How does one really know?

A friend of mine told me he believed in God before he became an atheist. How do you come to the conclusion that you don't believe in any God or higher spirtual being if that is what you were raised around your entire life?

For me ,it just happened. I realised I don't have to believe in any religion or any god for that matter to be a good person.And I don't have to worry about that silly satan dude, I take responsibility for my own actions and thoughts.I find atheism quite liberating.

You have a good point there, Majikthise, and I agree you don't have to follow a religion or a god to be a good-hearted person. Everyone has the conscious decision of how they want to think and act in life, regardless of religion. But for me at least, it helps knowing that I have my gods to help me along the way. I don't feel like I'm the better person for choosing to be in a spiritual tradition, It just happens to be something I enjoy being a part of

I was raised going to church every single sunday, but just going to church does not really make you a believer in that religion when you are younger, it is just where your parents go so you do to, not till you see that your views and your parents can be different, that you can question specific ideas like god then you can change. i never liked going to church as a kid and right now i'm prety sure that i am agnostic.

~dreamer

A person usually will become an atheist because their church cannot answer the questions they have, or they witness 'corruption' that sometimes occurs, or they just cannot find a way to get past all the contridictions.

EnhancedSpirit said:

A person usually will become an atheist because their church cannot answer the questions they have, or they witness 'corruption' that sometimes occurs, or they just cannot find a way to get past all the contridictions.

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Is atheism a religion? atheist believe that there is no god.
I think they should make one up.

EnhancedSpirit said:

A person usually will become an atheist because their church cannot answer the questions they have, or they witness 'corruption' that sometimes occurs, or they just cannot find a way to get past all the contridictions.

Click to expand...

I disagree. I suspect that most atheists/agnostics are so, not in response to the failures of religion, but in response to the successes of naturalism, and they view their attitude as the result of a natural process of maturation.

Well i'm a former christian who's now agnostic, so I guess i'm in a good posistion to anser the question.
I think if a person has been told to believe something all their life, they are usually bound to rebel, especially if they haven't experienced any happiness through their so called religion.

One does not "know" anything. How do you know that your God exists? While not an atheist or agnostic, I have great respect for them. They are often the most logical of thinkers.

A friend of mine told me he believed in God before he became an atheist. How do you come to the conclusion that you don't believe in any God or higher spirtual being if that is what you were raised around your entire life?

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I used to be a christian (orthodox)...also raised to go to church...I just stopped believing in God when I noticed that the churches answers weren't to the hight of my questions...I resorted to atheism because I thought since I didn't believe in God anymore, nor knew I anything about other deities, it was the only thing left in my opinion...In a brief amount of time I realised that, even if not in God, I believed in a higher power...thus I became a deist.

I think another reason could be that some people who were raised in a Christian family might have had some conflict with them and decide to alienate themselves from their family and their beliefs.

I used to think I was a devout Roman Catholic, but then I was a lot younger and my mother influenced everything I did. I think I turned away from that religion because my mother was rather zealous and could be ignorant at times about other people's beliefs. I'm not entirely pitted against Christianity and I think it's an admirable religion, and the Bible is a very wise book. The main reasons I don't call myself Catholic anymore is because I can't grasp the concept of God being one being and having saints and angels about him, and I don't believe in Heaven, Hell, or purgatory.

Ha. Anyway, my point was that nearly everyone thinks they'll follow their parents' path as a child, whether it be in religion or the type of job they take up, and some do, some don't. Maybe your friend has just grown out of the way he was raised his entire life and is forming his own beliefs.

Druidus said:
Why can't I cut and paste, why do I need to configure firefox?
Anyway judging from what you said, that I could not conveniently paste, makes me think that, you sir, are an agnostic.

EnhancedSpirit said:

A person usually will become an atheist because their church cannot answer the questions they have, or they witness 'corruption' that sometimes occurs, or they just cannot find a way to get past all the contridictions.

Click to expand...

There`s a falacy for you.

For me it was an evolution of thought brought on by my experiences and a lot of research. I was brought up beieving in Fire and Brimstone. I can remember crying myself to sleep when I was a kid thinking that my parents and myself were going to suffer eternal torture in a fiery hell. Ughhhhhhhh!

Yes, I agree, I am 36 years old and it seems the more that I study religion, the harder it is to swallow. I mean why was the first stuff written about Jesus written 70 years after his death, why did not anyone write about his miracles DURING his ministry? Nobody had a pen? They were waiting for paper to get invented?
And look at some of these people that try to convert others, they seem to have an IQ of 72, they lack something called critical thinking abilities.
70% of christians are morons and are an embarrassment to the 'faith' and probably convert more people to agnostisism and atheism than any other group.

Before I believe, I question, I tried to believe before and the best I could do was have 50% faith, and 60% disbelief, how did I do that?
I just did, have faith in that.