Evolutionist

I would call myself a life long atheist. When I was too young to think about god and religion, I had a general apathy towards the whole subject. I used to sing hymns at school assembly, along with the lords prayer and all the rest of it, but it was mostly because it was pretty much expected of us, and I didn't care enough about it to worry.

When I was in my mid-teens, I started to think about it, and visited LOADS of atheist, free thought, humanist websites, along with a huge amount of Christian websites- from the hard-core conservative Christians to the more liberal ones. Basically I went from apathy to:

"Lol, you've got to be joking, you want me to believe THAT?!"

And have been a strong atheist ever since.

I�ve noticed many here are ex-Christians, and was wondering if their views on Christianity carry any more weight- due to them experiencing it first hand. Obviously I can't comment on what its like to walk into a church congregation whilst they are talking gibberish, so can't really respond to tongues threads etc- I could offer an opinion, but that�s all it would be.

So, I�m asking for general opinions- do the views etc of ex-theists carry more weight than those of life-long atheists?

Heathen Dawn

It offers insight into what makes theists tick. You develop immunity that way, and you're better equipped to deconvert them.

-- Heathen Dawn, ex-religious-Jew, ex-young-earth-creationist

Evolutionist

hey dawn- yes, i know of your past om here, you're relatively infamous for the conversion. irrational fear of death wasn't it? pleased to meet you.

anyways, the experience i've got is discussing the issue with many christians on forums and chat rooms etc... a rather sad hobby of mine. although, i've never learnt anything about the bible from a conservative christian- all my knowledge has come from liberal and non-christian sources. in here is actually an excellent place to learn stuff.

this is about the level of replies i get from conservative people on forums...

Mageth

I would say that the weight of a view depends upon the view and not the background of the person holding it.

That said, being an ex-theist, I reckon there's aspects of Religion that it's easier for me to understand and talk about than it would be for some "lifelong Atheist." And the fact that I'm an ex-theist may sometimes come in handy in discussions with theists, e.g. when they start accusing atheists of things such as having never considered the evidence or making statements like "if you only read the Bible, sought God, asked Him to show you the truth, yada yada, you would believe too."

Edited to add: Evolutionist, that's another example of a Theist argument that being an ex-xian may provide some leverage against.

And this is my 9000th friggin' post!

Heathen Dawn

No, that was a secondary conversion. The reason, however, is the same: fear of death, as you say. I was born an atheist, and in the years 1997-9 (two years) was an Orthodox Jewish fundamentalist theist. I then came back to atheism. A short period ago, when SARS broke out, I retreated to faith once again - a sort of New Age Deism, with the afterlife being the main focus. Finally I came back to my senses and decided things can't be true just because I wishfully believed in them. So I came back again to the rational, evidential position - atheism.

Either way, I learnt a lot from the process. In my conversion to Orthodox Judaism I was taken in by the Design Argument, mainly because I was presented a strawman of evolution and I didn't know any better. So there I learnt that theism is often founded upon lack of knowledge of the refutations. In the secondary case I really converted because of fear of death and wishful thinking. So there I learnt that theism is often founded upon wishing consoling things to be true.

Also my attitude of atheism has varied between these three periods. In the first (since birth) I was actually apathetic. In the second period (after deconversion from Orthodox Judaism) I was a scornful, dogmatic and abravise atheist. Now, in this period, whenever I talk to theists, I try not to mock and ridicule, I try to be gentle and compassionate.

wade-w

I too am a �life long� atheist. I was never indoctrinated as a young child. To this day, I have no idea what my father�s views on religion are; I suspect he is an atheist. He has never discussed the issue in my presence. My mother was an atheist during those critical early years. For example, when I was in the first grade in 1964 in Georgia, my teacher used to read from the bible to us every day. When Mom found out, she raised hell with the school, and made them stop it.

Our household was full of books, everything from science fiction and fantasy, to world literature, history, mythology and philosophy, including a few books on world religions. We were encouraged to decide for ourselves. I have read the bible. I�ve also read some of the Sutras, and the Book of the Tao, the Mahabharat (sp?), the Book of the Dead, and Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies, along with a smattering of Celtic myths. I can�t say that I understand Christianity or Christians from the inside, but I can claim to have given the matter objective thought, and to have actually looked at some of the competition as well.

sakrilege

Being an extheist atheist, I'm with the group who can argue from having been on the inside. But then I live with a life long atheist and his example is that a person doesn't need religious indoctrination to be ethical. I am sometimes jealous of him for his not having wasted time on religion as I did. But then I do understand some quirks of our friends better. I also feel like I am less likely to fall for other scams since I bought into xianity and know the way I can fool myself into believing something.

never been there

As my handle suggests, I was raised atheist, and never strayed. I would certainly defer to an X-Xian in discussions regarding that particular faith, yet I have read the key parts of the Xian bible (except Paul, just can't get started).

I think that I do have a lot to offer "falling-away" believers in modelling (imperfectly) one possible world view and way of life, and in confirming for them that the fears they had to fight in leaving religion are not natural, but were taught to them in order to scare them into staying in the faith.

mike_decock

I'm an ex-theist atheist, raised by Pentecostal missionaries and indoctrinated from birth. I don't necessarily think my opinions carry more weight but I do have the advantage of having better insight into the Christian mindset. The biggest difference I have noticed between myself and lifelong atheists and agnostics is that religion irritates me more than it does them so I take a greater interest in the debate.

-Mike...

ju'iblex

I wouldn't say it carries more weight, after all, a rational argument is a rational argument, no matter your previous experience on the matter.

I have been an atheist all my life, which means that i cannot comprehend how you could believe in something with no evidence, i simply canot fathom it. I think having that experience provides you with insight into how others thing, which is a valuable thing.