Note: This is not meant to be a debate.......




Hello to all atheists of Nland,




I was wondering if you guys could share some stories of how you became atheists or what made you convert to atheism and what makes you think it is the right belief.............




Second Note: Please all theists and religious people should bear with them and do not insult if they mention anything contrary to your belief.......

There have been threads like this one. Here's the most recent one I can recall: https://www.nairaland.com/1855866/why-atheist

My post on that thread:

finofaya:
I am agnostic cos I haven't seen any good reason to believe in God. Especially Jehovah and Allah. Those two are just ridiculous.

Most of the questions that lead to the issue of God can be answered without positing God. And even the ones that are answered by invoking God are not correctly answered, since God himself, if he is anything like us, will have to ask the same questions again. For instance, if we can't be moral without God, then what is the source of God's morality?

Also, given the state of the world today, any God that does exist is either not as nice as he is being made out to be or he is just not interested in our affairs. Either way, I haven't seen anything that suggests that he is a personal God, so he is of no consequence.

Lastly, I am agnostic cos I enjoy the company of other infidels.

Edit: I realised posting that link alone does not exactly serve the purpose of your thread, so here's my tuppence.

I understand..... But what if things happen for a purpose?

lordnicklaus:
I understand..... But what if things happen for a purpose?

They always do. Cause and effect.

lordnicklaus:
Note: This is not meant to be a debate.......




Hello to all atheists of Nland,




I was wondering if you guys could share some stories of how you became atheists or what made you convert to atheism and what makes you think it is the right belief.............




Second Note: Please all theists and religious people should bear with them and do not insult if they mention anything contrary to your belief.......

First of all, people are not converted to atheism, because, secondly, it not a belief system.

We are colonized by religion long before we can even articulate our own thoughts.

Let's just say that for some people, it's easier to unchain the shackles of religious colonization more than it is for others.

It's simply a battle of of the rational side of your brain against the irrational side.
That is essentially what religiosity and atheism represent, irrational worldview vs rational worldview.

WARNING: Quite long.

It was a journey. It started when I was 14 and by 16, I was an agnostic atheist.

As a child, my parents encouraged a very strong reading culture in me and my siblings, we had wildlife, medical and general science encyclopedias, a massive Chamber's dictionary, a (now outdated) guide to the nations of the world, a pocketbook on the internet (this was around the late 90's and early 00's), and a shitload of business books.

I have always enjoyed learning about wildlife and the universe. After a while, I found it difficult to reconcile science with what the Bible says, for example, 'if the world is truly young, how did dinosaurs live before man' and 'if the world is actually old, that makes that particular part Bible allegorical, so what other parts of the Bible are allegorical'. I tried to find answers by reading through different websites of Christian apologetics, and although their explanations weren't totally convincing, I always told myself that was what faith was all about, so I HAD to believe.

As we grew older, our home gradually became a very devout household (although my siblings and I were less enthusiastic). I never quite mastered the art of playing sports, so I spent most of my leisure time watching TV and reading books - including the Bible. I read the Catholic Bible, the KJV, the NIV, the RSV, TEV, and the New World Translation. Trying to improve myself, I read 'Our Daily Bread, Word of the Day, Rhapsody of Realities, and rather reluctantly, Open Heavens (I've always found it a bit dull and wordy).

I drew comparisons between the beliefs of different Christian denominations and pentecostal churches, but never really saw how the denomination and church my parents picked were better than some of the others. The actions, and utterances of respected men of God were full of deceit that the people bought wholesale.

We even had a prophet who told us stuff and weird shi,t like that, but never seemed to know things that had any real impact on the world. One day, I decided to find out why scientists preferred evolution over creation; I was shocked to find all the overwhelming evidence in support of it. I then decided to read the Bible while sidelining all my personal biases, I saw that didn't hold up to reality, and that it had a very primitive and questionable morality (why would God kill gays if he made them that way? why would he endorse slavery? hy try to make it seem like females are somehow inferior? why are time and place such major factors in determining religion?), all the prior knowledge I had about it's history, the discord between the gospels and so on, that I had been putting in a hidden compartment in my brain suddenly became clear to me.

I realized that it was man made.

I then began observing the world in an unbiased manner, the religious Africa, Middle East, and to a lesser extent: South America are among some of the worst to live in the world. I would see people fall down during prayer but would stand my ground when the pastor is basically trying to push my head back while applying pressure to my temple, my observations finally gave me the courage to perform my final test, the prophet. She is a good friend to the family, if she found out I was testing her, it would have all come down on me, hard.

