Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Atheists Confess What Would Actually Change Their Minds About Religion

Atheists Confess What Would Actually Change Their Minds About Religion
@yomommasofat3/Reddit

When it comes to religion, a person either believes in a god or doesn't believe that a higher power exists.

But people are more complex than that. As we evolve throughout our respective journeys in life, we are known to vacillate between conforming to some ideas while dismissing others.

What we used to believe in no longer applies based on our negative experiences and vice versa.

Does it work the same way with faith and believing in God?


Curious to hear from non-religious people online, Redditor Graysie-Redux asked:

"Atheists of Reddit: What could change your mind?"

The proof is in the pudding.

Proper Comeuppance

"Every single paedophile/rapist in religious positions of power being simultaneously struck by lightning."

– serharridan

Evidence

"Any actual evidence. Also change my mind about which god(s)? Yahweh, Zeus, Osiris, Amaterasu?"

"I'm always amused by people not understanding what athiesm is. It's not a belief. Its a rejection of a claim and that's it. It's not what evidence would convince me otherwise, it's what evidence do you have. I observe said evidence and say that's not sufficient evidence because..."

– Rdr198829

Deeper Persuasion Required

"Nothing could suddenly change my mind into believing in the Christian (all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving) God. Proof of an entity with reality-changing powers would certainly change my world-view, but only to the point where I recognize that such a thing exists in the known universe. Ability does not imply divinity (or altruism)"

– Piercewise1

A Father's Experience After A Heart Attack

"My dad is an atheist, and had a major heart attack last year which came extremely close to killing him many times. He was in a coma for more than a month."

"During that time, several Christian family members wondered if he was having a religious experience, had seen/spoken to god or maybe his late daughter as an angel, and would awake as a religious man now."

"I said there was zero chance. Even if he did actually have these experiences and then come out of the coma and tell us about them, he would never say 'I talked to god while I was in a coma.' He would say 'The chemicals in my brain did an interesting thing while I was in a coma.'”

"As it happened, he did live and was able to tell us about his experience. None of it was remotely religious. It was mostly memories of thinking the hospital staff were torturing him."

"The closest thing he had during the coma was a dream where he saw my wife telling him that my dead sister and my wife’s dead sister were talking in heaven."

– PRGuyHere

These atheists believe in heavy sarcasm.

The Mythic Creature

"As a former atheist, what changed my mind was that, i learned the flying spaghetti monster existed."

– ThundaCrossSplitAtak

Egyptian Deity

"Christians, what would convince you to worship the Egyptian god Ra?"

– RedofPaw

"Whichever one, Christ or Ra, shows up in front of me first and bitch slaps me."

"Edit: if one of you offering to slap me are a God please teleport to my location to prove it you coward."

– RikenVorkovin

Money Talks

"I don't even need proof. I'll believe in him for €10m. I accept cash."

– ShadyShamaster

"Now that's a conversion method I could get into."

– yomommasofat3

The jury is still out for these Redditors.

Time To See Someone

"Don't know if there's anything. If some god appeared I'd still wonder if this was some hallucination and make an appointment with a psychologist."

– Destriant_of_Perish

Seeing Is Believing

"I think for me god would have to appear on a societal level in addition to seeing them myself. If my friends and relatives (who are also mostly atheist or agnostic) testified to also seeing god, as well as the general public and it became a known thing that god was real and making appearances I would probably believe it too."

– Feral_doves

Hearing It From The Source

"A god showing me they're real."

"Not a person telling me why their god is real. That's evidence of nothing."

"Gods shouldn't need middlemen."

– Vic_Hedges

There is not enough convincing that can persuade atheists to believe in an all-powerful, omniscient entity.

Many of them would attest to a higher power if they could be presented with tangible evidence of its existence.

Yet, I'm pretty sure most people who claim to have faith have not witnessed any appearances by God.

So this is an interesting conversation about what leads people to believe or completely dismiss the possibility that there might be something greater out there than any of us can ever imagine.

What do you think?

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshot of Lisa and Dr. Mehmet Oz
The Katie Miller Podcast

Dr. Oz Accidentally Tells The Truth About The Trump Administration's Gaslighting—And Yeah, That Tracks

Speaking on the podcast of former Trump administration official Katie Miller, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump's administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, accidentally told the truth about the administration's gaslighting of the American public.

Oz admitted that people "might not like us" but then had a Freudian slip that says all you need to know about an administration that is called out on a daily basis for openly lying and obfuscating.

Keep ReadingShow less
Karoline Leavitt
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Karoline Leavitt Gets Awkward Reminder After Claiming Anything On Truth Social Is 'Directly From President Trump'

During the Wednesday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt directly contradicted her boss, MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

Leavitt told the White House press corps:

Keep ReadingShow less
Keke Palmer attends the 8th Annual American Black Film Festival Honors at SLS Hotel.
Savion Washington/WireImage via Getty Images

Keke Palmer Explains Why She's 'Almost 100% Sure' She's Asexual In Candid Post—And Fans Are Here For Her

Keke Palmer had the internet talking after revealing she is “almost 100 percent sure” that she’s asexual. The Emmy-winning actress shared the revelation in a sultry Valentine’s Day Instagram post featuring a chic pixie cut, a champagne-toned halter corset top, a thin gold necklace, and stud earrings.

But while the photos turned heads, it was her caption that sparked the conversation.

Keep ReadingShow less
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; Brad Reese's Open Letter to Todd Scott
Julia Ewan/TWP/Getty Images; Brad Reese/LinkedIn

Grandson Of Reese's Founder Shames Hershey Co. For 'Replacing' Candy's Iconic Ingredients In Powerful Open Letter

Brad Reese, the grandson of H.B. Reese, who invented Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, is now speaking up about the quality of the product and his grandfather's original promise: real peanut butter and real milk chocolate.

When H.B. Reese invented the deliciously simple candy, he pointed out that using real ingredients wasn't a marketing tactic for him; it was a promise to the consumer that they knew what they were eating, and that what they were eating was real food.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Harun Ozalp/Anadolu via Getty Images

X User Asks What The First Thing You'd Do If You 'Wake Up As Elon Musk'—And Everyone Had The Same Idea

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked on his own platform after X user @buffys opened a veritable Pandora's box by asking what people would do if they woke up as him one day.

The question was simple:

Keep ReadingShow less