Athiests (10 points)?

Question

Why don't you believe in a God?

Answer 1

Why I Don't Believe in the Existence of Gods:

=== 1: Simple Common Sense ===

Nothing in life has ever made me suspect that any gods really exist. I see no divine revelations, no miracles, no answered prayers, no preferential good fortune for people of any particular faith, no divine retribution for evildoers, no protection for the virtuous, the innocent or the weak. Life is exactly as we would expect it to be if there was no divine influence in the world - i.e. good and bad things come to good and bad people alike. Our lives are subject to chance, and the actions of other people, but that seems to be all.

=== 2: The Natural World ===

"Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods." - Titus Lucretius Carus (c.99-55 BCE).

We can see no sign of any divine involvement in the natural world. Galaxies, stars and planets form because it is in the nature of matter to do so. Living organisms evolve and diverge by the unthinking, undirected process of evolution. There is no plan, no design, just the effects of probability and the properties of matter and forces. Many people will claim to the contrary, but as far as I can tell this just reflects an ignorance about how the natural world really is, rather than the perception of any higher truth. Certainly, their arguments always evaporate in the light of reason.

=== 3: Logical Arguments ===

1: Science gives us a way to distinguish between good ideas and bad ideas - i.e. to show which explanation is the most consistent with observable reality. Science shows us that great complexity does not just arise spontaneously. It is inconceivable that even the simplest bacterium could exist without something being responsible for the complexity of its structure, its biochemistry and so on. It would take the lifetimes of a billion universes for it to appear spontaneously, by pure chance - in fact it is probably safe to say that it simply could never happen. This goes all the more for human beings. It's surely no coincidence that the only thing that we regard as truly intelligent - the human brain - is also the most complex thing in the known universe. Intelligence requires enormous complexity, far beyond anything that could conceivably exist without something being responsible for its existence. By the same reasoning, it's infinitely more unlikely still that an intelligent entity capable of designing and creating an entire universe and everything in it could just exist from nowhere, from nothing, without anything being responsible for its existence. Complexity, and especially the massive complexity required for intelligence, can therefore only arise from an antecedent, non-intelligent process - In the case of life on Earth, this means biological evolution, a fact which is attested to by a vast amount of real objective evidence and valid argument. So, to the extent that science allows us to reliably distinguish between plausible ideas and implausible ideas, it effectively rules out the possibility of an intelligent entity as the uncaused cause of everything that exists.

2: We've known for thousands of years that the 'tri-omni' gods of classical monotheistic religions cannot exist. If an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent deity existed, then human evil could not exist. Since human evil unarguably does exist, the classical monotheistic deity cannot exist (objections about 'free will' notwithstanding).

3: Quantum Mechanics strongly suggests that nothingness is a state that cannot exist in reality, since that would be 100% deterministic, and QM says that existence is probabilistic rather than deterministic. Experimental evidence supports QM. If true, then this also precludes the existence of a creator, since it would be impossible to have a state of 'nothingness' from which a 'something' could be created.

4: David Hume proved that moral values are subjective - i.e. they describe a person's response to events, rather than objective properties of events themselves. Since morals are personal and subjective, there cannot be an external, objective source of moral values - Indeed, the idea is simply incomprehensible. Therefore, any god which is claimed to be the objective source of moral values cannot possibly exist. This includes the gods of most monotheistic religions, by their usual definitions.

5: Argument from design: If everything was designed by an intelligent creator then we would have no basis for identifying things that clearly *are* designed (things made by human beings) since we would have no non-designed (i.e. natural) things to compare them with. Therefore the natural world (everything that has not been designed by humans) must be non-designed, and therefore there can't be a designer god.

6: All attempts at arguing *for* the existence of any gods through logic and reason can be and have been comprehensively debunked.

=== 4: Religious Belief, Literature and Dogma ===

If any religion were true, we could reasonably expect it to produce some ideas and beliefs that people couldn't have thought up by themselves. Similarly for 'holy texts', and the rules and practices that derive from them. In fact though, religions only produce what we would expect humans to imagine or decide for themselves, on the basis of aspects of human nature such as superstition, moral judgments, xenophobia and so on. There is no sign of any divine influence here.

Religious literature, if divinely inspired, ought to be factually correct and free of contradictions, immoral ideas and absurdities. None of the holy texts fit the bill.

=== 5: Society and Culture ===

It's an observable fact that people overwhelmingly adopt the religion of their family and culture. If there was any external truth to religion, which human beings could perceive with some kind of supernatural sense, then we could reasonably expect there to be some consistency in religious belief. Instead, the distrubution of different religious beliefs is exactly as we would expect it to be if this were pure mythology, handed down through family and culture like any other kind of purely fictional story.

