Former atheist

[Minimalist]

My experience with them is that they are bullshit artists.

[wiploc]

Some of you may have met some people who identify themselves as former atheists

Some of them are just lying. They say things like, "I was an atheist because I didn't want to submit to god. I wanted to sin and live a depraved life." They present a cartoon caricature of atheism.

[Mudhammam]

They present a cartoon caricature of atheism.

And I would add:

They present a cartoon caricature of atheism, science, philosophy, history, and pretty much everything except their everyday, practical interactions with the external world.

[wiploc]

Whether they were "true" atheists or not is a pitfall we should never fall down. No true Scotsman and all that.

On the one hand, that makes sense. And we were all born atheists, so of course it's true that they used to be atheists.

On the other hand, sometimes they are clearly lying.

[Heywood]

They claim to be former atheists because they think it adds to their credibility when in truth it just makes them more of a laughing stock.

"They claim to be former christians because they think it adds to their credibility when in truth it just makes them more of a laughing stock."

Something you would see on a fundamentalist forum.

[Homeless Nutter]

It's strange that the "former atheists" never seem concerned with the critical analysis of faith that current atheists are....

We've already done the heavy lifting, so we find little point in revisiting the issues.

If by "heavy lifting" you mean "burying heads in sand", then we're in agreement. And you did a splendid job, too.

[GrandizerII]

My view is that theists who say that are very likely being misleading, not because they weren't atheists back then, but because I doubt that most of them were serious atheists like many of us here.

I will, however, grant that someone like ChadWooters may be an exception.

[Neo-Scholastic]

So what happened to all the diction coaches that enforce compliance with over the definition of 'atheist'? Shouldn't they be reminding everyone that a former atheist simply means a person who no longer lacks the belief in god(s).

And thank you, Irrational. I was a sincere atheist for about 15 years. I became an atheist because I was swayed by the philosophical objections in that direction. As I continued to my study I was swayed by the arguments in favor of a general theism. My specifically Christian beliefs are mostly cultural and were prompted by two ineffable experiences.

[Chas]

So what happened to all the diction coaches that enforce compliance with over the definition of 'atheist'? Shouldn't they be reminding everyone that a former atheist simply means a person who no longer lacks the belief in god(s).

Diction concerns speech pronunciation, not word definition.

[Mudhammam]

So what happened to all the diction coaches that enforce compliance with over the definition of 'atheist'? Shouldn't they be reminding everyone that a former atheist simply means a person who no longer lacks the belief in god(s).

Right here. Yes, atheism is the lack of belief in gods.