What caused you to make the final decision to become an atheist? -
I guess I'd have to say I owe it all to Stix, Adrian, Mickey, Stix, June, Daniel,
Stix, Mark, Dan, Stix, Steve, Jeff, etc.
Oh, and did I mention Stix? He helped a lot too.
Basically, all of the fine, level headed, clear thinking atheists that
post to alt.atheism.
Thanks to all!
This news group does indeed serve a very useful purpose. Your continued
responses to the same old bleatings does indeed make a difference in peoples lives.
It did to mine.
While I'm still much more of a lurker than a participant, I hope to eventually
begin to make more a meaningful contribution to this news group. But I still have
much reading and learning to do yet. The books I order were just delivered today
("The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read" and "Atheism: The Case Against
God") and I'm only on page 27 of The Case Against God. I tried reading some
Nietzsche ("Beyond Good and Evil" and "Thus Spake Zarathustra"), but I had a hard
time 'getting into it'. The Case against God, otoh, is a much more enjoyable read
thus far.
Wait a minute! I just remembered that the day I responded to a post and admitted I
was an atheist and asked "does this mean I can get a number now?" was probably the
day I truly realized I was one.
I just tried finding the post using DejaNews, but iirc, I posted it under my true
name, "David B. Trout", and I think I went back and "Nuked" them in order to reduce
the volume of spam I was receiving. If anyone can somehow retrieve that post, I'd
have to say *that* was the day I first
realized I was an atheist. ("Fish" (David B. Trout)#623)
This was the beginning of my search for something resembling the truth. I began to
search for information about atheism and what atheists beleived and almost
everything I found justified my new, atheistic position. I owe Fr. O'Malley a huge
debt of gratitude. (Drachen #742)
Then, I read the Bible cover to cover. That was my "moment of conversion",
so to speak. (Ben Kosse #391)
I grew up in a very religious environment with a *very* catholic mother (my father I would characterize as a humanist with a thin catholic veneer, but he worked nights nearly all the time so my mother had nearly exclusive control over me) and the requisite catholic schools complete with psycho nuns.
I suppose one of my earliest misgivings came when I heard about how the Jews were to blame for the crucifixion and similar rot. It just didn't seem fair. And it wasn't just Jews, but the handicapped (my mother once pointed out a handicapped person and said that god was punishing him/her for SOMETHING, and that something was probably something perpetrated by some ancestor), the not-so-bright (we had a kid in school who I suspect
was mildly retarded and the nuns were absolute monsters toward him, treating him like it was his fault), and the not-insignificant matter of original sin. By the time I was about 12 my elders had me convinced
that this god of theirs was an unmitigated asshole.
Of course I was told that all this ugliness wasn't the fault of
religion but of human nature.
I didn't buy this explanation then and I don't buy it now.
It was downhill from there. (John Lewocz #699)
There was no change in my position of the existence of a god. I was no longer shy of the title atheist. I have recently focusing more on the religion and my lack thereof around me. My personal experience with atheism has been limited with only one of my friends using the label. A good many of my circle of friends I believe are weak atheists but for whatever reasons, cling to the label agnostic.
As I became more familiar with the case for and against a god, my atheism became stronger. I find that the different perspectives in a.a. help me understand atheism and theism better. (Dave W #1967)
My breakthrough came when after a year of Catholic college, I transferred to NYU. There for the first time in my life, I had an opportunity to discuss matters with people of other religions, or no religion at all. I found that others felt the same way that I did. In particular,I became friendly with one of my classmates, a woman who was an atheist. We didn't have much of a relationship, but we had many conversations about whether or not god exists and other related topics.
In the end, the main arguments that turned me to atheism were the existence of a good omnipotent god and the existence of evil, the doctrine of original sin (big for Catholics), the injustice of hell, and I think finally learning about all of the evil that was committed in the name of religion. With my studies in science, I very quickly became aware that we don't need the supernatural to explain the universe.
All this happened forty years ago, and except for a few fleeting misgivings early on, I haven't looked back. (John Hachmann #1782)
I guess it was the realization that I was spending way too much time and effort trying to convince myself that I actually believed what my parents told me about God, the church, the Bible, etc.
Once I bit the bullet and admitted that I didn't believe any of that stuff, that I was actually an atheist, it felt like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. (Carl Funk #1229)
This came by way of being harassed by a couple of Christians who were aggressively trying to convert me when I was in my mid-teens. After repeated polite attempts to tell to go away failed, I went on the offensive and ripped into their beliefs. At the end of debunking them, I walked away firmly making a decision that I am an atheist. There has not been any doubt since then. (leongsh..#1860)
I guess you could say I systematically educated myself out of religion. (WhiskeyJack) Click here to return to master question page.