How did you become an atheist?

[HumblePie]

Uhh, I was born an atheist. Like everyone else.

 

[Jeff7]

Atheists don't solve exponential equations because they don't believe in higher powers.

I love you and hate you at the same time.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Application was accepted. Now waiting on an email for an interview. I think I might be accepted.

 

[randay]

when i was born. and then i avoided being mind-raped by organized religions' salesmen.

 

[bfdd]

I was 8 years old and in a baptist church for sunday school. My step dad's parents were part of the community so we got dragged along. I remember asking why God did something and no one could answer me. Instead I got punished and had to go sit with the adults in mass. That is when I realized that adults(people) are full of shit and so is are their religions. If an 8 year old, someone who knows nothing can ask "why" and you can't even come up with a believable lie?

Stack that on with my mom and her family weren't very religious, neither is my father. Kind of just naturally fell into not believing in shit.

 

[JimmiG]

Uhh, I was born an atheist. Like everyone else.

Exactly. Atheism or possibly agnosticism is the natural state of mind. Religion is something that has to be taught.

 

[jonks]

Exactly. Atheism or possibly agnosticism is the natural state of mind. Religion is something that has to be taught.

Well, someone had to come up with it. And it arose in different parts of the world so several someones independently came up with it.

Not sure the default position is atheist, that implies knowledge of the subject matter. A blank slate of a person who never heard of the concept of god is probably not an atheist by our definition since he doesn't have an opinion either way on the existence of god. An atheist doesn't believe in god, thus he must know what a god is. I can see the argument that one cannot possibly believe in something that one has never heard of, making the ignorant person by default an atheist, but if you asked such a person if they believed in god, their answer wouldn't be "no", it would be "what's god?"

Given the vast majority of the planet is theist, atheists are today defined by their non-belief. When the roles are reversed a new word should probably be coined.

 

[BrokenVisage]

It was God's will that I become agnostic.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

you all need more jesus in your lives

 

[BurnItDwn]

I was maybe 5 or 6 years old when I came to the realization that all forms of magic are fantasy.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

I have been a skeptic for as long as I can remember. I have always found religious/spiritual notions plainly self-serving, delusional, and quite frankly insane. Later when I was directly exposed to the circular logic of all religious philosophy I made up my mind to overcome the fear of openly challenging the deeply embedded and supremely emotionally entangled fantasies of our culture.

I do not think anyone HONESTLY believes in any sort of god that MATTERS.

I think the overwhelming majority of people are simply TERRIFIED by the notion they will cease to be at some point, and all of the implications of that knowledge. Furthermore I find that no matter what people say, it is evident that the only portion of religion that concerns them is the idea of continuing consciousness after death.

Not one bit of scientific data supports the existence of god.

 

[TheSlamma]

I read the bible

 

[Kadarin]

you all need more jesus in your lives

Jesus was a hippy dippy shit pansy. We need more Thor!

 

[El Guaraguao]

Exactly. Atheism or possibly agnosticism is the natural state of mind. Religion is something that has to be taught by man.

ftfy

 

[zinfamous]

Well, someone had to come up with it. And it arose in different parts of the world so several someones independently came up with it.

Not sure the default position is atheist, that implies knowledge of the subject matter. A blank slate of a person who never heard of the concept of god is probably not an atheist by our definition since he doesn't have an opinion either way on the existence of god. An atheist doesn't believe in god, thus he must know what a god is. I can see the argument that one cannot possibly believe in something that one has never heard of, making the ignorant person by default an atheist, but if you asked such a person if they believed in god, their answer wouldn't be "no", it would be "what's god?"

Given the vast majority of the planet is theist, atheists are today defined by their non-belief. When the roles are reversed a new word should probably be coined.

yeah, I don't think it's entirely taught.

A human left on their own, in the wild, having been taught nothing of life in general--or perhaps a community of humans--will invariably resort to some sort of belief system over time.

We essentially have the same capacity for knowledge and learning that we had 70,000 years ago. The difference between us and our ancestors is the accumulation and passing down of knowledge.

I posit that the natural state of humans is to develop a belief system. Most of ATOT are no longer children, so we are generally incapable of appreciating the state of that open, highly creative, and preposterously confused mind.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

yeah, I don't think it's entirely taught.

A human left on their own, in the wild, having been taught nothing of life in general--or perhaps a community of humans--will invariably resort to some sort of belief system over time.

We essentially have the same capacity for knowledge and learning that we had 70,000 years ago. The difference between us and our ancestors is the accumulation and passing down of knowledge.

I posit that the natural state of humans is to develop a belief system. Most of ATOT are no longer children, so we are generally incapable of appreciating the state of that open, highly creative, and preposterously confused mind.

I disagree. The default state of the human mind is to organize the information present in the most logical way available.

Studies on feral children have shown zero conceptions beyond basic survival. Religion and its trappings require society, i.e. influence/teaching.

 

[zinfamous]

I disagree. The default state of the human mind is to organize the information present in the most logical way available.

