Are you an Atheist? can you briefly explain your point?

Answer 1

Sure... Ta for asking.

I have come to this decision based on my upbringing, education, research, and experience. I have found no evidence to support the claims outlined by any religion (and I have researched most of them), and infact find stacks of evidence that questions the validity and even the source of all the 'divinely inspired' books. For me science has plausible, logical & evidenced based answers to how we have developed by impersonal means.

Natural disasters are impersonal, viruses and diseases kill all the time, and of course people kill people and animals. Nature has many examples of downright evil design like parasitoids or just plain stupid design like the blind spot in our eye.

A study of history shows the development of religion and it is plain to see how it is borne out of fear of the unknown, and for the main religions they have been spread alot by blood. I also find the concept of god illogical, and find the holy book versions to be mean and sadistic.

I have never ever witnessed anything I can't explain naturally.

So quite simply I have nothing to suggest a god exists -so to me it is a non concept up there with santa and the tooth fairy, therefore I am atheist.

Answer 2

People have always made up Gods and spirits. The end of life is scary. Life is scary. The Bible disagrees with scientific evidence, and common sense. Religion is delusion and those who follow it are dangerous (eg. The president used religion and fear to get elected twice, and he is the worst president EVER!) We could do so much more with the world if we focused on reality, and put money and time into science.

Answer 3

I am Atheist. History shows that man has made gods, goddess, spirits to explain why the sun rises, why the wind howls etc...

That was their way of understanding the universe.

I also know that in history religion spreads with the nations that wield the power to conquer.

Answer 4

Yes. Some of us belong to a tradition that goes back to a group of ancient Greek philosophers. Their aim was to provide natural explanations for reality; in opposition to mythical or supernatural explanations.

We do not pretend to have all the answers, or that we will ever have all the answers. What distinguishes us from many theists is that when we encounter a gap in our knowledge, we do not allow ourselves to surrender to easy, irrational, and gratuitous supernatural solutions. Knowledge is the result of hard work. Concepts that include wizards, ghosts and demons have their place in entertainment and anthropology, but they offer less than nothing to advancing our knowledge of the real universe.

Answer 5

Before law, man needed a way to have order in society. Having the fear of a powerful god is a good way to keep uneducated people in order. We no longer need such bed-time stories. It's about time that people grow out of these primitive stories. Would you allow your children to grow up as an adult believing that the Easter bunny is still real?

Answer 6

Making a point is useful only if the other person can understand it in the right spirit. You cannot understand Atheism if you are floating in the see of religion. Just make a hole in that boat and you'll immediately know everything

Answer 7

I'll give you the answer I put up the last 600 times this was asked:
It boils down to 2 things for me, how does one reconcile omnipotence, omnibenevolence and omniscience with this world and the life on it. And, why are there so many billions of people living in entire, huge countries whose culture has nothing remotely like the xian god and jesus. Here is a post I did before on the topic:

Because I look at what life was like for human beings for the past 40,000 years (maybe 6,000 for you). People lived for an average of 30-40 years. More than 50% of children died before age one (until about 100 years ago!). I look at thousands of children permanently blinded by parasites they get from playing in creeks in underdeveloped countries.

Then I look at children of modern developed countries, of any religion. I see that they live until their EIGHTIES!! Have all their teeth for a very long time. Have excellent health, etc... And I see that this has nothing to do with religion or god. It is medicine and science. So was it god's plan that hundreds of generations of people would suffer and die in their 40's and suddenly in the 19th and 20th century, everything would get better?

That's nothing other than sadistic.

I also look at all the different gods and interpretations of these gods for the past 4,000-5,000 years. I see how silly it is to point to one religion in the roman era and say "Ah, THIS is the correct one!"

