I followed a link on the twitter and read an blog titled “How to Un-Create an Atheist” My response is below, because, as as often happens in comments awaiting moderation, the wait can be interminable.
I read your article carefully and came to the conclusion you might be prey to bias blindness. I see where you were indoctrinated to behave in church/family approved ways, I see where you wanted to make decisions you thought were what your family and extended family [church proxy] would approve of. I see you recount your disillusionment with the “people” in the church who let you down emotionally. I understand you reaching out to other support systems you thought were the antithesis of belief, in as you state, in anger and rebellion [a common occurrence in puberty, as I recall]. I also see your eventual return to the environment that gave you the *most emotional comfort*. Nowhere do I see any positive statements that your belief in god was real to you in a concrete sense. In fact, although you cite mountains of evidence, you don’t actually give any. Children at 10, or 12 for that matter; don’t have the tools available to them to make intellectual decisions beyond their emotional capacity. I think you are today a product of your early conditioning, and you want to believe badly enough to be able to shut out any cognitive dissonance you experience from day to day. It’s ok. Some people are unable to deal with the concept of personal responsibility that occurs outside the auspices of “your heavenly father.” The majority are with you demographically. Many share similar journeys as you do. They all have the same common thread. They think they were atheists. They now think they are believers. Some regale us with “I used to be an atheist” stories and offer it as evidence of god.
Thinking critically is not “atheism”. Withholding affection isn’t atheism. Searching for answers to metaphysical questions is not atheism. Counter-Apologetics is not atheism.
Not believing is.
Consigliere Del Papa 