Atheists/agnostics, why did you become atheist/agnostic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't "become atheist." That's the default position we're all born with. You have to be indoctrinated to believe otherwise. Some parents don't send their kids to church, and some just think religious belief is irrelevant. Science, yes. Philosophy maybe. Religion, no. But it is fascinating, theology. Like I do find the King James version of the Bible beautiful as literature.

Developmental psychologists have provided evidence that children are naturally tuned to believe in gods of one sort or another.

• Children tend to see natural objects as designed or purposeful in ways that go beyond what their parents teach, as Deborah Kelemen has demonstrated. Rivers exist so that we can go fishing on them, and birds are here to look pretty.

• Children doubt that impersonal processes can create order or purpose. Studies with children show that they expect that someone not something is behind natural order. No wonder that Margaret Evans found that children younger than 10 favoured creationist accounts of the origins of animals over evolutionary accounts even when their parents and teachers endorsed evolution. Authorities' testimony didn't carry enough weight to over-ride a natural tendency.

Recent research by Paul Bloom, Jesse Bering, and Emma Cohen suggests that children may also be predisposed to believe in a soul that persists beyond death.

That belief comes so naturally to children may sound like an attack on religious belief (belief in gods is just leftover childishness) or a promotion of religious belief (God has implanted a seed for belief in children). What both sides should agree upon is the scientific evidence: certainly cultural inputs help fill in the details but children's minds are not a level playing field. They are tilted in the direction of belief.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/quote/255/20209883.page

The opposite is true. Children exhibit a propensity to a belief in a Creator.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/25/religion-children-god-belief

Out of the mouths of babes
Justin L Barrett

Do children believe because they're told to by adults? The evidence suggests otherwise

Correct link

Haven't checked the link to see how scientists could determine that babies believe in a creator -- but even so, they could not believe in Jesus or the Christian God, or the God of any religion. You have to be taught that.

But even if babies "believe" in a creator, that doesn't make it so. Bables also believe they are the center of the universe and all their needs should be met.

Babies are so selfish, wanting to be fed and diapered and cared for? Is it your position that babies should not have their needs met? You are seriously disturbed. Twisted af. Gross.

It was immediate pp who suggested that babies should not have their needs met. Who would ask such a thing? perhaps a baby hater or someone trying to smear someone because they think they are not Christian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never really bought into it. It always just sounded like bullshit to me.

+1. Dont know why it’s s struggle for others to get here.

Maybe because they are innately different from you. Like some people can sing on pitch without any training, while others can't carry a tune in a bucket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't "become atheist." That's the default position we're all born with. You have to be indoctrinated to believe otherwise. Some parents don't send their kids to church, and some just think religious belief is irrelevant. Science, yes. Philosophy maybe. Religion, no. But it is fascinating, theology. Like I do find the King James version of the Bible beautiful as literature.

Developmental psychologists have provided evidence that children are naturally tuned to believe in gods of one sort or another.

• Children tend to see natural objects as designed or purposeful in ways that go beyond what their parents teach, as Deborah Kelemen has demonstrated. Rivers exist so that we can go fishing on them, and birds are here to look pretty.

• Children doubt that impersonal processes can create order or purpose. Studies with children show that they expect that someone not something is behind natural order. No wonder that Margaret Evans found that children younger than 10 favoured creationist accounts of the origins of animals over evolutionary accounts even when their parents and teachers endorsed evolution. Authorities' testimony didn't carry enough weight to over-ride a natural tendency.

Recent research by Paul Bloom, Jesse Bering, and Emma Cohen suggests that children may also be predisposed to believe in a soul that persists beyond death.

That belief comes so naturally to children may sound like an attack on religious belief (belief in gods is just leftover childishness) or a promotion of religious belief (God has implanted a seed for belief in children). What both sides should agree upon is the scientific evidence: certainly cultural inputs help fill in the details but children's minds are not a level playing field. They are tilted in the direction of belief.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/quote/255/20209883.page

The opposite is true. Children exhibit a propensity to a belief in a Creator.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/25/religion-children-god-belief

Out of the mouths of babes
Justin L Barrett

Do children believe because they're told to by adults? The evidence suggests otherwise

Correct link

Haven't checked the link to see how scientists could determine that babies believe in a creator -- but even so, they could not believe in Jesus or the Christian God, or the God of any religion. You have to be taught that.

