Atheism

Stories from an Amazon.com forum about why 28
people converted to Atheism or remained Atheists.

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Atheist conversion stories on an Amazon.com forum:

A very common belief expressed by many conservative Christians is that many, perhaps most, Atheists are deceitful liars. They suggest that Atheists really do believe in the existence of God. However, Atheists deny this because if they admitted that he existed, they would have to come to terms with God's demands in their life concerning morality and ethics, salvation, heaven and hell, beliefs in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, etc.

From the personal experiences I have had with the Atheists in our office and with other Atheists, I suspect that this is a false understanding. That suspicion was confirmed by reading an Internet forum provided by Amazon.com. The personal stories of many Atheists indicate that people are forced to become Atheists because they become convinced -- often reluctantly -- that either:

	An all-powerful, all knowing, all-present, creator God does not exist, or
	The probability of the existence of such a God is extremely small.

They are often compelled to become Atheists because their personal ethics demand that they be true to themselves. They have no other option.

The Amazon.com forum:

On 2007-SEP-09, Karen Terrell posted a new discussion to an Amazon.com religion forum called "Dear atheists." She wrote to the Atheists of the world:

"There are times when I actually feel more comfortable talking with you guys than with others on this Forum. I enjoy the intelligence and wit that you express. And I'd really like to hear how you came to be atheists. Were you brought up in atheistic homes? Or did you experience some epiphany that brought you to atheism? Or did you see a whole lot of hypocrisy amongst God-believers that just turned you off? Or did atheism come to you as a result of reasoning and education? Did any of you start off as Christians / Pagans / Muslims / Buddhists and then have some experience that took away your belief in a god?"

She appears to imply that Buddhists have a belief in God. Actually, most Buddhists have no concept of a deity.

Among the first 16 readers who posted a response to Karen, 14 were positive. The forum received 200 responses in its first 35 days. Some are shown below.

Two things struck me about the individual postings. There was an almost complete lack of spelling and grammatical errors. More important, there was a high level of respect for each other's postings that I have never observed before on a religious forum. Everyone recognized the sincerity of the opinions and beliefs of others.

We hope that these stories will help people who:

	Feel a conviction to become an Atheist,
	Have been an Atheist for some time, and
	Followers of evangelizing faith groups so that they can better understand the real reasons why some people become Atheists.

Personal stories of conversion to Atheism:

	Thirteen personal stories
	Eight more stories
	Seven more stories

References used:

"Dear Atheists," Amazon.com forum, at: http://www.amazon.com/

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Copyright � 2007 to 2018 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2007-OCT-15
Latest update: 2018-SEP-24
Author: B.A. Robinson