How does one become an atheist?

[jake-the-peg]

Tweaker asked this in the thread on JWs

Personally I grew up in a familly that wasn't particularly religious, and it slowly grew on me.

I certainly remember at the age of 12 the Headmaster doing a role call of who was Christian, Jewish etc. and then asked "any others" - I put up my hand and said I was an atheist.

There then followed much consternation and d bluster before he said rather arrogantly "Well I hope you find a religion one day"

I guess that was when I first identified myself as an atheist.

How about the rest of you? Do you remember when you first identified yourselves as atheists?

[LazyGun]

@Khandro - why do you keep rejecting the logical definition?
The most inclusive definition of atheism is, simply, a lack of belief in a deity.

Which deity were born believing in then Khandro?

You. and JtP come to that, are choosing to define atheism as being the intellectual rejection of belief in a deity - thats but one route to atheism, its not the only path.

[Khandro]

BREAKING NEWS ! From this his morning's Telegraph "Richard Dawkins: I can't be sure God does not exist
He is regarded as the most famous atheist in the world but last night Professor Richard Dawkins admitted he could not be sure that God does not exist."

[LazyGun]

@Khandro - And this is breaking news how? Please point me to the article where Dawkins has ever categorically denied the existence of god? Did you go on to read the rest of the article?

He describes himself as 6.9/7 on a scale of 1-7 in the strength of his atheism, and went on to say that the probability of a supernatural creator was very very low.

You cannot, at this moment in time, with our current level of understanding of science, completely rule out the existence of a supernatural creator - but the likelihood is incredibly low. Most atheists I have had conversations with would say the same.

[vulcan]

But Khandro, you say he does exist so why are you worried what Richard Dawkins says ? At least saying he doesn't know is a more honest answer then saying he does.

[RATTER15]

Fred, >>You do not just become an athiest, it is drummed into from an early age.<< [sic]

What a bizarre and foolish thing to say, we are born with no faith or belief in a God, why would we need to have this drummed into us at an early age!!

I believed in a God at an early age, reading the Bible and going to Bible classes convinced me there could not possibly be a God, and if there is a God I wanted nothing to do with this cruel creature.

I think you will find that most Atheists become atheists when they are old enough to make sense of the bible through studying it and then rejecting it as nonsense.

[naomi24]

Khandro, breaking news? Hardly. Take a look at the slogan on the Atheist bus. See the word ‘probably’?

http://www.atheistbus.org.uk/launch-photos/

By the way, recently you made quite a fuss when you insisted that posters here define which God they’re referring to, so which one are you talking about now?

[Khandro]

Vulcan, "But Khandro, you say he does exist" Where on this, and all similar threads, have I ever stated catagorically the God exists? Re. Dawkins, I'm not "Worried" what he thinks, but this paradigm shift, I thought might be food for thought to some.

[slaney]

Naomi - I remember reading in the news at the time of the atheist bus launch that many atheists were disappointed about the insertion of the "probably", which was only done after advice from the Committee of Advertising Practice that they were less likely to be in breach of the Advertising Code if this were done.

[jomifl]

Khandro, my dictionary defines atheism as 'a disbelief in god'. One can 'not believe in god' by either not being aware of the concept of a god or being aware of the concept and by a mental process possibly involving reasoning arriving at the conclusion that such a thing as a god does not exist. This point has been made several times on this thread already but it does bear being repeated.

[jomifl]

Khandro, what paradigm shift? Richard Dawkins is primarily a scientist, I would be surprised if he said that god definitely doesn't exist, nobody can know that and nobody probably ever will. Scientists are used to dealing with the concept of probability, they leave the certainties to preachers and politicians.

[vulcan]

Khandro, I thought this was a bit of a clue.

God was before Creation, this means the original Eternity contained only God.

[Khandro]

The word 'probably' seems to be making a sudden appearance this morning! which is exactly the word used by Rod Liddle in the question at the end of his excellent documentary http://documentaryhea...trouble-with-atheism/

[LazyGun]

@ khandro - this idea of yours that Dawkins most recent restatement of his belief that god almost certainly does not exist represents a paradigm shift is nonsense, as anyone with even a passing familiarity with his position knows

The atheist bus campaign stated there was "probably" no god - not because they were forced to, by the ASA- it was part of their original text and accurately reflects the fact that we cannot state for certain that god does not exist, just that the probability of a deity is very very low

[Booldawg]

whats the difference between an atheist and agnostic?

[LazyGun]

@ khandro -do you actually read these responses, or do u just filter them through your own preconceptions? The word probably is implicit in. Iryually every post i have seen by atheists here. It's not a new thing, or a belated recognition.

As to Rod Liddells documentary - there are many adjectives one can use to describe that piece of work, but excellent would not be one of them. Cherry picking and selective editing to conform with his own narrative is much more accurate

[RATTER15]

Booldawg, Agnostics are a confused bunch sitting on the fence :)

[Khandro]

One can no more be a little bit atheist than be a little bit pregnant. Atheism is a DISBELIEF in the existence of God, 'probably' doesn't come into it. If you use that word you are entering the realm of agnostisicm. Please choose your words with more care.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Khandro, it's really quite simple: I cannot PROVE that the God of the Bible doesn't exist, any more than I can disprove any number of other (IMO) crack-pot notions. I think, though, that it's extremely unlikely. So much so that I don't qualify my scepticism with the use of the word agnostic. I've read and listened to Dawkins enough to know that your paradigm shift argument is a distortion of his view. To paraphrase the great man: "I am atheist when it comes to Yahweh just as you are when it comes to Zeus, Thor and the tooth fairy". I don't understand why this is so difficult to grasp and why the debate has taken the belligerent tone that it has. You've maybe let LZ's cognitive dissonance jibe get to you. By the way, I think the provocative Liddle documentary was somewaht better than LZ gives him credit for.

[slaney]

Hi LazyGun - I didn't say "forced" but suggested that some atheists were unhappy about the word "probably". The view of the bus companies transport advertising regulations does seem to have been a factor in its use.
http://www.atheistbus.../tag/richard-dawkins/

[LazyGun]

@Khandro - Now you are just being stubborn. As with all things in life, there are degrees of belief, or disbelief, come to that. You have a spectrum of belief in different types of god both within and between the major different churches, ranging from an absolute belief in the literal truth of the bible, young earth creationism, and noahs ark, all the way down to the rather more pragmatic belief of the CofE, who accept the science, and just claim that "god" is the motivating force.

On that basis alone, your analogy between faith and pregnancy is an absolute fail.

And of course, there are shades and degrees of atheism. Some atheists, when asked, do not believe in an Abrahamic god, but do believe in some kind of universal creator, spinozas vision of god. Then you will get atheists who have no belief in any sort of supernatural deity at all, abrahamic or otherwise, because on the balance of probability and reason, such a being would be very very unlikely.

The only people struggling with these concepts of atheism are those like yourself, who wish to impose your own definitions of atheism on everyone else.