"Reasons" people become atheists

[Danmark]

A DCR debater claimed:
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... &start=690

I have discovered 4 reasons for people being atheists:
1. Their father was abusive or absent in their childhood.
2. They are disappointed how God has acted, or failed to act, in some situation.
3. A spirit or vision or flashing insight has told them there is no God.
4. A "No-God" universe obviates the need for moral behaviour.

The affirmative for debate:
People become atheists for the reasons stated above.
A related issue:
What are the reasons for "people being atheists?"

[Divine Insight]

Some of these reasons are insulting.

1. Their father was abusive or absent in their childhood.

My father was not abusive, but he did die when I was only 9 years old. However, anyone who thinks that had anything at all to do with me rejecting the Biblical God is jumping to totally false and incorrect conclusions. My father's early death had absolutely nothing at all to do with me rejecting that Abrahamic religions.

2. They are disappointed how God has acted, or failed to act, in some situation.

Which "God" are they talking about? The God described by the Bible?

In that case, yes I most certainly would be disappointed and even insulted by the God portrayed in the Bible. IMHO, the God portrayed in the Bible is an immoral idiot. Absolutely. And that is a good reason for rejecting a religious dogma. Especially if we are being asked to believe it as a matter of faith.

Why would I want to have faith that I was created by an immoral idiot?

So yes, that's a good reason to reject the Abrahamic religions.

3. A spirit or vision or flashing insight has told them there is no God.

Actually I'm not an atheist in the absolute sense. I actually believe that there there may very well be a God. But it's definitely not the God depicted by the Hebrew Bible.

4. A "No-God" universe obviates the need for moral behaviour.

Yes, this is yet another insult because it implies that I don't have moral values.

As I just said above, I don't actually believe in a "No-God" universe anyway. But even if I did I would still have higher moral values that have been attributed to the Biblical God. After all a large part of the reason that I reject that portrait of God is precisely because it is an immoral as well as a stupid picture of a God. So even if I was a pure secular materialist I would still have moral values just because it's what I personally desire. Contrary to what Christianity demands I might add.

My reason for rejecting the biblical picture of God is quite simple and straight-forward.

The biblical picture of a God simply makes no sense. It's not intelligent. It's not moral. And it's not wise. It's just a history of a highly immoral and male-chauvinistic society that used religious bigotry and fear to try to control the masses. And unfortunately it has succeeded so powerfully that it continues to coast along on its own momentum to this very day.

I will give the creators of the Abrahamic religions credit for one thing. They sure are good at creating religions that brainwashing people to actually keep the cult going.

If I'm angry about these religions I'm not angry with their false gods. That would be silly. But instead I'm angry with the people who contributed to these religions over the centuries and with the proselytizers of these religions that continue to propagate them and support them to this very day.

I see these religions as a very serious cancer on humanity. They are bringing us down folks. Bigotry under any guise is still bigotry and religious bigotries are not exempt. Religious bigotry is still bigotry.

So I not only don't believe in the Abrahamic religions making me an Abrahamic Atheist, but I am also dead set against them, making me an Abrahamic Anti-Theist.

I seriously believe we would be far better off without them.

[Danmark]

Kenblogton's 'reasons' bring to mind:

Florida pastor, Michael Stahl has suggested that an organization and website be created that would keep track of known atheists. The website would list by city and state all atheists with their photos and some personal information such as place of business. It would not include a physical address which seems to contradict one of the main purposes of the site.

Pastor Mike compares atheists to “convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..� He claims that the purpose of this organization/website called, "The Christian National Registry of Atheists" is to inform the public of known atheists so that they can be proselytize to and their businesses can be boycotted.

http://www.examiner.com/article/christi ... t-registry

What is going on in the mind of someone like Michael Stahl? He is comparing atheists to hate groups, but it seems like he is the one leading a hate group. Both Christians and atheists have a duty to stand up and criticize people like this and I submit that the greater duty belongs to these haters who come from our own broadly defined groups; that is, atheists should be critical of atheists who take such absurd and frankly evil positions and Christians should be at the forefront of criticizing fellow 'Christians' who promote hate and laws that defy the U.S. Constitution.

[Zzyzx]

.
The only requirement to be an Atheist is to not believe in gods.

Why one chooses to not believe is an individual matter. Perhaps the reason I encounter most often is something along the lines of "I see no evidence to indicate that a god exists."

It is the height of foolishness to attribute non-belief in gods to abuse -- just as foolish as attributing non-belief in fairies to abuse.

Some Theists indicate strange notions about all who do not worship their favorite "god" (among the thousands available) in their favorite way. "Lack of morals" is one such notion -- ignoring (or ignorant of) statistics showing that Christians are incarcerated at far greater per-capita rates than Atheists.

[Zzyzx]

. . . Christians should be at the forefront of criticizing fellow 'Christians' who promote hate and laws that defy the U.S. Constitution.