Studies on feral children have shown zero conceptions beyond basic survival. Religion and its trappings require society, i.e. influence/teaching.

This is why I suggested that a community of feral people is probably needed.

As you should know, we are a social, community-driven species. So, we should probably take into account our most natural conditions when running such a hypothetical experiment involving feral people.

I do believe that the origins of religion primarily relate to fear--death, specifically. That, and an increasing need to "feel purpose" amongst the earliest humans, groups, and later civilization. The willingness (and sometimes necessity, perhaps) to exploit that fear to maintain order and power is another likely scenario in the spread and development of more organized and entrenched religious beliefs.

Again, these are all simply parts of religion and belief, and how they become established: sense of belonging, a means to understand, exploitation of fear, means to hold power--all of the desires in individuals that maintain such belief (whether it be the desire to believe or the desire to control and extort), can be argued as part of the natural human condition.

 

[jonks]

I disagree. The default state of the human mind is to organize the information present in the most logical way available.

Studies on feral children have shown zero conceptions beyond basic survival. Religion and its trappings require society, i.e. influence/teaching.

So is not the progression then:

default logical organization -> basic survivial -> increased survival if have society -> society develops religion, ergo religion is logical? Where do we fall off the tracks?

 

[totalnoob]

So is not the progression then:

default logical organization -> basic survivial -> increased survival if have society -> society develops religion, ergo religion is logical? Where do we fall off the tracks?

You might be interested in this video. A psychologist explains the mechanisms involved in religious belief and how religion co-opted things that were useful in our evolutionary past. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMmvu9eMrg

 

[SphinxnihpS]

So is not the progression then:

default logical organization -> basic survivial -> increased survival if have society -> society develops religion, ergo religion is logical? Where do we fall off the tracks?

Where we don't have all of the information. Ex. The sun is god. The sun is a 5 billion year old giant ball of super-dense hydrogen gas, and as far as things in the universe goes, is completely common.

Also, you left out language, which took quite a long time to get to. If we could only watch chimps for another million years or so, we would know everything about how this works.

It may be that the development of religion is indeed evolutionarily desirable, but a counter to that is going to be that at some point the developement of society is hindered by it. I think that if hypothesis 1 is true, then we are at that point.

 

[eadInc]

My parents believed in a multiple armed blue diety that once lopped the head off of a guardian and thusly replaced it with an elephant head because, y'know, it was his bad. At least, this is the story I've come to realize since I was able to fathom it around 2ish. According to them, I am Hindu by blood. So, shit's on any other religion trying to convert me. You'd have to leech it out of me.

They decided to test the leech-like ability of "the white devil" by sending me to a K-Christian school. There, a pleasant old man told me he'd tell me about the one-true god God and dispel the absurdity of my heritage. He then proceeded to tell me a story about god speaking with a booming voice, likely in the voice of someone like James Earl Jones or Charlton Heston, armed with a mega-phone speaking forth from a burning shrubbery to some schmuck. This, apparently, was less fantastical.

God(s), Global Warming, Justin Bieber - I'm sure I should take a stand and fight some good fight on either side, but I'm more concerned with the temperature of my Ramon Noodle, atm. Desensitized. See you in hell... or as part as fertilizer.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I'll admit, at about age 14 I realized that people *actually* *believed* in god, for real, and was rather surprised.

I'm still surprised. I keep forgetting that there are people who take this stuff seriously.

I'm the same way. I grew up in a by defult atheist household, religion or god was just never talked about either way (my mother is actually Luthern, my dad atheist.) I don't remember just when it was I realized that people actually believed in all that god stuff and it was not like the Santa and Tooth Fairy stories to them, but I remain flabbergasted to this day. I set off on my own knowledge quest to find out WHY they believed it. I’ve been to many different churches, synagogues, temples, and assorted events. I’ve never found anything to change my mind.

Every time someone tells me they will pray for something I want to tell them, ‘don’t you think getting off your knees and doing something would be the better choice?’ I’ve learned not to say it out loud.

 

[thraashman]

Jesus was a hippy dippy shit pansy. We need more Thor!

Ever seen the poster that's something like "Thor. My god wields a hammer. Your god was nailed to a cross. Any questions?"

Edit. Found it!

 

[zinfamous]

It may be that the development of religion is indeed evolutionarily desirable, but a counter to that is going to be that at some point the developement of society is hindered by it.

This is my take on the whole thing. I don't think it's a counterargument that it becomes a hindrance, it's expected when you consider the basis (at least our history) of religious belief--trust in the power structure that has the ear of the God that controls everything. Do good by us, God will do good by you via our divine authority.

religion is/was simply one path in the progression of obtaining knowledge.
It is preposterously outdated; though it does not mean that it has no use in society today. The problem centers are those that maintain that these old, somewhat useful stories speak to some literal truth--which was never their intention.

 

[Kadarin]

religion is/was simply one path in the progression of obtaining knowledge.

I would ask what "knowledge" one actually obtains from religion...