Hey atheists here, I just found a paper here : http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth12.html. the paper discusses what are the factors that causes one to become an atheist. Although I don't generally agree because it's a free choice but the author got some point in the paper. What can you say?
here's one of the parts:
"Besides abuse, rejection, or cowardice, one way in which a father can be seriously defective is simply by not being there. Many children, of course, interpret death of their father as a kind of betrayal or an act of desertion. In this respect it is remarkable that the pattern of a dead father is so common in the lives of many prominent atheists."
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I could write an equally toxic and insulting paper about the psychopathology of religion, the difference is, there would actually be a good good basis for it.
I think the only person anyone is fit to 'psycho-analyze' is themselves (if even that). Theorizing about the basic psychology of other individuals or groups probably is just as revealing about ones own motivations as about the group one is supposedly analyzing.
Atheists are such a diverse group of people, it is ridiculous to try and point out causes like that. The one that seems to have any truth to it is that atheists tend to be more educated and have a higher average IQ than any religious group. I have a wonderful relationship with both my parent, and in most ways other than my lack of belief in God, I am just like most people I know who do believe in God.
Just a bunch of anger-driven hogwash if you ask me.
It may be that atheists have a higher IQ...I honestly do not know. But if atheists are more educated that is neither here nor there. In a traditional culture, whether it be medieval Europe or the China of Confucius, the learned were pretty much all deeply religious men. Nowadays, education has become secular, so naturally many students are secularized by their education.
"what are the factors that causes one to become an atheist."
The factors
Incredibly stupid claims.
Isn't that enough?
This paper is obviously bias because the author is a theist even though he was a former atheist. His claims are even based on some biblical statements which make this paper not that credible.
The premise behind his work is that adults reject God as the result of being disgruntled children. Not only is this hypothesis insulting to those of us who came to a point of non-belief as the result of careful study and consideration, but Vitz offers little proof for his assertion. Like many Christian apologists, he resorts instead to misrepresentations, poor logic, and ad hominem attacks in which he characterizes atheists as being arrogant and immoral. At one point he even owns up to this by stating that "psychological arguments are all ad hominem."