
Spanish: 
Solo es una fase.
No, no lo es.
No es solo una fase.
Si le dijera a un cristiano:
"Ah, ¿ahora adoras
a Jesús?
Debe ser cosa de adolescentes", o algo así,
sería decir algo ofensivo.
Y es ofensivo que alguien me diga que soy ateo
porque ahora estoy pasando por algo, por una fase,
Y que en este momento debo estar pasando
por algo muy difícil en mi vida.
No, eso es ofensivo.
Significa
que no reflexioné nada
para convertirme en ateo,
y sí reflexioné.
Casi todos los ateos que conozco
reflexionaron mucho, porque no es fácil
ser ateo.
Ciertamente no es fácil
abandonar tu fe, la que haya sido,
para volverte ateo.
Y no es que
seas rebelde,
porque muchos adolescentes, muchos jóvenes,
se vuelven ateos y abandonan la religión de sus padres.
No es que traten
de ser rebeldes,
es que ven lo que la religión tiene para ofrecer.
Miran la evidencia. Cuestionan
lo que oyen en la iglesia,
y se dan cuenta:
"No creo en nada de esto

English: 
It's just a phase.
No, it's not.
It's not just a phase.
If I said that to any Christian:
"Oh, you worship
Jesus now?
Must be just a teenage thing," or something like that.
That would be an offensive thing for me to say.
And it's offensive for anyone to tell me I'm an atheist,
cuz I'm just going through something right now.
I'm just going through a phase,
I must have something really difficult
going on in my life right now.
No, that's offensive,
because it means
that I didn't put
any thought
into becoming an atheist,
and I did.
And just about all the atheists I know put a lot
of thought into it, because it's not easy
to be an atheist.
It's certainly not easy
leaving your faith, whatever it was,
to become an atheist.
And it's not just because
you're rebellious,
because a lot of teenagers, a lot of young people, do
become atheists and they leave their parents religion.
It's not because they're
trying to be rebellious,
it's because they see what religion has to offer.
They look at the evidence. They question
what they hear in church,
and they realize,
"I don't buy into
any of this

English: 
and I'm gonna look
into this for myself."
And I think for a lot of people,
for a lot of young people especially,
-- certainly was
the case for me --
becoming an atheist
was the first major decision
I ever made for myself
where I didn't--
I didn't ask anyone about it.
I didn't talk to anyone about it.
I didn't ask my parents for permission.
I just said, "You know what? This-- this is working for me.
This is true as much as I can know anything to be true."
And that's a big step.
And, you know, for someone to make that step
and to say, "I've thought about it,
and I don't believe what the Bible says." And
"I don't think any other religion is right,
I think atheism has something to it."
That's-- that's an important
thing to acknowledge, that someone
really put time and thought
into becoming an atheist.
And for, you know, you to come along and say,
"Well, it's just a phase, you'll get over it..."
How insulting is that.
And it would be insulting the other way around,
for me to accuse a Christian of,
you know,
"Oh, you're just a Christian
because your parents
told you to be a Christian."

Spanish: 
y voy a investigarlo
yo mismo".
Para mucha gente, especialmente
para muchos jóvenes,
- y ciertamente
fue mi caso -
volverme ateo
fue la primera decisión
importante que tomé
donde no le pregunté
nada a nadie.
No hablé con nadie sobre eso.
No pedí permiso a mis padres.
Solo me dije: "¿Sabes qué? Esto encaja.
Esto es tan cierto como tan cierto algo puede ser".
Y ese es
un gran paso.
Para alguien que dé ese paso
y diga: "He pensado en ello,
y no creo en lo que dice la Biblia". Y "No creo que
ninguna otra religión tenga razón,
creo que el ateísmo da en el clavo".
Es importante reconocer eso,
que alguien
realmente dedicó tiempo y reflexión
para convertirse en ateo.
Y que vengas tú y digas:
"Es solo una fase, ya la superarás..."
Qué insultante es eso.
Y sería insultante a la inversa,
si yo acusara a un cristiano
diciéndole:
"Oh, solo eres cristiano
porque tus padres
te dijeron que lo fueras".

Spanish: 
Eso tampoco es cierto, porque muchos cristianos
reflexionan mucho, y llegan a una conclusión diferente.
Creo que su conclusión es errónea.
Pero repito, sería
injusto para mí decir:
"Son cristianos solo porque
eso se ha vuelto popular.
Es lo que la mayoría
quiere que hagas".
Eso es injusto porque
mucha gente reflexiona bastante
sobre lo que cree,
y eso debemos
reconocerlo.
Mi nombre es Hemant Mehta y escribo
en FriendlyAtheist.com
Por favor, deja tus
comentarios aquí debajo.

English: 
When that's not true either, because a lot of Christians
do put a lot of thought into it, and they come to
a different conclusion.
I think it's a wrong conclusion.
But again, it would be
unfair for me to say,
"They're Christian just because
it's the popular thing to do.
It's the-- it's what the majority
wants you to do."
That's unfair because a lot of people
put a lot of serious thought
into what they believe,
and we ought to
acknowledge that.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write
at FriendlyAtheist.com
Please, leave
your comments below.