I also posted this in answer to that question:
* The bible has many contradictions
* The bible shows the OT god to be violent and bloodthirsty. He also kills thousands of children.
* For thousands of years, man has had a lifespan of 30-40 years. 100 years ago in the US, 50% of children died before age 1. Modern medicine has greatly reduced this. During eras in western history when the catholic church was in charge and belief in god and church attendance was required, this did not change. So prayer seems not to have been the answer.
* The history of religions and gods seems to show that man has no consistent image or view of what god is or does.
* The bible is open enough to interpretation that if you walked into a church and asked 3 people questions about the bible or god's will, you would get probably 8 different answers.
* People kill each other in god's name every day and he apparently does nothing to stop it.
* 50% of conceptions do not result in birth
* 1 in 8 pregnancies result in twins and one twin is eventually reabsorbed.
* Children are born with no brains, with no limbs, retarded, blind.
* Children go blind from parasites every day, children suffer asthma, and other diseases

Notice I focus on CHILDREN, not adults so please don't tell me that millions of children are dying b/c god wants us to have free will. These children barely have free will yet and toddlers don't have it at all.

Answer 8

I'm an atheist but, alas, my explanations are never brief. Robert A. Heinlein had a good one, though:

"God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. Says so right here on the label."

Answer 9

Yes.

In short, religion was a way for people, long ago, to explain things that, at the time, seemed unexplainable. Now we know better.

Answer 10

I am a child of God - the almighty divine being. A conscient light, the Supreme Soul.

Who is God?
Who has been remembered as the Ocean of Love, the Intellect of the Wise, the Almighty Authority, the Comforter of Hearts, the Truth, The Living Being and the Blissful One?

God
I am the Ocean of Love;
I show you the path of love.
My love remains unbroken and constant.
I cannot forget even one of you.
I have so much love for you,
and My love is unconditional and unlimited.
I am the Beloved.
You have been calling out to Me for a long time.

Who Is God?
We are used to knowing things by seeing them, hearing them, tasting them, touching or smelling them. Most of us have grown up in a ‘seeing–is–believing’ and ‘hands on’ culture and we are used to perceiving things in that way. Because we can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell God, the question arises – is God for real?

One can reach out to God with pure thoughts and be connected to Him. The soul experiences the response of pure feelings and spiritual strength. God is truth itself and thus can be recognized with the eye of truth.

God: The Supreme Soul
Like us, God is also a soul. Unlike us, He is referred to as the Supreme Soul – the only soul who never takes a body (gross or subtle, human or angelic) of His own. He is beyond the effects of actions and is never subject to the dualities of birth and death, pleasure and pain, success and failure. Being beyond the limits of time of this physical world, He retains absolute knowledge of the universe and all its dimensions.

Where is God?
God lives, not everywhere but somewhere. A thought of God almost always takes the eyes upwards, as though one is perhaps expecting a face to miraculously appear from behind the clouds or to beam down from the moon. Thoughts are powerful. They link one soul to another. If they are properly channelled, thoughts can even go where only the soul can travel – beyond the moon and stars to a dimension of golden red light, the original home of all souls. Immersed in the experience of the warmth of this light, the soul feels as though it is truly at home at last, and with God.

God – The Spiritual Sun
Like the physical sun, which gives light and life indiscriminately to all beings, God is the Spiritual Sun, giving light to all, whomever and wherever they may be. He serves altruistically, without any selfish motives, reminding each one of their innate qualities of love, peace and happiness. This is why He has been remembered in some countries and cultures by the name Shiva, The Benevolent One.

God’s Wisdom, Love and Power
People may wonder why, if God exists, He doesn’t wave a magic wand and fix things, making or at least influencing everyone so that they do exactly what they ‘should’ do. But God never takes away anyone’s freedom of choice. God’s wisdom is to recognize and respect each soul’s individual identity, freedom and inherent goodness. God shares knowledge – a profound understanding of the dualities and dilemmas of love and hatred, happiness and sorrow, victory and defeat, etc. – but He does not make our choices for us. The soul is free to choose ‘to be or not to be’, ‘to love or not to love’. God’s love strengthens the soul’s will to free itself from the distresses caused by vices such as selfish desire, anger, fear, ego and attachment. God’s power helps the soul to recognize its highest potential and to aim for perfection by practising the art of simple living and high thinking. Such practice by a significant number of souls eventually brings about positive change in the whole of humanity.

When you learn to tune your mind in meditation to the mind of God, then whatever the situation, you always have a source of help and strength to draw upon – an infinite reservoir of power and virtues that is only a thought away.