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When and why they became Atheists – Hoi Polloi Atheists, 14

Herein we will consider when and why certain personages became Atheists. We will parse these into Statistics, Influential Atheists, Ex-Catholics, Ex-Hindus and Hoi Polloi Atheists. As of now, I list the tales of 107 Atheists. You can find them all at the When and Why They Became Atheists Project page.

These examples are taken from Quora.

Arunav Sanyal:
Grew up in a “moderately religious family. My father is devoutly religious (has strong faith in the trinity of hinduism and generic stuff like astrology). My mother not as much but used to be quite religious at least in my formative years. My brother is agnostic” and in the end, Arunav asserts that “there can be no god.”

Arunav “liked to question almost everything” and, for example, asked, “Why do we view people from different religions with disdain?” to which I would ask, “To whom are you referring by ‘we’?” Hindus in general, you family in particular, who?
Arunav “was often told not to ask questions to elders, they know best, its been like this for centuries etc. It didn’t appeal to me” and it does not appeal to me either. In fact, my experience is hearing pastor after pastor after pastor outright stating during sermons that we are not to take their word for anything but search things out for ourselves.

Main points:
No age given.

Arunav fell for the mistaken notion that, as some term it, science is taking over God’s job or rather, explaining how things occur naturally which were once thought to be the supernatural work of God, “In high school…I read history and beliefs of ancient cultures. Something struck me. They associated god with things they don’t know. For instance Greeks considered lightning to be Zeus’s anger. Its now a well explained phenomenon.”
Arunav fails to note that there are different levels of, sorts of, forms of, kinds of explanations; for example, science can tell us something about how but never why in any ultimate sense on both accounts.

Arunav had been taught to “pray to god every night” but “came up with a simple argument – why would an omniscient god care about me?” Well, that is not an argument, that is a jumping to a conclusion. He further wrote, “What purpose would it serve that deity? To me praying seemed like futile and redundant.” Well, what it seems like to Arunav is not relevant as that is subjective and emotive.
Well, some millennia ago, Psalm 8 asked “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” Well, the fact is that Arunav non-argument is a non sequitur since there is no logical reason to conclude that it is inconsistent of fallacious that an “omniscient god care about me.” For details on this issue and the Psalm, see Atheism and the Cosmic Insignificance of Humanity and Everything.

We then run into a one, two combo of Atheist fallacies and stereotypes, “Then I read about the crusades and the generic communal tension amongst hindus and muslims. This was the first time I viewed religion with disdain. I was convinced it has caused more suffering than anything else in the world.”
Firstly, Arunav instantly jumps to condemnation without a premise (Arunav seems to tend to jump to conclusion rather than arguing to them) and secondly, merely asserts, without evidence (another mere conclusion), that “religion” (generically) “has caused more suffering than anything else in the world” when the fact is that statistically Atheists mass murdered more people in a mere few decades than all religions in all of history put together, see Find it Fast – Fast Facts: on religious wars.

Arunav also concludes that “praying is a selfish activity” which means that those who pray are being judged as being selfish even though people pray for the benefit of others all of the time.

We encounter a stereotype in the statement, “I came into acquaintance with people who were immoral and selfish but who were also devoutly religious” and while this is shameful, Atheist do not seem to mind that they will come into acquaintance with people who were immoral and selfish and who are also devoutly Atheistic. If you think that in the former case they are supposed to have a set of ethics in the in the latter they do not you are right.
In fact, Arunav states, “The fact that many theists claim that religion is the basis of morality held no value in my mind.” Well, that which Arunav holds as valuable is not relevant. The fact is that while some people may term it as that “religion is the basis of morality” I am unaware of this. Rather, it is God’s very nature and essence which is the basis of morality or rather, ethics, see Ethics vs. Morality which is an article and video combo.
An interesting thing about how Atheists constantly jump directly into fire and brimstone condemnation without a premise is that they are reacting to God’s ethics code written within them but since they do not want to acknowledge God they jump directly into fire and brimstone condemnation without a premise. So, “that religion is the basis of morality held no value in my mind” yet, Arunav refers to “My hatred for religion” due to, for example, “discrimination on its basis. Dalits (lower caste hindus) being treated like s[***]. Temples saying ‘only hindus allowed’, ‘menstruating women are impure’. Misogyny promoted in the name of piety” it is just a list of observations and not actual condemnations, they are unfounded emotive assertions.

