Atheist to Christian conversions do happen. They are very rare. I have read accounts from those who really did not accept the insufficient evidence for supernatural claims on the grounds that these claims do not operate within the bounds of reality as we know it to be and then embrace a religious ideology as a result of some amazing experience.
I do not accept the 'no true atheist' fallacy on the same grounds that I don't accept the 'no true xtian' fallacy. That being said, people can and do have profound changes in the way that they think. Theoretically, anyone of us could join a cult if approached by the right people, in the right way, at the right time in our lives. ALmost invariably people go through a conversion process at a point in which they are having extreme difficulties in their lives. People can and do have experiences that do appear to be, on the surface, a radical departure from the way that we know the real world really works.
Personally, I have had an experience in which I felt that I was somehow connected with the universe -- a strange and profound "oneness" with everything. I felt connected with the cosmos and I felt connected with even the pebbles that lay at my feet. I do have to add that I was tripping balls on more than one hits of some pretty hefty LSD at the time. So in retrospect I have to say that this experience was more a result of mind-altering chemicals than gaining a perception of a higher reality or more advanced consciousness. I was tripping and had a really trippy experience -- that simple.
I do believe that some people are naturally more prone to supernatural magical thinking than others. And it really is a different way of thinking. I have never been a xtian and probably never will be one. I have, however, been a member of a cult. I was in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous for years before I came to the realization that the whole program was a crock of shit. It is, however, through my attempts at embracing the AA dogma that I understand fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. (AA is an abstract version of xtian fundamentalism.)
So, my experience in AA -- trying to adapt a program of magical thinking while having a natural propensity toward rational and skeptical thinking -- required cognitive dissonance by the boatloads. I bought in to the propaganda, pushed by the so-called "professionals" at the treatment center that I endured, the AA was the "proven" method and they only reliable method by which one can overcome excessive alcohol consumption. The program "suggests" that one embrace a religious belief system in order to stay sober, but that one does not have to believe in god -- because the god of AA can be whatever you want it to. It does not work for an atheist and it took me way too long to figure that out. I'm saying this because I feel that this life experience has enabled me to understand the cognitive dissonance and denial that is accompanied with embracing an artificial belief system.
I can also understand why it is difficult to imagine how a person can go from a point of rational thinking to embracing magical thinking. Then it becomes even more unseemly when persons such as Kirk Cameron and Lee Stroebel, who are so obviously full of shit, are out there claiming that they were once atheists. Realistic thinking and magical thinking are very different from the very foundation. We do not test claims against a magic book that is so right that even when it's obviously wrong, it's magically right. There is no such book. We do not test claims against a doctrine -- we test them against real-world evidence based on facts.
But I did try. When I was in AA i tried to bend the construct to meet reality, this led to a hefty does of denial. (The program is anything you want it to be -- horseshit.) I left AA for good in 2001. It's a long story, but in a nutshell, I looked at the program from a deconstructionist and critical analysis point of view. My blinders came off and so did my denial and cognitive dissonance.
I do not accept the 'no true atheist' fallacy on the same grounds that I don't accept the 'no true xtian' fallacy. That being said, people can and do have profound changes in the way that they think. Theoretically, anyone of us could join a cult if approached by the right people, in the right way, at the right time in our lives. ALmost invariably people go through a conversion process at a point in which they are having extreme difficulties in their lives. People can and do have experiences that do appear to be, on the surface, a radical departure from the way that we know the real world really works.
Personally, I have had an experience in which I felt that I was somehow connected with the universe -- a strange and profound "oneness" with everything. I felt connected with the cosmos and I felt connected with even the pebbles that lay at my feet. I do have to add that I was tripping balls on more than one hits of some pretty hefty LSD at the time. So in retrospect I have to say that this experience was more a result of mind-altering chemicals than gaining a perception of a higher reality or more advanced consciousness. I was tripping and had a really trippy experience -- that simple.
I do believe that some people are naturally more prone to supernatural magical thinking than others. And it really is a different way of thinking. I have never been a xtian and probably never will be one. I have, however, been a member of a cult. I was in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous for years before I came to the realization that the whole program was a crock of shit. It is, however, through my attempts at embracing the AA dogma that I understand fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. (AA is an abstract version of xtian fundamentalism.)
So, my experience in AA -- trying to adapt a program of magical thinking while having a natural propensity toward rational and skeptical thinking -- required cognitive dissonance by the boatloads. I bought in to the propaganda, pushed by the so-called "professionals" at the treatment center that I endured, the AA was the "proven" method and they only reliable method by which one can overcome excessive alcohol consumption. The program "suggests" that one embrace a religious belief system in order to stay sober, but that one does not have to believe in god -- because the god of AA can be whatever you want it to. It does not work for an atheist and it took me way too long to figure that out. I'm saying this because I feel that this life experience has enabled me to understand the cognitive dissonance and denial that is accompanied with embracing an artificial belief system.
I can also understand why it is difficult to imagine how a person can go from a point of rational thinking to embracing magical thinking. Then it becomes even more unseemly when persons such as Kirk Cameron and Lee Stroebel, who are so obviously full of shit, are out there claiming that they were once atheists. Realistic thinking and magical thinking are very different from the very foundation. We do not test claims against a magic book that is so right that even when it's obviously wrong, it's magically right. There is no such book. We do not test claims against a doctrine -- we test them against real-world evidence based on facts.
But I did try. When I was in AA i tried to bend the construct to meet reality, this led to a hefty does of denial. (The program is anything you want it to be -- horseshit.) I left AA for good in 2001. It's a long story, but in a nutshell, I looked at the program from a deconstructionist and critical analysis point of view. My blinders came off and so did my denial and cognitive dissonance.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste -- don't pollute it with bullshit.
