Somebody asked me recently what I thought would be the FASTEST way
to MAKE someone an atheist.
As if there was one argument that was "better" than all the others.
A few thoughts ran through my mind.
Read the first pages of the Bible.
Realize that EVERY major religion teaches
that every OTHER major religion is wrong.
And they can't ALL be right.
Ask yourself why a "good God" would allow
so many horrible things to happen all over the world.
But the more I thought about it the more I realized,
I didn't REALLY want to answer the question.
Because if all it takes for you to shed your faith
and become an atheist is like,
two minutes of thinking?
Then maybe you haven't really thought this thing through.
You know I would take someone much more seriously if
she told me she became an atheist after like
a year of reading books and hearing what atheists have to say.
And hearing Christian apologists embarrass themselves
in debates and studying up on evolution and sociology.
If you do all of those things you're really
convincing yourself of how right you are.
It's not just some emotional reaction
that made sense for... like a moment.
All of us might believe something silly, for a minute.
I mean you might think Donald Trump is a good "outsider" candidate for president
for like a minute.
But if you change your mind about something THAT important, THAT quickly...
odds are someone else with a flashy smile
who knows how to play with your emotions
can get you to change your mind AGAIN, that quickly.
I want people to be atheists forever.
And I want to convince you all that I'm right.
But ONE argument?
Even if I'm the one making it?
SHOULDN'T do that.
I hope you become atheist because
ALL the evidence from ALL DIFFERENT AREAS
convinces you that it makes the most sense.
The Big Bang...
Religious hypocrisy...
Biblical contradictions...
The fact that your pastor lies to you all the time. I mean, etcetera.
It's kind of like evolution, in a way.
The greatest scientists in the world accept it.
Not because Charles Darwin wrote a book about it.
But because they've SEEN the evidence for evolution in SO many different fields.
Ken Hamm's "Creation Museum" isn't going to CHANGE all of your minds about evolution.
Because it's just ONE thing.
There's NO WAY it could counter all the evidence in FAVOR of evolution.
Same thing with his "Noah's Ark Theme Park".
I mean he can build a flashy boat
that might sway some very gullible people.
But it's not going to change the minds of people who actually
understand what they're looking at.
And know that the size and scope of Ark Encounter
doesn't contradict ALL the scientific evidence AGAINST
some global flood and the biblical story of Noah's Ark.
And if you're an atheist because ALL the evidence in the world
convinces you that God doesn't exist...
Then ONE story about a supposed "miracle" isn't going to sway you.
Going to one church service isn't going to change your mind.
And good! It SHOULDN'T.
I want you to think this through, because religion is a serious topic.
Don't believe something just because I said so
or you saw one of these videos.
Don't believe something just because
Richard Dawkins wrote a REALLY good chapter in a book once about it.
But if that stuff got you started down a road
where you're questioning your faith
and it makes you reconsider what you always believed
and you start studying it in a whole bunch of different ways...
and THEN it all makes sense?
Good. That's how it should be happening.
That's how you know it's going to stick.
So what's the one argument I would make
to convince someone to become an atheist?
There isn't one.
And honestly if there was one
I don't know if I would want to sell it to you because
if any of you deconverted because of that argument
I'm not sure I could take YOU very seriously.
There are plenty of reasons to be an atheist.
And the more you study them, the more convinced you'll be that it makes sense.
You know, some people aren't brave enough to question religion.
I hope you are.
I hope you're curious, and I hope that curiosity is lifelong.
Because then you won't just be an atheist.
You'll be an ADVOCATE for atheism.
And we could use SO many more of those.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at friendlyatheist.com.
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