=== 6: Intellectual and Moral Progress ===

Religion has consistently been the enemy of intellectual progress, suppressing rational investigation of the world where it disagrees with and thus endangers religious belief (often by torture and death). There has never been, to the best of my knowledge, one single fact about the world that was brought to us by divine inspiration rather than rational investigation. How could this be, if religion were a source of truth? Religion has also consistently been the undisputed cause of much conflict, discrimination and persecution in the world, belying the existence of any kind of benevolent or moral guardian of the world.

=== 7: Rational Explanation for Religious Belief ===

As part of our evolutionary 'toolkit' of survival strategies, we have a highly developed awareness of other entities in our environment - We often notice human faces in carpet patterns, rabbit-shaped clouds and so on. There is more survival value in seeing what really *is* there, and also seeing some things that *aren't* really there, than in missing things that really are there and going hungry, or worse, ending up as someone else's lunch.

The consequence of this undeniably true aspect of human nature is that we have a natural tendency to imagine 'agents' (intelligent entities) behind natural phenomena and events in our own lives that aren't really there - i.e. gods and goddesses, demons, angels, spirits - a whole menagerie of supernatural characters. Society and culture binds up these characters with our wishes and fears, our desires for dominance and submission and shared identity, and we end up with religious belief and ritual and dogma, in thousands of different flavours throughout the world and throughout history. Religion is formalised superstition - It's just a common flaw in human nature, rather like the way we see optical illusions. We can account for the existence of religious belief perfectly well with this fact-based, rational explanation, rather than believing that there really is a supernatural realm of existence.

=== 8: Human Nature ===

Religious people will argue that humans are unique amongst all the animals in having an eternal, divine component that exists independently of the physical body - Usually referred to as a 'soul'. What exactly could a soul be? What properties could it have? What part of a person resides in the soul?

If it's postulated that consciousness, or awareness, or sense of self resides in the soul, it's difficult to see how this can be reconciled with the complete oblivion which accompanies general anaesthesia. How could a straightforward chemical, injected into the bloodstream, anaesthetise a soul so that it effectively ceases to exist during this time? If consciousness, in the form of a soul, were some kind of supernatural faculty, it would seem implausible that it could be completely disabled by a chemical.

How about some of the other things which we regard as essential parts of what makes a person what they are? How about love, compassion, reason, empathy, memory, conscious thought, character, 'spirituality' and so on? Well, there is really no plausible doubt that all these things are properties of the physical brain - We can alter all of these properties very simply with alcohol or other drugs, and observe how they change in people who have suffered significant brain damage. Previously placid people become uncontrollably violent, intelligent people become imbeciles, and so on. Stimulate the brain artificially, and the subject reports corresponding mental activity, e.g. 'religious experiences'. We can see from brain research that all these things - thought, emotion, sensation, character traits and so on - are correlated with activity in the brain, and some things can be identified with specific areas of the brain.

So, if all these faculties and characteristics of what we regard as the 'person' reside in the physical brain, as seems to be undeniably the case, and they all cease when the person dies, then what is left to be attributed to a 'soul'? As far as I can ascertain: Nothing. If there is no part of us that can continue after death, then there is no 'afterlife'... and if there is no afterlife, then most of religion is null and void.

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There are other reasons too, but that'll do for now...

Answer 2

First, you have to define the term "God." The problem with most theists is that this term is a moving target.

In addition, because there is no evidence either for or against the existence of God, you cannot use deductive logic (a+b=c; therefore c-b=a). You can only reach a conclusion by inductive reasoning using the balance of evidence (90% of A is also B; C is B, so the chances are 90% that C is also A).

So to begin with, I will assert (and others may shoot this down) that the only RELEVANT definition of God states that GOD INTERVENES TO CIRCUMVENT NATURAL LAWS.

If God circumvents natural laws, then it becomes impossible to understand natural laws. All scientific findings would have to include the stipulation, "It is also possible that these results are an act of God, a miracle, thereby making our research meaningless."

However, we have been able to expand our knowledge of natural laws (evidenced by every appliance in your kitchen). Therefore, because the scientific method leads to applicable discoveries, and the likely conclusion is that God, at least the intervening kind, does not exist.

Additionally, if God is defined as all loving, all powerful, and all knowing, then it is impossible to explain suffering. Either God is not all loving (he acts sadistically), not all powerful (he cannot prevent suffering), or not all knowing (he created suffering by mistake because he didn't know the consequences of his actions). A God who is not all-loving, all-powerful or all-knowing is also not sufficient for the definition of God, because any God that fails to meet these criteria becomes bound by rules that are greater than God.

If God is bound by external rules and/or does not intervene in our existence, then God is either non-existent or irrelevant. The classic Bertrand Russell argument is that I cannot prove that a china teapot is orbiting the sun between the earth's orbit and Mars. But while I cannot prove this is not true, the evidence against it is compelling.

The evidence against God is equally compelling, and while it is not possible to prove beyond any doubt, it makes enormously more sense to live your life as if there were no God.

