I had wanted to title this confession "my journey into Atheism". But then I felt that this one was going to be more appropriate. As it is, the Atheist I am today did not happen in a day. I went through three different stages of atheism and that process is still continuing. As I describe my journey into becoming the Atheist I am today, I will briefly touch on these three stages.

STAGE ONE
How did I become an atheist the first time? To start with, let me quickly define what Atheism is. Atheism is the lack of belief in God. This is simply what Atheism is. And I will tell you how I first became an atheist. It was a while ago, a young man met a young lady, they fell in love and married. Of course, after a while, she got pregnant. 9 months after this, an Atheist was born! That young man was my father and the young woman was my mother. And yes you guessed it, I was the Atheist they gave birth to. You see, during that period, which comprised the first 12 months of my life, I didn't believe in God; any God for that matter. I was a pure Atheist!

STAGE TWO
This confession may come as a shock to many, but it is true! My second stage of Atheism was due to my parents. Yes, my parents turned me into an Atheist. I was brought up in strict Christian upbringing and soon gave my life to Christ and entered into the then SU movement. During this time, I was taught how God is different from Allah and how Allah is an idol in Mecca. So yes, I didn't believe in Allah and in our local deities like Ogun, Sango and Obatala! You see, Atheism is the lack of belief in the "existence" of a deity. So of one deity or the other, everyone is an Atheist. But I was worse than many others, because I did not believe in Allah, nor in Obatala, nor in Buddha or Krishna. My strict Christian upbringing required it. And so whilst I was a Christian, to all other deities, I was an unbeliever. I didn't believe they "existed"! Of those deities therefore, I was an Atheist!

STAGE THREE
I grew therefore a Christian. And I thought Christians believed in one God. Until I found out that even within Christianity, there were many gods! This is one reason why there are many Christian sects and each one believes the other is in error and going to hell. You see, God is a personality, but also an idea, a concept and a perception. If the name changes will it still be God? I say no. If the definition changes, will it still be the same deity? I think not. And if the perception changes, will it be the same deity? I say no!

That was how I became a full blown Atheist. I began to reject the existence of the Christian gods. I lost belief in the confused god, the vicious god, the greedy for money god, the do-for-me-before-I-do-for-you god, the corruption enabling god, the bloodthirsty irrational god, the man of god (yes that one is a god too), the wear ear ring and go to hell god, etc etc. As different descriptions and definitions of God inherent in my faith became evident to me, I had to decide which God I wanted to believe in and which I wanted to drop. I therefore became an atheist of so many gods within my faith.

This I believe explains why many Christians see me as an atheist. And they are right. Of many of their gods, I am an unbeliever. For example, if your god doesn't bless you unless you bribe him first, I'm sorry, I can't believe in that one. Or if your own sends a devourer after you for missing taxes, (sorry tithe), well, you're not talking about the same God I know. The same goes for the hundreds of gods people peddle in Christianity, these days, too numerous to describe. Once I see we are talking about different deities, I will respectfully reject yours and hold on to mine. My lack of belief in your god therefore, makes me an atheist of your deity!

I believe heaven exists. What it is, I don't know. I doubt its streets are laden with gold, that is rather ostentatious. I doubt it will have large breasted virgins waiting either. That is so depraved. However, I do believe it will be a spiritual plane. Heaven won't be a place for christians, muslims, or any other religion. Only children of God will go there. And I am one of them. Until I transit therefore, I will continue to reject deities that do not make sense to me, whoever is peddling them!

BY:ROLU ADEBOLA

This is #Deep,very Insightful...

MAYOWAAK:
STAGE ONE
How did I become an atheist the first time? To start with, let me quickly define what Atheism is. Atheism is the lack of belief in God. This is simply what Atheism is. And I will tell you how I first became an atheist. It was a while ago, a young man met a young lady, they fell in love and married. Of course, after a while, she got pregnant. 9 months after this, an Atheist was born! That young man was my father and the young woman was my mother. And yes you guessed it, I was the Atheist they gave birth to. You see, during that period, which comprised the first 12 months of my life, I didn't believe in God; any God for that matter. I was a pure Atheist!

At first I thought this might be an interesting read, but unsurprisingly(like most atheists who do nothing but worship dawkins, rather than do some actual thinking) you disappoint me by asserting the bolded, so I just stopped reading at this paragraph and would read no further. If you demonstrate a lack of understanding of the very basic fundamentals of any philosphy, how could you possibly get the other, more advanced parts right?? Impossible.

