There is no Dad

[Tree of Life]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this. According to Scripture, the father is a child's first image of God. Fathers are (to a child) all powerful, all knowing, authoritative, present, loving, etc... The God that Christians worship is called "Father". Our daddies are our first teachers.

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west. Correlation, of course, is not causation. I had an absent father (literally) and I turned out to be a Christian.

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

 

[HitchSlap]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this. According to Scripture, the father is a child's first image of God. Fathers are (to a child) all powerful, all knowing, authoritative, present, loving, etc... The God that Christians worship is called "Father". Our daddies are our first teachers.

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west. Correlation, of course, is not causation. I had an absent father (literally) and I turned out to be a Christian.

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

Of course, if religion had been promoted by women, then god would be a "mother."

As for a "rise in fatherlessness in recent centuries," I'd be curious to see the graph on that. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say "faherless" rates have been about the same, per capita.

 

[seekingsolace]

Sounds like gossip to sell more books.

 

[HitchSlap]

Sounds like gossip to sell more books.

Typical slippery slope, hell in a hand basket, end-times, squak.

 

[GrimKingGrim]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this. According to Scripture, the father is a child's first image of God. Fathers are (to a child) all powerful, all knowing, authoritative, present, loving, etc... The God that Christians worship is called "Father". Our daddies are our first teachers.

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west. Correlation, of course, is not causation. I had an absent father (literally) and I turned out to be a Christian.

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

Oh my god how many straws are you gonna reach for? Seriously...

 

[Tree of Life]

Of course, if religion had been promoted by women, then god would be a "mother."

As for a "rise in fatherlessness in recent centuries," I'd be curious to see the graph on that. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say "faherless" rates have been about the same, per capita.

Just wondering - did you have a good relationship with your father?

As for me, I did not.

 

[Tree of Life]

Oh my god how many straws are you gonna reach for? Seriously...

Did you have a good relationship with your father?

 

[True Scotsman]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this. According to Scripture, the father is a child's first image of God. Fathers are (to a child) all powerful, all knowing, authoritative, present, loving, etc... The God that Christians worship is called "Father". Our daddies are our first teachers.

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west. Correlation, of course, is not causation. I had an absent father (literally) and I turned out to be a Christian.

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

Not in my case I had a great dad. In my case it is a result of the process of reason.

 

[GrimKingGrim]

Did you have a good relationship with your father?

Yes, I do.

Stop treating atheism as something people do as a means of rebelling or running or coping.

 

[Davian]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this.

"Biblical logic".

According to Scripture, the father is a child's first image of God. Fathers are (to a child) all powerful, all knowing, authoritative, present, loving, etc... The God that Christians worship is called "Father". Our daddies are our first teachers.

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west. Correlation, of course, is not causation. I had an absent father (literally) and I turned out to be a Christian.

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

I have always had a great relationship with my father. He was the best man at my wedding, and we have only grown closer as I have become, as he did, a husband, a father, a homeowner, and a business owner.

How is your relationship with your son? Is this something that you will hold over your own head if you fail to indoctrinate him into religion, yours in particular?

 

[HitchSlap]

Just wondering - did you have a good relationship with your father?

As for me, I did not.

Yes. Still do. Also with my mother.

 

[Cearbhall]

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west.

Has there been? There's a trend over the past couple decades, certainly, but over centuries, I'd have to see some data. The percentage of children with at least one living parent has gone up. And the percentage of children with two living parents. Life expectancy has risen steadily and fewer men are dying in wars/labor/violence.

 

[KCfromNC]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this.

Maybe, but is there any actual reason to believe it?

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

Yes, did and continue to. Not that you're going to get a reasonable sample size here, though. Of course, I don't see much in actual stats in the OP either, so it'll be dueling anecdotes at best.

 

[bhsmte]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness. "There is no God" starts with "there is no dad". There is a certain biblical logic to this. According to Scripture, the father is a child's first image of God. Fathers are (to a child) all powerful, all knowing, authoritative, present, loving, etc... The God that Christians worship is called "Father". Our daddies are our first teachers.

There certainly has been a rise in fatherlessness in the recent centuries in the west. Correlation, of course, is not causation. I had an absent father (literally) and I turned out to be a Christian.

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this? For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

To me, the strongest correlation with atheism appears to be education and the ability to think analytically.

As people achieve higher levels of education, lack of belief in a God goes along with it.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Douglas Wilson suggests that the rise in atheism and irreligion is, in part, connected with the rise of fatherlessness.

I regard this claim as very silly. I can't believe that anyone takes it seriously.

For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

Yes, overall I did. He was present in my life, and was a father to me. My relationship with him was not a factor in my becoming an atheist, aside perhaps from the fact that he was an atheist (though he never pushed atheism on me).


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Eight Foot Manchild]

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this?

No.

 

[TillICollapse]

In my experience, those I've known who have gone into some sort of serious-religious focus in their life, had poor relationships (or no relationship) with their father.

IOW, my experience with those who were fatherless or had poor relationships with their father, would indicate the converse of your OP has more weight.

 

[Joshua260]

I'm not convinced that atheism is actually on the rise (at least in the US). I've seen several polls that suggest that the ratio of atheist to theists has actually stayed close to the same level since the 1940s. I was quite surprised to see these results myself, but it has been suggested that rather than growing in numbers, the few atheists that exist in the US are just more vocal than they used to be.

While some may find the question being considered to be interesting, it should be pointed out that whether or not people believe in God has nothing whatsoever to do with whether God exists or not. To suggest so would be to commit the genetic fallacy: the attempt to invalidate a position by showing how it originated.

 

[TillICollapse]

I think perhaps something that may be lost in translation from the OP (not to put words in his mouth) ... is that I've heard it's common amongst believers to say that "The way you perceived your father is often how you will perceive God," and this perception is something that believers may work through in order to "change" themselves.

In other words, a believer will often times try to look at their past history with their parents and father in particular, and then try to find areas they believe they are struggling in as it concerns their relationship and perception to God. "I'm always afraid God is going to be disappointed in me ... because it was so important to me that my own father be proud of me and he was always disappointed in me." Or ... "I'm afraid God doesn't love me, because my father never told me he loved me," etc. I believe it's common even amongst believers to try and relate their own feelings and perception of "God" by analyzing their history with loved ones, particular their father. I've heard this concept more than once, and I just Googled and quickly found a book on it, for example.

Perhaps the OP is an attempt to project this same armchair psych on "atheists in general". "If believers struggle to view God based on how their father treated them, it only makes sense that unbelievers such as atheists had little to no interaction with their father at all, or worse ... otherwise they wouldn't have turned out that way !", etc.

 

[quatona]

For atheists and Christians alike out there - is there anything to this?

No - sounds like a pretty wild hypothesis to me. The opposite would make at least as much sense: If you have a decent father, you don´t need a god.

For atheists, did you have a good relationship with your father?

Why do you want to know?