I’ve never been so wrong about something in my whole life.
I look back when I was an atheist and realise I was blind.
That's interesting. It's fine not to answer this question (as it is a personal one) but what caused you to change your mind?
It's usually far more common to travel in the opposite direction. Bertrand Russell is a famous example of someone who followed that trajectory, after having initially accepted Anselm's ontological argument for the existence of God.
However, Anthony Flew is known for embracing a form of Deism towards the end of his life.
During my career in teaching, it was actually quite unusual for me to encounter colleagues in Religious Studies departments that subscribed to any kind of traditional belief in the God of classical theism e.g. omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, personal etc.
None were evangelical in the slightest, or subscribed to a form of Christianity that was spirit-driven.
This even included school Chaplains.
The number of atheists teaching the subject is almost certainly higher than many might imagine. Typically, they would be graduates in Philosophy who found Religious Studies congenial as a subject to train in because a lot of the content is philosophical and involves the study of renowned atheists like Hume, Russell, Ayer, Mackie, Dawkins, and others. My own ex-Head of Department and good friend is an atheist but highly critical of characters like Dawkins, Hitchens and Sam Harris. And that's not unusual too.
As for me, I am agnostic and was always far more interested in Buddhism, which is non-theistic, and philosophical Taoism, which has an entirely different conception of the nature of reality.
When I was first starting out in teaching, not being a Christian could mean that you wouldn't be considered for appointment in some schools. Of course, no-one would actually say it to your face, but I am sure that I was discriminated against because of this in one or two interviews.
Fortunately, that has now all changed.
Anyway, hope your missing cat has returned.
