2008-10-28 Three Crucial Things You Must Know Before Challenging An Atheist's Unbelief

2008-10-28  40 Year Old Atheist \atheism vs. religion http://40yearoldatheist.com/three-crucial-things-you-must-know-before-challenging-an-atheists-unbelief/2008/10/ Three Crucial Things You Must Know Before Challenging An Atheistâ€™s Unbelief Three Crucial Things You Must Know Before Challenging An Atheist's Unbelief  I propose that there are three categories of atheists: Iâ€™m here to talk about category #3 atheists because, well, I fall in that grouping.
 * 1) Natural Atheists: Those brought up by atheist parents who never experienced the conflict between religion and rationality.
 * 2) Apathetic Atheists: Those whose faith was not particularly strong and who, without a compelling drive to believe or not believe, defaulted to atheism - becoming an atheist involved very little internal debate and conflict.
 * 3) Dissonant Atheists: Those who grew up with belief but who were overwhelmingly torn up over the incompatibility between faith and rationality. These people sought one thing - to rid themselves of the terrible cognitive dissonance cat #1 and #2 atheists are spared from.

The three origin-categories of atheists (natural, apathetic, and dissonant), and why the third type is never an easy convert "back to the fold".   