why are you atheist?

Question

for me is because I found religion pointless, and that it made no sense, some people do it to follow other people, some people do it because someone talks to them about it and it seems right, why was it for you

Answer 1

i started "falling away from god" right after i graduated from high school. my father died of a strong from of cancer only 3 months after diagnosis. everyone around me expressed their sympathy towards me, and many said the same thing: "everything happens for a reason," or "God has a plan."

and honestly, every time i heard that, i was so infuriated. The idea that this pain and suffering HAS to happen, that some higher power is watching over us, that has the ability to help us, and doesn't because it's for some greater cause is absolutely frustrating. not to mention that the fact that since this one detail has to happen, that means that there is no free will. everything, every single thing has a chain of reactions that leads up to that moment, and if one thing changes, that event may, or may not take place.

i accept that we live in a random universe filled with pain, and to me, living in a world with free will that is totally random is a much more comforting thought than a God that has the ability to control our lives.

this was the start of my atheism, eventually, the more i learned, the more secure i was calling myself an atheist. a big hero of mine is Penn Jillette, and he really reinforced everything i believed in. a while ago, Penn gave this speech on a NPR's segment, this i believe, and it is very beautifully written and it sums up everything else i want to say.

since the link for it is down at the moment... and since i have this whole essay on my facebook, i'm gonna copy and paste it, essentially raping this whole page... sorry in advance.

"I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?

So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The atheism part is easy.

But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God."

Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.

Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have."
-Penn Jillette

Answer 2

Basically, once I started studying history, you see people have always worshipped something. And since everyone worships different things, they are basically worshipping nothing. Christians look at the Mayans or the Hindus and think their beliefs are absurd, but it's all just the same nonsense. The great website www.godisimaginary.com does a great job of punching holes in the absurd arguments that religious people try to pass off as intelligent discourse.

---Oh, good lord. I just read Godluvsu2's response. That kind of blithering nonsense is EXACTLY why I would never believe....

Answer 3

Maybe because to be a theist one has to accept as true all manner of impossible things, from talking animals to worldwide events that leave no trace to superstitions about who, what, and how things are "supposed" to be done.

There is no testable evidence of any deity of any kind. Only the say-so of people who have a vested interest in my believing them (ie: my money or power). The claims of the mainstream religions are too ludicrous to be believed, and the behavior of their followers belie their purported "message".

Answer 4

Because gods don't exist and therefore I am without belief in any concept of a deity. Also because the burden of proof has not been met. The burden of proof rests squarely upon the shoulders of those who put forth the positive assertion, i.e. "god exists". It is up to them to provide PROOF to the skeptics who have taken the default philosophical stance of non-belief until such time that the assertion of the believers is demonstrated to be correct.

Answer 5

there's no proof of a god. And the entire way things are set up, religion and such, makes no sense whatsoever. And just read the responses by these believers - it's bizarre! They seem to have no concept of, nor connection to, reality.

Answer 6

I really like to sleep in on Sunday mornings......Actually, it all began when I was in grade school. To summarize, my best friends' devoutly religious (Baptist) step-father molested and raped her on a regular basis, and often times afterward would go down to the living room and start reading from his KJV bible like nothing had happened. Her equally pious mother turned a blind eye to what was going on for years. Years later, he developed some rare and aggressive type of cancer with a really low survival rate. And wouldn't you know it, the bastard survived it and shortly thereafter began molesting my friends' younger brother as well. He was made deacon at his church after his recovery, too. That's right about when the seed of Atheism was planted in me........

Answer 7

It just makes the most sense to me. I listen to religious people with an open mind, but everytime I walk away feeling dumber than before and I feel sorry for them.

Answer 8

i am a atheist, but in my heart i wish i wasn't. In my case i have too many personal questions that need to be answered but as of now, they have not. I am looking for the answers and i hope one day i will find them

I also hope that we as atheist are wrong because it's not right for so many people to be wrong in regards of something that seems to be ok.

Answer 9

I'm not an atheist because it is unthinkable and illogocal to assume that the universe just appeared out of nothing. How we came to be, for me, can only be the result of an intelligence beyond anybody's understanding. I am unable to be so arrogant to proclaim myself as an atheist, as that would mean I have knowledge that obviously is absent.

Answer 10

Religion never spoke to me. I have no good feelings about it. When I am sitting in religious services I feel amazed that everybody around me is into this stuff.