Religious to Atheist to Religious

[polytropos]

either way, I don’t wanna drag this out. I’m also not sure why it seems very important to you that you were an atheist. Does it make your story sound better? I thought you’d be happy I told you that you just had a misunderstanding is all.

It’s not important to me. I am just very confused as to how I could believe and assert that I was an atheist for 6 years and not be an atheist. I’ll take your word that it’s not a paradox, since you seem to be an authority on my spiritual history.

 

[Linusthe2nd]

polytropos

**That said, when I was an atheist, it did bother me when people called it a phase, and I don’t think that is a just characterization, since even if atheism is irrational, many people will remain atheists for life. **

That said, Jean Paul Sartre, the most famous atheist of the 20th century, converted as his death approached. So did Antony Flew, another famous atheist.

We don’t know how many have converted as death approaches. I had an uncle who never went to church. On the day of his death he accepted a visit from a priest. There may well be a staggering number of atheists who are in this category … or not.

I think your information on the death bed conversion of Sartre is highly questionable. If you can find a direct quotation by the Priest who received him back into the Church, I’ll believe it. I have not found such proof.

Linus2nd

 

[JohnMichaels]

It’s not important to me. I am just very confused as to how I could **believe and assert **that I was an atheist for 6 years and not be an atheist. I’ll take your word that it’s not a paradox, since you seem to be an authority on my spiritual history.

I’m a Catholic. I believe I’m a Catholic.
None of those, in and of themselves, makes me a Catholic

 

[polytropos]

I’m a Catholic. I believe I’m a Catholic.
None of those, in and of themselves, makes me a Catholic

Catholic and atheist are predicated differently. To be a Catholic would mean that one has been baptized and (perhaps, depending on how you interpret it) practice and believe what the Church teaches. To be an atheist, only your evaluation of the proposition “God exists” is relevant. Obviously when I say I believed I was an atheist, I don’t mean I walked around saying, I’m an atheist. It means that I did not believe that God exists and was, by definition, an atheist.

 

[JohnMichaels]

, I’m an atheist. It means that I did not believe that God exists and was, by definition, an atheist.

& I’m telling you, you were doing it wrong. I can’t tell you why, and really I don’t want to cause that’s not why I’m here.
This sentence I quoted you saying has clear indicators you were doing it wrong.
Over and over, everything you tell me keeps saying to me you were doing it wrong.

It’s not that I’m saying you really believed, I don’t know what was in your heart. But you said

I became an atheist as a middle schooler when I learned about evolution and the big bang. At that time, I’d found Church boring etc., so I pretty readily accepted evolution and the big bang as justifications for atheism,

They aren’t. So, then, you were mistaken. Your “choice” as it seems to come across, was founded on false pretenses. It was a misunderstanding. not sure how else I can explain it. You should be happy