Have you known anyone who was an atheist because they didn't want to obey god?

[Sunstone]

As everyone knows, there are more false notions of why atheists become atheists than their are exaggerated tales of sexual prowess in a high school boy's locker room.

Seems to me one of those ideas -- an idea that is popular in some quarters -- is to believe that people become atheists to escape any demands a god might put upon them.

But the idea strikes me as flawed. For one thing, it seems to contradict itself: How could someone both not believe in a god, and also feel a need to escape from that god? So far as I can see, that's a "locker room idea".

That doesn't mean it could not happen, but I wonder whether someone who was that slow running of a faucet could properly be said to comprehend well enough what atheism is to actually be called an atheist?

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

As everyone knows, there are more false notions of why atheists become atheists than their are exaggerated tales of sexual prowess in a high school boy's locker room.

Seems to me one of those ideas -- an idea that is popular in some quarters -- is to believe that people become atheists to escape any demands a god might put upon them.

But the idea strikes me as flawed. For one thing, it seems to contradict itself: How could someone both not believe in a god, and also feel a need to escape from that god? So far as I can see, that's a "locker room idea".

That doesn't mean it could not happen, but I wonder whether someone who was that slow running of a faucet could properly be said to comprehend well enough what atheism is to actually be called an atheist?

I have never met an atheist who was an atheist because they wanted to do what they wanted, instead of doing what an undetectable deity wants them to do.

It is indeed an idea that simply doesn't scan...

 

[osgart]

My atheism is totally unwanted. Back when i believed i felt the most powerful victory. Since then its all faded dreams.
I would rather have reality then fantasy or to deceive myself.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I haven't heard that one yet, but it's just as accurate, and makes just as much sense, claiming that atheists hate god.

 

[LuisDantas]

I guess it is possible. People can have surprising mental stances.

But it certainly strikes me as self-contradictory, and I don't think I know of anyone who has such a stance.

 

[Milton Platt]

I have never met an atheist who was an atheist because they wanted to do what they wanted, instead of doing what an undetectable deity wants them to do.

It is indeed an idea that simply doesn't scan...

No. I have been a lifelong atheist and never met one who was for that reason.

 

[sayak83]

As everyone knows, there are more false notions of why atheists become atheists than their are exaggerated tales of sexual prowess in a high school boy's locker room.

Seems to me one of those ideas -- an idea that is popular in some quarters -- is to believe that people become atheists to escape any demands a god might put upon them.

But the idea strikes me as flawed. For one thing, it seems to contradict itself: How could someone both not believe in a god, and also feel a need to escape from that god? So far as I can see, that's a "locker room idea".

That doesn't mean it could not happen, but I wonder whether someone who was that slow running of a faucet could properly be said to comprehend well enough what atheism is to actually be called an atheist?

No. I have never met any atheist of that kind.

 

[crossfire]

As everyone knows, there are more false notions of why atheists become atheists than their are exaggerated tales of sexual prowess in a high school boy's locker room.

Seems to me one of those ideas -- an idea that is popular in some quarters -- is to believe that people become atheists to escape any demands a god might put upon them.

But the idea strikes me as flawed. For one thing, it seems to contradict itself: How could someone both not believe in a god, and also feel a need to escape from that god? So far as I can see, that's a "locker room idea".

That doesn't mean it could not happen, but I wonder whether someone who was that slow running of a faucet could properly be said to comprehend well enough what atheism is to actually be called an atheist?

I'm a transtheist. I don't find the theism/atheism dichotomy very helpful. I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do without regard to this dichotomy. Your mileage may vary.

 

[YmirGF]

I'm a transtheist. I don't find the theism/atheism dichotomy very helpful. I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do without regard to this dichotomy. Your mileage may vary.

Similarly, I simply have no use for the god paradigm and feel it hems my thinking in too much which, in turn, hems in my experience. Reality is definitely cooler with no gods ... I'll say that. Further, I definitely recognize that I am simply not in a position to say if something is god. How do you tell the difference between a highly evolved soul and a god? Is there a difference? That answer is beyond MY pay grade.

