(July 24, 2018 at 3:23 pm)Alexmahone Wrote: 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).
Most humans get handed the religion of their parents from birth. Technology, science and the speed of information has increased more understanding of science and the nature of reality.
200,000 years ago there was no written language. Humans lived in a very dangerous scary world and if they survived or were successful they made a horrible guess that something like them, but with super powers was controlling their environment. It is nothing more than a human projection of human's qualities.
It is less likely someone can pull themselves out of superstition if they have no wide range of scientific facts to compare to what others are saying. But even if they do come to that conclusion, many live in isolation never telling anyone what they think.
Many here, including me, grew up with a belief. I look back at those days in my youth, and had skepticism even back then, but was afraid I was bad if I questioned and most around me did believe. It wasn't until I became an adult that I felt more comfortable in following that skepticism. Even then, it took me almost a decade to go from Christian, to deist, to flat out atheist.
I don't think we need to treat famous atheists as "heros" either. You can like the work of someone, but the truth is unless you are in their daily personal lives, the are not your friends or family. But there are tons of scientists over the centuries that even those you look to today that even people like Dawkins and Harris learned from.
I like Dawkins work, but he is a bit of a stuffed shirt and not someone I would have a beer with. I like Sam Harris but he gives me a lip twitch when he talks about Buddhism trying to claim it is unique and not like any other religion. But other than that, lots of their work I do value. But they are humans like you and me.
