Why do you think there is no God, heaven and hell?

Question

Atheists only. l'm a Catholic. Just want to know the reasons why you don't believe.

Answer 1

For pretty much the same reasons I don't believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or Fungus the Bogeyman. While the stories are interesting and have roles to play in social development (to a greater or lesser extent in each case), they are still just stories for me. If other people want to believe in them, that's up to them.

I find that religious people need religion/ God to answer certain questions and to provide security in the knowledge that there is an eternal afterlife and reason to the universe.

I, on the other hand, am happy to accept that there are questions I will never know the answer to, that I will die and cease to be and that the universe may have no order and that fairness, justice and order are purely humankind's rules - and good ones at that.

I am able to be at peace with the universe, without the need for a mediator. Although it puts us at odds with the world, there has yet to be a case of a war being held to enforce atheism - which is more than you can say for pretty much any religion.

Basically, atheists are able to question their world, while being content with its enigmatic nature at the same time. It's as impossible to explain to somebody who has religion/ God in their life as it is for a religious person to explain the assertion of faith to a non-believer.

Answer 2

religion is just another way of government for people. without a way to scare them would result in just chaos. why do they tell you you would go to heaven if you were good and go to hell if you were bad, then tell you that hell burns and heaven is bright. who's REALLY been there and actually take pictures of heaven? ofcourse you see painting and people saying that they have been there, died and resurected and all that nonsense. SURE! i died and got resurrected but no lights or fire. i didnt get burned nor took virginities of perfect women in heaven. if there was noone to tell me about "the tooth fairy" i would have made willy wonka a zillionare. if i wasn't told on my early childhood that GOD will punish me for what i do then i would have been a crazy lunatic. yes i am raised by VERY RELIGIOUS PARENTS but then again its just my own choice that i see no point in doing such if i dont believe in it. the human mind has a vast capability of imagination that one can almost make a whole new world exist. was it Schitzophreania that makes people think of a parallel life? imagine if everyone had it, and that all we see is GODS and hell and heaven. all the writings might have been just the writings of these people who had great imaginations and views of things that they wanted to share it. just like shakespeare, he could have written romeo and juliet and say that its a true story and everyone would have believed it except that there are so many evidence that its a play. so they know its a play. on the other hand scriptures have some evidences but not enough to actually conclude anything, but the people have been believing it for thousands of years now, and that would be very hard to change. its like evolution that takes a long time and changing it in a matter of seconds would require an asteroid to hit the earth again (hope not). you catholic? guess what. my whole line of ancestors and family members are catholic. i ask you this, if we were created under god's image, then why is it that he only appears as "light" or a sillouete in the bible and never a description that his nose is pointy or his eyes are pink? who decided that the tiger should have stripes and not dots?

Answer 3

Christians are always doing this question and it is the oldest trick in the book!

The rest of the world and nearly all the other religions believe in science, logic and everyday common sense. Why should they have to prove anything to you? All they believe in has been proved to the satisfaction of the academic and world bodies.

You have a religious theory supported only by a Bible that has virtually no proof at all and the proof that there is, simply supports the likelihood of a work of fiction set in a true historic period.

For instance Jesus was supposed to be a great problem to the Romans who ended up putting him to death. There is not one mention of Jesus in the entire Roman archive!!! Not one!! But that archive contains many references to the other Jews at the time who claimed to be the messiah!!

It is not non Christians who bear the need to prove but the proposers the faith.

If Christianity was secure in it's belief why was there all that fuss about the Da Vinci code? A fiction set in an historical time period. Too close to the Christian story perhaps!!

I was a Christian and church goer. I left because I discovered that far too many Christians are dictatorial, trumpeting, intolerant of others and were twisting more and more the true teachings of the Bible and Christianity. Christians are now mostly just self serving, boasters of a belief that is so far removed from it's origins as to be unrecognisable.

Answer 4

I distinguish between belief and faith.

I believe that if I drop a wine glass on the floor it will break. You know it will - I know it will. Sometimes by a fluke it doesn't but 99999 out of 100000 it will.

It is on beliefs like this that we build a structured view of the Universe.

