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Did you choose to be an atheist? Can one choose to be an atheist? [Spirituality & Religion]

By @Pikachu
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SW-User
I think that’s an odd way to phrase it; that being an atheist is a choice. We don’t choose for there to be no evidence of God/s, there just isn’t any and so we reject the claim. That’s not so much a choice rather than the application of basic logic and reason.

It’s not like you choose whether or not to believe in vampires or leperachauns; there isn’t an alternate choice to “no, there’s clearly no evidence that those things exist”.

By saying it’s a choice you're saying that both options are valid, atheism and theism. But theists haven’t met their burden of proof, and so really it isn’t a choice. Otherwise every non-belief is a choice, which seems silly.
@SW-User

Well exactly. I don't know how one can choose what to believe. In my experience belief is a reaction to evidence. You can't choose to believe that which you do not believe.