How does one become an atheist?

[jake-the-peg]

Tweaker asked this in the thread on JWs

Personally I grew up in a familly that wasn't particularly religious, and it slowly grew on me.

I certainly remember at the age of 12 the Headmaster doing a role call of who was Christian, Jewish etc. and then asked "any others" - I put up my hand and said I was an atheist.

There then followed much consternation and d bluster before he said rather arrogantly "Well I hope you find a religion one day"

I guess that was when I first identified myself as an atheist.

How about the rest of you? Do you remember when you first identified yourselves as atheists?

[ludwig]

//Will you, or someone, please explain why babies are atheists! //

They don't believe in god.

[naomi24]

Khandro, //naomi; I suggest that the majority of people who know you with any degree of intimacy, are well aware that you espouse atheism.//

My piano teacher doesn’t know I’m an atheist, neither does my Spanish teacher. Why would they? They talk to me about music and Spanish respectively – and I would assume just as I discuss a subject of mutual interest with them, you talked to your art students about art.

//Will you, or someone, please explain why babies are atheists!//

Because atheism equates to non-belief in any God. Do you know any babies who believe in a God? I don’t.

[FredPuli43]

I became atheist about 40 years ago. That was before I had children. My son, 34, is a C of E Christian, and a regular churchgoer. My daughter, 24, is C of E too, but not a regular churchgoer. Their mother is a lapsed Catholic, who was at a Catholic boarding school run by nuns. She has little time for the Catholic Church, but is not an atheist. This has never caused any difficulty or argument. I cannot remember a single instance of it being discussed. It was certainly not my role as father or husband to persuade any of them that their belief is wrong!

Neither of my parents was religious, though C of E. They never atttended church, save at weddings, funerals etc The only 'services' I liked were the Quaker meetings ( these, I now realise, are like AA meetings but without the jokes) which I attended before becoming atheist. Quaker meetings are for quiet reflection and seemed to me to be closer to what religion should be in practice than the church services were.

[Khandro]

Birdie, what you say I believe is true, but that doesn't make the atheists, - by your own definition, that would require cognitive ability.

[naomi24]

Khandro, No. The only reason the word ‘atheist’ exists is because the concept of supernatural gods exist. Therefore, since a baby has never been introduced to the concept, it is, by default, an atheist - someone who has no belief in any god.

[RATTER15]

It comes down to: Is an Atheist someone who has no belief in a God or someone that believes there is no god.

I would find the first one correct, "has no belief in any God."

I think Khandro is being just a tad pedantic.

[jomifl]

Daisy, re. 'as we are meant to believe', by the proponents of the various religions of course, who else?

[jomifl]

Khandro, re. 'a cold scientific view of the world', what temperature do you suggest?

[pa___ul3]

I became agnostic as soon as I understood the meaning of the word - "believing we can know nothing about the existence of god". I think it's almost as silly to completely rule out the possibility of a higher being as it is to dedicate your life to one.
What I don't believe is the words of the Bible / Koran / any other holy books or that any god has chosen humans to communicate with and look after.

[mibn2cweus]

Being an atheist does not presuppose being a believer . . . although some do subsequently come to appreciate the error of their way. ;o)

I've always been an atheist, at first by default then later by conviction. I never chose to be an atheist and only became aware that I was one by virtue of discovering that I held the distinction of not being a theist.

I could not bring myself to ask forgiveness for the 'sin' of having been born and choosing to except responsibility for my existence from an alleged god who demanded faith as evidence for its own. Like Jake, I found myself at odds with all those around me but unlike Jake I pretended to believe in order to spare myself being constantly subjected to those who insisted I believe like them until such time as I was able to isolate myself from those who indulge in mutual self-contempt.

I've since come to the conclusion that there is no reasoning with those who in believing in the unproven have abandoned the twin virtues of reason and objectivity. Now that I am sufficiently liberated from the persecution I once suffered I feel an obligation to speak out against religion for the sake of the children on behalf of the child I once was.

[Khandro]

naomi //Do you know any babies who believe in a God? I don’t.// No, and I don't know any who are atheists either, do you? I know something that they are not though; vegans! :-)

[jomifl]

Khandro, I have known of some dogs that are vegans. Strange that their owners are vegans too, an amazing coincidence. :-)

[ludwig]

Do the vegan dogs look really pale and unhealthy like their owners jom?

[jomifl]

That's not the half of it, like their owners, they could barely walk. They didn't smoke though.

[flobadob]

You are born an atheist, then indoctrinated.

[jomifl]

You don't have to know something to not believe in it, You can be unaware of something to not believe in it. There are thousands of minor deities that I have never heard of and don't believe.

[keyplus90]

How does one become an atheist?

In simple words it’s very easy to answer. When someone believes that he has forsaken God, in fact God had forsaken (given) that person right to choose (or think). Also known as “free will” to believe or not to believe. But that might not be enough for few people so let’s talk a bit more.

Once, one my teacher told me that one thing is the easiest in the world. I asked what it was? And he said "giving up". When you can't find answer to something or you are not good enough to find it, or you are not bothered to find it then it is a lot easier to stop believing in it or give it up. Who cares?

[LazyGun]

@ Khandro -Thanks for your considered response - but I still feel that your initial post was wrong, and demonstrates your personal antipathy toward the atheist viewpoint.

To recap - Firstlyt, you speculated, without anything other than your own feeling, that there is a neurological difference between "artists" and "scientists". Lack of right brain development, you speculated.

In a later post, you again apply a sweeping stereotype - that "all artists are interested in science" - nonsense, and impossible to quantify rendering the observation valueless - and then further compound your own views about the separation between art and science by making the truly risible comment that scientists do not read or enjoy poetry! Such views can be safely dismissed as baseless fantasy - no reliable evidence to support it - in fact no evidence at all, except a biased, anecdotal presentation of recall from memory of conversations with artistic students.

If you truly agreed, as you claim, with my comment, that essentially, people are a complex blend of the artistic/ creative, and rational/ logical, then to express the views in your contributions to this thread suggests cognitive dissonance.The view that our behaviours or abilities are entirely controlled by one particular hemisphere is a massive oversimplification of the reality.

I think Khandro, that the language of your posts, both here and elsewhere, betray your own personal antipathy toward the atheist worldview, and it is this bias that informed your nonsense firstly about artists and atheism and latterly about scientists being unable or unwilling to appreciate poetry.


Atheism is simply a lack of belief in a god. This lack of belief can be arrived at gradually from a considered, intellectual journey, or in a moment of clarity, a flash of inspiration - or equally, it can be because, as a baby / young child, we lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend the notion of a god. So, all children, without exception, are born atheist. They become religious only through life experience and indoctrination.It is a fact that a child born of active, christian parents, will almost certainly describe themselves as christian, and the degree of fervour of the parents will likely be passed on to that child.That same principle will apply to a child brought up in a Muslim or Jewish household, in exactly the same way.

Perhaps a more revealing question would be "How does one become religious" ? :)

[Khandro]

naomi, without God in your heart, I'm afraid you will never be able to play Bach with any affinity. As Amedee Ozanfant said; "When Bach plays the organ, we all go to mass!" :-)