Why are you an atheist?

Question

Is it because of some wonderful argument one person made or is it your life experience? My guess is that most people choose their ideologies based on life experience. I look at some of the posts here by some other Christians and I am amazed. So many of them are uneducated fundamentalists that speak on topics they never learned about, such as science and other religions. If my first and only exposure to Christianity was this type of ignorance and intolerance I would be an atheist too. Do you atheistic folks also realize that they do not represent the majority of Christianity? I hope so.

Answer 1

As an atheist, I know that most Christians are good people. Extremists be they atheists, Christians, Muslims are always very vocal and tend to give any group of people a bad name.
If people approached one another the way you do, there would be a wonderful exchange of ideas on here. I became an atheist as a result of a tremendous amount of reading on the topics of mythology, religion, philosophy, history and textural criticism which is the examination of the scriptures by Biblical scholars. I hope you are having a great weekend! Enjoy!

Answer 2

I've been searching and questioning since I was a young kid. I would lay in bed and think about the nature of the universe and god and it would boggle my mind. I realized that whether or not there was a god, the same mystery of existence was there: something without cause. And it was impossible to get my mind around. As the years passed, I realized the incredible helplessness and fear and psychological turmoil that was involved with the idea of death. It ripped me to pieces and I wished so much that I could embrace my religious upbringing to resolve it. I saw the horrible contradictions in the universe that couldn't possibly support a loving creator (I tried to bury or challenge these thoughts with logic but their message was compelling). I tried and tried and read everything I could to try and convince me. I asked people who believed but realized most never questioned or approached the level I was approaching. I also realized a common dynamic: the mind's suffering from the contemplation of death would most certainly interpret teachings or manufacture elements to relieve itself of this suffering. This period of time was the worst -- I wanted so much to believe but my research kept showing that the beliefs and concepts related to God were all projections of people's desires. I researched near-death experiences and other mystical events and saw holes in all of them. I researched the formation of the christian beliefs and saw how Jesus' original message had been changed into something that was appealing to what people wanted to believe. And I saw how the same pattern in human dynamics was alive today with anything -- when something threatens the self, the mind will engage in denial and strong attachment to a belief system that will protect it. I was dismayed but wanted to make sure that I acceped the truth, regardless of how painful it was. I realized -- very reluctantly -- that I was an atheist. I didn't want to be and I sincerely sought the help of believers to try and get what they had (but, again, soon realized that what they had was either unquestioned teachings or attachment to hope).
Now, as time passed, I kept an open mind. I engaged in some spiritual practice and had some 'glimpses' of this 'underlying reality' and something that is always there. It blew me away. However, it was NOTHING like what the major religions were describing -- in fact, the gods the major religions worshipped were the complete opposite of this reality. I soon realized that the gods of major religions were made-up deities that were meant to embody the desires and goals of people -- judgement, reward, punishment, etc. And I realized that atheists and believers were doing the same thing: focusing on this made-up deity, with atheists rightfully rejecting these concepts. I think 'believers' would do well to go past this concept of god and past their belief and enter direct experience -- not the pseudo experience where one 'feels' god in nature or in their everyday lives because of belief (islamic terrorists feel the same thing).

Answer 3

The thing is nobody truly knows. I feel sorry for those who think they do. We can easily miss out on wisdom and knowledge by being dogmatic, or simply convinced to where there is no questioning of life's purpose. Arrogance is cultured by by believing in something you don't KNOW for sure. Genuine truth (realistically unobtainable) can only be pursued by knowing that you don't know. Beware of arrogance. It is truly the root of all evil.

Answer 4

I am an atheist because god does not exist.
It's really that simple.
There isn't a single, solitary shred of credible evidence to support the existence of this magic sky-pixie. Just as there is no evidence to support the existence of fairies, pixies or leprechauns.

Answer 5

For me, that decision was made over time and with careful thought. There is no evidence of a personal god, and every evidence that god is the creation of humans.

Interesting point: We are all born atheists... some of the research on feral children shows they develop morality and empathy for others with no knowledge of a god... so god is not the source of goodness in humans, humans are the source of goodness and morality in humans.

Answer 6

Intellectual choice.

Christians to whom I have shown some of the "Christian" postings here, and e-mails I have been sent, have been horrified by the depth of ignorance and bigotry displayed.

You should post more often.
.

Answer 7

It's not that I don't believe in there being a god or a higher power, I just don't care. If there is a god, I'll find out when I die. I don't want to waste a lot of time worshipping something that we don't know for sure exists.

Answer 8

Actually it was a wonderful argument that I made after I finished reading the Bible.

Answer 9

i do realize this, but i think there are more of them out there thhen you realize.

i became an atheist because of the problem of evil

Answer 10

Its nothing to do with Christianity. God does not exist, simple as that.