I am an atheist. Why are you an atheist? Or, why do you believe what you believe?

Question

I was a practicing Christian for over 30 years.

I am an atheist as the result of studying the issue and concluding there is no credible evidence supporting God belief. And, that the bible is a book of mythology.

I was born into a family that attended a Baptist church and was raised to be a Baptist. Until my later years, I never seriously questioned by faith or beliefs. I asked questions about the bible, but those were unrelated to my faith. I have read the bible more than once.

As an adult, "blind faith" is unsustainable. Which led me to seriously and critically study the issue for many years before reaching the conclusions that I have.



Why did you choose the religious beliefs or non-beliefs that you hold?

Do not feel the need to hurry your answer.

I read all answers multiple times before choosing best answer.

Preaching will be pointless.

Thanks.

To ZCT:

Thanks for the link, I consider that an excellent and valid test for those who believe in God. It confirms in a short time what it took me half my life to discover.

Answer 1

I was an athiest for a while and a pagan for a while, until I went through a six month period of very profound experiences that changed my mind. I am a Christian because I felt and saw Christ come to me in an extremely dark time.

Answer 2

family was catholic at one point i was to be bapitised in a born again church and my catholic mom said id lose my salvation cause i already had it as a catholic
then in that church i was told months after baptism pick jesus or evolution

the last six months i have read some books about these subjects, of course evolution is the best scientific theory

the book misquoteing jesus has been an eye opener
and it made me get the bible, i bought one, trying to understand it,

it has lots of great life lessons,

and here on the internet theres all these atheist websites that talk about whats wrong with the bible

i had to find out for myself,

honestly trying to find god i read the bible on the train

god hasnt revealed himself to me

theres always this wait, turn back a page, this doesnt make sense,

even the first page, heaven is made twice? man is made twice?
animals made a third time?

pi in 1 kings 7:23

god flooding and reigning down fire and killing the innocent egyptian first born? jesus calling a canaanite woman a dog? revelation 22:15 dogs don't get into heaven?

the obvious is the english version isn't accurate enough,

so what i need to study hebrew to find god?

if its the word of god shouldnt i be able to read it in any language and know its from god

i dont

still searching, thus an agnostic,

i ask of atheists what happens when you die
they all say nothing
i say prove it
they cant
they have their reason and medical this and that
where did matter and energy come from
this they cant prove

of course it doesnt mean *god* did it, cause the god camp cant prove god either

but it means i will have to keep searching for the final answer, and every day i do this, and keep playing with the creation theory and what happens when i die in my head

thanks for reading my answer jt

Answer 3

Well I grew up in England where they have religion in schools. I listened to all the stories and simply saw no evidence to support the outlandish claims made by religious people. So I decided it was not for me. I then moved to Bible Belt in America and realized that almost every Christian I meet is a complete hypocrite, with many of them less knowledgeable about the Bible than me! So I guess that is why I am an atheist.

Answer 4

I consider myself semi agnostic however I have not had as much life experience as you and I hope that I have that someday and more also for my life and my family's life. The wheel of fortune. I agree that the Adam and Eve scenario is mythology because it seems so childish. I mean why would God treat his greatest creation as a mere child? It makes no sense. Also why would he create evil as a test to subjugate his most treasures species? I want to believe that God exists mainly for the eternal life aspect however I must concur that it has never wholly seemed logical to me sir.
By the way, I am not religious because I never remember having a true supernatural experience in life and that still cannot prove any particular dogma if it is experienced. Faith is not a true gauge of intelligence. Competition and adaptability is.
SInce I am the ultimate loner I do not have any viable social experience to influence me otherwise.

Answer 5

I don’t believe in God or any religions as they are currently presented by humanity. The more I learn about religion, the more it becomes clear that religious believers lack commonsense, logic and intelligence.

Religion itself has inflicted terrible horrors on humanity, so much so, that it’s difficult to believe and understand why any decent moral person could believe in God or have religious beliefs.

Current evidence proves conclusively that God and the Bible are both fakes. There is not one single matter discussed in the Bible out of the many thousands of issues raised that has been proven true, yet many matters have been proven false. You don’t really need to be a rocket scientist to deduce with practically 100% certainty that God and the Bible are fake.

For me the Bible is trash. The Bible is the biggest load of garbage and codswallop ever written by man, and I’m sure it will go down in history as the greatest load of gobbledygook ever to inflict such traumatic mental and physical damage on humanity, but still today, some people sadly believe the Bible to be true. That’s very sad indeed. Very sad.

If religious people are unable to apply commonsense and logic to develop a simple moral code to live by, then perhaps they could strip out of the Bible the evil, murders, rapes, abuse, and all traumatic references. Granted there will not be a lot left to read, but at least religious people may end up with a decent moral code to follow based on good, and not scare the living daylights out of innocent little children.

Answer 6

I was raised in a methodest church and forced to go ot church ever sunday and listen to things that i didn't believe in. After getting in college and realizing that i wasnt the only one i became to realixe that the bible was written by men, who we knoe use cocaine and the such, to keep people in line and explain the "unexplainable". Now all that can be explained and i am a true atheist. You dont find many educated black women who are atheist in this country. All my friends have a strong belief and think that i am crazy. Thats ok, i dont critisize them for their beliefs.