To correct you, No one is born an atheist. It's not possible. Atheism is a philosophy which people decide to follow after doing some serious questioning of life problems and assumptions. It follows a process of serious critical thinking and challenges in logic, spirituality, morality and general nature of reality. Tell me, which of these things did you do as a baby? As a baby you didn't even know the difference between poo and food, difference between clean and dirty, difference between up and down, nor right and wrong. Babies rank below retards because retards have better intelligence than these. Are you telling us that all it takes to be an atheist is an i.di0t??

okeyxyz:

At first I thought this might be an interesting read, but unsurprisingly(like most atheists who do nothing but worship dawkins, rather than do some actual thinking) you disappoint me by asserting the bolded, so I just stopped reading at this paragraph and would read no further. If you demonstrate a lack of understanding of the very basic fundamentals of any philosphy, how could you possibly get the other, more advanced parts right?? Impossible.

To correct you, No one is born an atheist. It's not possible. Atheism is a philosophy which people decide to follow after doing some serious questioning of life problems and assumptions. It follows a process of serious critical thinking and challenges in logic, spirituality, morality and general nature of reality. Tell me, which of these things did you do as a baby? As a baby you didn't even know the difference between poo and food, difference between clean and dirty, difference between up and down, nor right and wrong. Babies rank below retards because retards have better intelligence than these. Are you telling us that all it takes to be an atheist is an i.di0t??

In as much as I would love to blast and bash you for this comment..... I cant help but admit that you're right in a sense.......

okeyxyz:

At first I thought this might be an interesting read, but unsurprisingly(like most atheists who do nothing but worship dawkins, rather than do some actual thinking) you disappoint me by asserting the bolded, so I just stopped reading at this paragraph and would read no further. If you demonstrate a lack of understanding of the very basic fundamentals of any philosphy, how could you possibly get the other, more advanced parts right?? Impossible.

To correct you, No one is born an atheist. It's not possible. Atheism is a philosophy which people decide to follow after doing some serious questioning of life problems and assumptions. It follows a process of serious critical thinking and challenges in logic, spirituality, morality and general nature of reality. Tell me, which of these things did you do as a baby? As a baby you didn't even know the difference between poo and food, difference between clean and dirty, difference between up and down, nor right and wrong. Babies rank below retards because retards have better intelligence than these. Are you telling us that all it takes to be an atheist is an i.di0t??

See xtian brain.

Yes babies do know the difference between poo and food because as soon as they come out, they go straight for their mother's breast for food. They don't go to her bottom. Maybe xtian babies do but normal babies dont.
They know the difference between clean and dirty. If you put your baby in a dirty place it will be uncomfortable but they sleep soundly and are happy in a clean environment.
They know the difference between up and down. Babies are tested for reflexes and they instinctively try to catch themselves or something if they are about to fall down. Normal babies do. I don't know about xtian babies.
Finally, they know the difference between right and wrong. Not your definition of right and wrong but their own definition. They know it's right to cry to mummy when they are hungry and they know that it is wrong to get carried away by a stranger which is why they wail when it happens.

okeyxyz:

At first I thought this might be an interesting read, but unsurprisingly(like most atheists who do nothing but worship dawkins, rather than do some actual thinking) you disappoint me by asserting the bolded, so I just stopped reading at this paragraph and would read no further. If you demonstrate a lack of understanding of the very basic fundamentals of any philosphy, how could you possibly get the other, more advanced parts right?? Impossible.

To correct you, No one is born an atheist. It's not possible. Atheism is a philosophy which people decide to follow after doing some serious questioning of life problems and assumptions. It follows a process of serious critical thinking and challenges in logic, spirituality, morality and general nature of reality. Tell me, which of these things did you do as a baby? As a baby you didn't even know the difference between poo and food, difference between clean and dirty, difference between up and down, nor right and wrong. Babies rank below retards because retards have better intelligence than these. Are you telling us that all it takes to be an atheist is an i.di0t??

You are also i.diot for not believing in Allah cos that also makes you an atheist to the Muslims.

Logicboy03:
In as much as I would love to blast and bash you for this comment..... I cant help but admit that you're right in a sense.......

From you, I'll cherish any compliment and take it to the bank. Aint easy agreeing with an enemy. At least you make an effort to live up to your name.

Alfa Seltzer:

See xtian brain.