You, as a Catholic may, for example, have faith in the power of the waters at Lourdes to cure apparently incurable illness in people.

Approximately 75,000 people visit Lourdes every year and have for over 50 years. In that time the Catholic Authorities claim 68 miracles.

Which is less than one in 55000, or a statistical nonsense.

When you base your life on this kind of faith you allow into your life an acceptance of the preposterous which you dress up and glorify and call God.

Not just you of course, but any person claiming a religious faith.

I do believe in atheism because everything in my life requires reason, whereas in yours you require unreason, and call it faith, which is much more comfortable, isn't it ?

So, 'Is there a God?' I say no, and accept my world for what it is.

So, 'Is there a God?' You say yes. . and try to explain the Tsunami, a natural phenomenon in terms of God's love.

The strange thing to me is that you do use my stucture of beliefs, i.e. 'Don't step in front of a truck it will kill you' 'Don't touch a red hot coal it will burn' but then suddenly descend into unreason, 'Let us pray to end this drought' and think of is all quite logical.

Because you, and I mean you personally, need to have faith in a God, you think that therefore he exists. A sort of 'I need him to exist therefore he must' argument.

Which is again unreason.

So, we will never have a meeting of minds will we?

Answer 5

I was raised a Catholic and later realized that it is actually a bastardized version of Christianity. You actually are not a Christian because you pray to Mary and man-made saints. Jesus never preached that nonsense. The Bible, heaven, and hell are fabrications of mortal men. God (the creator) never endorsed or created any religion. Don't take my word for it ....go research the origin of the Bible and use common sense....which was given to you by God. If He wanted you to just follow blindly, He should have simply skipped on providing you with a brain and logic.

Answer 6

Because the whole thing is utterly ridiculous.

Why should I believe in a book thats terribly written with more fantasy in it than any fantasy novel I've ever read that teaches that everyone that doesn't do as this 2000 year old book written by mankind during a time when we still believed in dragons will burn in torment for all eternity?

And then there's the little problem of scientific fact making your bible an incredible laugh.

Answer 7

It's obvious to me that that god, heaven and hell are all made up.
--- Just like all the other religons
The only reason I used to believe, is because my parents raised me to believe.

The more I learnt out about the history of religions (and how/why they're formed), it only makes sense that Christianity is also false.
Major religious groups (Still practiced today)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions

Answer 8

OK. Any belief is based on faith. If you believe in God, that takes faith. If you don't, that takes faith too. Faith is a belief that you feel comfortable with, in the absence of proof, in the usual sense.
It doesn't bother me in the slightest that you have a strong belief in God. Why does it bother you that I don't? Could it be that you have your doubts? We atheists are such a small minority, why do we bother you so much? Do you feel threatened? I would never try to talk you out of your belief; why do you feel compelled to try to convince me to give up mine? If you believe in God, but it turns out that there is no God, aren't you worse off than me, if it turns out that there is one? I always hear about the believers having to prove their faith, or question it or soul search or pray harder to regain faith. Why is that? I have no such dilemma. If God exists, shouldn't it be easy to believe? It should be the easiest thing in the world. But it isn't. I am not afraid of Hell like you are, because I don't believe it exists. To believe as you do, you must not only have faith, you must also have the fear that goes with it. I choose to live my life without that fear, so I have no need for such beliefs. It doesn't bother me that we have different belief systems. What bothers me is the intolerance people of different belief systems have for each other. If you think that's what God had in mind, then you can have him.

Answer 9

Simply because the writings that most religions were founded on were created, written, influenced and amended by humans. We are by nature imperfect beings, and have a tendency to do things primarily for our own benefit. Even if a divine being inspired these, they were still penned by humans which dooms the work to fallacies.

I don't discount the possibility of god or gods altogether, but I can't get my head around organised religion or a set belief structure.

Answer 10

Established religion demands acceptance of unquestionable dogmas ones that are insane in the status quo.

Religion, in my judgement, has caused more damage than good in the last two millenium.

These doctrines, like god, heaven, hell, are devoid of any proofs, unless emotion takes over reason.

Further, without these beliefs I live a morally better life than I did with it.