Asymmetry of Conversion

In my email debate Seek and ye shall find? (which took place on the Xtianity mailing list) my debating opponent claimed "Skeptics become Christians and Christians become skeptics with disturbing regularity."

At the time a number of contributors commented that although many people convert to Christianity they were not aware of skeptics converting to Christianity. One correspondent described how during his years of debating online he had seen many Christians deconvert due to the arguments used against Christianity (some of the contributors were such people) but had never seen an atheist debater converted by the arguments of Christians. The Christians on the list suggested William J. Murray. However, he does not seem to be anywhere near the calibre of the professional Christian deconverts (see here, the follow ups to this and below).

Also, on the ex-tian mailing list we had been discussing sceptics becoming Christians following somebody objecting to the supposed arrogance of a claim that no "true" atheist becomes Christian. We then all racked our brains to think of anyone known or known of who had been through what we had been through and had returned to Christianity, or indeed anyone who had used our arguments and converted to Christianity - i.e. a mirror example of ourselves, someone who had used the gamut of arguments against Christianity and eventually concluded they were wrong.

With all our backgrounds in Christian apologetics we could only come up with one case that we couldn't quite be sure of (a friend of someone who "tried all kinds of ideas" and was currently engaged in a Buddhistic version of Christianity). So Christians (and well churched ex-Christians) have already been asked this question and so far have not come up with any quality converts. For [2 years I ran a poll] including an area for any ex-atheist members of freethought organisations who later became Christians to register and contact me. So far nobody has answered. (Update - Feb 2000. I now have 2 positive replies. One is definitely genuine and is discussed here. The other is probably a mistake and is discussed here). I check any answer with the organisation that they claim previous membership of and ask for copies of the material they published critical of Christianity. Nevertheless, my second wave of research (Update - Jan 2000 - now begun) will be to ask Christian organisations directly, rather than just Christians on debate lists and ex-Christians.

There may be examples out there (but where?) but certainly we couldn't come up with the numbers corresponding to all the ex-Missionaries, ex-Clergy, ex-apologists, ex-fundies, ex-Baptists, ex-evangelicals, ex-liberals, ex-Catholics, ex-Episcopalians, ex-Anglicans, etc. etc. on the list, not to mention all the documentation to back this up.

The more I thought about this, the more it intrigued me. In order to find a secular counterpart of a well-churched Christian, I thought of members of secular organisations. Such people should be as aware of the arguments against Christianity as a minister or missionary is of Christian apologetics. Since well-churched and professional Christians leave Christianity, I thought that if a review of the main secular organisations could find only a handful or no examples of their members becoming Christians versus the large number of well-Churched Christians leaving Christianity then this should be compelling evidence that something is wrong with Christianity, even without understanding the arguments against Christianity. It would suggest that a powerful reason for leaving Christianity is simply the discovery of information about why it is so untenable. Once this is understood the information can hardly be unlearnt. Hence members of secular organisations are highly unlikely to convert to Christianity whereas someone poorly educated in the arguments against Christianity could convert. Meanwhile, no matter how good the Christian apologist, they may stumble on reasons why they can no longer believe. This certainly seems to be what is happening from my own experience and researches. However, I decided to test this idea which is falsifiable if the data is against it.

If this idea was wrong then there should be something in Christianity that non-Christians have missed. I should therefore find Christian converts from atheist, freethought, humanist etc. organisations as people discover this secret. They would be the lost sheep the shepherd puts so much energy into finding. However, if a review of the main secular organisations could only find a handful or no examples of members becoming Christians versus the large number of well-Churched Christians leaving Christianity then I think that should be compelling evidence for many Christians that something is wrong with Christianity, even without understanding the arguments against Christianity.

Many well-churched Christians leave Christianity. Are there any examples of members of atheist/humanist or freethought organisations who convert to Christianity?

