Atheist Question??

Question

What is the reason why so many people believe in god.?

Answer 1

FAITH

Answer 2

Religion is tradition. Why do families reunite to celebrate? Why do millions of people have the same exact thing for Thanksgiving year after year, the same way mom or grandma made it?

Mostly it's a way for people to believe that death isn't an ultimate end, and that they need not be afraid of dying. It helps make life worth living when one can find no other answer. There is literally a plethora of reasons.

We know today that much of what the church led us to believe was either outright lies, or just completely fictional. For instance Heaven was once the clouds, and the world was flat. How Christianity survived Galileo, I'll never know, but it must be because of faith.

Does it make it wrong for people to still believe in a higher power? I say no. Actually science has proven, statistically, that people who have a higher level of spirituality are much healthier, happier, and content than those who aren't.

Should you believe in the christian god? If it works for you, then yes. I personally refuse to follow any religion that is based on a threat however. "You're going to hell because of this, that, and the other thing." I'm pretty sure I'm not going to hell just because I don't believe in a god whose followers and leaders are historically murderers, hypocrites, pedophiles, liars, etc. all in the name of god. Does that mean he doesn't exist? I don't know, I've never seen any evidence of his existence.

My opinion is just be a good person. Be kind to your neighbor, love your wife, always be true to your family, and help others in need.

Peace.

Answer 3

They are trained to believe it from the time they are old enough to understand as children. Also, believing in a God gives them a sense of "cosmic justice" - if you aren't punished for a horrible crime in this world you will be in the next one (hell) and if you live a good life and "follow the rules" for your religion (whatever it is) you will either live in paradise ("heaven") forever or be reincarnated and have a second chance (or 9 millionth) at a better life. Its hard for someone to abandon the idea that they will not spend eternity in heaven where all their friends and family are. Conformity, cultural coercion ("believe or go to hell"), and many other factors. I believe "God" is the natural universe - not a supernatural entity. I changed the definition of "God" - something human beings can do.

Answer 4

I'd be an Atheist if it wasn't for this one conundrum. The creation of the Universe. We live in a reality where things are created, but they don't magically appear, it requires two universal needs, Energy and Time/Space/Material. So if the universe was created by a singularity that erupted after reaching a certain limit, how was the singularity created? Something (natural or entity) must have created it, and that entity in my opinion is God. Unless you believe in magic ;p

That's My Reason.

Answer 5

There can be no such things as an atheist. This is why: Let's imagine that you are a professing atheist. Here are two questions for you to answer: First, do you know the combined weight of all the sand on all the beaches of Hawaii? We can safely assume that you don't. This brings us to the second question: Do you know how many hairs are on the back of a fully-grown male Tibetan yak? Probably not. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that there are some things that you don't know. It is important to ask these questions because there are some people who think they know everything.

Let's say that you know an incredible one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. To know 100 percent, you would have to know everything. There wouldn't be a rock in the universe that you would not be intimately familiar with, or a grain of sand that you would not be aware of. You would know everything that has happened in history, from that which is common knowledge to the minor details of the secret love life of Napoleon's great-grandmother's black cat's fleas. You would know every hair of every head, and every thought of every heart. All history would be laid out before you, because you would be omniscient (all-knowing).

Bear in mind that one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, Thomas Edison, said, "We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything." Let me repeat: Let's say that you have an incredible one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. Would it be possible, in the ninety-nine percent of the knowledge that you haven't yet come across, that there might be ample evidence to prove the existence of God? If you are reasonable, you will be forced to admit that it is possible. Somewhere, in the knowledge you haven't yet discovered, there could be enough evidence to prove that God does exist.

Let's look at the same thought from another angle. If I were to make an absolute statement such as, "There is no gold in China," what is needed for that statement to be proven true? I need absolute or total knowledge. I need to have information that there is no gold in any rock, in any river, in the ground, in any store, in any ring, or in any mouth (gold filling) in China. If there is one speck of gold in China, then my statement is false and I have no basis for it. I need absolute knowledge before I can make an absolute statement of that nature. Conversely, for me to say, "There is gold in China," I don't need to have all knowledge. I just need to have seen a speck of gold in the country, and the statement is then true.

To say categorically, "There is no God," is to make an absolute statement. For the statement to be true, I must know for certain that there is no God in the entire universe. No human being has all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this assertion.

If you insist upon disbelief in God, what you must say is, "Having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is no God." Owing to a lack of knowledge on your part, you don't know if God exists. So, in the strict sense of the word, you cannot be an atheist. The only true qualifier for the title is the One who has absolute knowledge, and why on earth would God want to deny His own existence?

