"When X changes my mind, I'm an atheist. What is X?" Is it a nonsense question?

Here, lightly paraphrased, are three assertions I found in a Kindle book from www.edge.org (What Have You Changed Your Mind About?).

When thinking changes my mind, I'm a philosopher.

When a god changes my mind, I'm a theist.

When facts change my mind, I'm a scientist.

About a week ago an xian I know told me atheism is a religion. I asked him for his evidence and he right away backed off, saying he didn't want to debate the matter. I told him an assertion made without evidence can be denied without evidence, and that he and I had a standoff.

Thinking about our exchange and then seeing the above led me to devise this question: When X changes my mind, I'm an atheist. What is X?

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on April 14, 2012 at 3:50am

I'm recalling the time in a Catholic school religion class when a nun said doubting my faith is a sin, and I protested (to myself) that unless I doubt I'm unable to think. Is doubt the X? Skepticism?

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Permalink Reply by diggerbanks on April 14, 2012 at 4:22am

Perspective. Context. Non-consensus.

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Permalink Reply by Len on April 14, 2012 at 4:24am

Reality

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Permalink Reply by Jewelz on April 19, 2012 at 7:00pm

This was going to be my answer as well.

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Permalink Reply by Lewal on April 14, 2012 at 10:53am

Definition.

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Permalink Reply by Mabel on April 14, 2012 at 12:02pm

For me X was the wall of doubts that became to high for me to scramble over any longer. So yes, I agree with Len's answer (reality).

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Permalink Reply by Tom on April 14, 2012 at 5:27pm

I'm afraid the question doesn't really make sense. In all the other cases (philosopher, theist, scientist) the final position derives from the method (X) that is particularly relevant: I choose God (X), therefore I am a theist. In the atheist case there is no method that is peculiar to atheism. Atheism isn't a position that reflects a certain unique method, rather it is a belief (or non-belief) that derives from the successful application of two existing methods: 'thinking' and 'facts'. I would say something like: when 'thinking' AND 'facts' change my mind, I'm an atheist (because atheism derives only from those two things). I don't think there is any particular way of thinking or object/theory etc. that leads to atheism.

I don't know if I explained myself very well...