Philosophy at A-Levels - do people really turn into atheists?

Lol, no philosophy will not convert you into an atheist. However it will make you question the existence of God, for example, who created God? If God is all powerful, why does he not eradicate evil in this world? Questions like this make you think outside the box which is really good, I guess.

I think you should definitely go for it or experience it as a taster session. Some philosophers even support religion, for example Descartes claims that if he doubts the existence of God, he's in fact doubting his own existence. Then you have philosophers like Plato (personally disliked him) and Kant (amazing philosopher). I did it in AS and I must admit I've fallen in love with it ever since. Didn't progress onto A2, due to the 50 mark essay questions.

That's good, I was getting woried, and how is it? Can you give me some examples of the stuff you studied and what you got in it at AS? And are the essay questions really hard?

It's a good A-level I guess; because my exam board was AQA, I learned about reason and experience. This entails questions about how we acquire knowledge, as Rationalist claim we gain knowledge independent of experience known as a priori, for example mathematical knowledge. Then on the other side of the spectrum, you have Empiricist, who claim knowledge is based on experience known as aposteriori. For example you see one swan that is white, then you see 4,000 swans that are white, then you go to Australia and see a black swan.... POW!!!! Not all swans are white, one had to experience it to acquire the knowledge that not all swans are white . I also learnt about Philosopher Kings who claim that if you're not a philosopher then you're still in the 'cave' - Plato.
The other topic I was taught is why should we be governed. So I learned about what chatacteristics makes a government legitimate, for example popular approval. I also learnt about the beast and ship analogy which is Plato's theory of understanding society. This topic also proposes the question of whether we actually consented (tacit, hypothetical, explicit, etc....)to being governed, for example should those that do not vote obey the laws of the country.

From memory that's pretty much all I can remember. Unfortunately I got a grade B.The exam is 1 hour 30 minutes and you MUST answer two 15 and two 30 mark question. The essay questions are not really hard, you just need to have effective time-management skills.

If you do take it, get prepared to learn some Latin words, ie. 'Cognito ergo sum' translation means 'I think, therefore I am'

Hey, I'm in my second year studying Philosophy now. And I'm a Muslim. It makes you question and exposes you to sceptical ideas, which is good to be honest. You should know the reason to why you believe

This happened in my Religious Studies (Philosophy and Ethics) A level class. I was an atheist at the beginning, but there was more doubt at the end in the others. One of my friends has had her faith irreparably damaged I think, but responded to it by flinging herself deeper into her religious customs and rituals, because it formed too much of a cultural identity to lose.

The reason that people said that their faith was being weakened by the course was that this was where religion got its best shot to support that it's correct, yet many quickly see that it utterly fails to do so. To question something that was never questioned, and find that what you have been taught to believe offers no answers... Well, that's going to shake a couple of people.

Is it really hard? I mean the essays and can you just tell me your grades and how much you struggled?

I've heard a lot about the majority of people who take philosophy at A-Levels, they start questioning the existence of God and turn into atheists?

I am a strong religious person, I'm thinking of taking it but I'm worried, any opinions/views/answers?

This will help a lot

It really just depends on why you believe. If you've been forced into your religion and never been allowed to question it before, you'll probably find yourself losing your religion now that you're given permission to hold it up to scrutiny. If you've chosen your religion and believe in it by choice you won't have a problem with it, though it'll definitely make you think about alot of things in a whole new light.

I think the question you need to ask yourself is: 'Would I want to believe in something even if it didn't exist?' If the answer is yes then Philosophy is probably not going to interest you a lot! If the answer is no, then I'd guess you're worry less about losing your faith, per se, and more about the effect that would have on your identity etc. Obviously I can't speak for everybody, but personally, in studying philosophy a-level, I've found that although there have been some uncomfortable moments where I'm not quite sure where my beliefs lie on certain issues, I've never (yet) come close to actually losing my faith. Looking at it from a different perspective: yeah, making it stronger in lots of ways because I understand it more: yeah, but doubting it: not so much.
And I wouldn't worry too much about this being any harder than other A-levels. I'm one of those annoying people who seem to get good grades in everything, but I can honestly say that I haven't found it as difficult as I thought. It is a big step up from GCSE, but once you've worked out what a question's asking you, it's just about selecting the relevant information. I'm doing OCR by the way, and none of it has been over my head - the hardest thing is time management in the exam, but if you practice writing essays this will quickly improve; it's not quite as awful as it sounds at first!
Hope this has helped, and good luck choosing!

I do OCR What other subjects do you do? Because with me, I always found Philosophy and Religious Studies the least challenging out of my other subjects, Literature and History.