Every so often when I am
discussing or debating religion
with someone, he or she will tell
me that at one time they were
once an atheist just like I am
now. I even had one person call
himself an “ex-atheist.” I always
found this kind of odd
considering that all Christians
(and even all theists for that
matter) are by definition “ex-
atheists.”
What most Christians don’t
realize is that we are born
without belief in a deity... any
deity. Babies don’t believe in
deities and religions because
they are babies. Their minds have
not yet developed and they can’t
even recognize themselves in a
mirror. They don’t believe in
ghosts or tarot, nor do they
believe in the boogieman, Santa
Claus, or Gods. They are a blank
slate as far as complex beliefs go.
All babies have are instincts and
the nurture of the womb. In
other words, people are born
without the belief in deities. We
are all born atheists.
However, religious indoctrination
starts very early on in most
families and so by the time a
baby can express any kind of
thoughts at all, they have
probably already been
brainwashed to believe in a deity
and/or in some sort of religion.
This is a sad fact about religious
institutions that they can’t even
wait until someone has reached
the age of reason to start
warping young and fragile minds
with indoctrination.
So why do some Christians pull
out the “ex-atheist” card? Well,
one technique in the art of
persuasion is to identify with
your subject. In this case, a
Christian claims to identify with
his or her mark by claiming that
they once didn’t believe in God
and the Bible. The problem with
this is that a simple lack of belief
is all that qualifies one as an
atheist. In other words, a person
who has never thought about
religion is just as much of an
atheist as someone who has
studied the claims of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam and has
researched the Torah, Bible, and
Koran and found that those
belief systems are ridiculous.
Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains
fame is one such person who
frequently uses the “ex-atheist”
card. But I doubt very much that
Kirk Cameron cared about
religion at all before becoming
religious. He almost certainly
didn’t study the claims of religion
with any seriousness or rigor
nor did he look at the history of
Christianity and the Bible before
becoming a fundamentalist
Christian. He probably never
argued with religious believers
and probably never thought
about any of the philosophical
arguments. Yet he still can claim
honestly that he was once an
atheist.
On the other hand, many atheist
activists (i.e. atheists who have
actually studied religion and still
don’t believe) were once
religious. Many were even very
religious and some were even
fundamentalists. These particular
atheists are often very
knowledgeable about their
particular religious sect and so
when they de-convert it really
means something. In other
words, the claim of ex-Christian
may actually carries philosophical
weight while the claim of ex-
atheist is usually pretty much just
meaningless. I know many
Christians will claim this is a
double standard. But the reason
for this double standard is a valid
one and so the ex-atheist
Christians really have no
persuasive ground to stand one.
So when discussing religion with
someone who throws out the
“ex-atheist” card, it is important
to ask them about their former
atheism. How knowledgeable of
an atheist were they? Did they
read and understand the
counter-arguments to religious
belief? Did they debate or discuss
religion with believers when they
were a non-believer? What’s their
“street cred” so to speak?
So the real question here is- were you ever truly an atheist?
P.S: This one is dedicated to the "Bolainos" of this world.

The bible says "with the heart man believeth" . Babies believe in God but wen their reasong "mind" developed they become susceptible to doubtg His exstence.

kambo: The bible says "with the heart man believeth" . Babies believe in God but wen their reasong "mind" developed they become susceptible to doubtg His exstence.

Babies believe in God? Now, this is some "scientifi-biblio-kambolic" discovery ish.