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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26021 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 05/17/2008 : 12:57:36 [Permalink]
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Good read, Dave. Thanks.
From what I have been given to understand, someone turning his/her back on years of indroctrination, of 'most any sort, is usually pretty traumtic, both for the apostate and all who are even casually aquainted with him. It is made even more difficult in that most if not all of these aquaintences are as deeply indoctrinated as the subject once was, and they can be pretty vicious about it, considering it an insult to their beliefs and by extention, themselves. The back-slider could well be the reciepent of even more hatred than an outright atheist.
But it could be worse; in the mid-east, aposty is punishable by death, which is one reason why there are so few known apostates in that neck of the woods, praise Allah. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26021 Posts |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2008 : 16:36:15 [Permalink]
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Pouring over just such de-conversion stories, one blogger attempted to rank the top reasons Christians cite as to why they lost their faith. His findings: "Dissatisfaction with the answers to simple questions proffered by the religion" tied with "religious dogma contradicted observable reality" as the top reasons given.
Interesting, he writes that only a single Christian says talking with an atheist led to their deconversion. He concludes | As atheists we can provide the resources to support people trapped in the religious paradigm, but I think we delude ourselves if we think that we have some kind of role in “shaking up” peoples faith. Ultimately a person has to liberate themselves from religion, it is not for us to assume the role of atheist proselytes. |
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Conversion stories
