How do you know you're not just going through a phase?

How do you know you're not just going through a phase?

Hemant Mehta (http://www.friendlyatheist.com, http://www.patreon.com/Hemant , https://www.facebook.com/friendlyatheist)
"You're just going through a phase."

A lot of religious people love to say this about atheists, especially young ones. They'll find God eventually. They're just rebelling.

As if we become atheists out of spite, just to make everyone mad. It's a really dumb thing to say.

Maybe some of you watching this are literally new atheists. Or maybe you're on the fence. How do you know when you're a real atheist and not just going through a phase? How do you know when you're finally comfortable as an atheist?

- You're not afraid of hearing information that might prove you wrong.

Atheists read the Bible. Christians don't always read the God Delusion. We're looking for evidence that might prove us wrong and realizing it's just not there.

Pastors warn you against watching secular media or listening to secular music. The Christian Right tells you to boycott shows that challenge religious views. They promote abstinence-only sex education because they think knowledge about condoms and birth control is bad for you.

Meanwhile, atheists will directly quote what religious people say and what their holy books say. If you want to become an atheist, just open up your Bible. We want you to judge it for yourself instead of hearing it through our filter.

We're not afraid of being challenged because we're confident about our beliefs.

So if you have no concerns about hearing what the opposition has to say, you're probably out of any atheist phase. You're just an atheist.

- You get excited when you learn new information.

I think one of the most respectable things you can say as an atheist is, "I don't know the answer to that... let's see if we can figure it out!"

It's not enough to enjoy magic anymore. You wanna know how they did the trick.

If something seems improbable, you're not going to just take it on faith anymore. You're going to see if there's a rational, reasonable explanation to it. That's what drives you now.

The same thing applies to people who tell you they're gay or asexual or voting for Rick Santorum. Why would anyone admit it if it wasn't true?

So to the parents and religious allies out there, if people tell you they're atheists, believe them. It's not an easy thing to admit. And it's infuriating for people like me when someone suggests we really didn't think this one through when that's exactly what led us to shed our faith.

I mean, how long does a phase have to last before you accept that it's not just temporary?
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