Answer186

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Answer186

Question186

Do you think that certain character traits have caused you to become/remain an atheist? Which?

Yes. Definitely. Curiosity and skepticism can both be thought of as charcter traits. They both lead me to atheism.

A love for nature and a suspicion of human creations/human intenions/human pretensions is also close to inate in me (or at least instilled at a very early age.)

I love to understand how things work - and so I am just not "wired" to accept answers handed down by authorities - I always want to see for myself how a thing works.

Atheism is as natural as breathing for me. (Mark Richardson #1095)

Curiosity.

At school from the very start, the teachers of matters religious were frequently furious at my unwillingness to accept the absurd fob off answers to questions that seemed reasonable to me. The subject of 'transubstantiation' was never accepted as anything other than the requirement to believe in magic for example, and that's just one of many absurdities rejected of the life hating cult that abhors nature..... xtianity. They never explained who god senior was either. We got heaps about the mother of god in the form of Mary, and heaps about that South Western Asian man called jesus, who was also supposed to be god, but wasn't really.

Yes.... curiosity, the supposed sin of two humans created in the supposed "our" image of all knowing gods who would have known what was going to happen, and could have prevented it... and didn't, just as the jesus version pissed off according to the story instead of using his powers for good, but left it in the hands of the rabble who have murdered and punished in his name ever since. (Kerry #1773)

Curiousity, and a talent for reading comprehension. That and a monstrous sense of self-worth - I am not intimidated by new knowledge, nor embarrased to ask questions, nor will I back down from any intellectual challenge presented me. (Fred Stone #1369)

For me, it was wanting the answers to questions that I wasn't getting and loving to read. If I wanted answers, I had to find them myself. And, I did. I was a stubborn kid, and I'm still stubborn. But, as time went by, I learned to temper the stubborness by looking at as many sides of an issue as there are. If there are more possibilities than one as an answer to a question, I want to know all the answers, how the answers were reached and then decide which answer I'll accept for myself. I'm still an atheist after 42 years and, thanks to this newsgroup and what I've learned here, I know that I'll always be an atheist. (Michelle Malkin #1)

I think we may have some things in common, Mickey. I was one of those obnoxious little kids who was always asking - Why? or Why not? If I was told something was true and I should believe it, I would always wonder, what if it is not true? I would then think of ways to prove the point. (I got in a lot of trouble like that, like the time I stuck my finger in a light bulb socket just to see what would happen - Zap!) With an attitude like that it is probably only natural that I went into science. (No, I haven't blown myself up yet, or made any mutant monsters - that I want to talk about ;-))

When I began learning about religion, I still asked - Why? and Why not? My parents were horrified and told me to pray. The nuns who taught me in school thought I was a wise guy and threatened to punish me. (Sometimes they did.) I was told by a priest that to even doubt one's religion for argument's sake was a mortal sin. (for RCs mortal sin = go directly to Hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.)

I also loved reading and I decided to read more about religion on my own. At first, I wanted to believe, but the more I read and found out what religion was all about, and what was done in its name, my doubts about religion became certainties. 40 years ago I became an atheist and never looked back. I also appreciate the chance that I get in this newsgroup to talk about and learn things that I rarely get a chance to do in the off-line world. (John Hachmann #1782)

I was raised as a thinker. My parents wanted me to question, and develop answers for myself, or via research and examination. Religion is incompatible with this, in my experience.

As for staying an atheist - it's more of a lack of evidence otherwise. (The Great Hairy One)

I never was a theist, and most of my relatives/friends/ teachers were atheists, so maybe my character traits didn't played that much a role. Anyway, here are these three:

(1) Rational curiosity. I, too, was a kid always asking "why", and even if fear or another social inhibition prevented asking it aloud, I asked it to myself.

(2) Borderless interest. I mean - what is beyond my city, beyond my continent, beyond my planet, my galaxy etc.; and beyond my past, my country's history, my species's history, and beyond the next few years. This led me to science and science fiction, and the view of an universe too big for gods to be the rulers of.

(3) A bit of asociality. I mean, the refusal to fit in, to go along if I don't like what it takes to. This must be a trait, I remember when I was 7 and refused to dress for carnival as a duck, and dance the hilarious "duck dance"[*] like the rest of the class, but it also led to sticking to my views on religion or politics (and sometimes changing that of my friends).

[*] The "Duck dance" was a typical slushy product of communist mass entertainment aimed at children (and their mothers). Something parents and teachers were meant to cheer with "It's so cuuuuuute!!!". (Daneel #323)

In addition to skepticism and rationality, I'd like to add that I think atheists have a certain amount of honesty about their place in the Universe. We understand that we're not the pinnacle of evolution, nor are we some giant sky pixie's favorite toy. (chibiabos)

Perhaps I'm naturally a little more skeptical and rational, than the average person. This would explain why I couldn't remain a 'born again' Christian (as I was 22 years ago): e.g. Eventually, I realized that I couldn't find a good reason to continue to believe that: "Doubts about 'God' are bad, or evil".

And in light-of 'Jonestown', 'Moonies', and the like: I began to have serious doubts as to the value of 'blind' faith. The idea that I should believe by faith.... a faith based on 'hope', began to seem ludicrous. Why should anyone assume that something will be real, just because they hope it will be that way? (pan #1432)

Love of reading and a healthy skepticism. Even when I was going through my fundy period in my early teens, there was always a little voice in the back of my head going "you really don't believe all this bullshit, do you?" After leaving the town where I was going to the fundy church, I dropped my "beliefs" like a used kleenex.

Love of reading is obvious, I think. I read all kinds of different stuff, fiction, non-fiction/history, and I think this broad reading style has made me aware of just how many different beliefs and religions there are/have been throughout the world and throughout the years. (Michelle Martin #1474)

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