Another question for atheists....?

Question

This time I would like to know some of your personal reasons for being an atheist.

That was more the line I was looking to go on my last question, but didn't do very well.

Answer 1

If you want personal reasons, I gave up on Christianity because it made me feel deep sadness and anxiety growing up. I used to believe that there was a wrathful God out in the cosmos waiting for people to die just so he could have fresh souls to throw in Hell and torture for an eternity. Unlike others who believe in Hell, I was never able to shrug off the idea and say "Oh well, they deserve it for misusing their time on earth. They have free will, so now they must burn and suffer". I decided I was better off an atheist than worshiping a cruel deity that burns people. I also read The Diary of Anne Frank and felt a deep sadness for her suffering, and I also related well to how she felt and thought. My church had taught Jesus is the only way to heaven. I couldn't believe a loving God would torture a wonderful girl like Anne Frank for being the "wrong religion". If he would, he does not deserve praise.

Answer 2

1) no proven god
2) men were backward 2000 years ago-stands to reason they couldn't work certain things out so it 'had to be god' (incidentally, some people today still have the same attitude..)
3)there have been dozens of gods and religion-they cannot al be correct
4)men's biggest fear is dying-religion was created to fill this void, seems logical
5)a perfect being WOULD NOT create imperfect creations
6)a perfect being would not play a 'free will' experiment, he is perect, why?
7)to believe in a god you have to surrender common sense, reason and logic-christians call it 'reading the bible wirh an open mind' Anyone who reads the bible cover to cover surely would not believe in it.
8)a perfect being wouldn't care whether we loved him or not, love is a human emotion in any case, and someone perfect wouldn't need or require love
9)the bible was written, therefore done by men, not god, if it was there wouldn't be contradcitions-there is.
10)Most people are religous because of parental or geographical reasons-how many Christian Pakistanis do you know-for example.
11)The list of things that 'god' did was probably huge 2000 years ago, it dwindles as science fills in the gaps
12)I don't believe snakes can talk, people can walk on water or people can part the Red Sea
13)Noah's ark is an impossibility, different animals from all over the gliobe needing different climates and diets-couldn't have happened. 2000 years ago people would have believed that tale.It is 2007...
14)Prayer doesn't work-it has been proven
15)people always twist and cherry pick from their holy book to carry on with their delusion, this is delusional or dishonest
16)People attribute good deeds to god rather then men and attribute bad things to man or the devil. This is delusional, things good and bad happen anyway.
17)the invention of heaven and hell
18)why did god all of sudden reveal himself 2000 years ago, what about before that?
19)if god has always been there (classic cop out trump excuse) so has the universe
20)if everything needs a creator, so does god by the same logic
21)There are many more but I have had enough.

Answer 3

I came into my inability to believe that deities real while studying some descriptions of near-death experiences. It was interesting, that such descriptions from people who were not brought up in Western Culture were completely different than the descriptions from people who were.... on the surface. The project was an exercise in rhetoric and in studying the words people used and finding meaning in their experiences, it seemed that most people experienced very, very similar things, only in the context of their dominant religion or culture.

I came to the conclusion that deities and all the other supernatural entities are not actually real, but are metaphors for something our human minds can't comprehend - an attempt to define the undefinable.

I'm a Taoist... I still have spiritual beliefs, I just don't believe in actual real deities.

Answer 4

Although not an atheist I wanted to answer this question, based on what I believe is the primary reason that people don't believe in God. To my understanding the main reason is that they don't believe in anything that is not supported in absolute fact. Until someone can prove there is a God other than a belief of the masses they won't believe there is a God. They say that man has written all and everything about God and therefore it is man's own weakness that he has to depend on and believe in God. Atheist believe in the real tangible world and nothing else. They believe in death and nothing else later or after death. The Jews tend to believe this as well, although they do believe in God. Atheist tend to be strong willed and independent people, that will either shy away from the mainstream or jump right into the middle of it. In my experiences, I have found that atheist tend to be more inclined to commit crimes and to be cold hearted, as they fear no reprisals from God. Hope this helped.

Answer 5

H.A - I take personal offence to your comment: "In my experiences, I have found that atheist tend to be more inclined to commit crimes and to be cold hearted, as they fear no reprisals from God. Hope this helped".

I am an atheist by choice. I was brought up in a family of very devout catholics, pulled by my hair to go to church every day (not just Sundays) & forced to learn the bible so that I could have my first holy communion & be confirmed.

Now I'm in my 40's & no, I don't live a totally pure life - anyone who says they do would be outright liers in my opinion. However, I do strive to be a good person & feel that I am doing a better job of that than some of my church going relatives, who will sin one day, then go to confession the next & believe that it was ok to sin coz god's forgiven them now!

Because I don't believe in god, I can't blame my wrong doings on him / her / it. My wrong doings are all my own fault & I strive to make good out of them by learning from my mistakes & doing things better the next time.

So don't brush all atheists with a bad or dirty brush coz there are just as many bad / ignorant religious people as there are atheists!!!

Answer 6

All religions strike me as mythology. Actually believing in them just seems ridiculous to me. Evolution seems much more plausible than any other religious theory as to the origin of humans, their reason on earth, and what happens in the future.
Wow, I can't believe that H.A. (post down below) believes that atheists are more inclined to commit crimes and be cold-hearted. Is this just prejudice and a sweeping generalization, or have most criminals and cold-hearted people H.A. has been in contact with been atheist?

Answer 7

I have never believed in god. As a child of 8, I began asking questions. They were either silenced or were not answered to my satisfaction.

I began calling myself an atheist at 14. I am now 34.

And not in the least convertible :)

Answer 8

I don't believe that I have any *personal* reasons for being an atheist....I tried for the longest to believe but I just couldn't get past the whole *this is all fake* thing...I grew up and got an education...that kind of solidified my disbelief.....

Answer 9

i don't consider myself an atheist, but just religious conscious.

i don't believe in organized religion because in my personal experiences with churches is that they use the name of "God" for personal gain. they use the bible to put as a form of disiplined guilt (if that make any sense)

plus, some things in the bible are very questionable. no not some things everything is questionable.

this is my "personal" reason. i believe God exist, but not in the sense of organized religion.

Answer 10

because i haven't been christened, and from a young age my parents have told me that they don't believe in God.. but they've always said i can believe what I want.
and really, i've thought logically.. there's not anything out there more superior to humans.
Plus, the fact that there's so many evil people out there and suffering, and if there was a God he'd stop it surely. I hate this lame excuse that he's testing you and it's God's will blah blah.
Some people say prove he's not there, there's more proof in my opinion saying he's not there than he's there. It's all in the mind.