What caused you to change your opinion?
You may have missed my original post, so I suggest reading that. But, to reiterate, I consider myself one that follows reason and critical thinking. I spent a couple years doing pretty extensive research into creationism, intelligent design, etc. At the time, I considered myself to be a Christian, so that was the main reason I researched that first. I was very convinced by the arguments that they brought to the table, so I stuck with them and defended them for a while.
Then, one day, I simply decided that if I really was a person of reason, I would research BOTH sides. I'm a fair person, I think, and that's a fair thing to do. I didn't do it originally, because I was afraid it could potentially alter my faith. But, if anything, I figured I'd do research on evolution, atheism, and arguments related to that (or anything countering creationism, intelligent design) so that I could know what I was up against and further strengthen my defense of what I used to believe.
Needless to say, the more I researched into evolution, atheism (and philosophy regarding it), etc., I started to heavily question what I believed. I still had many doubts in my mind about naturalism, so I spent a very long time trying to find answers to all of my questions. For example, what is the purpose of ANYTHING if there's no creator? So, as you can see, my research wasn't just about science...it was also about what that meant for my personal existence IF naturalism was correct.
Well, I can say without a doubt that I no longer support the creationist/ID theories. In that process, I also dropped my religious beliefs. It wasn't easy, but I can say that I no longer have any fear of what I used to think would happen to a non-believer.
To simplify all of the above, I consider myself a fair, reasonable person. To follow that, I researched both "sides" extensively, trying to be as neutral as possible (though there was a bias towards my religion). Once I weighed the arguments on both sides, I decided the more reasonable explanation was one of naturalism rather than creationism.
I'm not saying this to criticize you or be an asshole, because I was in the same boat as you...I understand. However, if you consider yourself to be a fair, reasonable, intelligent person, I encourage you to look at both sides in a completely unbiased way. Once you have done that extensively, maybe you'll at least understand why others might not agree with you. Maybe you'll change your mind...maybe not. I'm only offering this as advice.
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