re why do people become atheists undoubtedly people adopt atheism for many reasons but i suspect that a biggie is that the god they ve believed in is in j b phillips s words too small if a person s understanding of god is not allowed to grow and develop it will eventually become inadequate the grey haired gentleman on a throne who was a comforting image in childhood becomes a joke a therapist friend of mine sometimes suggests to her clients that they fire god what she means by that is letting go of an inadequate understanding of god to make room for a fuller one but she follows up by encouraging them to hire a new one my guess is that a lot of folks go through the firing process but are not adequately supported in the subsequent re hire billh
