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I recently ministered at a local jail and found a young man that used to believe in God, but changed his mind about God when events started going wrong in his life. Do you have any statistics showing how many people used to believe in God, but now have become atheist. Your help will be appreciated!
– Dr. Gary
I know of no comprehensive statistics in this area. Overall there are maybe 10-15 percent of the population who are atheist. However, since most people in the U.S (and elsewhere) have some form of religion, demographically most atheists had non-secular backgrounds, and certainly many atheists were formerly very intense believers (Dan Barker comes readily to mind). My personal experience in secular and atheist groups suggests the majority of atheists had a religious phase in their life, but eventually their skepticism about the reliability of the source of faith eventually won out. I am not typical in having a secular upbringing and hence no faith to lose.
Whether a person goes through an atheistic phase (or a religious phase for someone from a secular family) is more varied (Michael Shermer went through a Jesus Freak period in his youth). Personal crises are often a spur to both gaining and giving up faith, so your jailhouse prospect may not be the most disinterested subject here, independently of whatever “god modules” may be working in his non-crisis personality. Ultimately accepting or rejecting a religious belief grounds on personal inclinations, but I suspect a key here is the ability to reconcile theodicy concerns with personal experience — which I may sum up with a cinema example: What exactly was the fictional angel Dudley of the holiday classic “The Bishop’s Wife” (capable of intervening to prevent an American lady’s baby stroller from accidentally rolling in front of a passing vehicle) doing while the Holocaust was going on?
The Old Testament God of Isaiah was held responsible for all good and evil (what else can be said of a fully omnipotent being who is deemed the only deity?) but if the culture tends to highlight the blessings side and not the woe side (wow, our football team made that touchdown, praise the Lord!) then realizing there might not be a divine hand to act as backstop when things go awry (busload of children plummets to death in canyon traffic mishap) can reflect a recognition that the conditions of everybody needs to be assessed in this area, not just the ups and downs of personal cases.
Oh yes, and do have a Merry Christmas!
