|
Nominations and Campaigning for the 2024 RationalWiki Moderator Election are now open |
Essay:Causes of Atheism
|
This essay is an original work by RationalWiki users. (see the page history for a list of the contributors) It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas. Unless otherwise stated, this is original content, released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or any later version. See RationalWiki:Copyrights. Feel free to make comments on the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts. |
The main cause of Christians turning into Atheists is a close reading of the bible.
Other, more minor causes include: having a basic understanding of science, especially biology and geology; frequenting websites of ill repute such as this one; having an analytical or critical mind; spending five minutes listening to Fred Phelps, Jerry Falwell, Andy Schlafly or other crazies.
For Jews, the main cause is the realization that their religion idealizes a god who killed Egyptian babies to show their unelected leader how awesome he (god, natch) was. [1]
Some neo-pagans or Wiccans become atheists when none of their spells work.
Others "turn the other cheek" due to bad experiences with holy rollers.
Some have analyzed Pascal's Wager to the point that they realize he assumed religion does not interfere with life, and that the odds of selecting one of the infinite amount of possible gods who reward believers over the infinite amount of posssible gods who punish believers, infinite amount of possible gods who do not reward believers (i.e. no reward at all), or the infinite possibilities of no god at all.