So I asked to tell me about a friend, someone who I completely made up. She told me that he was going to make me unserious.

I chuckled.

So that's my (long) story of deconversion.

CoolUsername:
WARNING: Quite long.

It was a journey. It started when I was 14 and by 16, I was an agnostic atheist.

Nice story. I actually found it too short for my taste. I would have liked you to go into more details

Thanks

The Mary and Joseph story had a big part in it. The more I read, the more I felt like the authors were testing my Intelligence. Imagine a wife telling her husband that god impregnated her.

When you have a personal relationship with the creator , you won't ask unnecessary questions or logically reason anything . That's a fact which eludes the atheist .

Its only on Nairaland that I engage in exegesis . Outside here its God and I .

Trust me the comments that will be rolling in would be mostly on issues with bible stories . Just watch closely

LoJ:

Nice story. I actually found it too short for my taste. I would have liked you to go into more details

Thanks

Must have been an error, the full post should be on display now.

KingEbukasBlog:
When you have a personal relationship with the creator , you won't ask unnecessary questions or logically reason anything . That's a fact which eludes the atheist .

Its only on Nairaland that I engage in exegesis . Outside here its God and I .

Trust me the comments that will be rolling in would be mostly on issues with bible stories . Just watch closely

Lmao... "bible stories.. " the same stories you used to define your "god and I "...the same stories that you claim eludes canal minds. The same stories you interpret to mean what YOU say, not want we read... Those stories..... I hail ohhh

GooseBaba:


Lmao... "bible stories.. " the same stories you used to define your "god and I "...the same stories that you claim eludes canal minds. The same stories you interpret to mean what YOU say, not want we read... Those stories..... I hail ohhh

I no talk am . All of you practiced the Religion and never focused on developing a relationship with God . That's why God described people who do not acknowledge His existence as fools .

CoolUsername:


Must have been an error, the full post should be on display now.

No that's the post I read.

In fact, when you said long, I was preparing to read a nice long post, as I love reading, especially on such themes.

KingEbukasBlog:


I no talk am . All of you practiced the Religion and never focused on developing a relationship with God . That's why God described people who do not acknowledge His existence as fools .

Where did "God" describe this people?

@OP....

There's no one incident that made anyone leave a religion/denomination or becomes an atheist. Things must be happening that they keep making excuses for. Gradually they start pulling back. And then they just say fuvk it...am done!

KingEbukasBlog:
When you have a personal relationship with the creator , you won't ask unnecessary questions or logically reason anything . That's a fact which eludes the atheist .

OK, God revealed himself to u? Nice.... Till he reveals himself to me.... Atheist for life.

KingEbukasBlog:


I no talk am . All of you practiced the Religion and never focused on developing a relationship with God . That's why God described people who do not acknowledge His existence as fools .

Your dumb God calls people who don't believe in him fools even after choosing to hide for ages yet he only uses the foolish things to reveal himself. He hates the wise and calls their wisdom filthy rag.

What a confused God.

WE ARE ALL ATHIEST TILL SOMEONE STARTED TELLING US LIES!!!

Weah96:
The Mary and Joseph story had a big part in it. The more I read, the more I felt like the authors were testing my Intelligence. Imagine a wife telling her husband that god impregnated her.

Yeah man. When an pastor raise a prayer point. Let's pray for Israel ..Praying for Israel really got me asking questions. Do they pray for Nigeria..

Shina Rambo is giving us sleepless night and pastor say make we pray for Israel.

CoolUsername:
WARNING: Quite long.

It was a journey. It started when I was 14 and by 16, I was an agnostic atheist.

As a child, my parents encouraged a very strong reading culture in me and my siblings, we had wildlife, medical and general science encyclopedias, a massive Chamber's dictionary, a (now outdated) guide to the nations of the world, a pocketbook on the internet (this was around the late 90's and early 00's), and a shitload of business books.

I have always enjoyed learning about wildlife and the universe. After a while, I found it difficult to reconcile science with what the Bible says, for example, 'if the world is truly young, how did dinosaurs live before man' and 'if the world is actually old, that makes that particular part Bible allegorical, so what other parts of the Bible are allegorical'. I tried to find answers by reading through different websites of Christian apologetics, and although their explanations weren't totally convincing, I always told myself that was what faith was all about, so I HAD to believe.

As we grew older, our home gradually became a very devout household (although my siblings and I were less enthusiastic). I never quite mastered the art of playing sports, so I spent most of my leisure time watching TV and reading books - including the Bible. I read the Catholic Bible, the KJV, the NIV, the RSV, TEV, and the New World Translation. Trying to improve myself, I read 'Our Daily Bread, Word of the Day, Rhapsody of Realities, and rather reluctantly, Open Heavens (I've always found it a bit dull and wordy).