But even if babies "believe" in a creator, that doesn't make it so. Bables also believe they are the center of the universe and all their needs should be met.

Babies are so selfish, wanting to be fed and diapered and cared for? Is it your position that babies should not have their needs met? You are seriously disturbed. Twisted af. Gross.

It was immediate pp who suggested that babies should not have their needs met. Who would ask such a thing? perhaps a baby hater or someone trying to smear someone because they think they are not Christian.

What does religion have to do with being a jerk about taking care of the needs of infants? Clue in: anyone who says such ugly things about taking care of babies is a scary person. Full stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't "become atheist." That's the default position we're all born with. You have to be indoctrinated to believe otherwise. Some parents don't send their kids to church, and some just think religious belief is irrelevant. Science, yes. Philosophy maybe. Religion, no. But it is fascinating, theology. Like I do find the King James version of the Bible beautiful as literature.

Developmental psychologists have provided evidence that children are naturally tuned to believe in gods of one sort or another.

• Children tend to see natural objects as designed or purposeful in ways that go beyond what their parents teach, as Deborah Kelemen has demonstrated. Rivers exist so that we can go fishing on them, and birds are here to look pretty.

• Children doubt that impersonal processes can create order or purpose. Studies with children show that they expect that someone not something is behind natural order. No wonder that Margaret Evans found that children younger than 10 favoured creationist accounts of the origins of animals over evolutionary accounts even when their parents and teachers endorsed evolution. Authorities' testimony didn't carry enough weight to over-ride a natural tendency.

Recent research by Paul Bloom, Jesse Bering, and Emma Cohen suggests that children may also be predisposed to believe in a soul that persists beyond death.

That belief comes so naturally to children may sound like an attack on religious belief (belief in gods is just leftover childishness) or a promotion of religious belief (God has implanted a seed for belief in children). What both sides should agree upon is the scientific evidence: certainly cultural inputs help fill in the details but children's minds are not a level playing field. They are tilted in the direction of belief.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/quote/255/20209883.page

The opposite is true. Children exhibit a propensity to a belief in a Creator.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/25/religion-children-god-belief

Out of the mouths of babes
Justin L Barrett

Do children believe because they're told to by adults? The evidence suggests otherwise

Correct link

Haven't checked the link to see how scientists could determine that babies believe in a creator -- but even so, they could not believe in Jesus or the Christian God, or the God of any religion. You have to be taught that.

But even if babies "believe" in a creator, that doesn't make it so. Bables also believe they are the center of the universe and all their needs should be met.

Babies are so selfish, wanting to be fed and diapered and cared for? Is it your position that babies should not have their needs met? You are seriously disturbed. Twisted af. Gross.

It was immediate pp who suggested that babies should not have their needs met. Who would ask such a thing? perhaps a baby hater or someone trying to smear someone because they think they are not Christian.

What does religion have to do with being a jerk about taking care of the needs of infants? Clue in: anyone who says such ugly things about taking care of babies is a scary person. Full stop.

What “ugly things” did the PP say?

Or is this some fiction that you just need “to believe”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never really bought into it. It always just sounded like bullshit to me.

+1. Dont know why it’s s struggle for others to get here.

Maybe because they are innately different from you. Like some people can sing on pitch without any training, while others can't carry a tune in a bucket.

Based on this thread, seems like people who struggle with logic may be a contender for “believing”...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But even if babies "believe" in a creator, that doesn't make it so. Bables also believe they are the center of the universe and all their needs should be met.


Babies are so selfish, wanting to be fed and diapered and cared for? Is it your position that babies should not have their needs met? You are seriously disturbed. Twisted af. Gross.

It was immediate pp who suggested that babies should not have their needs met. Who would ask such a thing? perhaps a baby hater or someone trying to smear someone because they think they are not Christian.

