In a previous post, Do Christians exist?, I gave my thoughts on the issue of whether there is such a thing as an ex-Christian. Many Christians say “No”, based on various Bible passages. I think that’s silly, as I explain in that post. But here I’d like to address a pet peeve I have against some of my fellow atheists…
Some atheists reel in horror when a Christian describes him/herself as an “ex-atheist”. I’ve heard many an atheist respond by saying “you could never become a Christian if you were a real atheist”. (For this post, I’ll ignore the fact that this reeks of the No True Scotsman fallacy.)
In debates with theists, atheists are often told that “atheism is the belief that there are no gods”. Many atheists (including myself) take exception to this definition. While a person who believes there are no gods is certainly an atheist, most atheists I know tend to think of atheism as referring to a lack of belief in gods. They are quick to point out that, for example, everybody is born an atheist, since babies do not have a belief in gods.
Well, if that’s the case, then every single Christian (and Muslim, Mormon, Hindu) is an ex-atheist. In fact, most of the people of the world are ex-atheists!
Come on, guys. Let’s be logical. You can’t have it both ways…
