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Old 02-23-2002, 11:47 PM   #51
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I notice that most of the posters on this thread seem to view belief in two ways.... either you're a Christian or you're an atheist.

I was not raised as a Christian, but I was not raised as an atheist, either.

For those of you who were raised Christian and became atheists, did you try other paths first? Or did you reject all of theism on the basis of one faulty religion?

Just curious.
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Old 02-24-2002, 03:39 AM   #52
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A Muslim friend of mine, finding out recently that I was no longer a Christian, asked me if I had considered Islam. I explained to her that it wasn't just a matter of switching allegiance from the one to the other; when I threw off the shackles of fundamentalist christianity, I saw how empty and unreasonable the concept of "god" was. And I grew up in the Middle East, so I know enough about Islam to be confident in rejecting it. As for every other religion, well, I'll say to them what I said to her, "First show me evidence that a god of any kind exists. Then show me why he's your god."
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Old 02-24-2002, 09:17 AM   #53
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Quote:
For those of you who were raised Christian and became atheists, did you try other paths first? Or did you reject all of theism on the basis of one faulty religion?

Just curious.
To satisfy your curiosity, I investigated every major and a few minor religions known to humanity before I became an atheist. That was about 30 years ago, and I still think I came to the correct conclusion. Religion is man made and god is make believe.
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Old 02-24-2002, 09:35 AM   #54
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For those of you who were raised Christian and became atheists, did you try other paths first?
I did, briefly, when doing the Big Crusade to Find Faith. But none of it took.

[ February 24, 2002: Message edited by: bonduca ]</p>
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Old 02-24-2002, 11:03 AM   #55
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Quote:
Originally posted by Frogsmoocher:
<strong>For those of you who were raised Christian and became atheists, did you try other paths first? Or did you reject all of theism on the basis of one faulty religion?</strong>
I did briefly flirt with Zen in college, but I quickly realized that the only reason it had appealed to me at all is because it is atheistic.

BTW, I did not reject Christianity because it was "faulty", but because it couldn't justify belief in the existence of the supernatural. My investigation into other religions did not turn up any more effective arguments. I'd say that I rejected Christianity simply as a side-effect of rejecting theism in favor of metaphysical naturalism.
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Old 02-25-2002, 08:41 AM   #56
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Quote:
Originally posted by Frogsmoocher:
<strong>For those of you who were raised Christian and became atheists, did you try other paths first? Or did you reject all of theism on the basis of one faulty religion?</strong>
Very good question. I tried other paths first.

I explored Judaism and Islam and even Bah'ai and Deism in an attempt to find a monotheism I could hold on to after I left Christianity. At college I had soaked up Plato as a ministry student, and it was hard to give up the idea of one transcendent cosmic conductor. I also spent awhile studying Taoism and looked at Paganism and some of the New Age stuff briefly, and I labored through Teilhard de Chardin and Hegel trying to find other, "liberal Christian" definitions of God, as I recognized the flaws in religion after religion.

Epicurus helped me to let go of the afterlife, which I think really helped me to let go of theism altogether. And of course the Internet Infidels showed me the folly of firm belief in the supernatural. Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and (ironically!) C. S. Lewis's "Abolition of Man" showed me that ethical and upright living was possible outside of theism. When I learned that a full and good life was possible without belief in god (or rather, unlearned the dogma that tied ethics to God), I was free to live justly and abundantly - and without faith.

Someone has yet to show me another 'theism' which passes a test of coherence, so, provisionally at least, yes I do reject all theism. The handful of gods that I've learned anything about since I left the Christian faith do not inspire me to hope that somewhere there's a completely real one.

Since I don't believe that we know (yet) with absolute certainty that the universe is not part of a bigger context, I remain willing to listen to serious conjecture, but it must remain conjecture since there's certainly no evidence that the universe IS part of a bigger context.

If the jury's still out concerning the ultimate origin and fate of Reality, by default disbelief in the supernatural seems more responsible than faith in whatever one might have intuited or learned from another person; there's just no evidence in favor of a metaphysical realm bigger than the universe, and not knowing the facts is not a good enough reason to believe a creed.

"So perhaps we're living on a gigantic VR, and maybe the Programmer(s) is(are) aware of us; but perhaps not..." Carrying out thought experiments like this can sometimes be enlightening, but to stake one's life on this sort of 'perhaps' (and worse, to insist that others do so), is to forget that we're in the realm of 'what if,' not 'what is.'

I'm certain that belief in the hypothetical is unnecessary for everyday living. It always seems to produce more evil in the world than good.

So that's why I'm where I'm at.

-Wanderer

(edited for clarification)

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: wide-eyed wanderer ]</p>
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Old 02-25-2002, 12:05 PM   #57
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Quote:
Originally posted by Don Morgan:
<strong>Some of the very rudest people I have yet encountered on these boards are people who call themselves Christians. </strong>
Me too

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Old 03-04-2002, 07:58 AM   #58
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polyglot said:
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I’ve concluded that most ex-theists were motivated by psychological reasons to disbelieve what they do, not by “the facts, the whole facts, and nothing but the facts.”
Please tell us where we have to go to find these "facts." I hope you are not going to refer us to "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" or similar works, as I have examined these and found them wanting, mostly for their use of circular reasoning. If you have read my response to EX-ATHEIST (BTW, just where did he get off to?) I would hope that you would understand that I concluded the "facts" are overwhelmingly in favor of the bible being full of contradictions, errors and downright malevolent ignorance. I'm sorry if this sounds mean. I am not intending to offend you as I have the impression you are an honest searcher, but if you have access to some information I could not unearth in 15 years of searching, please share it.
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