Question for atheists...?

Question

I'm reading this book called Blue Like Jazz. In it, the author asserts that a lot of people choose not to believe in God/Jesus because of all the things that have been done in the name of God. For example, the crusades, televangelists, hypocrites, whatever. Do these reasons explain why you don't believe? Or is it something else? Why is the idea of believing in something bigger than us seem so unbelievable?

This is interesting. I haven't confirmed my beliefs in any way, I'm just trying to get some ideas. What about other things there are no evidence for but people still believe in them?

Answer 1

There have been thousands of religions. All proven false. The ones today are no different, they have already been proven false in many areas.

I use logic, religion isn't logical. It's as simple as that.

Although I'm not an athiest they're just as ignorant as religious people in my opinion. I'm agnostic.

I use to be Christian, I'm no longer because of logic and also because I HATE the Christian church. Ignorant, hypocrits who are just after power and money. They go against their own god in other words.

Answer 2

There has been much done in the name of God that has been destructive and negative. I was athiest for a long time because I could not see any evidence of what I was taught God was in my life. I feel differently now but only because I was taught about God and can see a different definition of what "God" is. And no I am not Christian though I feel that Jesus had some great ideas about how to live with others and how to foster love and compassion in everyone. Too bad that those ideas have been lost in churches today. I do not speak for anyone else just my own beliefs and experiences and I think that the important thing no matter what you believe is that positivity and love are the most important things regardless of what your personal beliefs are.

Answer 3

I don't believe in gods because there's no evidence for the existence of gods.

It's really sad that so many people need to make up these complicated explanations for something that's really that simple and obvious.

The notion that I find "the idea of believing in something bigger than us...so unbelievable" is incoherent. As an atheist, I believe that we are part of nature, which is obviously bigger than us, both literally and metaphorically.

Atheists are not people who think they're the greatest thing in the universe. In fact, that's a far better description of believers than it is of atheists. We're not the ones setting ourselves apart from and over nature, and we're not the ones claiming that some super-person must have put the whole universe together. We're the ones who accept that there is something MUCH bigger than human beings.

Answer 4

Those reasons outlined are why I think religion is bad.

The reason I do not believe in a god is because I see no point or need for a deity to exist. People say that we have to have a creater for everything and I always have to ask them. Why is ok for God not to have a creator but it is not ok for the Universe?

The whole concept of god though also confuses me there are too many gods through out history and we can even see how religion has evolved over time to be what it is today. To me all the evidence points that there is no god.

Answer 5

The crusades, televageslists, hyprocrites, etc. are not my sole reason for not believing God, they simply confirm my belief to an extent. It isn't that they confirm that there is no God so much as they confirm the dangers that such beliefs can cause. I have many, much more valid, reasons for not believing in the god of the Bible. I do believe in some form of higher power however or force I am completely confirmed in my belief that that higher power is not God.

Answer 6

I do believe in something bigger than us: human compassion and kindness. That is just as unscrutable as many people believe god to be. But I say give your fellow men and women credit for the kindnesses they do. I am leery of organized religion because of the crusades etc. But I simply do not believe in god. I find no reason for a higher power to exist, I also find no proof of a higher power. But I have faith in my fellow man.

Answer 7

No. While it is true that there is much hypocrisy and evil done in the name of religion, that is not the reason why I am an atheist.

I am an atheist, for the same reason you are an atheist when it comes to the very many gods that you wouldn't consider believing in. Gods like Zeus, Thor and Ra.

I just don't believe in one more god than you. For mostly the same reasons. It seems utterly silly and ridiculous and there is not a shred of evidence.

Answer 8

That's why I don't like organized religion. There's a difference between religion and the concept of a deity. And no, those examples, while abhorrent, are not why I don't believe in any gods, they're why I don't like organized religion.

And no, it's not about being unable to "believe in something bigger". There are many many "bigger" things out there including the vast expanses of the cosmos. The god concept, however, is logically impossible, so it's not about how grand or magnificent your god is supposed to be, it's that it simply cannot exist.

Answer 9

I do not believe there is a god/gods.

Why that is? After some years of research and deep thinking, I came to my own personal conclusion that there isn't a god/gods.

There's many random elements to the world. Who you are depends on what sperm gets to the egg. The mixing of traits and genes, the natural selection process. It's all random, and I don't believe there was a god that acted as a marionette puppet master who controlled it all with strings.

Maybe there was a god that created the universe, possibly. That's the one tiny bit of agnosticism I have. I don't believe it to be so though, so I claim an atheistic mindset.

Answer 10

There was no external event for me. No death in the family, no historical event, etc.

It was just the realization that God never existed. A realization that came because of an ever increasing skeptcisim toward the bible.

Why can't some Christians understand that it's not always a choice to be an atheist? I didn't choose anything.

Answer 11

The things you mention aren't directly a reason I don't believe. But those things do further my opinion that Christianity (and all organized religion) is a product of man's imagination, not of a god's. In the name of religion, people act the same or worse than they would have without it. That says to me that there is no personal god guiding man down a path of righteousness.