[jam277]

Just wanted to know.

My experience, I used to be a strong christian until I was 17, I just wondered why I actually believed and realized that I could have been a hindu/muslim/insert religion just as easily as a christian if my parents were christian.

I then realized that the things that happen around me are the actions of myself and other people and not of a God. It was hard, but I think I had it coming, it was gradual, took around 3 months to convert fully from an agnostic to an atheist.

I also feel that it's such a barrier to so many things, that at times(before I offend anyone) that it's more trouble than it is worth.

I also find the theory of hell a bit sad, that a so called benevolent God who loves you always is letting you burn in hell, that is not love, regardless of free will, anyone who loves you would take you out of that fiery pit whether you wanted to or not, that is unconditional love.

Anyway TSR, what is your reason for converting?

[sulpicia]

I think religion is often a comfort / support / offers membership of a community. I felt that I didn't want / need those things.

[jam277]

(Original post by sulpicia)
I think religion is often a comfort / support / offers membership of a community. I felt that I didn't want / need those things.

Agree, it's a big comfort, it's a bummer thinking that you'll become nothing when you die lets be honest.

[Hype en Ecosse]

My parents raised me in a secular home, despite my mum being catholic. I went to a "non-denominational" primary school that was very intent on teaching us how true Christianity was. I was convinced God existed by the First Cause argument that a teacher gave me when I asked how we know God exists, as an extension of the Christianity thing, they made us sing hymns, pray, and taught us about the bible. The bible never made much sense to me, and teachers could never give adequate answers to my questions, and my parents would give me different answers from my teachers, too. This lead me to doubting Christianity very much, I especially wondered why there were different religions in the world if it was so obvious that Christianity is the true religion. As I got old enough to understand and criticise both the bible and the arguments given to me for the existence of God, and could actually quasi-understand things like the Big Bang Theory (instead of getting the story that my teachers twisted it into) I discovered that there was nothing to convince me that God existed, and it's been that way since.

So I was never religious, and I guess I was more of a deist than a theist, but I left that as I started to understand the arguments and be exposed to arguments against theism.

[chickenonsteroids]

About 8 months ago.

Erm I just started to read more because religion became interesting. But then I didn't feel that the idea of a theist god made a lot of sense. Since I think the strongest argument for god (any god really) is a variant of the first cause argument it doesn't lend itself to the god being a personal one.
But I've never been in the position where I think that the theist side of the argument is stupid because it's of course very easy to attack creationists and people who know nothing about their religion but 1) it's really boring after a while 2) it feels like intellectual dishonesty. Why not focus on the strongest arguments? and 3) just go to r/atheism on reddit for loads of that rubbish.

I think it'll remain interesting but I do wish for atheists to stop obsessing over Hitchens and Dawkins. They may be good at speaking but at their core - a lot of their arguments aren't that great. But that's more Dawkins though. Hitchens argues against the concept of god rather than its existence. And the same goes for Christians when it comes to C.S Lewis and Lee Strobel. Swinburne and Craig are better imo

[Venomilys]

I was a Muslim.

I quit when I realized why I am a Muslim and that was because my parents were. Had I been kin to other parents with different faiths e.g. Christianity, I would most likely end up being a Christian (or atheist), thus I would be burning in Hell for eternity according to Islam.

I've never actually met a convert to Islam face to face, you are either born into a faith or secretly atheist (to avoid giving shame to your family).

A supreme God would notice this flaw and realize that certain individuals have an obscenely high probability of going to Hell, of which they cannot change. Just look at the Royal family, I can guarantee you that ALL of Prince Harry's future children will be burning in Hell according to Islam, they haven't even come into existence yet, yet I can make this claim.

All of this signifies a man made religion.

[TurboCretin]

(Original post by jam277)
Just wanted to know.

My experience, I used to be a strong christian until I was 17, I just wondered why I actually believed and realized that I could have been a hindu/muslim/insert religion just as easily as a christian if my parents were christian.

I then realized that the things that happen around me are the actions of myself and other people and not of a God. It was hard, but I think I had it coming, it was gradual, took around 3 months to convert fully from an agnostic to an atheist.

I also feel that it's such a barrier to so many things, that at times(before I offend anyone) that it's more trouble than it is worth.

I also find the theory of hell a bit sad, that a so called benevolent God who loves you always is letting you burn in hell, that is not love, regardless of free will, anyone who loves you would take you out of that fiery pit whether you wanted to or not, that is unconditional love.

