75% of muslim converts leave Islam
Reply #60 - April 16, 2015, 11:28 AM
People who leave religion because they thoroughly researched it's claims rarely return to religion. However, in my experience with Christianity, most highly educated Christians always have some "doubt" story where they were in college or something and they "struggled with faith." Basically, this means their education caught up with them and they were experiencing some cognitive dissonance and starting to realize their beliefs were based on unsubstantiated bullshit. Then they turn to apologetics and those who have a strong will to believe will swallow some of the pseudo intellectual lines and think their beliefs have a basis in logic and reason. Some will go so far as to claim they were "atheists" or "agnostics" in this weak doubting period, but that's bullshit. They wanted to believe all along and found a way around their minds natural growing skepticism. These are the vast majority of those who "return" to their religion.
The rest are usually people who seem to have an inclination towards absolute morality. For converts and reconverts later in life they seem to be people who think there must be some sort of higher power keeping us accountable. They may be right, but I think they are people who fail to see how much their own morality has been shaped by their parents and society and it was instilled in them at such a young age that they see their values as reflective of some unmovable, objective source.
"I moreover believe that any religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system."
-Thomas Paine