• I wrote to the following organisations:
  • American Atheists - form via http://www.atheists.org/contact.us.html
  • Freedom from religion foundation - dbarker@mailbag.com
  • British humanist association - robert@humanism.org.uk
  • Council for secular Humanism - info@SecularHumanism.org
  • Positive Atheism - atheism@aracnet.com
  • Atheist Foundation of Australia - floeber@nexus.edu.au
  • Council of Australian humanist Societies - rayday@vic.bigpond.net.au
  • The Humanist Association of Canada - hac@magi.com - Colin Downie
  • Freethought New Zealand - fnz@freethought.org.nz
  • The S. African Freethinkers Movement - john@eec.co.za
  • Humanist Society of NSW Inc. - vbien@ibm.net
  • The Humanist Association of Hamilton-Burlington - mcmaster@wchat.on.ca
  • Humanist Society of Metropolitan New York - info@corliss-lamont.org

From: <Steve Locks>

Sent: 21 July 1999 22:45

Subject: Conversions

I am doing some research for my website "Leaving Christianity" at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~slocks/decon.html

The site is basically a resource of "testimonies" from people who have left Christianity telling why they left in their own words. Mostly it links to sites already containing some collections of these stories. In the process of my research I have been struck by an asymmetry between the large number of professional Christians who deconvert (ministers, apologists, missionaries etc.) verses the lack of their atheist counterparts, such as members of humanist or atheist organisations, who convert to Christianity. However, to date I have only anecdotal information on this and so I would be very grateful for any statistics from your organisation or any other organisations you know of.

I am particularly interested in the conversion and deconversion of informed people from both the theist and non-theist camps who are well aware of the arguments from their particular side, rather than the lesser educated public. i.e. the conversion and deconversion of trained theist and non-theist "apologists", as it were, particularly those for and against Christianity. So my question is: What percentage of your members leave your organisation each year because they convert to Christianity? Also I would be interested in anybody who leaves because of conversion to other religions. My estimate is that the number is very small, if not zero, although in the spirit of honest enquiry and to test my ideas I am asking for direct information on this. If any of your members have left for religion then I would be interested in any details you could provide and email addresses if possible, so that I can follow up on the reasons why.

Thank you very much for any help you can give. My idea is that the case against Christianity is pretty good and that it is difficult to deny once appreciated. I would not expect many people who understand the seriousness of the problems with Christianity to then convert to it. A falsibiable theory which I am putting to the test! Conversely I have already tested the theory "all who seek [Jesus] will find" and have found that falsified in the testimonies I have collected.

Thanks again for any help.

Regards,

Steve Locks

From the British humanist Association

From: Robert Ashby <robert@humanism.org.uk>

To: <Steve Locks>

Sent: 22 July 1999 16:09

Subject: Re: Conversions

Many thanks for your interesting e-mail; in fact I can honestly say that no one here (or in the main records going back to the 1890s) has any trace of a member of the main humanist organisations converting to Xtianity, or any other theistic religion. Some have drifted towards non-theistic Buddhism (but drawn by the meditative, Dalai Lama approach, rather than reincarnation etc.).

The Sea of Faith organisation can provide you with case studies in the opposite direction (it has a very good recent book on it too).

I personally know many church leaders (Bishops etc) who have privately said they no longer believe in God (or the Trinity) as given in reasonably traditional doctrine. They face a very difficult time, as they see value in religion as a human creation - and they have my sincere sympathy.

All best wishes - Robert Ashby director BHA

I think this is the book referred to. Here are some excerpts.

My reply to the American Atheists

----- Original Message -----

From: <Ejonband@aol.com>

To: <Steve Locks>

Sent: 02 August 1999 04:17

<< I do not know of any Atheists who have become religious. >>

Hi Ellen,

Thanks very much for your reply.

<< I have received less than five e-mails and I think it is about 3 who have said that they have but I have doubted it from the context of their e-mails. >>

I am interested only really in those who were previously members of an atheist/freethought/humanist organisation who then became Christians. If any of these people claim that then I can check it by writing to the organisation that they claim to have been a member of. I'm not really interested in those who have not studied the arguments against Christianity very well, so I'm using membership of an organisation as an indicator that they were probably quite well read. If an ignoramus is an atheist then they may later become a Christian - not something I find very interesting! However I think the asymmetry between well-churched Christians including ministers, missionaries, apologists etc who leave Christianity versus the (so far in my researches) zero members of atheist/freethought/humanist associations who leave for Christianity to be a very telling observation.

<< I was always left with the impression that they were not telling the truth ( oh you should see the e-mails we get--). >>

By all means forward those 3 emails to me if you still have them.