Arunav states that it was a “game changer, I learn’t about occam’s razor, the newtons laws, the theory of evolution and finally the theory of probability. I found these concepts infinitely more intuitive than an arbitrary god. You could say I am a devout follower of occam’s razor.” Well, simply listing the terms Occam’s Razor, Newton’s laws, evolution and probability is mere elephant hurling as they are merely labels and we are not told how they benefit the Atheist in the least bit—more jumping to conclusions. Also, as soon as Arunav wants to argue for the multiverse in a desperate attempt to do away with God they will just as quickly do away with Occam’s Razor. So abused, misused and misunderstood is Occam’s Razor that Arunav actually concludes that “there can be no god” because “A god is too complicated and arbitrary” yet, all of these claims are merely assertions based on jumping to conclusions. In fact, traditionally God has been thought of as a mind and a mind is simple even if it entertains complex thoughts.

Yet, in any case they continue by noting, “Atheism is so much simpler. I am ready to accept the fact I don’t know how some things work but I don’t attribute random reasons to it.” Well, if they want to argue that a concept is simpler than a being they may have a point yet, this is not scientific and is comparing apples and the laws of thermodynamics.

Arunav also fell for the Richard Dawkins about appealing to “luck” to explain how the entire universe and life came about in stating, “The moment I lead on eyes on the theory of probability I had an epiphany. Luck is probability taken personally. Plain and simple” whatever that means. Actually, some Atheists seem to employ the term “luck” when they admit something is a miracle but are ashamed to admit it.
Recall that Arunav claims “to accept the fact I don’t know how some things work but I don’t attribute random reasons to it” but then again they do appeal to “random reasons” which they term “luck”—oh, but, of course, “luck” is “probability taken personally” so…there’s that.

Arunav then seems to end in an all over the place manner in stating, “To me god is a weakness in humanity. I admit, if I am in a plane that is about to crash, I will also get my faith back in god.”
They then decide to take another pop-shot to the effect that “my unfortunate theist brethren” are “in a cage” as Arunav has “necessary cojones to accept ‘I don’t know the answer to your question but humanity is working on it.’” Yet, this is merely a pop-Atheist one liner de jour. Arunav then merely asserts “People can’t handle being exposed to the insignificance of their existence, so they make god a defense mechanism” to which I can just as easily asserts “People can’t handle being exposed to the significance of God’s existence, so they make Athiesm a defense mechanism.”

The final statement denotes that Arunav’s hatred of religion has become militant lunacy as it is noted, “I dream of a world free of all religion…Humanity hasn’t” as of yet, “reached that phase in evolution in which we can completely disregard god.” Well, if religion was gone then people would still do exactly what they do but for other reasons: think of, for example, the decades old phenomena of Atheist churches and Atheists mass murdering 200 million people in a mere few decades and you get the picture.

why2batheism-1003572

Neeraja R Venu:
“I was brought up in a not-so-religious family” her name and reference to “I was never made to read holy books or fast during festivals as a child” makes me think she had a not-so-Hindu background.
She notes, “I cannot remember an exact point of time in the past, but I had become an atheist long before I realized that I had. It was a gradual transition, and I must have been around 15 or 16 when I started acknowledging the fact that I had stopped believing in this so-called ‘higher power’ or whatever.”

Main points:
15-16 yrs old.

A common theme is:

As a little kid, I always used to ask difficult questions about spirituality and wanted to know the reason behind every blind superstition that I came across. Most of the time, I was told that some things ought not to be questioned, but that was the answer that made me even more curious.

Good point.

She notes, “it could have been some of the Communist literature that I had read in my mid-teens that strengthened my resolve to stop believing. I was inspired by the stories of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Fidel Castro” it is fascinating that she was inspired by violent oppressive mass murdering thugs.

She also claims, “I don’t preach my belief, or the lack of it, because then atheism would be just like any other religion.” Well, for many reasons, such as that very many Atheists preach their Atheism, it is just like any other religion. For example, the Michael Newdow claims that Atheism is a religion (see video embedded here and Matt Dillahunty admits to being an Atheist missionary (see video here).

Neeraja then definer her particular “Atheism” (tinged with a Hindu flavor?), “Atheism is a state of being, a state of silently existing as a passive observer of the myriad ways in which religion is grossly misinterpreted and practised.” She also notes that “The concept of ‘God’ is a beautiful one, but I’m sometimes amused by people who can blindly believe in his existence, and who simply leave all their problems in the Divine Complaint Box, without realizing the fact that they are the makers of their own destiny.”

I supposed we could say that we are amused by people who can blindly not believe in His existence, and who simply leave all their problems in the random evolution Complaint Box. As for being makers of their own destiny well, in an Atheist universe you can do that and so did Adolf Hitler.

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