Has anyone discovered a successful way to make religious people atheist?

[ApeNotKillApe]

To be fair, every religion is a cult right?

To an extent, yes.

However, any religion that practices cutting off believers from their families, especially when one of those members leaves the religion, then it's definitely a cult.

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
- Luke 14:26 (KJV)

[Goosebump]

To an extent, yes.

However, any religion that practices cutting off believers from their families, especially when one of those members leaves the religion, then it's definitely a cult.

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
- Luke 14:26 (KJV)

wait what? you gotta hate all your peeps or not hate them, I'm confused.... wait that was your point! Hahahah! good one =)


You, you with the cleverness!

[Silver]

Due to cognitive dissonance, it would take something major for a religious individual to transition to the default atheist position.

Even as a militant atheist, my goal is not to force anything. Rather my goal is to spread logic and reason.

That alone may not be enough, but at least I have done my part.

[ApeNotKillApe]

I would think being a self proclaimed militant would imply that you do want to force things.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

I do like asking Christians (of various flavors), any time I hear them criticize a "wrong" religion or mentioning a cult leader, for them to explain to me the alleged difference between their religion and a cult, other than membership numbers.

The term cult is over (mis)used. But using the layman definition, every religion is a cult

I would agree that every religion is a cult. So, then, am I using the wrong definition? Would you explain to this layperson what the difference is, s'il vous plait?

[Goosebump]

The term cult is over (mis)used. But using the layman definition, every religion is a cult

I would agree that every religion is a cult. So, then, am I using the wrong definition? Please explain to this layperson what the difference is, s'il vous plait.

I assume this is the "layman" definition:

Cult: a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. 

But maybe he ment "common" or "slang" definition: 

Cult: a religious group which promotes worship of a human leader and devotion of one's life to a specific purpose. 

That's my best guess, however when it comes to Christianity, unless I'm mistaken, both work.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

I assume this is the "layman" definition:

Cult: a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. 

But maybe he ment "common" or "slang" definition: 

Cult: a religious group which promotes worship of a human leader and devotion of one's life to a specific purpose. 

That's my best guess, however when it comes to Christianity, unless I'm mistaken, both work.

Certainly both do work. Worship of a god-human? Specific purpose is utter devotion to the words of this man (and his human disciples/apostles) for the purpose of attaining eternal salvation upon death? Check and check.

Sounds like a cult to me!

[dragonman73]

I definitely believe Christianity is a cult, when your brainwashing small children to believe in magic, virgin births, giving them a choice, join them or burn in hell......yeah that has cult all over it. If I am not mistaken Christianity was actually considered a cult at one point time a loooong time ago, before the masses started accepting it.

---

It's not easy to convert a religious person if they have spent their whole life being indoctrinated. I have been married for 16 years now, my wife was raised in Church since she was 2 years old, her friends and family all go to church.

Me on the other hand, I had always had beliefs but wasn't raised in Church. I started going when I met me wife and married her. While we went to Church we weren't "practicing" Christians like most "Christians". Never prayed, read the Bible and so forth.

But her upbringing was different, even to HS they were at church when the doors were open, they read the Bible as a family once a week, and he step-dad and mom prays every chance they get. Her Church and youth group was a big part of her life.

Around 2010 the current preacher did a sermon on tithing and told us God commanded us to give 10% before taxes, no matter what our debt was. For us that would equate to roughly $641 a month which would have took a hit on our finances. That was more than our house payment at the time and I wan't about to turn lose that kind of cash. Especially when the preacher was paid very well, had a large home, sent his kid to a private christian school. We had people in church driving ratty cars and def weren't well off and I know they were giving quite a bit of money.

This started me on a path to question things and I started finding out the inconsistencies in the Bible. it escalated from there and I went on a de-conversion path. It took me a year before I could actually say there was no God.....in fear of something bad happening to me. Like God was going to strike me down or something.

I kept this to myself, for a long time and then I came out to my wife one day. I told her I didn't believe there was a God and you should have seen the look on her face. It was like her world had just collapsed.

The first thing out of her mouth was who was I gonna worship then? The Devil? That right there showed me how strong indoctrination is in people. She was like a sleeper cell and this was the first thing that came out of her mouth, almost like a reflex.

Honestly I think she would have been more forgiving at the moment if I told her I was having an affair and a love child. I mean she was freaking out, her whole world collapsed. In her mind this affected my salvation and I was going to be punished.

I'm saying all this to explain how deep her religious views go, she may not show them externally...they are there. It took a little bit for her to accept my new-found beliefs but we just agree to disagree now. We have a great marriage and are doing fine.

The only issue is that she thinks where I start bringing up errors or the absurdity of the claims that are made in the Bible, that I am making fun of it or her. Even when I sugar coat it and try to be politically correct she goes into defense mode, and asks me not to belittle her beliefs. The only thing I try to do is open her eyes a bit, it's taking a while but we are getting there.

The problem with most Christians (wife included) is that they spend their wholes lives with this crammed down their throat. It becomes a big part of their social structure and who they are as a person. Asking them to shed their beliefs is basically admitting that their lives was a lie. Nobody wants to do that and they are willing to accept a belief in something with no evidence to back it up, rather than give up who they are. I know for her she would feel like she's letting her family and friends down.....it goes deeper than just saying she doesn't believe.

All you can do is show them the evidence and let them make their own choices, some people will come to that conclusion on there own (like I did) and sometimes they won't.

It took me a year to shake loose the last bit of belief in a God out of fear, I can't imagine someone that was raised in it as an infant...I'm sure it's a struggle.

[Neo-Scholastic]

The solution is more science, and more importantly, more philosophy. What sparked the scientific revolution? The Renaissance. What brought about the Renaissance? The humanist movement.

No one can deny the role of humanism in Western civilization, but it would be a mistake to entirely set aside the contribution of Christian theology (informed by the pagan classics of course) played in the scientific revolution. For example, why didn't the pagan classics inspire Arab civilization in the same way? Many believe this was because the Mohammedan concept of God was so fully transcendent that it could not be intelligible. In contrast to this, the concept of God developed by the Doctors and Church Fathers was the Rational Author of an intelligible Natural order. Prior to the Scholastics, most cultures saw nature as either capricious or illusory. So it was not always the case, as it is now, that people take for granted the idea of an intelligible natural order. That idea grew out of Christian culture. The very earliest of Western scientists were not incidentally Christian; but rather profoundly influenced by the idea that science could reveal the Divine Mind.

[Won2blv]

The term cult is over (mis)used. But using the layman definition, every religion is a cult

I would agree that every religion is a cult. So, then, am I using the wrong definition? Would you explain to this layperson what the difference is, s'il vous plait?

I think the layperson definition is like a lot of terms that lay people throw out. They're generally over simplified. A true expert on cults will have a lot higher standard of the definition.