Atheist - How do you become one?

surely you are born one? there's not a baby in this world that beleives in Deities until they are either taught to by their parents, or reach that conclusion through their own searching. so you were an atheist when you were born. as was I. as were the Pope and Buddha. so really, it's not so much about how people become Atheists as how they become religious. and for some people they become religious, and then go back to being atheists again. I am religious myself, but I do think that being an atheist is how we all start out in life.

I am not an Atheist but like you I do respect them greatly. It is a way of life and it does take courage here in the States to be one. Let's face it , if you are not a Protestant , it is a little hard here in America. Anyway, to answer your question, I couldn't be an Atheist. Even though it is a long distance relationship I need G-d in my life. But I do respect those who don't.

I am an atheist but, I didn't become one as such as I have always been this way for as long as I can remember! And really it is strange to think that because both my parents and grandparents are believers and religious and yet I can never remember ever being a religious - so much so that I even remember being in school and having to attend mass (as my parenets liked the school for its teaching qualitities as well as being a catholic school so sent me there - plus it was local) and absolutely hating it and knowing even then that I did not believe in any religion so I cannot really say I 'became' an atheist as to me I have always been one!! Hope that helps?

hi:) I am not an atheist because I am a christian and I believe in God, maybe because I grew up that my family is already a christian, so whatever their belief I adopted too, but I'm not against atheist, we all have our different belief and opinion about religions and God, so I respect whatever their beliefs is.

I am an Atheist and I believe I've always been one. I wouldn't say my family is religious but my grandparents are superstitious. I also have a cousin who believes in the chinese god/buddha (I'm not actually sure) but her daughter is Christian. My cousin spends tons of money 'donating' to the temple of the buddha and spends an hour a day praying and I just don't see the point of that. I think all religions are created by people from a long time ago. If they are just what the human mind created just to make me feel better/view a certain way of life then I'd rather just believe in myself.

the existence of human being is itself a proof of God's existence. I don't know why people become Atheist.

Someone already made an excellent point that we are all born atheists. The psyche of the human infant is so primitive and ill-formed for the first few months after they are born they are incapable of grasping object permanence. That is, if the baby can't see an object, the baby forgets it exists. Knowing this, it's impossible for any human to grasp the concept of, much less believe in the existence of something which has never been seen by ANYONE. So to answer your question - I was born an atheist. I was taught to believe in the Christian God, and when I questioned my teachings and found the answers lacking in any tangible evidence, I rejected those teachings. Now I am an atheist again, only this time by basis for disbelief is based on reasoning, rather than ignorance for the concept.

Hi goggles, I'm not an atheist but I'm not religious either and prefer to think of myself as spiritual. I have read the Bible many times and know that there are good teachings there, but realize that it was written by man and cannot be taken literally. Most of the stories are myths that were passed down by word of mouth for hundreds and even thousands of years before being written down. The Bible we have today was put together by the Church some 600 years after Christ and they left out anything that they didn't want there. I am getting away from your discussion however, and can only add that I think most atheists became that way when they saw just how ridiculous most religious teachings are. No, I am not an Atheist and could never be one, although I respect those who feel that way. There is really no proof that there is a God, especially the kind of God that the churches talk about. There is nature of course and for some, that is enough for them to believe in God. I can only say that for me there is a 'knowing' that life did not begin with this body and will not end with it. Blessings.

I believed in God until the information I had suggested otherwise. Noone decides to become an atheist, just as noone decides to believe in a god. You either believe or you don't.

There are theories about how religious you are, going right to the makeup of your brain. The biggest example of this is through left temporal lobe epileptics. People who get into accidents, or have medical conditions with their left temporal lobe get into either being extremely religious, or extremely non-religious. I personally had a legion on my left temporal lobe, leading to epilepsy, and I needed to have it removed surgically. Through my whole life, I was less religious, the pieces didn't make sense to me, but I didn't take much against it, and I even tried out some various religions to see how they go, like Islam and Scientology, while in a very christian city. When I had that surgery, I became a very devout atheist. I suddenly had much more of a passion against religion, and I'm a lover of science, so when I'd hear things towards religion, I get these feelings about how wrong they are, and I get quite passionate about it. So, through this, and I think you'll find it quite common. I've always been an atheist, it's how my brain has been ever since I was born, and even moreso after I got older and developed... and had pieces removed. Now, in 1st world countries, it takes more towards education to get further, and people with brains that are more developed towards science and math are less likely to have their brains developed towards religion... this goes to why places like Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the Neatherlands, etc etc have a far lower amount of religion, where the ones that are highest are ones like Egypt, Bangladesh, Congo, Malawi, etc.

Hi. As an atheist I will gladly answer to your questions. I have been raised in a very religious family, and in my school, even if it was not a religious school, it was mandatory having a religion subject. As I went on knowing more and more about that religion it made less and less sense, and when I asked any question to my teacher she behaved really histerically, like "you HAVE TO believe in that, and not to question it!". It was not only that teacher, but every single religious person around me just wanted to believe with his/her eyes closed in something with no base at all, and full of nonsense. So I opened my eyes and once the religion subject became optative I changed to the ethics class. This was in elementary school. Since then I have prefered to pursue the truth, and to ask for reasoning instead of just believing in things that don't have any valid explanation. I don't say that all religious people are like that, but the ones I have met made me open my eyes and I'm happy I did

I don't think anyone plans on being an atheist. You either believe or you don't believe. My beliefs are very private. I don't necessarily believe the way another Christian believes. I don't believe that going to church or believing in God makes you one bit better than someone who doesn't. One becomes a Christian by accepting Christ, so I would say that one would become an Atheist by not accepting... but it's not like joining a religion... it's just a lack of religion... I'm not religious, I do believe in an Almighty God... but I don't believe lots of the bible stories.. I see them more as legends. Like... show me evidence that woman came from a man's rib.. or that whole story... it is accepted as a biblical truth, but an absolute truth wouldn't hold up.. no one knows how life was created .. we can only guess.

I think atheism is a valid enough belief if its set within humanism. As long as atheists don't hurt other people(which most don't) then its none of my business what they believe. On a personal note though I see that there is no evidence of there being a God. However I am not an atheist because where is the evidence that there is no God? Also we have such incredible souls (or at least some people have the potential to have an incredible soul!!!) that I'm leaning a bit more on the side of there being a God. I do find religion fascinating even though I go round in circles with it a bit. I have a Jewish maternal grandmother, a Gentile grandfather and both paternal grandparents are Jewish but I was raised Catholic and I went to Protestant services more recently off my own bat. Now I'm an agnostic. I had a bad time in the Catholic church I grew up in - just that particular church but a bad time. So my background is a mess due to what happened in that church. Atheism is very tempting when such bad things are done so often in the name of religion - churches who act in such an evil way - why? If there is a god is he responsible for what bad people do - no - but how can he let it happen? I don't know. If God is so weak maybe there is no God despite my logic leading me to the uncomfortable but realistic position of agnosticism.