powerclown

Right...atheism is thousands of years old of course. Perhaps you're referring to an atypically forceful period of theologial indoctrination that just so happened to be occurring in the 1980's and 90's.

I disagree with your characterization of theism as intellectual laziness and a copout. Theism doesn't necessarily mean Zeus riding his white horse across the sky hurling thunderbolts, or some old fart with a cane raising up the ocean. It can also mean, dare I say, a certain form of quiet introspection. It could mean a form of spiritual comfort and solace based on the realization that 'the way things are' has nothing to do with the behavior of human beings, but the way of something 'greater' or something 'universal' such as mathematics and physics. It could be something for the self-proclaimed 'most modest person ever' to allow even himself to consider.

If memory serves, isn't you're father a pastor? Could atheism, for you, be a form of rebellion from a direct and painful exposure to certain forms of religious piety and/or punishment? For example, my father was an accountant, and to this day I have an aversion to order, methodology, numbers, etc.