Did Evolution deconvert you?

Flamed Diving

As described. Credit to Mena for the idea.

I know the term "reading evolution" may seem odd, but for spaces sake I wrote it like that.

Poll to follow.

Xluna

No,common sense did.

Flamed Diving

Hope I covered everything there.

Galvasean

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Hope I covered everything there.

THere should be an option for, "I believed in evolution before becoming an atheist. However, it did not influence my decision."
THat sums me up.

GLaDOS

I'm not sure how to vote on this really, because I didn't really have any particular moment of clarity when I decided not to be Catholic. I'm not from a devout family at all and I just drifted away slowly from religion as the evidence mounted. In the end it all just seemed a bit silly.

I imagine I just accepted as true evolution before actually undertanding it.

Understanding evolution (along with general biology/physics knowledge) helped affirm this stance however. It's amazing how understanding he world around you banishes those fairy tales.

Bear in mind I'm only 19, I would have learned evolution for the first time when I was around 16/17, which is about the same time I really started questioning religion.

Flamed Diving

Galvasean wrote: »

THere should be an option for, "I believed in evolution before becoming an atheist. However, it did not influence my decision."
THat sums me up.

Drat.

Flamed Diving

ScienceNerd wrote: »

In the end it all just seemed a bit silly.

I imagine I just accepted as true evolution before actually undertanding it.

Understanding evolution (along with general biology/physics knowledge) helped affirm this stance however.

I would say option 1.

GLaDOS

Flamed Diving wrote: »

I would say option 1.

Probably the most accurate yeah. I was on my way certainly.

Dave!

I don't remember tbh, but it more than likely helped... If you're ignorant of evolution as a means of explaining complexity in nature, then it's alot easier to warm to the idea of a 'creator'.

tbh I suspect most people don't understand evolution in any real sense. I'd say alot of people will be aware that it took millions of years for things to end up as they are, but that's not really satisfying enough for me. Once you understand the concept and how it works (I think the Carl Sagan video of the shellfish is the best explaination btw), then it's alot more intellectually satisfying and will help get rid of any residual suggestions of god being involved.

Turtwig

Galvasean wrote: »

THere should be an option for, "I believed in evolution before becoming an atheist. However, it did not influence my decision."
THat sums me up.

+1

Bottle_of_Smoke

I can remember the exact moment I stopped believing.Was actually in Physics class when it was explained how big the universe is.

I'm not sure evolution would have stopped me believing, perhaps creationists are attacking the wrong science!

condra

I believed in evolution before becoming an atheist.

Turtwig

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

I'm not sure evolution would have stopped me believing, perhaps creationists are attacking the wrong science!

Get out!
Get out!
Get out right now!
Blasphemy against science!
Pesky creationists can attack biology, but leave physics and chemistry alone.:mad:

(I wanna be able to travel at warp speed before I die )

The Mad Hatter

I was an atheist before I understood atheism - never mind evolution.

Flamed Diving

I was an atheist long before I was born.

apoch632

Reading the bible, koran and githa when I went through a questioning phase made me an atheist

ChocolateSauce

I don't remember ever not understanding evolution...I think it was taught to me as soon as I asked "where did we come from"?

Goduznt Xzst

Like Galvasean, my reading into evolution was more a catalyst to becoming an Atheist than a direct reagent to it.

There was a time when I didn't accept evolution, and when I examined my reasons for not accepting it coupled with my acceptance of Gods existence the correlation led me to shed both misconceptions within a short period of time of each other.

I realized that believing something to be true or false didn't actually make them so. It was at that point that I realized the pointlessness of belief.

Turtwig

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Like Galvasean, my reading into evolution was more a catalyst to becoming an Atheist than a direct reagent to it.

There was a time when I didn't accept evolution, and when I examined my reasons for not accepting it coupled with my acceptance of Gods existence the correlation led me to shed both misconceptions within a short period of time of each other.

I realized that believing something to be true or false didn't actually make them so. It was at that point that I realized the pointlessness of belief.

Ok you didn't actually accept evolution, does anyone else here come in that category?

By the way Goduzntxst love the user name and glad you came around to accepting evolution.:)
Thrilled that you became atheist.:D

redfacedbear

I had an understanding (albeit a simplistic and incomplete understanding) of evolution before I fully subscribed to Atheism, however it was not a factor in me adopting Atheism. If anything my Atheism has led to a better understanding evolution as reading The God Delusion led me to The Selfish Gene.

Zombrex

Evolution wasn't a major influence on my "conversion" to atheism

The major influence on my atheism was the realization, around the time my grandmother died, that humans strongly desire happy outcomes and create beliefs and agents to facilitate these beliefs despite them not actually existing.

Evolutionary theory much later on help me put a more scientific framework around the atheist ideas that I had had rattling around my noggin since about that time (when I was about 10 or 11).

Risteard

Nope. Evolution kind of made sense to me before I stopped believing but it wasn't the reason I stopped.

Sitting down and actually thinking about what I believed in and was taught made me stop.

Galvasean

Interestingly, since becoming an atheis I have become much more interested in evolution (and other sciencey stuff). It's sort of like thinking, "Hmm, well if God didn't do it, how does it all work?"

Well, that and my fascination with dinosaurs.