What was it like being an atheist?

[CapnAwesome]

The question remains, German. What would lead you to suspect that they are dishonest in this?

I also think that Christians (and Muslims) generally lie about having been Atheists. A couple of things make me doubt. Number one, the similarity of the narrative that you hear from people about having been an Atheist. I've been involved in the Atheism debate for a while and I've come to the conclusion that people are regurgitating the same story. Look at JDStrodel's story of being an Atheist. Does it sound similar to anything that real Atheists on this board write about their life experience? No. This isn't a realistic story. A common idea amongst Christians is that they were 'angry with God' when they were Atheists. Also this shows when they believe Atheists are currently angry or rebelling against God. However no Atheist that I know actually expresses these ideas. I think this story is being fed to people one way or another.

The second and perhaps more compelling reason that makes me think this is a lie is the pure numbers. There are polling numbers about trends in Atheism and Christianity in the US and Europe. If all these Christians used to be Atheists, there would be much more Atheists around to start with, and you'd think that polling numbers would show a shift towards Christianity. On the contrary, the reverse is true. While undoubtedly there are a few Atheist to Christian conversions, I think most stories that we hear about 'having once been an Atheist' don't hold much water and are a thinly veiled attempt at converting Atheists.