Comments on: Converts to atheism or theism

Question: Converts to atheism or theism

keith0718 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:56:39 -0800

Name some prominent converts to either atheism or theism.

I'm looking for books and names of fairly prominent thinkers and authors (ancient to modern) who, at some point in their lives, converted either (i) from atheism to theism, or (ii) from theism to atheism.

By: Tomorrowful

Tomorrowful — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:01:20 -0800

CS Lewis comes to mind; Mere Christianity is the result of his transition from atheism to the Church of England.

By: __

__ — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:04:53 -0800

You should probably define atheism. For example, christians were considered athiest by the romans because they didn't belive in *all* of the gods.

By: jouke

jouke — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:05:01 -0800

Evelyn Waugh converted to catholicism I think.

By: hsoj

hsoj — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:06:14 -0800

Douglas Adams comes to mind. As I understand it, he was greatly influenced by the work of Richard Dawkins, but I'm not sure if he was ever very religious to begin with.

link (wikipedia)

By: ChasFile

ChasFile — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:07:54 -0800

Paul, famously.

By: jouke

jouke — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:08:18 -0800

Lots of writers of the beginning of the 20th century were raised religiously and lost their faith. Joyce f.i.

By: jquinby

jquinby — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:12:16 -0800

I'll add G.K. Chesterton along to Lewis. His autobiography might shed some light on his actual conversion. His stuff is a ball to read regardless. There's also St. Augustine, who details his conversion in The Confessions.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:12:36 -0800

Constantine.

By: jouke

jouke — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:17:47 -0800

Gerard Reve converted to catholicism from a communist upbringing.
A dutch writer; so not very relevant to the US. But his interpretation of catholicism was very strange.

By: __

__ — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:18:25 -0800

Constantine was a pagan and became a Christian. So that answer is moot. Augustine's conversion had more to do with leaving the "ways of sin" behind that an actually shift in the belief of a diety. Paul's was never an atheist, he believed the normal Jewish thought of his day. So folks read the question.

By: Happydaz

Happydaz — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:19:48 -0800

ChasFile, I don't know if Paul counts; he converted from Judaism to Christianity ... aren't both technically Theism, a believe in one God?

By: terrapin

terrapin — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:22:25 -0800

what mullingitover said. Constantine's conversion may have had the biggest impact on organized religion in history.

By: gubo

gubo — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:24:09 -0800

Thomas Merton, who grew up nonreligious/indifferent/atheist, became a very devout Catholic.

By: plinth

plinth — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:25:20 -0800

Pascal is notable in the breadth of his swing to theology.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:28:40 -0800

Charles Darwin lost his faith, if I remember correctly.

By: substrate

substrate — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:43:36 -0800

I don't know how much of this is part of the latest addition to his routine but Ted Nugent used to be loudly atheist, I remember him going off on a interview when questioned about the suicide of his father as well as on numerous other occasions. He's now a Christian.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:44:55 -0800

Antony Flew is a noted philosopher who converted from atheism to theism late in life.

By: substrate

substrate — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:49:45 -0800

Sorry, I did not see "author" (which I guess he is) or "thinker" (which he definitely is not).

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:52:59 -0800

from atheism to theism

Well, youre not going to find any ancient atheists. Atheism is very modern. You will find famous theistic conversions, especially tons of pagan to monotheism.

Atheism, as we tend to know it nowadays, has its roots in 20th century materialism and science.

Also you'll find lots of 17th century characters called atheists by church authorities but they were actually theists who simply weren't religious enough. Or who got on the wrong side of the inquisition.

This page lists some names. Cant vouch for how accurate they are.

By: Red58

Red58 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:55:00 -0800

Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe of Roe v Wade) converted in 1995. She also claims to be an ex-lesbian.

By: a robot made out of meat

a robot made out of meat — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:56:07 -0800

A difficulty: where does "at some point in their lives" mean to start? Of prominent athiests, very few (like the general population) were raised that way. Are early conversions ok?

By: Gregamell

Gregamell — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:08:49 -0800

Reading two books right now about religious/spiritual conversion: 'The Varieties of Religious Experience' and the big book of alcoholics anonymous. Also read this book back in college.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:11:48 -0800

Well, you're not going to find any ancient atheists. Atheism is very modern.

Actually, Plato spends some time discussing atheists in The Laws. (Generally, they're characterized as a danger to the ideal state.) So atheists were, at least, in existence back then, though certainly modern atheism has a different manifestation than in would have in Plato's time.

By: paduasoy

paduasoy — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:27:10 -0800

Charles Bradlaugh for (ii) - but isn't the question Googleable?

Also, can no-one think of any women?

By: niles

niles — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:27:37 -0800

Lee Strobel, a former Chicago Tribune editor. He has written quote a few books about his journey from atheism to Christianity, including The Case for Faith.
Don't get the stupid teen-edition. It's missing all of the stuff worth reading.

By: niles

niles — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:28:03 -0800

~~quote~~ quite

By: kiltedtaco

kiltedtaco — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:29:06 -0800

Well, you're not going to find any ancient atheists. Atheism is very modern.

Not true. Prominate atheists back in ancient Greece include Lucretius and Epicurus. A brief history of disbelief is an excellent BBC documentary that goes into detail about the roots of atheism.

Bertrand Russell is an example of someone who went back and forth a few times.

By: brownpau

brownpau — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:39:14 -0800

Jane Fonda.

By: NailsTheCat

NailsTheCat — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:43:17 -0800

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle rejected the financial assistance of his uncle when setting up his doctor's practice largely because it because it required his embracement of his family's Catholic faith.
He declared himself an atheist as a young man (or so I believe) but later on became greatly spiritual. Believing in fairies and Houdini's super powers for a start.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:22:57 -0800

No, that's incorrect. Lucretius denied the immortal soul but did not deny the existance of the gods. Epicureanism roughly means that the gods dont intefere in the works of man. Ancient "atheists" are best seen as 18th century deists.

