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.

[Jax Agnesson]

I think that most forum atheists, especially the adamant ones, are too busy being emotional to make good use of their brains.

Quite unemotionally, I will present once more the question you have been dodging:( for example, HERE)
The thing is, You must either
1. Recognise that where theists propose a reasonable God, reasoned counter-arguments are appropriate; or
2. Claim that the principal apologists of almost all major strands of monotheism, from Aquinas to WLC, are flat-out wrong, and their arguments are not even deserving of consideration.
If you take the first option, you are admitting that your one and only schtick on this forum is utterly fake; but if you take the second option, you are making a far stronger atheist claim that almost anyone else on the site.
In either case, the argument for 'fundamentalist agnosticism' collapses.
How about taking the bull by the horns, Phil?

[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.

Why do you conclude that it has to be a bad religious experience? Could a lack of evidence be sufficient on its own? I never had a single bad religious experience. In reality, my Christian life was awesome. I loved every minute of it. I had a huge family and social structure. Everyone I loved believed exactly the same thing. There was a lot of food (Southern Baptists love food). I had my future completely planned, i.e. Christian wife, Christian kiddos, deacon, maybe pastor, heavenly dwelling after I die, life with Jesus, and a daily talk with the most intelligent being in the universe. Too bad that those intelligent talks ended up being just me going over my own thoughts about life. You would think that having the ability to talk to such an intelligent being might rub off.

I am not concluding anything. I am just looking at numbers to determine if there is anything to it. You do raise a good point though. If your Christian experience was so delightful why in the world would you want to abandon it. Heck people play video games to have fun and they could care less if it is all just make believe entertainment. So something had to have happened that turned you off to it. Who would ever break off the marriage during the honeymoon?

[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.

This poll won't address the issue of whether a 'bad religious experience' is and what impact it has had.

My guess is that a 'bad experience' is not a frequent factor, but it may depend on how 'bad experience' is defined.

My gut tells me that among non theists who care enough about religion to participate in a forum like this, a strong majority had significant relationship with organized Christianity. They studied the Bible, went to church and gradually came to realize there was no evidence for the supernatural claims of scripture.

For me, I was raised in a devout evangelical Christian home, attended a Christian college, became a lay missionary, had a positive relationship with Jesus Christ. I still love and respect that image of Jesus I grew up with.
But as I studied the Bible more and studied the history of each book of the Bible, I found less and less foundation for seeing it as the inspired word of god. The more I read, the more the old questions and doubts seemed to be answered better by the idea that religion is wholly man made.
Other than some embarrassment now when I reflect on things I said 40 years ago as a 'true believer' I don't think of the experience as 'bad.' I think it was actually helpful in developing a liberal arts education and early on having experience in interpreting and understanding the written word.

A bad experience is anyone who doesn't believe. The OP is set on this idea. It is based on presupposition.

I was making a guess, but I think the poll was necessary to see if there was any merit to my speculation. Don't you find it odd that almost all aggressive atheists come from a religious background? You might say that a religious education exposes the nonsense of it all but if that is the case why are the vast majority of the religiously educated further compelled to follow after God? Do you think those of us that are very educated in the ministry and still religious are too naive to see through all of the nonsense of it?

[Danmark]

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.

Why do you conclude that it has to be a bad religious experience? Could a lack of evidence be sufficient on its own? I never had a single bad religious experience. In reality, my Christian life was awesome. I loved every minute of it. I had a huge family and social structure. Everyone I loved believed exactly the same thing. There was a lot of food (Southern Baptists love food). I had my future completely planned, i.e. Christian wife, Christian kiddos, deacon, maybe pastor, heavenly dwelling after I die, life with Jesus, and a daily talk with the most intelligent being in the universe. Too bad that those intelligent talks ended up being just me going over my own thoughts about life. You would think that having the ability to talk to such an intelligent being might rub off.

I am not concluding anything. I am just looking at numbers to determine if there is anything to it. You do raise a good point though. If your Christian experience was so delightful why in the world would you want to abandon it. Heck people play video games to have fun and they could care less if it is all just make believe entertainment. So something had to have happened that turned you off to it. Who would ever break off the marriage during the honeymoon?

[emphasis applied]
I can't answer for Nick, I reject this fairly common notion that people leave Christianity because of some negative experience.

This filter denies the possibility that the Christian simply educated himself out of the belief; that he placed a higher value on seeking the truth, than on maintaining his belief system.

