Question to atheists

[The Grand Nudger]

I probably drew more comfort in my disbelief from the doubt of religious icons in magic books than anything else.  The authors have these people witness miracles, and still they lack faith.  It was obviously a prescient dilemma from the word go....and I've never seen any miracles in the first place.  Theres an amount of discomfort involved when you're surrounded by the religious.  Plenty of wondering whether you missed something everyone else™ sees.  

Ultimately, I realized that we all see the same things.  You find that expressed in the notion of this life as a test, in gods masquerading as normal people, when cavarka declares all of the priestly caste to be frauds, or when a demi-god cries out to his father.  The religious may feel that this fits their ideology, but it's also a plain admission of the fact that no demonstration of divinity is forthcoming.  

It's a damning current in every religious narrative.  You have to work to keep the faith.  You have to look to normal people to manifest what are taken to be divine initiatives, religious institutions are rife with fraud and abuse, and even the gods themselves can be abandoned by the gods.

[polymath257]

I was raised in central Kansas in the 60's. Everyone was theist. I went to Sunday school, Wednesday school, and regular school. We prayed at every meal and before bed.

I remember trying desperately hard to hear a reply from God when I prayed when I was 6 or 7 years old and not getting one. I think, for me, that was the first kernel of doubt. In Sunday and Wednesday school, I understood the stories, even then, as similar to Aesop's fables: they had a moral goal but were not actually true. I remember being shocked when I realized some of the adults thought that they were actual history.

Later, I memorized catechism (Lutheran) and was able to get quite a number of stars after my name for doing so. But then I realized that, for confirmation, I was expected not just to recite (which was easy enough), but to say I actually *believed* what was said. This was somewhat of a crisis of conscience for me. I didn't want to disappoint my grandmother, but I also didn't want to publicly say I believed something I didn't. I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't moved away so grandma's opinion didn't matter as much. No confirmation.

Anyway, I definitely came on my atheism on my own. It took a while before I went from 'unsure' to 'definitely not', but the core doubt goes back to when I was very young. Oh, and there were no books on atheism and certainly no internet at that point.

[Brian37]

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.

[Chad32]

There are all kinds of people that pay lip service to theism, even if they don't read atheistic material. People who come in Sunday morning, but otherwise live like any other secularist. Or maybe someone says they're christian, and shows up on holidays, but otherwise doesn't crack open the bible displayed on the mantle or pray to god. I would have become on of those people, even if I never talked about it over the internet.

[Whateverist]

I probably drew more comfort in my disbelief from the doubt of religious icons in magic books than anything else.  The authors have these people witness miracles, and still they lack faith.  It was obviously a prescient dilemma from the word go....and I've never seen any miracles in the first place.  Theres an amount of discomfort involved when you're surrounded by the religious.

I was going to say I can't imagine you chafing at any raised eyebrows, but then I realized that being as sociable as you are, you probably really would. Fortunately you've married one of them. Surely that will help in getting you accepted by the greater tribe?

[JairCrawford]

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).

That plays a big role I'm sure, but I think religious skepticism has been around for a while, or else the psalmist would not have written "a fool says there is no God" (not being snarky at all with this verse here, I swear). And that was written a long time ago.

[CapnAwesome]

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).

It's an impossible to answer question. As I really can't know for certain. Statistics would suggest probably not. But I'd imagine I would still have a degree of skepticism, since I've always been a pretty skeptical person, even as a child.

[Simon Moon]

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).

It's really hard to say, but I would guess that I would eventually get there.

My atheism is a byproduct of my natural skepticism and critical thinking. I believe I was born a skeptical person, and that skepticism would have been evident no matter what culture I was born into.

I was an atheist long before I ever knew there was a word for it.

[The Grand Nudger]

I probably drew more comfort in my disbelief from the doubt of religious icons in magic books than anything else.  The authors have these people witness miracles, and still they lack faith.  It was obviously a prescient dilemma from the word go....and I've never seen any miracles in the first place.  Theres an amount of discomfort involved when you're surrounded by the religious.

I was going to say I can't imagine you chafing at any raised eyebrows, but then I realized that being as sociable as you are, you probably really would.  Fortunately you've married one of them.  Surely that will help in getting you accepted by the greater tribe?

I was speaking more to intellectual discomfort than social....but it certainly helps here in c ky.  The foot we put forward is hers, lol.  It's a practical necessity that our interactions with people go smoothly.  We're pretty much always selling something...so if people want to segue from freshwater shrimp to the restorative power of our lord christ-jesus (and they do!)..then we have to roll with it and that can be tense. My wife is brilliant at this. She starts dropping amens and hallelujahs and raising her arms up. Out-gods the creepy fuckers. It's almost as if they cant stand the sight of someone more enthusiastically involved in the contents of their fantasies than themselves..................

LSS, you can devise or learn strategies to control the flow of an interaction.....but the contents of your own intellect are far more persistent..more difficult to reconcile when they end up belonging to the minority report.

[Whateverist]

I was going to say I can't imagine you chafing at any raised eyebrows, but then I realized that being as sociable as you are, you probably really would.  Fortunately you've married one of them.  Surely that will help in getting you accepted by the greater tribe?

I was speaking more to intellectual discomfort than social....but it certainly helps here in c ky.  The foot we put forward is hers, lol.  It's a practical necessity that our interactions with people go smoothly.  We're pretty much always selling something...so if people want to segue from freshwater shrimp to the restorative power of our lord christ-jesus (and they do!)..then we have to roll with it and that can be tense.  My wife is brilliant at this.  She starts dropping amens and hallelujahs and raising her arms up.  Out-gods the creepy fuckers.  It's almost as if they cant stand the sight of someone more enthusiastically involved in the contents of their fantasies than themselves..................

LSS, you can devise or learn strategies to control the flow of an interaction.....but the contents of your own intellect are far more persistent..more difficult to reconcile when they end up belonging to the minority report.

I only hope you don't burn in hell for using their own against them.