Were the majority of atheists once religious?

[Zetesis Apistia]

I raised this question in another thread. It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism. I also believe that the majority of atheists came from either a catholic or a protestant background. What I would like to do is add a poll to the thread so we can get an accurate count. If you desire to add anything with your vote feel free to have at it.

[Philbert]

But the aggressive atheist seems to have an axe to grind and it is my contention that an unsavory religious experience is the primary reason for it. It really has nothing to do with evidence or the lack thereof. IMO

Yes to the axe to grind. It's a leap from one kind of fundamentalism to another.

I leave you now to the daunting task of understanding the aggressive fundamentalist agnostic because those people are the biggest fruitcakes of all!

[keithprosser3]

I agree, if we are talking about adamant atheism, such as is typically seen on forums. This seems less true of the casual atheist, who might more properly be called an "apathetic".

Fair enough. Almost everyone I know is either an atheist or never gives religion much thought - much as people don't give knitting or Assyrian lace making much thought despite the vital importance of those issues. But none of my friends are motivated to make derogatory remarks about religion in real life or on the net.

I think it safe to say that internet posters are not a representative sample of any group except internet posters. If 100% of atheist internet posters were traumatised by religion it wouldn't prove much about atheists in general (certainly not British atheists), and it won't be 100% because I for one certainly had no traumatic experience.

[keithprosser3]

I agree, if we are talking about adamant atheism, such as is typically seen on forums. This seems less true of the casual atheist, who might more properly be called an "apathetic".

Fair enough. Almost everyone I know is either an atheist or never gives religion much thought - much as people don't give knitting or Assyrian lace making much thought despite the vital importance of those issues. But none of my atheist friends are motivated to make derogatory remarks about religion in real life or on the net.

I think it safe to say that internet posters are not a representative sample of any group except internet posters. If 100% of atheist internet posters were traumatised by religion it wouldn't prove much about atheists in general (certainly not British atheists), and it won't be 100% because I for one certainly had no traumatic experience.

[bjs]

I have not seen anything written on the topic recently, but several years ago research suggested that the vast majority of atheists and agnostics in America were raised in non-religious homes. I imagine that the same is true across the globe.

[Divine Insight]

I raised this question in another thread. It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism. I also believe that the majority of atheists came from either a catholic or a protestant background. What I would like to do is add a poll to the thread so we can get an accurate count. If you desire to add anything with your vote feel free to have at it.

I don't see where your poll has any validity. You ask one question (i.e. what an atheist was before they became an atheist), and then you JUMP to totally unwarranted conclusions based on that data.

I was a Protestant before I rejected the Bible. But there was nothing in my Protestant denomination that turned me against the religion. On the contrary, the particular Christian denomination that I was raised into was by-far one of the more positive and uplifting versions of Christianity. I did not have any bad experiences due to the teachings of this denomination in general.

Therefore, your conclusion that this would have been the reason for me becoming atheistic toward the Biblical picture of God is totally erroneous and without merit.

So your poll is totally fallacious and doesn't support the conclusions that you might draw from it. Even if 100% of atheists were previously Catholic or Protestant, that still wouldn't suggest that the conclusion that you are jumping to has any merit.

So I created a pole that is far more honest and meaningful here: A Meaningful Pole for Bibical Atheists

[Jax Agnesson]

It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism. I also believe that the majority of atheists came from either a catholic or a protestant background. .

Unevidenced over-generalisation is dubious at the best of times.
Unevidenced over-generalisation about the unspoken motivations of people you haven't met and whose ideas and attitudes you don't share is downright foolish.

[scourge99]

I raised this question in another thread. It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism. I also believe that the majority of atheists came from either a catholic or a protestant background. What I would like to do is add a poll to the thread so we can get an accurate count. If you desire to add anything with your vote feel free to have at it.

What Zetesis Apistia is saying is that atheists are all liars (or mistaken) when they explain why they disbelieve in gods. The real reason atheists disbelieve is because they had a bad religious experience. Apparently Zetesis Apistia is a psychologist and a mind reader.


This has got to be one of the more silly arguments I've heard (to put it mildly). Right up there with "atheists don't actually disbelieve in god, they're just rebelling" and "atheists are controlled by the devil".

[Nilloc James]

I come from a religous background but there was no negative experience resulting from it.

[Divine Insight]

I come from a religous background but there was no negative experience resulting from it.

That option wasn't on the poll.

The poll is only concerned with whether or not you were ever religious.

Judgements about your negative experiences with religion will be made by someone else who knows absolutely nothing about you.

You have no input on that aspect of this particular survey.

[Philbert]

What Zetesis Apistia is saying is that atheists are all liars (or mistaken) when they explain why they disbelieve in gods.

I agree that Zetesis was imprecise and in error by using the very broad term atheists.

Had he used the more precise term "adamant forum atheists" I think he's on to something. Not in every single case, but as a general trend. It's a useful observation, just not a surgically precise one.

I don't think such folks are liars. Nor do I think they are unintelligent in most cases.

I do think that much of the time they are indeed mistaken about their motivations. So many of the posts are literally dripping with emotion posing as reason.

Most forum users (at least on these topics) seem to be men. Quite a few of them seem to be relatively young men. Apologies, but young men are the least emotionally sophisticated segment of the population, followed closely by fatheaded old men like yours truly.

Women don't participate in these kind of forums in any significant number for a good reason. Women have sense, and this is not a sensible place.

However, I say let us be what we are without regrets, in all our glorious foolishness.

And try to have a sense of humor about it, at least some of the time.