I drew comparisons between the beliefs of different Christian denominations and pentecostal churches, but never really saw how the denomination and church my parents picked were better than some of the others. The actions, and utterances of respected men of God were full of deceit that the people bought wholesale.

We even had a prophet who told us stuff and weird shi,t like that, but never seemed to know things that had any real impact on the world. One day, I decided to find out why scientists preferred evolution over creation; I was shocked to find all the overwhelming evidence in support of it. I then decided to read the Bible while sidelining all my personal biases, I saw that didn't hold up to reality, and that it had a very primitive and questionable morality (why would God kill gays if he made them that way? why would he endorse slavery? hy try to make it seem like females are somehow inferior? why are time and place such major factors in determining religion?), all the prior knowledge I had about it's history, the discord between the gospels and so on, that I had been putting in a hidden compartment in my brain suddenly became clear to me.

I realized that it was man made.

I then began observing the world in an unbiased manner, the religious Africa, Middle East, and to a lesser extent: South America are among some of the worst to live in the world. I would see people fall down during prayer but would stand my ground when the pastor is basically trying to push my head back while applying pressure to my temple, my observations finally gave me the courage to perform my final test, the prophet. She is a good friend to the family, if she found out I was testing her, it would have all come down on me, hard.

So I asked to tell me about a friend, someone who I completely made up. She told me that he was going to make me unserious.

I chuckled.

So that's my (long) story of deconversion.

I had a similar background. My parents are avid readers and we always had books around the house (my pop still reads 5 books concurrently). My mum (though she is quite religious in her later years) always brought back books, art works (my siblings and I broke quite a lot of figurines in our youth but that didn't stop me from reading about it) and brochures of other cultures from her travels (she kept a whole parlor specially filled with foreign arts.) By the time I was 10 I knew much about Japan, for example than the average Nigerian (I remember once there was an expo my mum had us attend on Japanese culture in the early 90s held at the Sharks Stadium in PH, being an inquisitive being I read a lot about Japan). With time I was reading books that were considered demonic (in religious terms) but it made a lot of sense (still enlightening). My late Grandpa although a staunch member of the Anglican church (he was a priest) had the English translation of the Koran and I read it back to back (no pun intended).
I believe the younger generation (am in my 30s) would be more rational in time with the advent of the internet. My generation was not that lucky. Knowledge is key and they have all the tools to succeed. They just need steering towards the right generation.

Weah96:
The Mary and Joseph story had a big part in it. The more I read, the more I felt like the authors were testing my Intelligence. Imagine a wife telling her husband that god impregnated her.

Once I found out that the creationist version of the beginning of life started to get comma, na so I start to dey doubt. I mean if a supposed infallible book starts having comma at the beginning, common sense tells you to read the rest with a pinch of salt. Another reason that started my path towards atheism was the question 'what if'. I asked myself what if I was born as a Muslim, for example and was totally enmeshed in it, I mean my whole family where muslim and 'Allah' was blessing us well and never lacked anything, if a christian came to preach about Jesus, would I ever believe him? I was born a Christian and that was my line of thinking 'what if I was born a muslim, would I believe in what Christianity says'? Gradually I became agnostic, which became a waste time. Its either your pro god or not. It was just recently, in fact Nairaland and Plaetton and his crew that got me reading works from atheists. Two years ago I didn't even know who the hell was Dawkins, Bennett or Hitchens were. Na for nairaland I started to know about them but I had been atheist for years without actually thinking I was atheist (I didn't even know there was a word for that). Natural selection, I guess.

lordnicklaus:
Note: This is not meant to be a debate.......




Hello to all atheists of Nland,




I was wondering if you guys could share some stories of how you became atheists or what made you convert to atheism and what makes you think it is the right belief.............




Second Note: Please all theists and religious people should bear with them and do not insult if they mention anything contrary to your belief.......

The bolded is fundamentally a wrong representation of atheism. There is no particular believe system induced by atheism.

Basically, I had been a skeptic even when i was a theist. I can't remotely say what changed my mind but i remember going through a Facebook post that was specifically talking about how to challenge your beliefs to know whether it worth holding let alone believing it very strongly.

Since there are millions, if not billions of spurious believes people being hold around the world and possibly, my own maybe one of them. The article further said that the best way to know what's true is to start searching for ideas, evident and logical syllogism that will disprove such belief rather than looking for stuffs that will prove it.

