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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 7, 2016 at 3:24 am
It's the most rational position even though it's not a choice. I've always wondered why some people would leave one religion for another (often less extreme) one, it dawned on me that they are simply seeking emotional comfort or a sense of purpose.
It's the people that completely deny reality in favor of their religion that i don't get, though it's probably something to do with cognitive dissonance (I've only started reading up on it now).
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 7, 2016 at 8:24 am
It all started for me at about 24 when I read the bible from front to back.
I think Sampson's slaughter of 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Then, not long after, the horrific story of 42 boys mauled by two bears sent from God for calling an old man names, sent me seeking other atheists.
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 7, 2016 at 8:33 am
For me, it was the realization that there was practically no evidence at all that Jesus of Nazareth ever existed, and that even if he did there was no reason to believe the accounts in the Bible.
I considered myself a skeptical person concerning most things, but I gradually became aware that I was actively shielding myself from certain information concerning certain topics, mostly to protect my religious views, and my critical thinking faculties eventually couldn't stand the dissonance any longer. I decided that if what I believed was actually true, it would stand up to the same scrutiny I gave everything else, so I scrutinized it.
Guess what happened.
Verbatim from the mouth of Jesus (retranslated from a retranslation of a copy of a copy):
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 7, 2016 at 8:35 am
(This post was last modified: April 7, 2016 at 8:36 am by robvalue.)
It's amazing the amount of people we get here who have convinced themselves that they have scrutinised their beliefs, when clearly they've done nothing of the sort. They have built a framework of rationalizations. They use arguments and "evidence" they would never accept in regard to any other subject.
I have great respect for anyone who has fought their way out of religion, no matter how long it took.
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 8, 2016 at 6:00 pm
There was no one thing. It was multiple things, some of which have been mentioned here, that did it. One major thing was that everything about religion stopped making sense. I was really into fantasy at the time and I guess my mind started comparing the bible to all of the fantasy things I was into. The conclusion was that the bible wasn't that far off from fantasy. Still, there were many other factors as well.
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 8, 2016 at 7:21 pm
(This post was last modified: April 8, 2016 at 7:23 pm by Phosphorescent Panties.)
I don't think I ever really was religious. I think that I naturally became an atheist once I realized what atheism was. I don't even quite remember it being a big deal when I found the word atheist, I can't even remember when. I don't think the concept of whether or not god exists was something I ever really thought about. I remember being really young and they asked me to write what god means to me in sunday school for confirmation, I just drew a really stupid looking caricature of god. I remember my mom being proud of me and parading me to show the Sunday school class and I was just thinking, you've really gotta be fucking kidding me right now. I think I always hated church.
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 8, 2016 at 9:02 pm
Reading.
I can't remember where this verse is from, I think it got removed from canon:
"I don't hang around with mostly men because I'm gay. It's because men are better than women. Better trained, better equipped...better. Just better! I'm not gay."
For context, this is the previous verse:
"Hi Jesus" -robvalue
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 8, 2016 at 9:10 pm
(April 6, 2016 at 12:47 am)GeneralDog Wrote: What, if anything, made you an atheist?
Never been anything else.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 8, 2016 at 9:29 pm
(April 6, 2016 at 12:47 am)GeneralDog Wrote: What, if anything, made you an atheist?
Birth.
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RE: What made you an atheist?
April 8, 2016 at 11:28 pm
Hanging around Jesus freaks and reading the bible cured me of christianity. The rest was academic.
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