Question to atheists

[SaStrike]

Atheists: If you were born and raised in a society where literally everyone else was theist, and there was no atheistic material available in the libraries or on the internet, would you still be an atheist today? Phrased differently, could you possibly have "discovered" atheism all by yourself?

My answer is probably not. Prominent atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris played a big role in me becoming an atheist. So I guess we ought to be indebted to other atheists (past or present).

I don't know, for me it wasn't atheists that made me atheist. The starting of me becoming atheist was me trying to dig deep into my past religion. Then realizing it's garbo.

Now obviously if there were only very biased theistic material for me to dig into, it might have been different. But none biased, neutral content is what is needed.

[The Grand Nudger]

I only hope you don't burn in hell for using their own against them.  

 Puh-lease.  That woman is using me.  Christers are a bunch of delicate snowflakes, anymore.

[Darwins Disciple]

In the 1990's, long before Hitch, Dawkins, Harris, my father and I would watch these goofy Protestant televangelist on TV, for fun,....entertainment. We would spend endless hours laughing at them, mocking them, cutting on them. We laughed at their ridiculous hairdos, cheap suits, gawdy rings, jewelry, bad make up and ignorant back-ass Southern accents. There was Jackie Swaggart, Popov, Pat Robertson, Jim & Tammy Fae Baker and other con men preaching to the flock to send money. We would laugh at the Christians in the audience being duped in front of public on live TV cured by con men using the powers of Jesus.

We would laugh Pat Robertson on the PTL Club for using a Black guy named Ben as a token Sambo nigga, who would nod in agreement with white Southern Baptist hypocrisy, the same religion that enslaved his people for 400 years. We watched, in delight, as they fell from grace and were caught with prostitutes, drugs, infidelity, stealing the donation boxes. We watched Jerry Falwell steal Jim Baker's ministry when he got caught cheating on his wife with a young member of the flock.

We laughed at them as they cried and begged forgiveness in public disgrace, while they previously preached and cast judgement on others for lessor sins the day prior.

Nah, my friend, there was no need for a celebrity atheist or internet to become an atheist. All that was required was to not suspend your judgement and common sense.

[The Valkyrie]

Probably.

Even in Middel Eastern societies, there are indications that there are surprisingly large atheist communities.

You can be an atheist without even knowing the word exists.

[Aroura]

I never had any exposure to Dawkins, Harris, etc until after I was deprogrammed already. However, RL atheists did affect me. Although my mother is very Catholic, and I even attended a private Catholic school for 7 years, my father was not a believer. My father would not call himself and atheist, but he is one. I had severe doubts and volumes of unanswered questions by the time I was 13 or 14, but likely I would have just settled in there, as a believer who struggled, if not for my father, and my husband, the latter is openly atheist, and comedian Julia Sweeney.