What does religion have to do with being a jerk about taking care of the needs of infants? Clue in: anyone who says such ugly things about taking care of babies is a scary person. Full stop.

You are wildly overreacting to the poster’s comment; it is clearly just a statement of fact that babies are very needy and totally focuses on their needs, and that remains the condition of children in the early years, they are very self focused and not capable of thinking deep thoughts about the world and this is exactly the time when most parents are indoctrinating them with religious programming. That they exhibit a pure abiding faith is evidence of nothing beyond their lack of critical thinking skills because they are all about eating, sleeping, eliminating, exploring the world via mouth and grabbing hands. AS IT SHOULD BE.

Nobody is insulting babies for needing care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But even if babies "believe" in a creator, that doesn't make it so. Bables also believe they are the center of the universe and all their needs should be met.


Babies are so selfish, wanting to be fed and diapered and cared for? Is it your position that babies should not have their needs met? You are seriously disturbed. Twisted af. Gross.

It was immediate pp who suggested that babies should not have their needs met. Who would ask such a thing? perhaps a baby hater or someone trying to smear someone because they think they are not Christian.

What does religion have to do with being a jerk about taking care of the needs of infants? Clue in: anyone who says such ugly things about taking care of babies is a scary person. Full stop.

You are wildly overreacting to the poster’s comment; it is clearly just a statement of fact that babies are very needy and totally focuses on their needs, and that remains the condition of children in the early years, they are very self focused and not capable of thinking deep thoughts about the world and this is exactly the time when most parents are indoctrinating them with religious programming. That they exhibit a pure abiding faith is evidence of nothing beyond their lack of critical thinking skills because they are all about eating, sleeping, eliminating, exploring the world via mouth and grabbing hands. AS IT SHOULD BE.

Nobody is insulting babies for needing care.

+1 pp is just desperate to insult someone who disagrees about religion - so they are attacking the natural dependency of babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

I can picture how that story happened...

Mom was busy making dinner.
Kid: “who created the earth?”
Mom: “I dunno...uh....a god?”
Kid: “oh! why?!?”
Mom: “I dunno...but we probably are too dumb to understand”
Kid: “oh....well how long did it take?”
Mom: “omg. I dunno...7 days? Can’t you see I’m busy pounding these grains with a rock? Go get some water from the stream.”
Kid: “ok....”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But even if babies "believe" in a creator, that doesn't make it so. Bables also believe they are the center of the universe and all their needs should be met.


Babies are so selfish, wanting to be fed and diapered and cared for? Is it your position that babies should not have their needs met? You are seriously disturbed. Twisted af. Gross.

It was immediate pp who suggested that babies should not have their needs met. Who would ask such a thing? perhaps a baby hater or someone trying to smear someone because they think they are not Christian.

What does religion have to do with being a jerk about taking care of the needs of infants? Clue in: anyone who says such ugly things about taking care of babies is a scary person. Full stop.

You are wildly overreacting to the poster’s comment; it is clearly just a statement of fact that babies are very needy and totally focuses on their needs, and that remains the condition of children in the early years, they are very self focused and not capable of thinking deep thoughts about the world and this is exactly the time when most parents are indoctrinating them with religious programming. That they exhibit a pure abiding faith is evidence of nothing beyond their lack of critical thinking skills because they are all about eating, sleeping, eliminating, exploring the world via mouth and grabbing hands. AS IT SHOULD BE.

Nobody is insulting babies for needing care.

+1 pp is just desperate to insult someone who disagrees about religion - so they are attacking the natural dependency of babies.

Agreed. Even babies aren’t off limits, babies *might* have a belief in a higher power. So it’s time to insult their helplessness! That’s how low anti-theists go in their rage against religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

I can picture how that story happened...

Mom was busy making dinner.
Kid: “who created the earth?”
Mom: “I dunno...uh....a god?”
Kid: “oh! why?!?”
Mom: “I dunno...but we probably are too dumb to understand”
Kid: “oh....well how long did it take?”
Mom: “omg. I dunno...7 days? Can’t you see I’m busy pounding these grains with a rock? Go get some water from the stream.”
Kid: “ok....”

