It's definitely convenient. Atheists often believe a lot of stupid things, but I've never personally known one to believe what Lewis claims to have believed. I'm not saying it's impossible - Lewis has the logical chops of a five year old, so maybe he was really capable of believing in the caricature of atheism he painted. But like I said, it's convenient.

I don't find it surprising that it is possible to be an atheist for stupid reasons. Heck theists on this forum have already used such reasons to explain to us why all atheists are stupid...repeatedly (interestingly this followed the claim that atheism was an impossibility).

Fwiw; I even think it is possible to be nice, polite, hardworking, achieve good grades, land a good job and find a nice partner for stupid reasons.

was a muslim then turned Atheist when i was 18.

Christian to Atheist. Because I started to actually read the Bible instead of listening to other peoples interpretations of it.

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Long story, but essentially Theism to atheism because everyone in my life, or around me, who was a devout christain seemed to be a hypocrite and do things, or say things that were obv not adhering to the faith.

Like doing drugs, being racists, cheating on their husbands/wives, never helping people or the poor, extremely self centered and materialistic, hating people of no faith/other faiths, going against things that are obvious (like we should leave Iraq, it's a good idea to keep both parents in a child's life, birth control is a good idea when you don't want kids). If I had a nickel for every girl I slept with at a party that had a jesus cross around her neck, I'd probably have 50 cents.

I studied the history of the bible while in college, and struggled everyday for 3 years. It's a strange and for a while, very depressing feeling realizing the truth is that there is no magical place, but there isn't.

Once I overcame that, I realized that every moment I spend, every person I encounter, everyone moment I have with loved ones is precious. Not having religion in my life made it twice as more gratifying once I was done struggling through my transition.

What book would you recommend for someone who wants a book with good real-life stories?