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According to Conservapedia:
In regards to the causes of atheism, there are a number of reasonable explanations for atheism:
- Moral depravity: The history of the atheist community and various studies regarding the atheist community point to moral depravity being a causal factor for atheism. In addition, there is the historical matter of deceit being used in a major way to propagate atheism from the time of Charles Darwin onward. Also, Bible exegesis points to the moral depravity of atheists. Moral depravity is certainly one of the prime causes of atheism.
- Superficiality: Noted ex-atheist and psychologist Dr. Paul Vitz has stated that he had superficial reasons for becoming an atheist such as the desire to be accepted by his Stanford professors who were united in disbelief regarding God.[3]
- Error: Some argue that atheism partly stems from a failure to fairly and judiciously consider the facts [4]
- State churches: In regards to the causes of atheism, rates of atheism are much higher in countries with a state sanctioned religion (such as many European countries), and lower in states without a sanctioned religion (such as the United States). Some argue this is because state churches become bloated, corrupt, and/or out of touch with the religious intuitions of the population, while churches independent of the state are leaner and more adaptable. It is important to distinguish "state-sanctioned churches," where participation is voluntary, from "state-mandated churches" (such as Saudi Arabia) with much lower atheism rates because publicly admitted atheism is punishable by death. [5]
- Poor relationship with father: Some argue that a troubled/non-existent relationship with a father may influence one of the causes of atheism.[6] Dr. Paul Vitz wrote a book entitled Faith of the Fatherless in which he points out that after studying the lives of more than a dozen leading atheists he found that a large majority of them had a father who was present but weak, present but abusive, or absent.[7][8] Dr. Vitz also examined the lives of prominent theists who were contemporaneous to their atheist counterparts and from the same culture and in every instance these prominent theists had a good relationship with his father.[9] Dr. Vitz has also stated other common factors he observed in the leading atheists he profiled: they were all intelligent and arrogant.[10]
- Division in religion: According to Francis Bacon, atheism is caused by "divisions in religion, if they be many; for any one main division addeth zeal to both sides, but many divisions introduce atheism." [11]
- Learned times, peace, and prosperity: Francis Bacon argued that atheism was partly caused by "Learned times, specially with peace and prosperity; for troubles and adversities do more bow men’s minds to religion."[12] Jewish columnist Dennis Prager has stated that one of the causes of atheism is the "secular indoctrination of a generation." [13] Prager stated that "From elementary school through graduate school, only one way of looking at the world – the secular – is presented. The typical individual in the Western world receives as secular an indoctrination as the typical European received a religious one in the Middle Ages.[14]
- Negative experiences with theists.
- Personal tragedy: For example, the death of a loved one (One's mother, father, husband or wife, etc.) can shake someone's religious belief severely, sometimes enough for them to lose it.
Actually, I think personal tragedy is up there on the list of causes, as is negative experience with theists, division in religion, and, well, learned times, peace, nad prosperity. Too bad it's at the end of the list.
To be honest, I don't think I could stomach going into some of the other sections of the web site. But here's one of the listed biases of Wikipedia that made my mind break - the accusation, that is, not the "bias":
To be honest, I don't think I could stomach going into some of the other sections of the web site. But here's one of the listed biases of Wikipedia that made my mind break - the accusation, that is, not the "bias":
- Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew communism in Chile and then restored democracy before voluntarily giving up power himself, is called a "dictator" by Wikipedia,[5] but Fidel Castro, the communist dictator of Cuba for four decades, is instead called a "leader" or even a "president".[6][7]