Yes babies do know the difference between poo and food because as soon as they come out, they go straight for their mother's breast for food. They don't go to her bottom. Maybe xtian babies do but normal babies dont.
They know the difference between clean and dirty. If you put your baby in a dirty place it will be uncomfortable but they sleep soundly and are happy in a clean environment.
They know the difference between up and down. Babies are tested for reflexes and they instinctively try to catch themselves or something if they are about to fall down. Normal babies do. I don't know about xtian babies.
Finally, they know the difference between right and wrong. Not your definition of right and wrong but their own definition. They know it's right to cry to mummy when they are hungry and they know that it is wrong to get carried away by a stranger which is why they wail when it happens.

Chaii!! See logic
@logicboy, @plateon, @weigraf, etc must be deeply embarrassed to have you identify as an atheist like themselves too. LWKMD

2good:
You are also i.diot for not believing in Allah cos that also makes you an atheist to the Muslims.

You, I can safely assume are also a "baby atheist". You seem to have the same level of understanding as the OP.

okeyxyz:

At first I thought this might be an interesting read, but unsurprisingly(like most atheists who do nothing but worship dawkins, rather than do some actual thinking) you disappoint me by asserting the bolded, so I just stopped reading at this paragraph and would read no further. If you demonstrate a lack of understanding of the very basic fundamentals of any philosphy, how could you possibly get the other, more advanced parts right?? Impossible.

To correct you, No one is born an atheist. It's not possible. Atheism is a philosophy which people decide to follow after doing some serious questioning of life problems and assumptions. It follows a process of serious critical thinking and challenges in logic, spirituality, morality and general nature of reality. Tell me, which of these things did you do as a baby? As a baby you didn't even know the difference between poo and food, difference between clean and dirty, difference between up and down, nor right and wrong. Babies rank below retards because retards have better intelligence than these. Are you telling us that all it takes to be an atheist is an i.di0t??

This is hilarious in so many ways.
You admitted that you did not finish reading the Op , yet you felt competent to add scatting remarks about the post which you did not read?
Is that ignorance or arrogance?

If you had bothered to read the full post, perhaps you would have been the wiser for it.

Everything the Op said makes perfect sense.

It is quite true that we have quite a narrow definition of atheism simply because most or all professed atheists were former adherents of the Abrahamic religions.

Every religious belief I had were from my parents. I did not have time to evaluate and formulate my own thought or beliefs.
It is later on our lives that we re-evaluate the beliefs that had been pushed down our throats and choose whether to retain them or jettison them like a bad habit.

If the true definition of atheism is one who does not hold a belief in a supernatural deity, then all newcomers to our world, whether babies , or aliens, lol, are atheists until they are dipped into the pool of religious belief.
Even the Vatican has worked out a protocol for converting aliens to Catholicism, if and when we make contact.

Another good point the Op was making is that Christians, Moslems, etc are all partially atheists as well.
When A Christian rejects the belief in Allah, Sango, Amadioha, the FSM, etc, he is being atheistic regarding these accepted deities of other religions.

And lastly,
Please be corrected that atheism is not a philosophical proposition.
It is simply a disbelief in a deity.
The Op did not come here to write about philosophy, so expecting him to abide by some obscure rules of philosophy is nonsensical.

#team atheist. your heart is ur God.

okeyxyz:

You, I can safely assume are also a "baby atheist". You seem to have the same level of understanding as the OP.

I would have called you an eediot but will just forgive your ignorance because it is a product of your backward superstitious country where people pray for d most basic problem that the western world have solved. You guys are still in the dark age.

Every child is born without knowledge-agnostic.

plaetton:

This is hilarious in so many ways.
You admitted that you did not finish reading the Op , yet you felt competent to add remarks about the post which you did not read?
Is that ignorance or arrogance?

If you had bothered to read the full post, perhaps you would have been the wiser for it.

Everything the Op said makes perfect sense.

It is quite true that we have quite a narrow definition of atheism simply because most or all professed atheists were former adherents of the Abrahamic religions.

Every religious belief I had were from my parents. I did not have time to evaluate and formulate my own thought or beliefs.
It is later on our lives that we re-evaluate the beliefs that had been pushed down our throats and choose whether to retain them or jettison them like a bad habit.

If the true definition of atheism is one who does not hold a belief in a supernatural deity, then all newcomers to our world, whether babies , or aliens, lol, are atheists until they are dipped into the pool of religious belief.
Even the Vatican has worked out a protocol for converting aliens to Catholicism, if and when we make contact.

Another good point the Op was making is that Christians, Moslems, etc are all partially atheists as well.
When A Christian rejects the belief in Allah, Sango, Amadioha, the FSM, etc, he is being atheistic regarding these accepted deities of other religions.

