Is Atheism the easy way out?

Question

Do people choose atheism because of distrust of organized religion or do some choose such a path because it absolves them of accountability?

This is actually a serious question that I am looking for serious answers to. Every civilization at every era in human history has in one way or another had some spiritual desire to be filled. What makes an Atheist become Atheist?

Thanks for all the honest and serious answers --- I hope the way I worded my question didn't put anyone off.

Answer 1

They simply question the existance of a supreme being. I think it makes more sense not to believe. My soul would not let me go there, I tried.

Answer 2

Atheism is not a choice. We are all born with the lack of belief in a god or gods - agnostic atheism, by default. Theism is a choice. One can turn to that either willingly or by indoctrination. I am still an atheist.

If one is theist and BECOMES atheist (naturally of course) it is not because of distrust in an organized religion. That would be kind of like, believing in God but hating Him - some people think EVERYONE at heart believe in a god but are rebellious if they hate Him - this is not atheism at all.

They may read a religion's bible and not believe in it also, then, not trust the religion as a whole. But atheism really is just NOT believing for whatever reason. Either because of never having been introduced to the idea, stepping out of the theism bubble of delusion because rationality comes in, questioning everything and then realizing none of the answers from theism make sense, not believing in something that has no evidence, etc.

An atheist is simply one with the lack of belief in a god or gods. One who says "I believe there is no god" is a gnostic atheist.

BTW: I concur with what Tiffany said above. It is indeed that (theistic) religion is the easy way out. They say, "Oh God did it" to fill in the gaps of what is not known yet. Or the truth MAY be known but they'll dismiss it and continue with their lies. This method halts science. Why keep searching for the truth if the truth is that a god did it all? See how illogical that is? It shows that the answer "God" attributed (given credit for) to everything is not really answering anything at all. In fact it just leaves more questions like how, where'd this god come from, how do you know, and so on. Theism is lazy. They don't care for the truth. They want easy answers whether true or not. They, typically, live a life of comforting lies.

Now what do you want? Something comforting but a lie? Or the truth no matter if it's comforting or not?

Scenario: You're having a surgery. Do you want to be told that everything will be perfectly all right even if there were major risks or a high chance of something going wrong, or be told what you were facing so you knew what was realistically going on and not living in a delusion? Take your pick.

Answer 3

From my perspectives, Atheist is what atheist are, they do not believe in God. Thats their biggest reasons of becoming an atheist.

Ancient people, even though do not accept or received revelations of 1 god, will eventually create its own ideology of spiriual deisre, which are the idolaters worshipper or nature worshippers, that we call pagan. Still, they worship and believe into something which they consider a super natural power.

Atheist perhaps has exist during those era too but most probably not as popular as they are now adays.

Besides from what u said, science is 1 of the main factor of atheism this days. Most of atheist is from religions backgrounds. Some of them was a good reader of holy books, who make effort to learn and to practice what had been learned from their believes. This kind of people trying so hard to find some proves, common sense or any kind of related phenomena or anything with what they believe(religion). But somehow, what they are thaught and believes are far from reality.

Thats goes the contradictions, wrong scientific facts in holy books, in science and everything they had learned and believes. Meanwhile, science is a studies that proves thing!

Thus, this kind of people will feel they were deceived by the holy books or by what they believe before and end up as an atheist.

Other then that, some people needs an eye to eye proves to believe in things. Its a troublesome for this kind of people to believe in spiritual thing, thus atheist is the best way.

Some think that religions is an old fashion thingy, a way for authorities to get control to their people. There are a lot of reasons...

But i still believe that discrepancies in religions, disbelieve in God is the biggest reasons they become an atheist

Answer 4

Nothing takes away our accountability not god nor atheism and the reasons for ones beliefs are many and varied. Now a days
I think the comfort and gullibility of theism has little chance to survive the great philosophers,scientific advances and scrutiny
produced by an educated society . Never before in history has communication and education been at our present level of influence.People are finding fulfillment in truth and understanding rather than the comfort of unquestioning obedience and false promise.
As the christian worships the golden calf of oil the scientist is looking for alternative means of energy and an actual more comforting life for the future.
When the people come of age they will see through the exploits of the controllers who profit by the loss of the masses and things will progress in ways for the oppressed as well as the rich.
After all, one of the primary premises of religion is to show man how to live a better life and we have at our disposal most of those tools if we see fit to utilize them, for the physical world and man's spirit are truly symbiotic in nature.
peace

Answer 5

Actually, religion is the "easy way out". Religion allows people to use imaginary beings as a way to easily find a meaning to life instead of accepting that fact that one day we will all die without a life to follow. Religion allows people to think that what they do will grant them an eternal life filled with everything they desire, even if that means destroying nations, genocide, and the slaughter of innocent people to get there.

Answer 6

Activate your email addy and I'll tell you....

Long story short athiest want the truth and nothing else. We believe if you don't know the truth the best thing to do is just say IDK. It's not as fantastic as all of you mythology and religon but when you begin asking questions about the unknow you get answers and those answers are far more increadible than anything you must believe because you read it some where. In short we prefert to know what we know and know what we do not know then we search for the true answers.

Answer 7

I think it is the most difficult way out. We dont have a magical entity to save us. Most early civilizations worshiped the sun or the moon that was not correct. For me it was the fact that religions have some incredibly ridicules beliefs. If God was real he would make sure that all know of him and know exactly what his will is. An all powerful good would not leave room for misinterpretation.

Answer 8

Accountability to whom? A nonexistent Deity? That's not accountability. Answering to society, civil authority, one's peers and one's self is true accountability. Using gods as an excuse is actually the easy way out; when somebody screws up, you can just say "Well, it's God's will," and no one gets called on the carpet for it. If you can't use your gods as an excuse, you have to take blame yourself. Not as easy as you think.

Answer 9

I think Atheists have a spiritual desire to enjoy being human and to learn and live a life free of religious restraint.

Answer 10

I found believing in God, for whom there is no proof, illogical. It absolves me of accountability to God, because for me, there is no God. It certainly does not absolve me of responsibility to my fellow human beings; in fact, since I became a Secular Humanist, I have had to work a lot harder to make this life here on earth good for me and those around me.