Atheist: what influenced your choice more: Personal belief or science?

Question

choice to be atheist...

Personal belief = faith?

Answer 1

many things, but mostly curiosity, observation, logic and science.

Answer 2

I really wish religious people would stop pretending that we're simply denying your god. You could have simply asked "why are you Atheist"?. Instead, you chose to ask about "your choice".

We're not denying your god. To deny something, you have to say it exists in the first place.

Its not a "choice" to be an Atheist any more than it is a "choice" to be homosexual. You just either are, or you aren't. You can't force yourself to believe in a god (or a fuzzy pink unicorn) any more than you can force yourself to like the same/opposite sex.

Now, for the sake of the question, I'm going to answer it the way I think it should have been asked.

Both things are why I started drifting away from religion when I was very small. Science started it, and then, when I started looking at the world, I realized that religion is all crap. The more logical and educated I became, the more ridiculous it all seemed.

And the behavior of the followers doesn't help any.

Answer 3

If science could provide genuine, viable evidence that God does not exist then no scientist would belive in God.

What we actually know, thanks to Richard "God Delusion" Dawkins, is that science has nothing very useful to say about whether God exists.

In fact even Dawkins, in a TV interview with Rod Liddell, acknowledged that if he was absolutely accurate he would have to describe himself as an agnostic rather than an atheist because he realised that it was in fact impossible to disprove the existence of God.

Personally, during the period when I was an atheist, my view was primarily based on my perception that many people who called themselves "christians" were pretty poor ambassadors for their faith.

Then I realised two important facts:

1. Just because someone claims to be a Christian doesn't make it so. There are many, many people who label themselves "christian" who are give no other evidence of being genuine members of that particular religion

2. In any case it doesn't really matter. To reject the Christian faith because I didn't didn't like the way certain human beings behaved was totally ludicrous. It's as daft as refusing to own a car or learn how to drive because SOME people wrap their cars around a tree or each other.

Having said which, I respect the right of other people to see things differently without automatically assuming they must be "mad, bad or dangerous to know."

Answer 4

I would say a lot of both. Just think how intelligent people were 2000 yrs ago. The human race was so full of superstition and there were at least 100 different religions and gods floating around at the time. How do we know if one or more than one is true?
We don't, plain and simple. Anyone who says they do is deluded.
Mankinds intelligence is doubling all the time now. A few times during our very own lifetime. Doesn't it make sense that as our intelligence increases, our ancient believes decrease. We have already disproved a lot of ancient things the bible claims as untruths and stories stolen from centuries prior to when the bible was written.
There is a saying which is about as truthful as it is proven.
As intelligence increases, religion decreases.
As religion increases, intelligence decreases.

Answer 5

My choice to be labelled agnostic is a personal belief. I was influenced by my own thoughts and readings of both scientific theories AND religious teachings. I did my research before labelling myself. The main reason was deciding that I believe what I want to believe, nothing more, nothing less. I refuse to pledge faith to all teachings of an religious group OR to atheism.

faith
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing
2. belief that is not based on proof
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.
5. a system of religious belief
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.
8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

I agree that faith is the same as personal belief. My faith is what I believe in. Therefore, my belief that God is not 'real', physically or spiritually, is my faith, as defined by the second definition given.

Answer 6

I'll always confess the atheist creed just for the sake of argument, but when we get down to brass tacks, I have to qualify my "atheism." I summarily reject the blown-up Freudian father-figure that masquerades as "God" in the minds of ignorant peasants. As for the abstract concept of a "Supreme Being" in the Deist sense, who can say? It's simply not a valid problem for debate either way.

I arrived at this stance by recognizing at an early age that what generally passes for "religion" is merely organized emotionalism. It began as a means of dealing with the unknown, particularly The Great Unknown, death; and developed into a means of systematically defrauding the people.

Answer 7

It is not a choice I made. The only choice I made was to accept that I did not believe. The Bible itself is what made me change my position originally. Logic showed me that the god of the Old Testament was not the same person as Jesus. Try reading Deuteronomy, Joshua (my favorite), Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel and the 2 Kings and you will understand what I mean.

Answer 8

i agree with icarus, i never remember believing in any Gods, just like i never believed in the easter bunny. Then you study history, science, philosophy and realize that the things religion used to claim to explain have been answered better. Not everything, obviously, but enough to reject any book that claims 4500 years ago the world was empty and covered with water except some guy and family and animals in a boat.

Answer 9

personal belief and probability.

Science has nothing to do with faith. If we would go after facts, we all are agnostics, every one of us. because there is no proof. But when you go after believing, I consider myself an atheist.

Answer 10

Personal belief was the only factor in my decision to be an atheist. Science led me to believe in evolution...

Answer 11

Personal belief based on the many logically arguments I seen against God's existence.