<< Unfortunately we don't have statistics on how many people have "left" religion for Atheism or how many have always been Atheists. We are working on a survey now of our members and supporters. That is a very good question to add and I will. >>

Thanks very much for your info. Reliable statistics could be difficult. If a member of an atheist/humanist/freethought organisation did leave for Christianity then they might be quiet about it. On the other hand, there are Christians who triumphantly claim previous atheism - e.g. Josh McDowell, William Murray, C. S. Lewis, that if there were any ex-atheist/humanist/freethought organisation members, then I would estimate that we should have heard of some of them. Even if they were quiet themselves I would have thought that as soon as the evangelical Christians hear of any such person, they would publicise it. However neither McDowell, Murray or anyone have written articles critical of Christianity before they became Christians to the knowledge of Farrell Till.

I saw that someone asked my question to Farrell Till's "Skeptical Review" at http://www.infidels.org/library/magazines/tsr/1996/3/3mail96.html and http://www.infidels.org/library/magazines/tsr/1997/4/4mail97.html (you will have to do a text search for "Ulm" - the author of the question - on each page to find the relevant portion). I think it could be difficult to obtain a definitive answer, and no answer seemed to be forthcoming in the rest of the mailings following the URLs above. However, if a review of the main secular organisations could only find a handful or no examples of members becoming Christians versus the large number of well-Churched Christians leaving Christianity then I think that should be compelling evidence for many Christians that something is wrong with Christianity, even without understanding the arguments against Christianity.

Please feel free to forward this email to your members if you think it would help in your survey (or anything!)

Regards,

Steve

From the Council of Australian humanist Societies

From: Ray Dahlitz <rayday@vic.bigpond.net.au>

To: <Steve Locks>

Cc: Nick Renton <ner@melbpc.org.au>

Sent: 26 July 1999 21:05

Subject: Leaving Xianity for Sanity

Dear Steve

1.I reviewed your "Conversions" email of 26 July. I will reply in greater detail after surveying our membership more thoroughly on "Leaving Xianity." Generally speaking, I can vouch that within our group there is only a one-way traffic. Most remain as "unbelievers" - none re-enter any of the churches as deconverts --- most retire into non-attendees of anything! There are no death-bed conversions these days! Those that move to Humanism usually remain Humanists.

2.I have just downloaded your "Leaving Christianity" and want to record my gratitude for your work! On the basis of this material it is appropriate that I introduce myself as the President of the Australian Humanists. I am also the first Australian board member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, (IHEU) now based in London, previously Utrecht.. We Australian Humanists are organised as the Council of Australian Humanist Societies, (CAHS) and comprise affiliates based in all States of the Commonwealth. Two atheist societies and two Rationalist groups exist. They are separate entities and most members are also members of our organisation.

3. I am also the author of "Secular Who's Who," a three-tiered book which details the history of all the major Freethought/Atheist organisations in Australasia. The book traces the origins and growth of Secularism (last Century); Rationalist, this century; and Humanism (the modern-day version of our Freethought heritage.

4. I could reply specifically to your request for some names and details those that have deconverted from Religion, especially Christianity. However, in the first instance I would leave these details for you to read in my book.

I will send you a copy once you have sent me a collecting address. Most of these listed below are still living. A larger biography will be gleaned from "Secular Who's Who." First, four Ex-Catholics : the first three former priests; - Colin Goodwin, Ian Guthridge, Dally Messenger, Stephen Maxwell; then Professor J. J. Carswell Smart, (Anglican) and then Professor Peter George Woodcock, (Jehovah's Witness.) There are many more in my book! If interested. I could compile a further list of those who can be emailed. That should give you a key to the main players for your collection. However, unless we launch a survey I don't know how else we can get the statistics you call for. More on this point later.

<snip>

With best wishes.

Ray Dahlitz

From the Humanist society of NSW

From: Victor Bien <vbien@tpgi.com.au>

To: <Steve Locks>

Sent: 27 July 1999 07:55

Subject: Re: Conversions

On Sun, 25 Jul 1999 21:49:52 +0100, Steve Locks wrote:

>So my question is: What percentage of your members leave your organisation each year because they convert to Christianity?

Hello Steve,

Thanks for the interest. The answer is none that I know of but then members have dropped out over the years and we lose track of them. There is one case that is a slight exception in that they dropped out to be consonant with Jewish culture for the enculturation of their children.

I'll pass your query to other Humanists for their comments.

