How is the claim that there are no ex-atheists different from the claim that there are no ex-Christians?

Question

I'm trying to understand how otherwise rational people can hold the view that those who disagree with them now never would've agreed with them in the past.

Seems to me to be the same No True Scotsman dreck regardless of what's after the ex.

Answer 1

That's all c**p, it's almost about half (50%) of people that change their faith at least once in their lifetime.  

Answer 2

Because if you receive the Spirit of God you know God exists.

Athiests cannot know that God does not exist.

There are however some ex-Christians. Christians who play around with sin can become so deluded that they forsake Christ. God gives people up a little at a time to their sin and they sink deeper and deeper into sin and delusion as they continue their rebellion against him and what they know to be true.

Answer 3

Most ex-atheists tend to be completely ignorant of what the word atheist actually means and when questioned they will usually go on about how they hated God, thought church was boring, were just living for themselves or something else that would not define them as an atheist.

Whereas most ex-Christians actually did believe in the Christian God, Jesus, Heaven, h**l, etc.  

It can't be a "No True Scotsman" deal as they are based on religious position and beliefs.  If you believe in the Christian God and Jesus as his son then you're a Christian.  There's no arguing that, regardless of your actions.  If you're angry at said Christian God/Jesus and are rebelling then you are not, by definition, an atheist.

It's not a matter of personal opinion.

Answer 4

I hate to admit it, but there are bigots on both sides.

Answer 5

This is true. There are both ex-atheists AND ex-Christians, and ex-every religious belief you can think of.

However, when someone who used to identify as atheist converts and then declares something along the lines of "all the time I was atheist, I was, at the bottom of my heart, really just searching for god", then THAT means they were never, by definition, an atheist, as they are then saying they always believed and just denied it when they were younger.

Buddy R: Sorry, but you have just spouted nonsense with nothing to back it up aside from your personal assertion.

Answer 6

This stems from the unsound theology of "once saved, always saved," and predestined election.  Some Christians are taught that once you are "saved" you will always be saved, which leads them to believe that someone who was an "ex-Christian" now atheist must mean they were never really a Christian to begin with.

Catholics, on the other hand, know full well that the Bible teaches Christians can fall away and lose their salvation.

Answer 7

Right.

However, I note that a big part of some evangelical testimonies is the "I used to be an atheist" bit, where they then go on to completely misrepresent what being an atheist actually is.

I trust "I used to be a Christian" a lot more than "I used to be an atheist" out of numbers and motivation.

Answer 8

There is little difference.

As an ex Christian, I am always being accused of not really being a 'true' Christian at the time, which I find incredibly insulting.

The only difference is exactly what you pointed out in your additional details.  Many, if not most 'ex-Atheists' admit that they were just in rebellion during the time of their Atheism, which indicates that they were not really Atheists at all.

There are however, a precious few believers who truly didn't believe in God and then experienced a life threatening or changing event that made them adopt reliance on faith.  So it is possible for an Ex Atheist to exist.

Answer 9

While I certainly would not fall for the NTS fallacy, I have noticed that a lot of Christians will say things like "I used to be an atheist blah blah blah" and on further examination it turns out they were either not interested in gods/religion (apathetic agnostic or something like it) or just angry/disappointed in their god (angry theist).

That said, I am sure there are convinced atheists who became convinced whatevers.

Answer 10

I think it's that anyone who holds a certain belief (or non-belief) can't accept that someone who now rejects it ever REALLY believed it. They think that their belief is so right that if you were a true believer you never would have rejected it.  That way, they can dismiss you and not have to consider that there may well be valid reasons for having rejected it. They don't want to look at their belief objectively.