Joe E. Holman is a former Church of Christ minister who preached Christianity for nine years but is now an atheist and blogs about his atheism at ministerturnsatheist.org. Here you can read his de-conversion story, “From Gospel Preacher to Good Atheist,” which details how he initially became a deeply committed evangelical, his life preaching the gospel between from 1997 to 2003, and finally the doubts that led him to atheism. In the end, Joe writes:

What shocked me was that the evidences for materialism were there all along, right in front of me, only I never noticed them because of my former, religious delusions. Anyone who wanted hard facts that would support a natural universe could find a good number of evidences, if only they were willing to accept what they saw. I could now aim to live out my life with self honesty and intellectual dignity. I was never a “sinner” and didn’t need a savior. What I needed was truth and the liberty of enlightenment.

Among the other content on Joe’s blog is a list of 11 reasons why he is an atheist:

#1) I am an atheist because the god believer has the burden of proof when trying to establish the
existence of a god and has not met that burden.

#2) I am an atheist because all the world’s religions have failed to demonstrate that they are ways to a god

#3) I am an atheist because all I know is the natural world: All of my senses are for the natural world.

#4) I am an atheist because being so enables me to make honest decisions about things in the world around me

#5) I am an atheist because faith is a flawed system to live by.

#6) I am an atheist because I got tired of playing the guessing game.

#7) I am an atheist because I got tired of trying to find connections where there were none.

#8) I am an atheist because man is an animal and not a special creation or divinely destined creature.

#9) I am an atheist because Christianity (and all theism) manifests self-centered arrogance, the height of unfounded pride, and pompousness egotism.

#10) I am an atheist because the natural sciences bankrupt the bible, and theism in general.

#11) I am an atheist because God’s living room has been getting smaller and smaller each generation.

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Each of these eleven reasons are explained in further detail on his website.

Are you an atheist? Do you find these reasons convincing? Are there other reasons to be an atheist? If you would like to share your own reasons for being an atheist with us, then I encourage you to register with anatheist.net and submit them!