The professing atheist is what is commonly known as an "agnostic" - one who claims he "doesn't know" if God exists. It is interesting to note that the Latin equivalent for the Greek word is "ignoramus." The Bible tells us that this ignorance is "willful" (Psalm 10:4). It's not that a person can't find God, but that he won't. It has been rightly said that the "atheist" can't find God for the same reason a thief can't find a policeman. He knows that if he admits that there is a God, he is admitting that he is ultimately responsible to Him. This is not a pleasant thought for some.

It is said that Mussolini (the Italian dictator), once stood on a pinnacle and cried, "God, if you are there, strike me dead!" When God didn't immediately bow to his dictates, Mussolini then concluded that there was no God. However, his prayer was answered some time later.

Excerpted from God Doesn't Believe in Atheists by Ray Comfort

Answer 6

Well, it seems that we humans are very fond of logic and symetry, so we are bound to picture a beginning for everything, and since most of the regular humans can´t understand cosmology or Physics to explain it, they find it perfectly natural to believe an outer supreme being as the creator. Yet, there´s of course the psycology of the matter, which is: People in general are very insecure and weak, they need something bigger than themselves as to impart a relative amount of confidence over their actions, so again they prefer to rely on the miraculous outer being called god, then to act on their own.

Answer 7

There is no one reason because there is no one truth. But aside from "it's what everyone else does", the most "popular" reasons are the following:

1.) A basic human instinct to find and have a purpose or meaning in life, the world around them and the cosmos in general
2.) Encounters with or events involving creatures and things logic, science, and medicine can not easily explain with out contradicting themselves; aka "miracles", "out of body experiances", "spirit walking", "possessions", "manifestations", etc
3.) Evidence in the natural world of the "God amount Ants" theory, a theory that basically states to something small enough something large enough or strange enough will be considered a "deity"
4.) A general conscensis amoung most sentiant creature that we do not know everything there is to know about the universe and, given our short alotted life span, we will not know everything there is to know, and so we leave room for doubt, hope, faith and intrigue as the best way to accept this fact and remain sane

Also, there is more than one "god" out there. The word "god" is just another word used to describe a creature living on a plane of existance that we can not reache and yet, when it comes down to our realm, has the ability to manipulate the forces and elements making our world. Now, if you are refering to the Judeo-Christian god, most people believe in him because they are told to, though there are just as many peopel out there who believe because of one of the four reasons listed above.

However, there are just as many people who believe in multiple gods, related groups of which are called a "pantheon", while others believe in "cosmic forces", elements and energies void of sentiance but working as nature intended them, following a set of rules preordiended by their very being. I.E; the force of Life is to create from nothing something while the force of Death is to destroy the something back into nothing, thus working together to keep the universe moving.

These Forces and believes in said Forces are as ancient as the human race, perhaps older, and span across every culture and ethnicity in the world. These beliefs stem out of a observation, something Science is very big on, the watching and remembering of things that happen in nature. A tree grows, dies and becomes a source of energy or fuel for new trees and animals. Some animals must kill others to survive, but when they die their bodies return to the earth to nurish the plants their prey needs to survive. And ever repeating cycle spurred on by the existance of the other parts. It is when people wonder about WHY the parts were created and by WHO that you get the Divine Host ranging from blood thirsty Mesopotamian gods to the maternal Earth goddess of Celtic Myth.

So, now that you know why people believe in gods, why do people NOT believe in them?

~~ Abaddon

Answer 8

well most people were raised to believe in some kind of god per se and can't imagine life without a god and some people seem to need a reason to have morals as some kind of religion and book to tell them what they should do and how to act when in reality all you need is reason logic and common sense to be morally sound just be emphatic towards others and you will see that if you don't want people doing bad things to you then you shouldn't do bad things to them

Answer 9

None of the answers above me that I saw have it right. As a trained Sociologist, I must say that ALL societies all over the world have ALWAYS believed in a God, from what they find evident all around them and in the sky (sun, stars, planets, comets, etc.) and in the season changes, etc. In these modern days of instant information from all around the world, some of these ideas are being discussed more, so if we turn to our own Bible, it tells us much the same things I have just said, in the book of Job, especially. Isn't that weird? They knew much 4,000 to 6,000 years ago that we are just now re-discovering. Must be something to it, huh?

Answer 10

Logic and reasoning leads me to believe in evolution and other natural processes that brought about the universe. These also contradict the notion of god presented in the Bible and other Judeo-Christian texts.

Answer 11

God explains things we cannot understand. So, if you don't know why something is the way it is - God's will. But, as we evolve and begin to understand more about existance, the God theory begins to have holes. So, we know that Leviticus, which tells us to sacrifice animals in order to cure disease, is wrong. We know now that viruses and bacteria are big culprits and that animal sacrifice isn't the cure.
However, most cultures embrace tradition, and religion and tradition are firmly tied.