It seems ironic that "loving" Christianity produces or promotes hate and hate groups (including the KKK -- a Christian organization).

[Danmark]

[Replying to post 2 by Divine Insight]

These "reasons:"

1. Their father was abusive or absent in their childhood.
2. They are disappointed how God has acted, or failed to act, in some situation.
3. A spirit or vision or flashing insight has told them there is no God.
4. A "No-God" universe obviates the need for moral behaviour.

__kenblogton

Are so outrageous, insulting and baseless, they don't deserve the dignity of even being discussed. Nonetheless :
I enjoyed a great relationship with my father all of his life. I can only hope to be half as a good a father and grandfather as he was. I feel the same about my mother. They were and are lifelong devout Christians. I grew up respecting my parents and their faith, and their Christian friends. It wasn't until I saw certain TV evangelists and read some of the ignorant and mean spirited comments on public forums that I saw the other side of Christianity, or rather 'faux christianity.'
#3 is basically an accusation of mental illness and #4 an accusation of immorality.
In my youth I certainly learned God does not answer all prayers, but steadfast Christians also know this.

[elle]

A DCR debater claimed:
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... &start=690

I have discovered 4 reasons for people being atheists:
1. Their father was abusive or absent in their childhood.
2. They are disappointed how God has acted, or failed to act, in some situation.
3. A spirit or vision or flashing insight has told them there is no God.
4. A "No-God" universe obviates the need for moral behaviour.

The affirmative for debate:
People become atheists for the reasons stated above.
A related issue:
What are the reasons for "people being atheists?"

Zzyzx's response is exactly right. My only (minor) quibble with it is that I do not choose not to believe. I would prefer to believe. It would make my life infinitely easier if I shared the faith of my family and friends. I simply cannot convince myself to believe in a god, something I see little to no evidence for.

I will still answer the accusations listed and their lack of applicability to my situation.

1. Their father was abusive or absent in their childhood.
My father was and still is a very important part of my life. He has never, ever been absent. The only "abuse" I ever received from my father, if you want to call it such, was indoctrination into the belief system of Christianity. I feel that this belief system was damaging to me. I was also spanked as a kid, but so were a lot of people who are still theists, so that can't be it either. My father is very dear to me and we enjoy spending time together over our shared interests (computers, sci-fi, criminal law--he's a cop and I'm starting a job as a prosecutor in 6 months, etc.)

2. They are disappointed how God has acted, or failed to act, in some situation.
This presupposes that a single god exists that I could have feelings towards. I can't be disappointed in something I don't believe exists. To say that I'm disappointed in how a god has acted or failed to act in some situation, and that's why I'm an atheist would be like telling someone that the reason they don't believe in leprechauns is because they are disappointed in how leprechauns have acted or failed to act in some situation. It's nonsensical.

3. A spirit or vision or flashing insight has told them there is no God.
I have never had spirits, visions, or flashing insights that were supernatural in nature. Yes, I had an internal epiphany when I realized that I no longer believed. It was not some external force that told me that there was no god. It was something I reasoned through for myself and came to a realization of in my own thought process. I try to employ rational thinking in my every day life, and therefore do not even believe that spirits exist--gods or otherwise.

4. A "No-God" universe obviates the need for moral behaviour.
This presupposes that moral behavior is predicated on the dictates of a deity. This presupposition is false. Morality exists and moral behavior is important regardless of whether karma or any other cosmic justice exists to enforce our necessarily human ideas about morality. Why? Because we are human beings living together in something called "society." Society doesn't work without norms re: moral behavior. So many people have demolished every aspect of the claim that we cannot be good or moral without god, that I feel it really does a disservice to theism when theists continue to make statements like these. I did not leave Christianity because I'm gay and just "wanted to sin," a claim I hear sometimes. There are plenty of LGBT-affirming Christian churches I could have joined (and did attend when I was still trying to figure out what I really believed). I explored other religions as well. I left Christianity, religion, and theism altogether because I stopped believing in god and the supernatural, not because I'm some type of immoral person (although the gay part is definitely true so some people are bound to disagree with me on that ).

[alive]

I'm Atheist because no God has told me to be any different...

[DanieltheDragon]

None of these points are even remotely logical


the first one is just flat out sexist. Mothers abuse to don't forget that. Also it seems to elevate the role of a man in the formulation of ones religious or lack there of beliefs. All in all its sexist any which way you look at it. Not to mention statistically unsound. How many parental abusive victims turn to religion as a form of dealing with the trauma?

the rest seem to be typical tripe that is served up with out actually trying to understand anything.


He also left out the 5th reason. THE BIBLE

[Divine Insight]

He also left out the 5th reason. THE BIBLE

That's actually the FIRST and ONLY rational reason required.

Don't even allow him to push that reason down a numbered list!

That's already catering to absurd concessions.

It IS the NUMBER ONE reason.

And it's really the only reason needed.