It is more compelling to me that humans have invented God (a) to help people deal with the pain and fear associated with death and loss, and (b) to reflect the thoughts of the ruling powers in a particular time. Humans are always searching for explanations. When none were found, it was the natural inclination to declare that the cause of the unexplained was "God" (or gods). As the faith grew, miracles (coincidences) and laws were ascribed to this Divinity, and an orthodoxy grew up around it.

Now it seems unhelpful to believe in such superstition. The only matters that aid in our ongoing well-being are work, location, health, sustenance, and pure, blind luck.

So no, I don't believe God exists. And you know what? It's okay if you do believe God exists.

- {♂♂} - {♂♀} - {♀♀} -

Answer 3

a million. Fruit Basket 2. Flower association 3. Fields 4. Mountains 5. first mild 6. sunset 7. Windmills 8. Animals 9. wooded area/ plant life 10. human beings 11. Moon 12. horizons 13. living house 14. backyard 15. Flower fields sixteen. Greenhouse 17. Mansions 18. Rainbows 19. Roses 20. Birds in the sky desire this enables and have relaxing on your drawing. good luck!

Answer 4

God is too paradoxical.
1. Why does evil exist?
2. If God is supposed to be fair, then why does God discriminate between "the good" and "the bad"?
3. Why did God establish the rules of science as they are and thus let natural disasters happen?
4. Why would God answer anyone's prayers if they are almost always to someone else's detriment?
5. Why is God so insecure that God needs people to worship God?
6. If God teaches modesty, then why does God contradict Godself by expecting us to praise and worship God?
7. Does it matter to God if we believe or don't believe?
8. Science is a much more viable answer to the questions of life? Psychology especially helps a lot.

REFLECT AND UNDERSTAND, MY CHRISTIAN SISTER.

Answer 5

Because god doesn't exist and the only proof you can provide of "his" existence is a book with implausible events - talking donkeys, snakes, bushes, false history, bad science - earth built on pillars, sun orbits earth, flood and ark - never happened. This is your only proof since there haven't been any talking donkeys lately that would refute any of my statement I would say I am more likely correct in there not being a god than you are in your "belief" that there is a god. Faith is a substitue for reason and I simply can't do it. I can't make myself ignorant and disregard all the evidence refuting the bible. You likely don't believe in Jupiter, Baal. Oden, and Randolph the Wonderbadger and are athiest to them. I just went one god further.

Answer 6

There is not enough evidence for the existence of a god (the capital-g-God in particular, which you ethnocentrically capitalized in your question :p ). There is not enough to warrent devoting my life to something that people have been brainwashed to believe from before they could understand what they were learning.

And, in reference to the little "evidence" of God's existence, unlike a few hundred years ago when there was a lot of "mysteries" that could not be explained by anything other than God, there is now nothing that can not be explained by science in today's world. The "God of the Gaps" is no longer needed.

Answer 7

10 points yipee! (sarcasm there, for those itchy on the report button)

throughout time we have seen a parade of gods and divine beings, christians seem to think that every story just like thiers was wrong and these gods were all fake ways for people to deal with thier problems, but when you come to your own religion you seem to have forgotten this, well I didn't, i see no reason to believe one god over another and it seems most plausible that they are all fake. Rather than imagine to myself that the uneducated midwestern types somehow got it right.

and in the words of the great Han Solo "i've been from one side of the galaxy to the next and i never seen nothing to make me believe there's some all powerful force controlling everything."

Answer 8

For myself, there are many reasons. I'll keep to the simple ones. If there was a GOD as per the christian view. He would be impotent. He could not change what he set in motion, and thus could not create miracles, could not have sent a son to die for sin, and could not speak from a bush. Because such a god could not do anything, interact with anything, it is as good to say god is just like my imaginary friend. Just a thought and nothing more.

Other gods, if they exsisted would make themselves known with vast displayes of power.

Answer 9

Which God? Zeus, Osiris, Mithra, Anubis, Ra, Allah...which God?

Apart from that, lack of evidence. No evidence for "intelligent design" and ever growing examples of non-intelligent design. Why do you need a God? You are afraid of death, and the thought of an afterlife comforts you.

Answer 10

There is no evidence that there is a god. No evidence essentially means that someone made it up. It is not reasonable to believe in things without any evidence. You would be stuck with every ridiculous thing that human imagination could come up with.

Not believing in god is the same as not believing in Zeus, Odin, Santa, Anubis, the Tooth Faerie, and all the thousands of others since the evidence is exactly the same. I would be no less surprised if someone found evidence of Bacchus than I would be if they found evidence of your god.

Answer 11

I'll make a deal with you: If you make yourself believe that purple elephants stampede through your living room every 15 minutes, I'll believe in God. But you have to really, truly believe it, not just give it lip service.

If you can't do it, then you can understand why I can't believe in any god.