And lastly,
Please be corrected that atheism is not a philosophical proposition.
It is simply a disbelief in a deity.
The Op did not come here to write about philosophy, so expecting him to abide by some obscure rules of philosophy is nonsensical.

Firstly, every logic, institution, system, discipline, anything that makes sense is built precept upon precept, line upon line, principle upon principle...

If the OP's most basic concept of atheism(ie: I was born an atheist..) is totally flawed, then I'd be a f00l to want to hear more of what he has to say. It's simple, a baby cannot be an atheist. Can this atheist baby defend his position? can he put forward an argument? Does he even know what God is?? When somebody asks me: "Do you believe in gbishgbashgbosh?", I'd be like "huh?? what the f@@k is gbishgbashgbosh??", So also it is absolute gibberish(in fact worse than gibberish) to a baby the concept of "Good.", let alone God. Besides eating, sh1tting, crying and sleeping, what else does a baby possibly know?? A baby atheist?? Like I said before, I'd rather discus rocket science and quantum physics with a re.tard than make sense of a baby atheist. chai!! Wonders shall never end


So when your parents indoctrinated you with christianity or whatever, At least it made some moral, spiritual/religious sense. For you to have dropped these belief systems took an intelligent effort to come to that position of rejecting the things you now consider to be invalid. So your position now is an opinion your can argue for, defend and demonstrate to your own satisfaction, these attributes a baby cannot have. A baby simply has no moral/philosophical/logical identity.

There's no such thing as partial atheist. Atheism is simply the lack of belief in deities and this definition covers pretty much all deities. For you to believe in any deity at all, then that makes you a theist, the opposite of atheist.

And lastly,
Please be corrected that atheism is not a philosophical proposition.
It is simply a disbelief in a deity.

shooo?? It seems I'd have to cross your name out from the list of confirmed atheists. How can you believe/disbelieve anything if you don't have any idea of what is being proposed(ie: God) in this first place? How can a baby disbelieve if he doesn't even know who he is(I mean the baby), what he is, where he is, let alone God himself. These are all philosophical ventures. There cannot be a belief/disbelief without questioning and some form of answers. Bros, you are losing it...

Waoh is all i have to contribute after reading through.

@ do u believe in miracle and magic?

@okeyxyz,
You are so wrong. Disbelieving something that is not self-evident
does not require an explanation.
In math, one is required to prove a = b with the given variables.
I have never come across any mathematical paper where one was required to prove a negative, or that A is not equal to B.

I used tell my young child that I could turn into a Lion, and, she believed me simply out of Faith.
After having not ever seen me turn into a Lion, she began to question the veracity of my claim by demanding to see me turn into an actual lion.
Eventually, she stopped believing.

So, should I now demand from her, a philosophical treatise to explain her simple disbelief?

plaetton: @okeyxyz,
You are so wrong. Disbelieving something that is not self-evident
does not require an explanation.
In math, one is required to prove a = b with the given variables.
I have never come across any mathematical paper where one was required to prove a negative, or that A is not equal to B.

I used tell my young child that I could turn into a Lion, and, she believed me simply out of Faith.
After having not ever seen me turn into a Lion, she began to question the veracity of my claim by demanding to see me turn into an actual lion.
Eventually, she stopped believing.

So, should I now demand from her, a philosophical treatise to explain her simple disbelief?

Nobody is requiring you to prove a negative(whatever that means). To prove or disprove a concept, you must understand what this concept claims or proposes to be, then you weigh this assumptions/claims against some valid logic system. So what logic system can you attribute to a baby by which it can believe or disbelieve a God? Atheists don't believe in God but they understand what we mean when we say God, and this is why we are debating, a proposal we both understand but one considers possible and the other considers impossible. You cannot debate what you are not familiar with in conversation or in experience or whatever. The reason your young daughter does not believe you can turn to a lion is as a result of some logic system she has bulit up over time and uses to judge a truthful claim from a false claim. What logic system does a baby have? At least your daughter knows who you are, know you are human, knows what a lion is and knows that both species bears no relationship that can lead to one producing or turning into the other. A baby on the other hand does not even know it is human, does not know what a lion is, let alone the relationship between a lion and man. Ultimately "atheist baby" is the silliest concept I'd ever heard in my life.

So this logic system by which we judge truth from falsehood is our philosophy.

^^^So you saying that people that have never heard the concept of god cannot be called atheists?

@okexyz,
Once again, you are soooo wrong.

No Christian in NL or in the world, for that matter, believes that god is concept.

