JustBusiness17
New Member
It's rather obvious just from reading a discussion between intellectual atheists that there is a lot of debate surrounding the definition of atheism. The definition seems to become a lot more blurred when the discussion leaves atheist circles and enters the discourse among theists. I can tell you from personal anecdotal evidence that all of the supposed "atheism to theism converts" that I've ever encountered, the definition is entirely flawed, although they fully stand by their claim. This made me wonder...
I have a hypothesis:
I propose that a significant percentage of people who claim to be former atheists are making their claim based on the specific definition of what they now believe to be god. What I mean by that is that the majority of people claiming conversion from atheism only considered themselves atheists because they never believed in the specific god that they now believe in. Just so I'm perfectly clear, an atheist to islam convert was only an atheist in respect to Allah because they hadn't yet learned about the thing that has now taken a central position in their world view.
So, when a theist says they used to be an atheist, are they really just saying they didn't believe in their religion before joining their religion? Was their "atheism" simply non-belief in the god that they currently hold on a pedestal?
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EDIT: Just because I know I didn't explain it very well :arrow:
I have a hypothesis:
I propose that a significant percentage of people who claim to be former atheists are making their claim based on the specific definition of what they now believe to be god. What I mean by that is that the majority of people claiming conversion from atheism only considered themselves atheists because they never believed in the specific god that they now believe in. Just so I'm perfectly clear, an atheist to islam convert was only an atheist in respect to Allah because they hadn't yet learned about the thing that has now taken a central position in their world view.
So, when a theist says they used to be an atheist, are they really just saying they didn't believe in their religion before joining their religion? Was their "atheism" simply non-belief in the god that they currently hold on a pedestal?
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EDIT: Just because I know I didn't explain it very well :arrow:
JustBusiness17 said:Precisely! I didn't know how to say it in a single line, so thank youRichardMNixon said:So with those specifics, you're suggesting that when Kirk Cameron says he used to be an atheist, what he's really saying is, "I used to not be Christian?"