Anyway TSR, what is your reason for converting?

Slightly off-topic, but does the emboldened part mean that you positively believe that there is no God, or gods?

[zaliack]

I was never properly catholic, but I gradually converted to full out atheism when I was younger. It started when I was 12ish. My school made us write out hymns by hand. I started to just skip whole verses to save time, and I realised nothing bad came from it. So I just started to not bother singing, not going to confessions in school etc. I also found being forced to go to church in school incredibly boring, so once high school came around I just skipped going to it with some friends. So the moral of my conversion is that being forced into a religion only pushed me further away.

[jam277]

(Original post by Ilyas)
I was a Muslim.

I quit when I realized why I am a Muslim and that was because my parents were. Had I been kin to other parents with different faiths e.g. Christianity, I would most likely end up being a Christian (or atheist), thus I would be burning in Hell for eternity according to Islam.

I've never actually met a convert to Islam face to face, you are either born into a faith or secretly atheist (to avoid giving shame to your family).

A supreme God would notice this flaw and realize that certain individuals have an obscenely high probability of going to Hell, of which they cannot change. Just look at the Royal family, I can guarantee you that ALL of Prince Harry's future children will be burning in Hell according to Islam, they haven't even come into existence yet, yet I can make this claim.

All of this signifies a man made religion.

That's pretty interesting, wanted to know about ex muslims and why they convert. Is it hard to leave islam, compared to other religions, I know the media slam islam all the time, but did it seem easy for you to convert or was it hard?

[jam277]

(Original post by TurboCretin)
Slightly off-topic, but does the emboldened part mean that you positively believe that there is no God, or gods?

Yes, I genuinely believe there is no God.

(Original post by zaliack)
I was never properly catholic, but I gradually converted to full out atheism when I was younger. It started when I was 12ish. My school made us write out hymns by hand. I started to just skip whole verses to save time, and I realised nothing bad came from it. So I just started to not bother singing, not going to confessions in school etc. I also found being forced to go to church in school incredibly boring, so once high school came around I just skipped going to it with some friends. So the moral of my conversion is that being forced into a religion only pushed me further away.

Interesting, I went to a catholic school, but my family are protestant. I used to skip mass in school as well, being forced to go church was annoying, I used to just chill in the park or go to subway haha.

[TurboCretin]

(Original post by Ilyas)
I was a Muslim.

I quit when I realized why I am a Muslim and that was because my parents were. Had I been kin to other parents with different faiths e.g. Christianity, I would most likely end up being a Christian (or atheist), thus I would be burning in Hell for eternity according to Islam.

I've never actually met a convert to Islam face to face, you are either born into a faith or secretly atheist (to avoid giving shame to your family).

A supreme God would notice this flaw and realize that certain individuals have an obscenely high probability of going to Hell, of which they cannot change. Just look at the Royal family, I can guarantee you that ALL of Prince Harry's future children will be burning in Hell according to Islam, they haven't even come into existence yet, yet I can make this claim.

All of this signifies a man made religion.

This is going in my quotes.

[la-penseur]

I don't actually remember a specific time. My parents aren't religious so it was never really a huge thing in my life. I think in primary school, everybody was expected to be a Christian (hymns, religious speakers in assembly) so I just went along with it. I think it was probably my first year of secondary school that I consciously decided that I didn't believe but in a way I don't think I ever really did!

[Hypocrism]

I was the child who was brought up in Christian schools but never took it seriously. Becoming atheist was inevitable. Now I try and make people see the things you saw - in casual comments - because so many people don't think about them. If they convert to being atheist, I believe I've helped them. If they stay as a theist, I believe I've helped them understand more about themselves.

[Sheldor]

I don't think I ever truly believed in any deity or religion. It was always something I just accepted without thinking about. When I was 11,I started my secondary school which had RS lessons which were more open to debate, which allowed to properly review being Christian for the first time. This made me realise I never considered myself Christian in the first place, and that the scientific evidence opposing a God made far more sense than this benevolent, moody(sometimes oppressive, sometimes loves everyone, sometimes punishes the world, sometimes doesn't) God. At primary school, Christianity was seen as the only answer, and looking back I doubt we even properly studied evolution. Where it not for my expansive extra curricular reading, I doubt I'd have understood many of the scientific theorems which helped me move from agnostic to atheist.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad Ap

[TurboCretin]

(Original post by jam277)
Yes, I genuinely believe there is no God.