 

[Jumi]

I think it's a misunderstanding about people who don't want to follow rules with reasons that are unintelligible to them. A confusion of cause and effect.

 

[ShushersRdamned]

Isn't that the only kind of an atheist there is?

Don't even the theists not want to obey god?

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Isn't that the only kind of an atheist there is?

Don't even the theists not want to obey god?

How can we disobey a nonexistent god?

 

[ShushersRdamned]

How can we disobey a nonexistent god?

Of there is any part - even a subconscious part - in your mind that has any doubt...

 

[crossfire]

Of there is any part - even a subconscious part - in your mind that has any doubt...

This is one reason why I don't find the theist/atheist dichotomy very useful.

 

[Altfish]

As everyone knows, there are more false notions of why atheists become atheists than their are exaggerated tales of sexual prowess in a high school boy's locker room.

Seems to me one of those ideas -- an idea that is popular in some quarters -- is to believe that people become atheists to escape any demands a god might put upon them.

But the idea strikes me as flawed. For one thing, it seems to contradict itself: How could someone both not believe in a god, and also feel a need to escape from that god? So far as I can see, that's a "locker room idea".

That doesn't mean it could not happen, but I wonder whether someone who was that slow running of a faucet could properly be said to comprehend well enough what atheism is to actually be called an atheist?

Believing in a god is the easiest option for sinners because many religions have formal forgiveness procedures. e.g. Roman Catholics go about raping and pillaging, turn up at confession and hey presto! you are forgiven.

Simple.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

But the idea strikes me as flawed. For one thing, it seems to contradict itself: How could someone both not believe in a god, and also feel a need to escape from that god? So far as I can see, that's a "locker room idea".

Anyone I’ve met who said they believed this also said that they thought self-declared atheists are lying and not actually atheists.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Of there is any part - even a subconscious part - in your mind that has any doubt...

There wouldn't be any (wishful thinking?). A person would need to have some reason to believe there is a god to attempt to disobey it. Even then, they will be disobeying a construct of what god is like in their mind. Disobeying with an idea not an actual god. Unless they do believe one exists then they can disobey it.

It's like disobeying Jane McCarthy even though there is no one by that name that exists just the name and her character. One would have to at least know her to disobey her.

 

[Quintessence]

Roughly half of the unaffiliated cite "stopped believing in the religion's teachings" as a reason for leaving their childhood religion (Faith in Flux), which would include things like dissatisfaction with the demands of a deity. Something like half of unaffiliated describe "religious people are hypocritical/judgmental/insincere" (Entering and Leaving the Ranks of the Unaffiliated) as a reason for them becoming unaffiliated, which could relate to judgmental god-concepts and dissatisfaction with them as well. These two bits of info lend insight into the question of the OP, but they don't get at it directly. I don't mean to suggest that half of the unaffiliated became such to escape divine expectations. I've come across a few cases here and there, but I don't get the impression it's common... at least not the specific framing in the OP.

Everyone who converts to something else is escaping something and the picture is often complicated. I don't doubt that the nature of a religion's god-concept (if present) can play a role, but the degree to which it does would be different for each individual. Personally, when I rejected the Christian god, the expectations of that god didn't really play into it. That said, I think that was because I never saw the Christian god - I'm not sure that god was ever real to me in the ways that mattered. But the people who worshiped it were. And I definitely had issues with the expectations worshipers of the Christian god put on me.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

New Roughly half of the unaffiliated cite "stopped believing in the religion's teachings" as a reason for leaving their childhood religion (Faith in Flux), which would include things like dissatisfaction with the demands of a deity.

I think that this dissatisfaction doesn't manifest as "I don't like what God is telling me to do, so I'll choose not to believe in God," but as "I believe God is good and wouldn't have instituted a religion with harmful or evil tenets, so I reject the religion... but the framework I used to justify the existence of God to myself is the religion I just rejected."

Edit: it's also worth pointing out that belief in a particular god or gods can be considered "a religion's teachings."

 

[Revoltingest]

That answer is beyond MY pay grade.

I read the underlined initially as "gay parade".
(I need new glasses.)