Comments on: Why atheism or theism is not a choice

By: Administrator

Administrator — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:57:07 +0000

Yes, here I would direct your attention to my assertion: “We can tell ourselves otherwise, we can tell the world otherwise, but deep down we believe what we believe and we have no choice in this.”

Therefore, you could “choose” not to look at the evidence and thus call yourself either a theist or an atheist, but this is not reflective of what you believe deep down. We can choose to be honest with ourselves and be open about what we really believe deep down, but we cannot change this deep down belief.

By: Gcapet

Gcapet — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:06:33 +0000

Everything is a choice. Maybe you don’t choose to be an atheist, but you can certainly “choose” not to look at the evidence (or absence of, in this case), and call yourself religious. Either way you DO make a CHOICE.

@MichaelHeath: Yeah, I just was too busy to pay attention to the times “god” tried to show me the “truth” and his “grace” and “spirit”. Gimme a break.

I would like people to really have “faith” in THEMSELVES, not in some imaginary friend.

‘2 hands working, do a 1,000 times more than a 1,000 hands praying.

By: Robert Madewell

Robert Madewell — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:48:37 +0000

I can honestly say that I did not choose to be an atheist. I battled with doubt for many years. I even continued attending church, nodding in agreement to sermons, even though I didn’t buy one word of it. The day I realized that I was an atheist was the day I was finally being honest with myself. There is no switch that I can turn off or on to believe or not. I didn’t decide that I was an atheist, I discovered that I was one. That statement is all I usually need to refute Pascal’s Wager.

By: Felicia Gilljam

Felicia Gilljam — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:15:42 +0000

Although I’m sure Michael Heath is correct in that many religious people will have what seems to them a perfectly valid response to the argument that disbelief in god is not a choice, I think this is mostly an issue between us non-believers. I fully agree with you that one cannot choose what to believe, one can only choose what evidence to partake in. I’ve met quite a few atheists online who seemed to believe that their disbelief is a rational choice, something they _decided_ after looking at the evidence. I don’t know, perhaps some people actually can _decide_ to believe one thing and not another, but that’s not how it works for me, and I sincerely doubt that other minds can be so different from my own that they may as well be another species…

In short, thanks for a great post.

By: Michael Heath

Michael Heath — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:51:27 +0000

I understand your point and it’s a good one. However, as someone who was raised to be a fundamentalist who even at a young age was always beyond belief, the evangelical/fundamentalists have a response they believe is rational and discredits your point as our only choices.

A born-again Christan believes in a theistic God because of personal experience. This experience is powerful enough to elicit a belief that is certain. The non-theists are non-believers because they’ve rejected the opportunities in their life where if they had “opened themselves up” by repenting of their sins, they would then receive God’s grace and spirit, providing them with a data point to reject non-belief and thereby either securing their ticket to heaven, or “back-sliding”.

Thus, if you don’t believe in theism, according to them, one must add an AND operator, i.e., I have found no evidence to believe in theism, neither rational or empirical AND I’ve rejected the opportunities God has presented to me that would have then provided overwhelming evidence of the possibilities of experiencing a personal relationship with a theistic God.

If one responds they that they did try and open oneself up and failed, well, for some reason your “heart was hardened”. Tails I win, heads you lose. Here is an excellent link from a recent deconvert that provides many of the mantras used against those that reject faith for enlightenment: http://thechapel.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/rational-vs-religious-thought/

By: Carnival of the Godless

Carnival of the Godless — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:07:07 +0000

[...] Is theism a choice? How about atheism? While this post doesn’t quite delve into the complicated theories of memes and the hardwiring of the brain, C.J. does pose some thought provoking questions in our next submission, “Why Atheism or Theism is Not a Choice.” [...]