Like I wrote earlier, ancient and pre 19th century atheists would not be called atheists today, they would be called lesser religious people. Not even agnostics. Many people in history have worn the label atheist onyl because they werent religious enough.

The idea of a purely materialsitic and deterministic universe without a creator is truly modern. It probably can be directly traced to the scientific revolution and the enlightenment.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:33:30 -0800

Religion beat became a test of faith. A religious reporter on the L.A. Times gradually lost his faith covering religion.

By: vilcxjo_BLANKA

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:46:00 -0800

Conan Doyle is very interesting. There was a tremendous amount of interest in spiritualism in upper class Britain just after the 1st World War. The war was truly awful for the Europeans. For decades before the war Europe was pretty much at peace. Between the 1870s and whenever the war started (1914?) there was generally peace in Western Europe, though Eastern Europe was more unsettled. We tend not to understand how they were swept from never knowing anything about war to a brutal, 20th century, total war, with high civilian casualty rate. Doyle lost his son in the war, as did many upper class British families. The interest in spiritualism was a poignant attempt to contact them, one that makes a bit of sense to me, though in a tragic way. I don't think you can count in as a true conversion, though.

Einstein is a famous atheist who is constantly adopted, erroneously, by the religious crowd. I don't know if he converted or if he never had much religious feeling at all.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:55:30 -0800

I think its very unfair to call Albert Einstein an atheist. He was at best an agnostic or a deist. From the wikipedia

Einstein told Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein "I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind." (Brian 1996, p. 127) In 1950, in a letter to M. Berkowitz, Einstein stated that "My position concerning God is that of an agnostic. I am convinced that a vivid consciousness of the primary importance of moral principles for the betterment and ennoblement of life does not need the idea of a law-giver, especially a law-giver who works on the basis of reward and punishment."[37]

I also dont think its fair to call him errornously accepted by the religious crowd. He seemingly was a religious person. See this section of the wikipedia. A modern day atheist like Dawkins would not be caught dead saying many of those things.

I think its important for the OP to realize that the facts surrounding "famous historical atheists" has been co-opted by both sides of the debate. A little research shows that the theist/atheist divide is very modern and pigeonholing historical characters into these roles may not be very fair.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:28:41 -0800

Look to India: Charvaka started the atheist Lokayata school of Mauryan philosophy possibly as early as the 6th c. BC, which was active until at least the 14th c. AD, as documented in Madhava Acharya's Sarvadarshansamgraha. Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa's Tattvopaplavasimha described a purely materialistic epistemology in the 9th c. AD.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:02:45 -0800

Like I wrote earlier, ancient and pre 19th century atheists would not be called atheists today, they would be called lesser religious people. Not even agnostics. Many people in history have worn the label atheist only because they werent religious enough.

This seems sometimes but not always true. To go back to my earlier example, in The Laws Plato describes atheists as claiming that the gods do not exist, that they are legal fictions and expedient creations of the ruling class, and that our lives are instead ruled by a combination of nature and chance. The word "atheist" seems to fit that description well enough. (I suppose you could argue that people who claim that our lives are ruled by a combination of nature and chance aren't "really" atheists, but that sounds a lot like a "no true Scotsman" argument of the kind that Antony Flew famously defined.)

It may be the case that you're assuming that people who claim that a god or gods do not exist necessarily assent to a set of additional beliefs associated with materialism, rationalism, and/or scientific empiricism, but even today that isn't necessarily true (though the Dawkinsish sort of atheist this describes is the kind that gets the most media attention these days).

By: Megafly

Megafly — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:37:40 -0800

Christopher Hitchens discusses his conversion and how it happened in his book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:21:36 -0800

damn dirty ape writes "Epicureanism roughly means that the gods dont intefere in the works of man. "

Epicurus made the gods in his pantheon as insignificant as possible without denying their existence outright. His philosophy was materialist, and he demoted his gods to being both made of atoms and completely unconcerned with human affairs. One could argue that he only assented to the existence of gods in order to avoid being killed. Not an unwise move. Theists have, historically, murdered a lot of atheists.

By: legotech

legotech — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:23:16 -0800

Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller is a very avowed atheist, well, so is Teller, but he's a lot quieter about it :)

reg

By: blacklite

blacklite — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:31:59 -0800

Nietzche grew up Christian and originally went to college to study theology. After a semester he declared himself an atheist.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:39:15 -0800

List of notable former atheists.
List of atheists. (Presumably most didn't start that way.)
List of notable converts to Islam: From non-religious.

The list of atheists is very well cited.

By: cmiller

cmiller — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 04:19:49 -0800

This week: The LA Times' religion reporter. "Religion beat became a test of faith"

By: yarrow

yarrow — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:43:05 -0800

From today's NY Times, here's an obituary of a rabbi who founded a variant of Judaism that doesn't require belief in god.

By: Flood

Flood — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:52:38 -0800

St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus)

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:08:07 -0800

Here's an article in today's NY Times about Peter O'Toole playing Pope Paul III in The Tudors that reads in part:

Six decades after his altar-boy childhood and subsequent loss of faith, Mr. O'Toole said he looked elsewhere for life guidance. "I suggest that an education and reading and facts aren't bad things on which to ponder a few notions," he said. But he acknowledged a "very strong and very real" spiritual side to his nature.

"No one can take Jesus away from me," he said, having just expressed an affection for the Sermon on the Mount ("Blessed are the meek," etc.). "There's no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace."

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:18:33 -0800

Madalyn Murray O'Hair, at one time sort of the face of atheism in the US, was born into a religious family. I don't know when or under what circumstances she became an atheist.