A question for athiests...?

Question

I honestly am curious as to why you do not believe in God. Is there any particular reason that you deny the existence of God? Do you really think that is world could be the way it is without a Creator? How could it have just happened? If you don't believe in God, then what do you believe in?

Answer 1

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

Not believing in god is the same as not believing in Zeus, Aguta, Ishtar, Odin, Xenu, Hera, Anubis, Juno, 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 2

First, ask yourself why you believe in the particular god you believe in, and not in any of the others that various cultures have believed in. What makes you sure your belief is right, and the other cultures are wrong? It occurred to me at a young age that there was no compelling reason to believe that the religion I was being raised with was true and that other religions were false. The more I pondered this, the more I suspected that all religions were wishful thinking in some way. I became very convinced of this when I studied the Old Testament enough to see that the only way to reconcile the book with reality was to view the book as a collection of legends and myths.

Now, suppose with me for the sake of argument that all religions are wrong. That still leaves open the possibility that the universe was created (i.e. by some supernatural creator that nobody has ever been in contact with). I think this is unlikely too, for the simple reason that postulating that a creator is required to explain the existence of the universe just leaves us with a bigger problem: who created the creator? I think people are making a logical mistake when they assume that creation requires an intelligent creator. I think it is quite possible that the only intelligence in the universe is evolved intelligence.

Answer 3

There is no ONE particular reason I don't believe in God. I just don't believe in any supernatural elements. People believed fervently in Zeus for thousands of years, but now he's readily dismissed as a myth. I see it like that. We're still sort of stuck in this primitive mindset that there are gods and otherworldly beings out there. I have no reason whatsoever to believe that any of it is anything more than a myth. I do believe the world could be the way it is without a creator. I'm not going to say I know with certainty how it all began, but just because I don't understand something, it doesn't mean that I'm going to attach a supernatural significance to it. I trust that someday we'll find out the answers.

Answer 4

At the end of your question you ask "If you don't believe in God, then what do you believe in?"

In what sense are you assuming that 'believing in' something is inevitable or necessary? Do you mean, what theory do we advance to explain how, as you put it, the 'world could be the way it is' in the absence of a deity?

If you do a little reading, you'll find that their are good, firm scientific explanations for how all that we see on earth and in the universe came to be. These are not 2,000 year-old writing by desert priests, they are solid, evidence-based models and calculations employing all that we have learned.

Sometimes these answers are uncomfortable, but at least they're the truth.

CD

Answer 5

i never was a christian in the 1st place,i'm a buddhist (it's an atheistic religion) and when i was a child i didn't believe in God just as much as i didn't believe in ghosts because i was not brought up to believe.people don't automatically acquire faith.just imagine if u had been stolen as a baby and ended up in an atheistic household,as a child u would also believe what your environment taught u.later on u may change your mind.

i have always loved learning new things and i have read a lot on religions other than my own.when i was 13 i sat down and read the entire bible and a lot of books on christianity.from what i have read this much i gathered: i admire most of the teachings but i simply cannot accept the existence of any God because it just defies logic.

tell me,do u ardently believe all those stories in greek mythology? if not why is it so hard for u to believe that similarly,there are people who don't believe in YOUR God?

Answer 6

To be honest, it doesn't even feel like I'm denying anything really. As a child, I went to church (accompanying my dad and an elderly neighbor) and enjoyed it as a social thing. It simply never occurred to me that people believed the stories the minister told from the pulpit.
When it finally dawned on me what religion meant to people, I was incredulous. People actually believe there is a big man in the sky watching them?! They believe in eternal life, virgin births and raising from the dead?! To this day, I don't get why people find such notions necessary to their comfort or leading a decent life.
I think the world as we know it came to be today through evolution... natural selection. These are not shot-in-the-dark random occurrences. These changes occurred very gradually over time slowly adapting organisms to their environments. It didn't "just happen."
I believe in life, I believe in the difference people can make in the world (for the good and bad), arts and love. Maybe these things don't last forever but that is what makes them precious to me.

Answer 7

When I was a kid, I was very religious. I went to church every sunday, and prayed my little heart out that my parents would get a clue and take care of their family better. After nearly 16 solid years, I started to pay attention and think critically about what was going on around me. I asked questions no one in the church made any attempt to answer, except beyond saying "god works in mysterious ways" or some such other nonsense.

A non-religious education OUTSIDE what was written in the bible provided far more explanations of the world around me than anything I'd ever found in church, and it made a hell of a lot more sense.

My atheism didn't come over my like a sudden epiphany -- it was a gradual awakening that ended with the final realization that there IS NO GOD.

I've never gotten even the tiniest indication that any prayer I ever said when I did believe was heard, let alone answered. I developed my own strength to live life and solve the problems and challenges on my own, without expecting any outside intervention from any supreme being.

When I die, I'll be buried and provide nourishment for the flowers and bugs and that will be it.

Answer 8

Two words: No evidence.

As for how the world came to be the way it is, go get yourself an education and find out. Just because you don't understand it, that doesn't automatically mean that some goddidit.

I don't "believe in" anything. I accept certain things as true or likely to be true on the basis of the evidence, and I reject any assertion not supported by evidence. I have hope and a measure of (cautious) optimism, yes, but that's not the same as belief.

Answer 9

A. I am also curious why you do not believe in the Wiki Wiki Man. Is there a particular reason that you deny the existence of Wiki Wiki Man?

B. Do you really think that is would could be the way it is without a Wiki Wiki Man? How could it have just happened?

C. If you believe in one fairy tale, then why do you not believe in another fairy tale?

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Just ask god to show his face ....... you will never get it.

Answer 10

I'm agnostic.

I say there is no proof of any deity nor is there any proof against any deity so I choose to live my life without them.

Yes I think this world could be the way it is without a creator. Complexity does not necessarily require someone to pattern it.

I don't have the answer to that as no one knows how it happened. There are theories science is continually working on and I read and evaluate those as they come along.

I believe in humanity, in the person next to me, the community I live in.