I dare you to suggest that to your fellow theists here on Nl.
In fact, I am the one who has been suggesting and debating that with theists here.
All Christians believe god to be fact, not a concept.
Intelligent design might be rightly called a concept, the basic belief in the existence of god is seen as a bona fide fact for a religious person.

My daughter did not have to go through any exercise in logic. Th e simple fact was that she had not seen me turn into a lion. Likewise, an atheist who has not seen, heard or touched god owes you no philosophical treatise to explain or justify his lack of belief.

If everyone agreed that god was a concept, then, my friend, we would all be living in a totally different world right now.

Alfa Seltzer: ^^^So you saying that people that have never heard the concept of god cannot be called atheists?

^^^ Exactly.

Babies are even miles below this category.

@Okeyxyz

Babies aren't born believing in God any more than they are born believing in Father Christmas. It's their parents and society that fill their heads with that nonsense. If nobody tells a kid about Father Christmas, then he won't believe in him. It's the same with Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, Krishna, Sango and Thor.

If atheists are people who don't believe in God, and babies don't believe, then babies are atheists. QED.

It doesn't matter you are able to reason out your lack of belief. It may surprise to you that not all atheists are smart or articulate. It doesn't even matter if you are aware of the fictional nonsense other people believe. The only prerequisite is that you don't believe in any such fictional nonsense. Babies don't, therefore they are atheists. At least until they start assimilating the bullshït their parents inevitably feed them.

Edit: Didn't see your last few posts. It seems that your argument is based on changing the definition of atheism. Well since you're not the custodian and arbiter of the English language, I put it to you that you're not allowed to do that. The definition stays the same, babies are atheists.

I thank the OP for this post. The OP speaks intelligently and displays a sense of humour.
I generally hold in esteem, all positions and ideas, and expect others to extend same to me.
Go for it!

I don't think anyone is born an atheist or theist. You will have to know about a thing to even deny or accept its authenticity.
More like saying a person who is yet to hear Pidgin English spoken is against the language.

Reyginus: I don't think anyone is born an atheist or theist. You will have to know about a thing to even deny or accept its authenticity.
More like saying a person who is yet to hear Pidgin English spoken is against the language.

First and second sentence correct but....



Wrong analogy.....

A baby is an agnostic out of ignorance. He doesnt know and can not know God.


This is why I have moved my postion to say that at best, a baby is an agnostic but out of ignorance- the baby holds no opinion of the existence of God. A baby isnt born an atheist

Reyginus: I don't think anyone is born an atheist or theist. You will have to know about a thing to even deny or accept its authenticity.
More like saying a person who is yet to hear Pidgin English spoken is against the language.

You guys still don't get it. Atheism is not being against religion. There's Satanism for that. Atheism means non-belief in your bullshit. Neither for nor against. Just doesn't believe.

Logicboy03:


First and second sentence correct but....



Wrong analogy.....

A baby is an agnostic out of ignorance. He doesnt know and can not know God.


This is why I have moved my postion to say that at best, a baby is an agnostic but out of ignorance- the baby holds no opinion of the existence of God. A baby isnt born an atheist

Alfa Seltzer:

Neither is the baby born a satanist.....go sacrifice some goats

Logicboy03:


First and second sentence correct but....



Wrong analogy.....

A baby is an agnostic out of ignorance. He doesnt know and can not know God.


This is why I have moved my postion to say that at best, a baby is an agnostic but out of ignorance- the baby holds no opinion of the existence of God. A baby isnt born an atheist

What's wrong with the second statement?

Reyginus: What's wrong with the second statement?

Dont bother....we are saying the same thing....sorry

Alfa Seltzer:

You guys still don't get it. Atheism is not being against religion. There's Satanism for that. Atheism means non-belief in your bullshit. Neither for nor against. Just doesn't believe.

Lol. In your hasty attempt to redeem yourself and put me in the wrong, you ended up confusing yourself.
Atheism as we know it, holds that there is no God.
There has to be an argument that there is God for this position to be possible.
In other for atheism to exist there has to be an argument for a deity.
Can there be an awareness opposing a concept that doesn't exist or palpated?

Logicboy03:


Dont bother....we are saying the same thing....sorry

Okay.

Reyginus: Lol. In your hasty attempt to redeem yourself and put me in the wrong, you ended up confusing yourself.
Atheism as we know it, holds that there is no God.
There has to be an argument that there is God for this position to be possible.
In other for atheism to exist there has to be an argument for a deity.
Can there be an awareness opposing a concept that doesn't exist or palpated?

You still fail with the bolded. Atheism doesn't oppose you. Satanism does.