Regards

Victor Bien

From Positive Atheism

From: Positive Atheism <atheism@aracnet.com>

To: <Steve Locks>

Sent: 21 July 1999 22:58

Subject: Re: Conversions

Let me think about this one. It's not like they would tell us (unless they become evangelicals, and then they still could be timid about it). Like you said, it's anecdotal evidence. Author Patrick Glynn ("God: The Evidence") flaunts the fact that he is an ex-atheist, but after having read his book, I notice that he was a *nihilist*. Jeez -- I think even Evangelical Christianity might look appealing from that perspective! So, there are more than a few out there. Remember Madalyn Murray-O'Hair's son. Perhaps I'll send this out to the list for a Q&A. Still, I think we will not get better figures than the rates of growth and shrinkage of church membership and the statistics for the number of atheists in the world.

There is a great article about this in Microsoft Encarta, titled "Atheism." We have posted it at: http://www.aracnet.com/~atheism/writ/martin.htm

Cliff Walker

"Positive Atheism" Magazine

P.O. Box 16811

Portland, OR 97292

http://www.aracnet.com/~atheism/

atheism@aracnet.com

"As soon as you're born

They make you feel small..."

-- John Lennon (1940-1980)

"Changes take place, not independent of

man's will, but on account of man's wills.

Civilization has progressed by man's

interference with material conditions."

-- Gora (1902-1975)

"The legitimate powers of government extend

to such acts only as are injurious to others.

-- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

My Reply to Positive Atheism

From: <Steve Locks>

To: Positive Atheism <atheism@aracnet.com>

Sent: 22 July 1999 23:38

Subject: Re: Conversions

<< Let me think about this one. >>

Thanks - I look forward to any further information you may find.

<< Author Patrick Glynn ("God: The Evidence") flaunts the fact that he is an ex-atheist, but after having read his book, I notice that he was a *nihilist*. Jeez -- I think even Evangelical Christianity might look appealing from that perspective! >>

Indeed! Do you know if he was ever a member of a freethought/atheist etc organisation, though? I'll do a websearch for him, but any extra info you may have would be interesting.

<< Remember Madalyn Murray-O'Hair's son. >>

I link to his site http://www.wjmurray.com/ from mine for balance but must say that I thought his brand of Christianity seemed pretty vacuous, and would be surprised if he had a firm grasp of the problems with it. Mind you, I'm not sure if Madalyn Murray-O'Hair's attitude pushed him to it and I also don't know how much she carefully explain problems with Christianity to her son William. After all there is a large emotional response in religion and if Madalyn Murray-O'Hair was really so acerbic as reports say then atheism could well have looked like it was "missing something" to him. He also had a pretty shallow and chaotic life at home from reading his website. Maybe another case of "Evangelical Christianity might look appealing from that perspective!" He also displays typical right wing Christian homophobia in his comment that his mother said "it is better to be a homosexual than a Christian." So I am dubious as to his generosity of spirit and intellectual awakening!

<< Perhaps I'll send this out to the list for a Q&A. >>

That would be great if you did.

<< Still, I think we will not get better figures than the rates of growth and shrinkage of church membership and the statistics for the number of atheists in the world. >>

We might not be able to get a definitive answer, but I think it's interesting enough to give it a try.<snip>

Regards

Steve

From Positive Atheism

----- Original Message -----

From: Positive Atheism <atheism@aracnet.com>

To: <Steve Locks>

Sent: 23 July 1999 00:13

Subject: Re: Conversions

Bill Murray is not the brightest light in the harbor. Add to that the fact that MMO'H raised him. Add to that the fact that the family was viciously persecuted and hounded all across the nation. The Christians were able to exploit him to the hilt.

> << Author Patrick Glynn ("God: The Evidence") flaunts the fact that

> he is an ex-atheist, but after having read his book, I notice that

> he was a *nihilist*. Jeez -- I think even Evangelical Christianity

> might look appealing from that perspective! >>

>

> Indeed! Do you know if he was ever a member of a freethought/atheist etc

> organisation, though? I'll do a websearch for him, but any extra info

> you may have would be interesting.

This apparently was college daze rebellion from the nice conservative Christian upbringing.

I joined the church for about three years. I think if I had belonged to (or been exposed to) a Humanist of atheist group that never would have happened. I was raised atheist, but never studied it until about ten years ago. <snip>

Cliff Walker

"Positive Atheism" Magazine

P.O. Box 16811

Portland, OR 97292

http://www.aracnet.com/~atheism/

atheism@aracnet.com