What a vividly accurate representation of Biblical culture and society. Ladies and gents, we have a verified scholar in our midst!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

I can picture how that story happened...

Mom was busy making dinner.
Kid: “who created the earth?”
Mom: “I dunno...uh....a god?”
Kid: “oh! why?!?”
Mom: “I dunno...but we probably are too dumb to understand”
Kid: “oh....well how long did it take?”
Mom: “omg. I dunno...7 days? Can’t you see I’m busy pounding these grains with a rock? Go get some water from the stream.”
Kid: “ok....”

What a vividly accurate representation of Biblical culture and society. Ladies and gents, we have a verified scholar in our midst!

I can see it ending a different way, in which Kid says, "Sounds like BS to me."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

I can picture how that story happened...

Mom was busy making dinner.
Kid: “who created the earth?”
Mom: “I dunno...uh....a god?”
Kid: “oh! why?!?”
Mom: “I dunno...but we probably are too dumb to understand”
Kid: “oh....well how long did it take?”
Mom: “omg. I dunno...7 days? Can’t you see I’m busy pounding these grains with a rock? Go get some water from the stream.”
Kid: “ok....”

What a vividly accurate representation of Biblical culture and society. Ladies and gents, we have a verified scholar in our midst!

DP here. If you were a biblical scholar yourself, you might be able to comprehend what a metaphorical tale is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

I can picture how that story happened...

Mom was busy making dinner.
Kid: “who created the earth?”
Mom: “I dunno...uh....a god?”
Kid: “oh! why?!?”
Mom: “I dunno...but we probably are too dumb to understand”
Kid: “oh....well how long did it take?”
Mom: “omg. I dunno...7 days? Can’t you see I’m busy pounding these grains with a rock? Go get some water from the stream.”
Kid: “ok....”

What a vividly accurate representation of Biblical culture and society. Ladies and gents, we have a verified scholar in our midst!

I can see it ending a different way, in which Kid says, "Sounds like BS to me."

Depends if the kid had the "innate disposition" towards believing BS or not...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you're not raised religious, when you first hear of it you think people are joking. It all sounds so unbelievable, hypocritical, unreal.

And then the more you learn, the more that's all confirmed!

I never "became" atheist. I have never been anything else. Religion is learned.

+1

The rules of various religions are definitely learned, but religious tendencies i.e., thinking/feeling that there's "something out there" (or not) seem to be innate.

Agree ... I'm non-religious and my DW is Christian ... We've been married 25 yrs and I can tell you it's pretty hard-wired in with her ... If I projected my own temperament onto everyone, I'd assume there are a lot of religious fakers out there ... but I've known enough people who believe it all to their core ... that I have to agree some ppl just have the faith tendency. I say this respectfully since there are many great folks on both sides of the divide.

No, I disagree. What's common is trying to explain things we can't understand. "The God of the gaps". That's why there are so many different religions, all with different explanations for the same thing -- many of which we now know to be untrue.

I'd say that's part of it, but there are still people who just feel that there is something out there. They may or may not believe in the tenets of a particular religion, but they just feel it. Perhaps the same way other people feel that there is no God, despite being raised in a restrictive religion.

Can't prove it either way, but scientific evidence we have so far leans heavily toward no god -- and certainly no god of the Bible --- creating the world in seven days, etc

I can picture how that story happened...

Mom was busy making dinner.
Kid: “who created the earth?”
Mom: “I dunno...uh....a god?”
Kid: “oh! why?!?”
Mom: “I dunno...but we probably are too dumb to understand”
Kid: “oh....well how long did it take?”
Mom: “omg. I dunno...7 days? Can’t you see I’m busy pounding these grains with a rock? Go get some water from the stream.”
Kid: “ok....”

What a vividly accurate representation of Biblical culture and society. Ladies and gents, we have a verified scholar in our midst!

DP here. If you were a biblical scholar yourself, you might be able to comprehend what a metaphorical tale is.

But there are many people, some right here on this forum, that will tell you the tales in the Bible are not metaphorical, but the TRUTH.