Atheism Please explain.?

Question

I was told by another user that atheism is not a choice. How is that? I choose to follow Christ. That is my choice. Atheist choose to say there is no Christ. That is their choice. So is it a choice or isn’t it. Please I am not trying to be funny I want opinions please. I don’t need people saying atheism or Christianity is stupid. I don’t care to hear that. I want to hear you take on the choices or lack there of as someone has said.

I choose to follow christ should have been I choose to believe in Christ. Sorry

Answer 1

Kayla, I appreciate you asking this question... I'm glad you are actually curious and can at least entertain that idea that it really isn't a choice for some atheists.

Some of us don't believe because there really is no evidence that he exists, saying something like... oh you're alive, there are trees and animals, there are stars and other planets, everything around you proves that he exists. That doesn't prove anything. Science can explain these things, when it can't it admits it and keeps looking for the answers. When someone of a religious nature can't explain something, its a god. Lightning - Zeus, Sun - Apollo, Hatred and War - Mars. Once those things were explained, those gods couldn't be used to explain it anymore. People believed because they didn't know how it really worked.

Without the proof of god making things work that don't truly exist, he is no different to me than any of the other gods just mentioned. Just because I can't explain something, doesn't mean I can chalk it up to "god." From what I've learned in life, I can't believe in something just because some says its "real" I need to see it for myself, I need proof. Therefore, its not a choice for me. I cannot choose to believe in something just because it currently cannot be explained.

Answer 2

First off, atheism can not answer you...that's a subject, not a person.

Being an atheist is kind of the default in regard to beliefs. A person has to be given/sought religion in order to have it. If not, then atheism is the default. Not so much a "choice" thing, more just a label and way of being.

I didn't chose this, I was born and raised it, and for that reason for me it's no more of a choice then the hair color I was born with.

Also...to say that we "choose to say there is no Christ," since when is your religion the default religion of the world? I don't say there is no Christ, I honestly don't care if there ever was or was not...I say I do not believe in any gods.

Answer 3

You only ended up choosing to believe in the JudeoChristian version because you happened to be conditioned by the geographic location you were born in, and by the memes you received from close kins or christian missionaries, perhaps, as you were growing up.

The situation wouldn't have been the same if you were born in India, Saudi Arabia, or in 1st century Scandinavia where, for sure you would've subscribed to other gods or goddesses. My point is the 'Jesus' belief is not the only thing held up against atheism.

Try going back a few years to the time when you were a little kid and recall, if you can, the time when you were an atheist not doing any 'choosing' yet.

Answer 4

In some ways it is a choice, in other ways it isn't. Look at it this way. You believe in Christ, and you choose to follow him. The latter is clearly a choice, but is the former? Was there ever a point where you felt you could go either way on believing in the divinity of Christ, and you consciously chose to believe he was divine?

I was raised religiously, and it took quite a few years for me to become completely non-religious. The one "choice" I made along the way was to seek truth. There were many times when I was being told something about god or heaven or hell, and I just had a sense that it wasn't truth, but instead a man-made story that clearly wasn't all real. I didn't think "I could choose to accept what they are telling me, and really believe it, but I think instead I'll choose to not believe it."

I think I consciously chose to think about what I was being taught and to really understand it, but my conclusions that religions are just runaway myths weren't choices so much as necessary outcomes.

Answer 5

He was right, it's not a choice. It's like that: 2+2=4. You have the choice to say and/or believe that 2+2=207.3 But for 2+2 there's no other alternative than 4. And that's not a choice.

Answer 6

Well, many people argue atheism is the default position, i.e. all new-born babies are atheists, in that they lack a belief in God. They don't choose to lack the belief, they just do.

But, as far as adulthood, or even childhood, when one is exposed to the world and the opinions of its members, there is more of a choice involved.

I suppose there may be an intrinsic quality in someone in that they simply cannot believe in God. I don't think there has been an incredible amount of research done, and if there has, I haven't heard much about it.

So to actually answer your question: I'm not sure if it's a choice or not, but I'm leaning towards yes. I sort of "chose" to be an atheist, but moreso I chose to identify myself that way; there wasn't too much conscious "choice" in my lack of belief.

Answer 7

Atheism is the natural state before one is indoctrinated with religion. Therefore, the abandonment of religion is the choice, and what remains is atheism.

Atheism is a state of being... it literally means without theism. That's all there is to it. It is the people who assign a MORAL JUDGMENT to atheism that put it into the category of choice.

A person without morals (amoral) can be seen as "choosing" his or her nature since the rest of society is moral, but a person locked in an isolation chamber can be moral or amoral and it will make absolutely no difference because there is nothing in the room to be moral towards.

To atheists, there is no god. There is nothing to be THEISTIC towards, therefore it is not a choice. But the act of abandoning religion IS a definite choice.

Answer 8

Science explains the big bang was not from nothing but from a singularity that was all the matter and energy in the universe compressed into a single point that then expanded rapidly! So in answer to your question it was always here! But why are BAD christians always claiming the big bang came from nothing? Are they that ignorant? Did they sleep through school or is it that they know the truth but think they can twist it because everyone is gullible?! Sadly it is BAD Christians like yourself that make Christianity a laughingstock by ignoring the truth and making such silly posts whilst claiming God got nothing and then produced everything from nothing! So your claim is false and it is you that is making the claim not atheists! The Pope, Catholic Church, Church of England and mainstream churches all accept the big bang and evolution! Lord Carey the former Archbishop of Canterbury put it rather well – “Creationism is the fruit of a fundamentalist approach to scripture, ignoring scholarship and critical learning, and confusing different understandings of truth”! Nice that christians and atheists can agree and laugh together even if it is at fundie expense! But behind the laughter is the despair at the fundamentalists striving so hard to destroy christianity by turning it from a religion to an ideology! Surveys suggest that 29% of American christians are so extremist in their beliefs that they fall well outside of the accepted bounds of christianity!

Answer 9

I assume that what this other person meant is that, based on his/her observation and reasoning, s/he had to come to the conclusion that there was no divine being. I understand what you're saying, but I don't think atheists feel that they're making a "choice" quite the same way as someone like you who chose to believe in what you believe in. I'm sure there are religious people who also say that what they believe in isn't a "choice" either, but dictated by what they think of as the "truth."

Does that make any sense?

Answer 10

You do not choose what you believe.

You believe what your knowledge and past experiences indicate is true.

If you did not have some knowledge or experience that you considered to be from a god, you would not believe in a god. That's not a choice, it's a conclusion.

If I had some knowledge or experience I considered to be from a god, I would believe in a god. That too is not a choice, it's a conclusion.

You could not wake up in the morning and say, "Hmmm, I'm going to choose not to believe in God for today." If you don't believe me, go ahead and try it. Likewise, I could not wake up in the morning and say, "Hmmm, I'm going to choose to believe in God for today." I may act as though it were true, but deep down I would know that I don't.