If a person believes in God, (say).

[xyzzyplugh]

but them becomes disillusioned. Was his original belief an illusion?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Your other virtually identical Q in Body and Soul (concerning love and love lost) was better to be honest. After all, someone who has lost their belief in God is an atheist and must therefore necessarily say the original belief was an illusion.

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As for a belief in love which has been lost, well, normally that just means a period of grieving the last relationship (or unrequited love or whatever) and then waiting to see what comes along.

[incitatus]

sorry to get picky waldo, but someone who loses a belief in god is an agnostic. we atheists disbelieve in god, which is active, not passive. And yes, e is an illusion. possibly a side effect of incense inhalation.

[RCP]

To become disillusioned does not mean the original belief was an illusion. The belief could have been real enough but the "thing" that one believed in could have been shown to be an illusion. The actual belief can be wrong but not illusory (sp.).

[WaldoMcFroog]

incitatus: "someone who loses a belief in god is an agnostic"

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I disagree. An atheist is someone who disbelieves in god. (Check http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=atheist&r
=2) An agnostic is someone who claims it is impossible to know either way or is skeptical. I took the question to mean the person had wholly lost any belief in god, and was therefore an atheist, as indeed am I. :-)

[gmc2002]

I understood that ; Atheist means "a - without, theist - belief", and any route to not having a religious belief would make them an atheist. An atheist does not have to actvely "disbelieve" in a god, merely not belive. Agnostic means "a - without, gnostic - knowledge"; ie they neither believe nor disbelieve but are in a state where they they do not "know" that there is a god or not. It should therefore logically be possible to be both atheist and agnostic if one does not belive due to lack of knowledge.