I agree people change. Pets rarely.

Not the kind of respect which you wouldn't talk anymore. Hehe.

I look forward to being future me.

I will stick with Heraclitus.

I agree, the experiences we have in life definitely change us. My experiences traveling the world while in the military, had a profound effect on my life.

"Also, we ought to respect the beliefs of other people."

Blanket statements like that are very dangerous. So, tell me, you automatically respect the rights of religious extremists to behead people who aren't the same sort of religious extremists? You respect the right of religious extremists to murder LGBT people? To stone rape victims to death because they are "guilty of fornication"?
Do you also respect the belief that it's ok to murder someone because they exercised free speech and you didn't like what they had to say?
Do you respect the ideologies of racists? pedophiles? INCEL members?
Do you respect the beliefs of people who think women shouldn't be allowed to get an education? drive vehicles? vote? be allowed to show their face in public?
Do you respect the beliefs of people who believe girls as young as 12 should be married and do nothing but be baby factories?

I don't have to respect anyone....especially those with whom I have serious moral, ethical, and ideological differences.

You can't step in the same river twice, or on the same person twice...

In some ways we are the same person. We are a combination of our genes and our experiences. The genes don't change. After divorcing a controlling person I find that with the freedom to do as I like, I am largely returning to that person I used to be.

With your examples, whatever made the men firm Christians also made them atheist activists. I think that whatever makes them grab onto ideas firmly is their genetic make up. They had exposure to and reason to believe in Christianity and then atheism or vice versa.

Yes I agree with you that we should respect others beliefs but that doesn't means that they will still respect yours unfortunatly.
I am not the same women that I was 10yrs ago or even 20yrs ago, of course we change. We change because of what life and experiences throw at us, we adapt, we grow and we hopefully learn as we go along? That's what makes us so intetesting.
So maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks ?

Agreed. I am a very different person than who I was in 2008.

Also, we are all quite literally a mostly different person roughly every 15 to 16 years. With the exception of some of your gray matter, every cell in your body is completely replaced over time, with a cell of your stomach lining being regenerated every couple of days, to some of your deeper tissue cells lasting as long as 16 years. Very, very few of your body's cells are with you longer than a few years, with almost none of them lasting your entire lifetime. New person, indeed.

Medically speaking, no-one is exactly the same person they were even a week ago since the body regenerates some of its cells etc, every so many hours/days though the external appearance remains familiar it changes regularly internally.
The effects and ravages of aging, traumas both Physical and Mental, etc, take their toll as well.
But as to suddenly changing ones ideals, etc, on the 'spur of the moment' so to speak, then ONLY the person who is TRUE to him/her self and his/her ideals is the one who rarely ever changes.

10 years ago I believed in the bs of religion/god. NIne years ago I started to question the fairy tales and how christains treat the gay community,etc. The nine nears of uncertainy and questioning my beliefs in god,religious help to shape the person I am today. I'm proud to say I'm pansexaul atheist. I should be allowed to be me no matter what. I hope in 10 years, I'm still an pansexual atheist. Maybe us, agnostic/atheist will out number the religious fools in 10 years.

10 years ago I was a Christian, or at least I kept trying to convince myself I was and believed. My mom was a Christian, and I went to church and youth group. Even then though, I always was confused by certain aspects of religion and the Bible. Always asking hard questions for our youth pastor to answer. Back then I also thought I was more conservative, and I am not. The main difference between then and now I think is I was no longer with my parents who influenced what I thought I was. Plus I actually learned what I actually believe in. I was straight back then, and I’m bisexual now. 10 years ago, I truly was a different person. I was more extrovert and was the wild child and now I’m more ambivert and a home body. I use to have so many friends and now I have a core few. Its crazy to think how much we can change within such a small amount of time practically.

Well. in 10 years, some things about me might change. Nobody has gotten a hold of my self-declared agnosticism since age 8.

Up for debate: "Hillary Clinton would have been the best president of our lifetime", "Breaking Bad is the best TV series of all time", "I would look better as a redhead."

Not up for debate: "Take the bible literally", "Conservatives are destroying our future", "Pomeranians are the best dogs ever."

I would be very interested in the reasons why the first person was an atheist to begin with. I mean if those (in my view) insignificant events can change his worldview that fast, it just makes me wonder. You can come to the right conclusions for the wrong reasons.