My rejection of theistic claims didn't took a gradual process but an instantaneous one because i had been doubting stuffs despite hugely being indoctrinated from my childhood. I later on got grip of Richard Dawkins book "the god delusion", there was this immediate bye bye to religious incoherency and bogus claims.

Finally am a happy hardcore atheist and it still amazes me how I could ever break away from religious mind control dependency. Living my life very happily and gaining more knowledge about reality rather fantasies.

menesheh:



The bolded is fundamentally a wrong representation of atheism. There is no particular believe system induced by atheism.

Basically, I had been a skeptic even when i was a theist. I can't remotely say what changed my mind but i remember going through a Facebook post that was specifically talking about how to challenge your beliefs to know whether it worth holding let alone believing it very strongly.

Since there are millions, if not billions of spurious believes people being hold around the world and possibly, my own maybe one of them. The article further said that the best way to know what's true is to start searching for ideas, evident and logical syllogism that will disprove such belief rather than looking for stuffs that will prove it.

My rejection of theistic claims didn't took a gradual process but an instantaneous one because i had been doubting stuffs despite hugely being indoctrinated from my childhood. I later on got grip of Richard Dawkins book "the god delusion", there was this immediate bye bye to religious incoherency and bogus claims.

Finally am a happy hardcore atheist and it still amazes me how I could ever break away from religious mind control dependency. Living my life very happily and gaining more knowledge about reality rather fantasies.

So Dawkins was the Pope for you?

scarred9jan:


Once I found out that the creationist version of the beginning of life started to get comma, na so I start to dey doubt.

What is the comma in "the creationist version"?

Secondly, is the creationist worldview limited to the Bible?

Thirdly, what is the credible alternative to the creationist worldview?

Lilbrown007:
WE ARE ALL ATHIEST TILL SOMEONE STARTED TELLING US LIES!!!

Speaking with History and Global Culture in mind, is it really the default natural inclination of mankind not to believe in a creator, originator or supreme being?

Weah96:
The Mary and Joseph story had a big part in it. The more I read, the more I felt like the authors were testing my Intelligence. Imagine a wife telling her husband that god impregnated her.

Is the creationist view unique to or exclusively derived from stories from the bible?

In particular, what does the story of the virgin birth have to do with the Creationist view as against an atheistic view?

plaetton:


First of all, people are not converted to atheism, because, secondly, it not a belief system.

We are colonized by religion long before we can even articulate our own thoughts.

Let's just say that for some people, it's easier to unchain the shackles of religious colonization more than it is for others.

It's simply a battle of of the rational side of your brain against the irrational side.
That is essentially what religiosity and atheism represent, irrational worldview vs rational worldview.

How is being religious irrational and how is being atheist rational?

Can you show the specific thought development that leads one to atheism such that you can sustain the claim that atheism represents rationality?

Is religion limited to imported religion?

Funny, someone thinks he's more rational by ditching a position that tells you you were creates to accepting one that says you came from ape ancestors. I think it best they sleep with the fishes. They are already doing that.

UyiIredia:
Funny, someone thinks he's more rational by ditching a position that tells you you were creates to accepting one that says you came from ape ancestors. I think it best they sleep with the fishes. They are already doing that.

Reading this post just reduced my IQ by 2 points.

DeepSight:


Is the creationist view unique to or exclusively derived from stories from the bible?

In particular, what does the story of the virgin birth have to do with the Creationist view as against an atheistic view?

I was a believer. The story was an indication that the book couldn't be inerrant. If the Bible is not inerrant, then there's no point to it. After all, It was written by the infinity infinity boss of all knowledge.

My obsession with god and religion led me down the path of atheism. I became born again at an early age and my life began to revolve around religious stuff. I had religious meetings to attend almost throughout the week. I also began to read the bible and lots of religious books. Some of these books introduced me to men like Voltaire and Gibbon, who were portrayed in bad light.

As I read the bible daily, I began to have problems. God seemed so malevolent and regarded malevolent humans as dear servants of his. He also clearly showed favouritism. I sympathized with several people killed by God in the bible. I began to get perplexed as it became clear that god did things I couldn't do, and I was supposed to be totally depraved and he infinitely good. Also, I began getting worried about prayer. It didn't work. It was hard to admit, but I later summoned up the courage to admit this. I began to think, "look at the world. would it be any different if there were no god?" As far as I saw, the world seemed devoid of god. Things were ordinary. Nothing special or supernatural in everyday life. I then concluded that there was no god in my own life. I called myself agnostic. I thought atheism was too extreme. With time, I realized that my agnosticism meant atheism. I didn't believe because I didn't know.

So, that's my story in brief.