What makes you believe that?

Personally, I think that positive belief in the absence of God is as baseless as the positive belief that he exists, so I'm curious about your angle.

[jam277]

(Original post by TurboCretin)
What makes you believe that?

Personally, I think that positive belief in the absence of God is as baseless as the positive belief that he exists, so I'm curious about your angle.

I know. But as a scientist, I use the God hypothesis, the null hypothesis is that he doesn't exist. If I have proof that he's there, then he exists. Just believe that we can say that the absence of God can apply to so many situations, I can say that I am wearing green trousers when I have no green trousers. Proof is me saying it, but you don't know unless you see, even though I've already said I don't have green trousers so it's very unlikely I'll be wearing them.

Also, the only evidence of God is related to religions, which to me seems unreliable as evidence.

[BeanofJelly]

(Original post by TurboCretin)
What makes you believe that?

Personally, I think that positive belief in the absence of God is as baseless as the positive belief that he exists, so I'm curious about your angle.

Sorry to butt in - but I think you can be sure that something doesn't exist, when its nature dictates that you would see certain evidence of its existence, and that evidence isn't there.

For example - if I go to a garden which is not tended, the plants are overgrown and disorganised, the grass is not cut, and there is no sign of interference - is it not fair to conclude that there is no gardener? (If there is a gardener, they're not exactly meeting the job description).

Likewise - I look around and see a world determined by natural laws, which has no motives, no inherent justice or design or benevolence - no interference just what happens - I can conclude that there is no interferer, no external conscious force, no God.


EDIT: And there's nothing that controversial about this. We draw these conclusions, correctly, every say in almost every aspect of life. No eggs have gone missing from the fridge, therefore there is no egg thief in the house. I haven't found any nibbled wires or rodent droppings in my room, therefore mice aren't living under my bed. I don't feel tugging on my scalp, I can't see anything in the mirror, and I shower just fine - therefore there isn't a monkey clinging to my head.

(Original post by chickenonsteroids)
That doesn't prove there's no god though. It just means you have no reason to believe he does exist. It isn't the same as disproving it. Secondly, why are you using science if it focuses on the natural world specifically?

Ah but if there was a God, I can be pretty sure there'd be pretty good evidence to believe he existed. It's just not plausible that God can exist and there will be no evidence of it.

Therefore no evidence = no God.

Not with an absolute certainty perhaps, but with the same reasonable certainty I apply every day to other things like egg thieves, mice under the bed, and monkeys clinging to my head.


EDIT: And btw, you can bet your trousers that if there was a long history of people believing in monkeys clinging to our heads, and many people in the world, otherwise intelligent and rational, were still raised with that belief and believed it strongly, and attended meetings about it, and entire countries based their laws upon it, and even the people who didn't really believe it were sort of still influenced by it (say, monkey repellant hairstyles remain the cultural norm) that I could as easily be having an argument about that instead of God. And it would seem controversial for me to conclude that head-clinging-monkeys don't exist.

[chickenonsteroids]

(Original post by jam277)
I know. But as a scientist, I use the God hypothesis, the null hypothesis is that he doesn't exist. If I have proof that he's there, then he exists. Just believe that we can say that the absence of God can apply to so many situations, I can say that I am wearing green trousers when I have no green trousers. Proof is me saying it, but you don't know unless you see, even though I've already said I don't have green trousers so it's very unlikely I'll be wearing them.

Also, the only evidence of God is related to religions, which to me seems unreliable as evidence.

That doesn't prove there's no god though. It just means you have no reason to believe he does exist. It isn't the same as disproving it. Secondly, why are you using science if it focuses on the natural world specifically?

[Long Time Coming]

Ex-muslim here too. I converted at the age of 15-16 I think. It's unclear. I was pretty convinced a god didn't exist, yet I still used to pray/fast. I guess I was afraid of facing family etc. It took a long time, about a year or less. The reason? Well it was learning about the Big Bang Theory which made more sense, but I think one of the major parts of it was waking up one day and assuming there was no god then seeing how different that day was than any other... which obviously, it wasn't.

[Aleandcynicism]

(Original post by chickenonsteroids)
That doesn't prove there's no god though. It just means you have no reason to believe he does exist. It isn't the same as disproving it. Secondly, why are you using science if it focuses on the natural world specifically?

Would you think someone was weird if they said they didn't believe in unicorns because there's no proof they exist?