006 - Chris from Kansas City, Missouri

People know what they believe. They just don't know why they believe it.

Notes with time stamps below.

0:09 Tell me a little about yourself?

Methodist church growing up but not a religious family. Got involved. Assist with Pastor. Leading Sunday School classes. Doubts started around intelligent design argument really got going. Wanted to examine other side (evolution). That led me down path to being an atheist. Logic coming was just more solid (from evolution side). Diving into it further. Slowly moved away from church. What people would call agnostic, but then atheist. See what religion was doing, even became more anti-theist.

Are you real involved in showing people your side? Yes, and more like not being silent about it. Helping others see errors in their ways. I’m more direct in what I post and tweet. Most people didn’t reason themselves into their beliefs. Helping people realize how their beliefs don’t line up, making them question.

4:32 Do theists not really know what they believe? They know what they believe, but not why they believe it. Most beliefs are simply passed down from parents to children.

5:08 Do you consider yourself an atheist or agnostic?

Let’s define terms first. People take 3 views: 1. Agnostic (don’t know) 2. Atheists (no god) 3. Theists (god exist). I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist. I’m not claiming certainty, but what I believe leads me to atheism. I believe everyone are actually agnostics- theists and atheists. There are also Gnostic Atheists (Strong Atheists, Hard Atheists), probably about 5-10% of total atheists.

7:07 When did you become an atheist/agnostic?

Probably around 2003-2004. Looking at it as I was trying to support intelligent design. Over a period of years (3-5) agnostic to atheist.

8:00 Do you consider yourself a former Christian or other religion?

Former Christian. I would say I was saved. Strong believer. Semi-leader.

How did telling the church go? Slow transition out of church. Slowly stopped teaching, my involvement, phasing out, occasionally started skipping church services, then Sr. Pastor passed away, easy breaking away point at that time.

9:57 Why do you not believe in God?

I don’t believe there is one because taking a critical examination at the evidence out there. There is no observable or examinable evidence of a Supreme Being.

10:26 What would you say to God-believers out there?

Take a step back and question. If the Bible was presented to you apart than from a church, and read it, more than likely you would not believe it. People believe because they are taught by others to believe. Get yourself knowledge about other religions. You can easily see faults in other religions, but you ignore those same problems in your own religion.

12:06 Are you mad at God?

No. I don’t believe in God. No more mad at God than you are mad at Zeus.

12:26 Do you hate the Christian God at all?

For the most part it’s no big deal. Many Christians I speak with are not as knowledgeable of the Bible as I am.

13:26 Should I stop believing in God, or stay the way I am?

Really examine for yourself. Become familiar with processes behind critical thinking. It’s going to fall short. It’s far better for people to think critically about everything, religious or political.

14:33 Have you or do you currently read the Bible or any religious books?

I haven’t in a while. I had a period of time when I was involved in the church that I read the Bible daily. Had lots of study Bibles. Read Book of Mormon. Read Dianetics. Read Koran. Hindu books, Confuscius books. Been 4-5 years since.

15:37 What would be the #1 book you’d recommend that I read?

Christopher Hitchens – God is Not Great.

16:04 Have you ever heard of “presuppositional apologetics”?

Yes. Familiar with that.

16:19 I’d like to read you a Bible passage. Is that ok? Romans 1: 18-21 – Do you agree or disagree with that?

I’ve heard it before. I don’t give a lot of credit to it. Tribes “out there” don’t have a concept of God.

I would argue the opposite. Most people DON’T know there is a God. Most people DON’T know there is an afterlife. That is why people cry at funerals. Before you can talk about the wrath of God, you have to show God exists. Then you have to show that it’s YOUR God instead of another religion’s God. You have to show there is a soul. You have to prove there is a Heaven or Hell. There is no proof of sin. Pfizer don’t make a pill to cure sin because it doesn’t exist. Natural tendency to question and wonder, but that’s it. Thousands of years ago we thought earthquakes were caused by demons because we didn’t know any better. We don’t believe from birth there is a God.

20:44 Why do you have to prove there is a soul? It’s a “tenet” of the religion, right? Soul goes on in an afterlife. No proof there is a soul, but plenty of proof that all we are is our physical body. That is the major draw of most religion- dealing with death. I don’t want to die. I’m not scared of death but I want to enjoy my life as long as possible. You have to demonstrate a soul exists to justify any religion being true. If there isn’t a soul, then every religion is meaningless. If you accept the fact that this is all there is, you accept life differently. I consider murder now more serious than I did before. It’s much more permanent in my mind now. Is that why many people are against capital punishment? Don’t have enough information to say one way or the other.

26:04 Is there anything in the Bible you strongly disagree with? / What passage or story would you say you have the biggest problem with in the Bible?

Mark 16:9-20. Creation account is pretty absurd. Did you ever have a problem with Creation when a Christian? I was never a Bible literalist. I never saw it to be taking literally. It was simply mythology.

29:05 Do you ever debate religion/existence of God with anybody?

I haven’t but would do so.

29:12 Have Christians ever tried talking to you about becoming a Christian?

Yes. My father is a very hard core Christian, I get stuff from him all the time.

29:23 Are you open to the existence of a God?

Yes, if evidence could be supplied that could change my mind. Has to be attestable evidence. Regardless where you are, you can pick up something, drop it and prove gravity. If you could provide evidence similar to that about the existence of God, then sure.

30:06 If you discovered that Christianity was true, would you believe it and become a Christian?

If the right evidence came along, sure. I would change my belief that the world is a sphere if you could prove otherwise.

What would be significant evidence to you?

If you could pray for someone who lost a limb and it grow back- that would be something. If you could repeat it, that would really be something.

Feedback:

Pleasant interview.

Anything else you want to say? Think I’ve covered it all for now, until we hang up.