Quote Originally Posted by miles View Post
Greenbeanz, you spent all that time preaching and trying to get inside different types of faith....and it took all of that to eventually become an atheist? I find that a little odd. Surely all you ever needed was a little common sense. I don't need to spend years inside a church to know that Christianity and Jesus worship is fundamentally absurd.

Just as you don't need to be an expert in economics to see that many experts talk out of their bottom, the same applies to religion. Most of it is common sense, you can see what is silly without the need to sacrifice already precious years on pointless things.
Miles you were fortunate to have not been brainwashed as a child, for every second of every minute of every day. When i finally got the courage to question those who brainwashed me I had to take the consequences which meant for me literally finding myself alone in the world. Part of my learning to function as a reasoning human being meant exploring other faiths and for this I make no apology. You may find it a little odd but fear overrides common sense when you believe the Devil is real, and the result of questioning your faith is being cast off and ignored by every family member and friend/acquaintance you have.

It is not only my experience that makes a nonsense out of religious apologists who think that religion is benign. I find Bilbo's assertion that reading Richard Dawkins turned him into a Christian, much odder.