacies/mythological magic.

4- Looked at religion in general and saw the same.

5- Began a serious look at the god concept[s] and found them wanting.

6- Looked at science and found it was sufficient to explain Homo-sapiens, our earth, the physics that control and create it.

It took a couple of years after that before I was comfortable with the 'Atheist' moniker, but eventually saw the need to call a spade a spade.

One point in your initial post caught my eye.

Then I paid attention to how believers expressed themselves. I saw with everyone of them a kind of denial to evidence---a certain amount of acrobatics their brains did to force everything to fit into their belief systems. It was uncomfortable to watch and continues to be.

Just last week, I was excited to hear and read about the news of the confirmation of the Higgs Boson from data extrapolated from the Large Hadron Collider. One nice Christian lady whom I know, reacted by saying "Well as a Christian I cant believe any of THAT!" This in spite of the fact that I am sure she didn't understand a word of it - but the application of the term 'God Particle' by some news articles repelled her to not ever TRY and understand that this could be one of the most significant discoveries in decades. The whole experience took me back instantly to a time when everyone around me was just as willingly ignorant.

This realization a few years back made it clear to me that ALL religion and the very concept of God combine to work against progress for our species and the planet and civilization in general.

Jeff

caliber

Tell me how this strikes you: When certain posters refer to faith as mind rot, they are saying it out of atheistic love, because they no longer want you to be deceived. You really shouldn't be offended by such a statement. It's meant in the best spirit to help you grow.

Just think about it. This tension is not one sided.~~~~ NC

I made one statment to cofty about this (mind rot ) in a very kind and polite manner... the issue is over for me.. I don't go on and on about it

that's the point make ones statements in a polite, easy to accept manner .. you are a very bright girl I don't think I need to explain this.

The tension may not be one sided but I choose not to add fuel to the fire.. rise above holding on to hurt... repeating insults on several threads

imbeds them deeper into your mind

Even in violent sports when your opponent is down you walk away... no need to kill them

mind ro t seems mild but the term bird food seems mild too...but personally I would choose not to say that to anyone

I was just wondering if Einstein suffered from this "mind rot " thing ? hee he hee

THE GLADIATOR

Considering the damage that religious faith has caused humans throughout history, ‘mind-rot’ seems an inadequately mild term.

darthfader

I consider myself "faithless" yet for any better definition an Agnostic.

NewChapter

DF, I like the term Faithfree. I think I made it up---but am not 100% sure it has never been said before. LOL I'm afraid to google it, cuz I may find out that I never think up anything original.

Faithless---seems to indicate lacking something, possibly something important.

Fairhfree---Meaning we have removed something we are better without.

NC

NewChapter

The tension may not be one sided but I choose not to add fuel to the fire

Then don't. But if you are going to address nonbelievers and ask why they seem harsh, then go ahead and address believers and ask them why they are so harsh. I'm tired of the double standard. A one off---or even a two off is easy to let go. But when it is an ongoing accumulation of behavior, it becomes a pattern. So looking at the history is valid. When I am told I am being mean to believers, it is very difficult for me to just dismiss the point not said----believers have been quite mean to me.

And telling a person to just let it go is completely invalidating the point. The point was there is a double standard. I gave examples. Sorry if you don't like seeing them over, and over. . . but if others continue to point to the behavior of atheists as unfair, we will continue to balance out that narrative. Even if believers wish we would just ignore the man behind the curtain.

NC

simon17

My path was fairly straight-forward:

* Questioned specific doctrines which contradicted science (flood, evolution, 607)

* Research led to lack of faith in organization

* Researched Bible with an open mind

* Lack of faith in Bible

* Examined other religions and talked to its adherents (found them to be, in principle, the same at their core)

This was actually my first very real struggle. I would say to people I no longer understood prayer. If I received what I prayed for, then God had answered. If something bad happened, then God was not to blame. God does not protect us. But then why pray. I was told that because I had a good job and had bought disability insurance, God had blessed me. Really, I asked. But nearly everyone that works with me bought that insurance, they also have very good jobs, they worked hard for them. And they made a wise decision---yet many of them are not believers. However, if they get sick, they will have the same protection that I have. So was it God, or was it just me working hard and making good decisions? What would you say if I didn't have a good job or had not bought the insurance?

I agree that somewhere in there an examination of prayer was major. I was very much believing in prayer. That doing it effected my daily life and god blessed things depending on my ferver of prayer or not. I went through the same thought process about prayer and decided to test my life without it. It wasn't complete as, when someone bad would happen I'd supersticiously return, guilty and half-heartedly rededicated to prayer. But eventually I cut it out completely and nothing at all in life changed. Good stuff still happened. So did some bad, as did the way through. I still gave great talks and was commended and looked up to and told I had 'god's spirit.' The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that prayer was absurd.

thinking_1

I like this thread because some believers seem to think the only reason people stop practicing a religion or professing belief in a god is because their pissed off, or feel restricted.

Not true in most cases. Some maybe, but if you try to get that person to have a discussion on any sort of a deep level you'll quickly find they don't really care about truth. They just care about what makes them comfortable.

I have very little respect for people like that.

NewChapter

I remember feeling a sense of loss when I gave up prayer. I was in such a habit of offering thanks, or praying when things were bad, that it was a hard tic to correct. But if I had prayed, it would not have been because I believed in prayer, it would have been more like a superstition---like rubbing a rabbits foot. Just something to do to deal with the stress. But as you said, giving up prayer changed nothing. And so in time, I no longer felt that tic, and no longer felt that loss. It requires that I find the strength within, because the crutch has been removed, and I really like that.

NewChapter

I would question anyone who decided they were atheist because they were pissed of. At who? See---how can you be angry at a god and still not believe in it? Makes no sense. Now a person may feel anger, and that anger lead them to question things---but the last emotion I could ever feel to a great big nothing is anger. That would be silly. I do point out the brutality of that desert god---but not because I am angry at it---but because I hope to point out what little sense it makes to call that love. Some people mistake that for anger at the god. It's funny. I think it is just very difficult for some to understand a completely godfree life---no anger, love, contempt, disrespect---none of that. Now how we may feel about certain beliefs is another matter.

How Did You Become An Atheist?

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