For our atheists here, see I can even spell it.?

Question

Do you believe that it was religion that first made you question the existence of a supreme deity? If you had been taught that there was a loving creator who did not have any strings attached, like obedience, judgment, and punishment, would you have ever questioned His existence?

Or do you think that no matter what you were told as a child you would have always questioned the possibility of a supreme being because it is illogical?

LMAO! sarcasm? Obviously you don't know me at all.

Answer 1

That is a damned good question! And for the first time on Yahoo! Answers, it took thinking about it really seriously before I found that I had an answer.

While certainly religion did more to make me reject the notion of the existance of God than it ever could have in making me accept it, even if the only religion in today's world taught that God is a loving creator, it can't claim that He's all powerful. A quick trip to a children's cancer ward will back that one up; what the hell could ANY child possibly have done to deserve leukemia at age 4? And if you were a God of love, could you allow a child to die in such a way? Not unless it's beyond even your control. It's horrific.

I think yes, eventualy, I'd wind up walking the same path. I'm sure it would have taken me longer; it was, after all, the many contradictions of the Christian faith that made me begin to question the values I was raised under. But with some of the things I've seen--and continue to see--yes, I'd still have become atheist.

Answer 2

Fact everyone I grew up with was educated about religion same as me and one of the main things we were taught was to question everything you did not understand or didn't believe. Religion had nothing to do with it I think I still would have questioned it because of the fact when I was first being taught I didn't understand I would ask questions and every time I did they would give me new scriptures to read. I didn't stop believing out of the blue it did take time. I don't think I ever really believe but at one time I didn't have it ruled out as a possiblitiy like I do know. thought I'd include I was taught and raised in homes the same way as 6 other kids 3 of them believe the same as I do, 1 died at the age of 14 still, and the other two one is a born again Christian and the other is still waiting to find the truth. So I really don't think how your raised and what your told is the issue.

Answer 3

Your vision of God is not unlike the one my parents had, actually. Although my parents' denomination is known for being a bit fundamentalist, my parents were never that way and specifically said they disagreed with the idea that God "judges" anyone.

Also, our church was more liberal than most in the denomination and it shared these views. The idea they had was that, if Heaven existed, the only people who wouldn't go would be the ones who didn't *want* to go -- ones like Hitler who would rather simply not exist than share paradise with Jews, for example. Even for Hitler, there was no concept of Hell -- the idea was simply that (they were speculating) he would "turn down" the opportunity for salvation, if such an opportunity existed. But there was never this idea that only Christians or only theists would be worthy of whatever came next.

So it wasn't until I was older (in my early teens?) that I learned about people who even believed in hell, judgment, punishment, or anything like that.

I never really questioned the existence of a supreme deity until I already stopped believing. It just sort of happened. Now if I intellectualize the idea, I just don't see why any supreme being would exist... Why would there be one?

Answer 4

Gorgeous; I'm having a hard time getting my mind around the idea of love without strings attached. Loving parents, loving women, loving children, all, at times, wanted me to choose obedience. I have at some point been punished by them all (to be sure, I usually deserved it). No one has ever loved me who did not require something from me. Judgment and punishment never caused me to doubt the existence of my parents, nor does it cause me to doubt the existence of God (though I did have some serious questions about my ex-wife). Nor was it religion, with all it's failures, that caused my doubt. Instead, it was my exposure to the objections raised by atheists during my rebellious youth which caused me to question everything. When I was young, my arguments proceeded from my point of view not from some inclination toward logic and my point of view was shaped by the reality of my youthful appetites not by anything as subjective as reality outside myself. But when I became a man I put away childish things and was left with a realization. God is and the universe is in his hand, or God is not and we live in a universe that is meaningless and uncaring. Either alternative is supremely illogical as man understands logic.

Answer 5

I questioned the existence of a God because I was raised Catholic, and the ritualism of organized religion serves no purpose but to control people.

But modern Atheism has become almost the same thing. Not only that, but the belief in no God is just as, if not more, irrational then the belief in the religious type of God. That is why I am now a deist.

You can disagree with me if you want. I believe in choice. But I also believe that God can and will be discovered through the natural world. There is nothing that is"supernatural".

Answer 6

I honestly don't know, gorgeous. I can't actually remember a time when I did believe.

According to some studies, there's about ten percent of the population that is simply unable to believe in any god, and that percentage seems to have been constant throughout written history. Remember that psalm that says "the fool hath said in his heart, there is no god"? -- The psalmist knew that there were unbelievers around, even at a time when it was literally dangerous to be one.

Having never bought into the god story, I can't honestly say that it was religion which made me an atheist; rather, it seems to have been my own nature.

You should have seen my parents' faces when they asked why I had stopped going to communion and I replied simply, "Because I don't believe in it anymore." They were both stricken and resigned -- because they knew me and they knew they had already lost.

Mind you, I was only sixteen and I didn't fully understand this at the time. For several weeks, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop; I expected the parish priest to show up to remonstrate with me. I had forgotten that my father despised the priest and the feeling was mutual: during his twenty-plus years in the parish, this priest visited our house exactly twice.

Sigh. Ah, memories. I seem to be nostalgic lately. :)

Answer 7

For me that's an easy choice. I was raised in an almost religion-free environment. Atheist parents, an atheistic neighborhood. My hometown didn't even have churches.

Most believers in Holland are nothing more than "Somethingists", they believe in something more, but have no idea what that is. In my childhood I never heard about hell, devils or whatever other nonsense is invented.

I'm a logical thinker, for some that's a curse, I find it a blessing. I haven't found evidence for "Something". Not for Yahweh, not for any other kind of god or gods.

I know you're a Deist, I know you believe in a god that doesn't have all that silliness supcribed to it as the Bible does. And honestly, that does make a lot more sense. Deism makes sense.

However, no matter how much I would try, it's still illogical to me. I have never felt the need to explain anything with a Higher Power in it. To me life makes perfect sense without gods.

Answer 8

For me, yes, religion was the catalyst to my questioning. Without the religions, then perhaps I would have simply accepted without questioning when I was younger. But, I have a curious mind that likes to know how things work. I like to KNOW things and have knowledge of the arguments for and against things. Even if there were no strings attached, as if not only does the loving creator not need our worship or our money, but also chooses not to interfere in human affairs, simply allowing humans to be humans without adding anything to the experience that would test us or such (devils) I would still question the existence of such a being, simply because there's no evidence for it's existence.

That's my problem with the concept of god, there isn't any verifiable evidence to support it. I'd want to believe, but I'd also like for there to be magic genies that grant three wishes when you let them out of old wine bottles. There's plenty of stories of such things, but no one actually has proof of any.

Answer 9

"If you had been taught that there was a loving creator who did not have any strings attached, like obedience, judgment, and punishment, would you have ever questioned His existence?"

Actually that is why I questioned the existence of said god. Because how could such a loving creator create such a cruel world?

Answer 10

I am not an atheist, but I wanted to say something here. I think atheism exists because man's religion is so full of contradiction that those on the outside can't see any reason for a God. Religion is confusing and is 100% of the reason that atheism exists. I don't blame atheists for choosing their philosophy, I blame the rediculous religious dogma.