Your perception of theists

[Catholic_Lady]

I have had atheists tell me that they cannot control their disbelief in something. That's what I was going by.

Okay, let me rephrase it.

If you conduct an investigation, you're in control of how it's done right? Maybe not outside factors that you can't control (depending on the investigation), or whatever it is you're investigating in and of itself, but how you conduct the investigation, that is what you're in control of.

The result of the investigation is going to be influenced by 1. whether you do the investigation in the first place and 2. how you go about it. So in some ways, you're right, if you do the investigation correctly, you'll presumably come to the right conclusion, but you are in control of getting there in the first place.

With reference to what people believe in god, I think it's absurd to say that they have no control over what they believe. That's like saying someone has no control over the outcome of any particular experiment. That's demonstrably not true. People are in control of what they investigate, this in turn has some impact on the result, which is to say, what they believe at the end of the investigation.

If a person tells me they do not believe in God and nothing could ever change their mind, even though they never investigated, I will take their word for it. I will believe that they just don't think God is real, and that nothing can change that, and it just is what it is. Are you saying then that these people are being dishonest?