In a way it is a double edged sword for believers. If they have true faith they are open to discovery. If their 'faith' becomes rigid, frozen into a dogma they defend, they may indeed increase their chance of maintaining their faith. But this comes a cost. The cost is a rigid dogmatism that interferes with learning, whether it is growth within their faith, or the recognition that their faith is not based on a firm foundation.

[Zetesis Apistia]

It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism.

Would you call looking for a god and not finding one 'a bad religious experience' or 'a lack of evidence'?

Good point. If we do as the Bible says and we don't get back what it claims it will deliver, is that a bad Jesus experience or just an absence of proof?

But the bible teaches perseverance in the face of adversity. You say if God doesn't ring my joy bells then he aint payin off so the deals off. Abraham waited for 20 years before God finally fulfilled his promise to him. Joseph spent several years falsely imprisoned only to eventually become the prime minister of Egypt. God is more interested in our character then he is with our comfort. Maybe you have something though. It may be that some people follow God to see what they can get out of him and when he doesn't pay off they are outta here.

[OnceConvinced]

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.

From what I understand about Ex-Christians/people from religious back grounds who no longer believe... the main reasons are not bad experiences but reaslisation that it's all a fantasy. And I know a lot of ex-Christians.

I don't consider myself an atheist, but I am an ex-Christian. The only bad experiences I can think of as a Christian was at a couple of childrens camps when I was very young. Otherwise I have great memories of church, church activities and the people. My best friends were always Christian and most of current friends are Christians. Ok, I had a Christian wife that cheated on me but I don't see that as anything to do with God or Christianity. That was a weak woman who gave into her human nature and who couldn't be trusted. But no, bad experiences had nothing to do with why I am a Christian today and I don't see that as a major issue amongst ex-Christians at all.

[Zetesis Apistia]

And I would agree that aggressive atheism is a religion in and of itself. So is atheism the abandoning of religion or is it religion without God?

Atheism is not a religion, so, an aggressive atheist is just a pissed off non-religious person.

I used to be one of those. I remember a psychologist friend of mine asking me a question several years ago before I committed to Christ. She was a Christian and she asked me to give her my opinion of God. I told her if there was a God he needed to come down off of his throne and bow down to me for a while cuz I was tired of people telling me I needed to bow down to him. I wasn't always a nice Christian. My father was very hard on me when i was younger because i didn't want to get with the whole religion thing. He did his best to force it on me and send me on some guilt trip if I didn't bite. He had me pretty pissed off about the whole thing fer sher.

[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.

From what I understand about Ex-Christians/people from religious back grounds who no longer believe... the main reasons are not bad experiences but reaslisation that it's all a fantasy. And I know a lot of ex-Christians.

I don't consider myself an atheist, but I am an ex-Christian. The only bad experiences I can think of as a Christian was at a couple of childrens camps when I was very young. Otherwise I have great memories of church, church activities and the people. My best friends were always Christian and most of current friends are Christians. Ok, I had a Christian wife that cheated on me but I don't see that as anything to do with God or Christianity. That was a weak woman who gave into her human nature and who couldn't be trusted. But no, bad experiences had nothing to do with why I am a Christian today and I don't see that as a major issue amongst ex-Christians at all.

I am just trying to wrap my mind around the idea that a person would abandon something that was such a satisfying experience.

[Jax Agnesson]

It is my contention that a bad religious experience and not a lack of evidence is the basic cause for atheism.

Would you call looking for a god and not finding one 'a bad religious experience' or 'a lack of evidence'?

Good point. If we do as the Bible says and we don't get back what it claims it will deliver, is that a bad Jesus experience or just an absence of proof?

But the bible teaches perseverance in the face of adversity. You say if God doesn't ring my joy bells then he aint payin off so the deals off. Abraham waited for 20 years before God finally fulfilled his promise to him. Joseph spent several years falsely imprisoned only to eventually become the prime minister of Egypt. God is more interested in our character then he is with our comfort. Maybe you have something though. It may be that some people follow God to see what they can get out of him and when he doesn't pay off they are outta here.

You say you are conducting an inquiry. Excellent idea!
But then, when some of us (argumentative ex-believers) take the time to describe our trajectory from belief to disbelief, you ignore this 'evidence' and repeat your own beliefs about our experience, adding some vaguely-connected scriptural homilies..
This is classic religious thought. Thank you for the glaring example.

[OnceConvinced]

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.

Or because they just wanted to sin so much.