Answer 7

I think i realized that i didn't believe in god the moment that i was actually capable of relevant thought. I was raised in a roman catholic family, but realized very early that there is no concrete answer as to "is there a god?" I had some good conversations with my family, including a brother that i have dubbed Ned Flanders.

Answer 8

I grew up Protestant.

As a child, I had many questions that weren't answered to my liking;

"Why are there so many other religions, and why are they wrong in their beliefs?"
----They just are, jesus is the truth
(didn't add up to me)

"Is the story of Noah's ark true?"
----Yes it is
(even at 7 years old, I could tell it was an impossibility)

"Look how he ordered all those babies killed, why is god so mean?"
----The people fell out of favour with the lord, don't let it happen to you
(scared the crap out of me, but I still had doubts)

As I got older, the questions got more involved and the answers got more circular.

Finally, I put my thinking cap on;

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, chances are, it's a duck.

If it sounds like BS, and looks like BS, and the people who follow it are full of BS, chances are it's all BS.

Since I deduced that christianity was all BS, it must follow suit that all religions are BS too.

I am a proud athiest!

Answer 9

Personally, I don't trust any kind of religious & spiritual beliefs.

I was baptised catholic in France, but noone in my family practise this religion: it is more like a tradition - not like a religion.

For years, I needed to find spiritual beliefs that suit to me - and really, I always was deceited about all this.

This is not what I need in my life.

I am glad that my parents helped me get scientific knowledge in University - and philosophy. It was closer that what I really needed inside of me. That knowledge fed me and helped me grow up.

Now, I feel more serene about all this. I know I am a "non-believer" and I feel happy this way. I don't need to spit at religions & spirituality, because my life is not invaded by such concepts (I live in France). I acknowledge the fact that everyone has more or less different "beliefs".

I am a non-believer who believes in humanness, and who is fan of planetology (exact science that studies any kind of planets).

I did choose my beliefs (above). I am much more aware about my own beliefs. I needed to free myself from any religious & spiritual influence. This is my own personal choice, and I feel much better after it is achieved.

I am aware that labels about religious & spiritual beliefs leads to lots of misunderstanding. I think it is because they are intrinsicly incoherent, somehow.

Personally, I feel like every religious & spiritual beliefs are intrinsicly incoherent and limited.

I deeply need to believe in something simple that is intrinsicly coherent.

Well, I am typewriting those words the way they arrive in my mind :-)

I really wished to answer your question :-)

Thx!

Answer 10

I am a christian.When I was little,my parents became christians so I was exposed to alot of the Bible.I am 14 now,and recently went through an odd phase where i questioned...what I belived in.For months I searched my heart and mind,I did research that non-christians reccomended on the net and such.MY beliefs didnt change,but now I know what I believe.I know that I dont believe it because my parents do,or because I of what the preachers believe but because I choose to believe that there is a God.Its a pretty good feeling.

Answer 11

I was brought up Catholic, because my parents did not want me to be in the city's public schools. They were not disbelievers, but they weren't believers, either. At school, we were told that we should not question faith, or teaching, because to do so was mockery of God. Then we moved away, and public school was okay here. the kids told me I was going to hell for being Catholic. (Livin in the bible belt, now.) Chances are, at 12, they did not know why Baptists think Catholics will burn, but they had picked it up somewhere and hurled their hatred at me. At this point, especially after losing my brother in a car accident, I became Atheist because they seemed so brainwashed. So I must have been too. But 11 years later, I see that as children, you cannot make informed opinions on religion, you are only spouting what has been taught. And the best knowledge comes from inside you. I am now Wiccan, and have been for close to 5 years. It has transformed me from the brainwashed child, and the atheist teen, I was. I choose what to believe based on real life validity and how I feel about said beliefs. I question faith on a daily basis, and this is what keeps me on my toes, and my mind on Goddess. Also, this faith is free to basically believe whatever makes sense to the practitioner. (Given that the Rede is followed. The most important of these, is "and it harm none, do as ye will." None includes oneself.) Freedom of choice, in deity and worship. If I so choose, I can make a rite 2 hours long, and very involved, but on the other side of the coin, it can be 2 minutes long, have nothing to do with ritual, and be just as effective. My faith is not blind, I prefer to think it is an "eyes wide open" way of seeing the world, and the people in it. Plus, mythology is great if it is taken in that context. All myths serve to teach something, if you are truly seeking enlightenment. Goddess does not concern Herself with turning disbelievers into believers; however, if you are truly seeking a relationship with the divine for complete-ness and guidance, She will appear in whatever context you are most comfortable with. She will not appear to those who seek Her in vain (Vain being an adverb for the verb Vanity, as in to LOOK GOOD to others...though vanity can be a noun as well.) so they can say, look upon me, I am blessed because God has spoken to me. To these seekers, they will find no Light. I hope to have helped you, as it seems that atheist's views on believers of any sort is that we are blind, or are gullible, as many of us are not. (but many are. so what to do?)
In Light and Love, Blessed Be.