“I Used To Be An Atheist …”

This is a common opening line used in arguments by the supposedly newly religious. It’s nonsense and here’s why.

Firstly, there’s no reason why it is true. It could easily be just a persuasive technique aimed at bullying the other person into submission by suggesting they are behind in their thinking. Religious people like to be condescending and it would not be surprising for them to try to suggest that atheism is something one grows out of.

But for the sake of argument let’s consider that it is true. There are now several possibilities.

The person may well have been a somewhat lazy thinker. There are many people who will identify as atheist but not have thought about the principles behind it. They then get enticed by religion, swap sides, and get to say this line even though for them it is meaningless.

The most common occurrence of this scenario is when children, who were brought up in a non-religious style, become teenagers and are flooded with emotions and questions. This seems to tip the lazy thinker over the edge and they home in on religion for its sometimes comforting doctrine.

Even if this one person has thought about it, there’s no guarantee that they’re right simply because they switched opinion. It’s perfectly possible for someone to swap back again given new information.