I'm just curious.
2007-10-04 04:59:10 · 23 answers · asked by brixter13 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Atheism simply means lack of belief in any gods.
Nobody has ever provided any evidence that any gods, much less a specific god, exist. People believe in specific gods because of indoctrination from an early age, tradition, hallucinations, fear of torture (for gods sadistic enough to threaten it) and other similarly illogical reasons. But no gods exist in reality; these are all stories, created for people who were scared of the world long before we understood it. Now we have no more reason for these superstitions.
What's the harm in religion:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/harm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_religion
How harmful the bible is in particular:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
http://www.evilbible.com/
The origin of the Jesus stories:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen048.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/jesus.html
How illogical religion is in general:
http://godisimaginary.com/
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
The alternative:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/
http://www.infidels.org/
http://www.positiveatheism.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism
2007-10-04 05:02:30 · answer #1 · answered by Dreamstuff Entity 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I follow history chronologically, instead of theologically. If a group of people had one set of unprovable beliefs before they attained another set of unprovable beliefs, then as far as I can see the new belief is no more true than the old. Looking at theistic belief chronologically, one comes to realize that yesterday's religion is today's mythology, and today's religion will be tomorrow's mythology. If you follow a culture through history, you can easily see how their religious beliefs have developed and changed over time. Take the time to study European religious beliefs, you'll see some familiar themes with different names as you go further and further back.
2007-10-04 12:24:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am not an atheist. But I often support Atheists here on Yahoo Answers because I believe that within "freedom of religion" is "freedom from religion".
I also believe that the founding fathers' separation of church and state was a stroke of genius, and atheists aren't about to let that change.
2007-10-04 12:07:50 · answer #3 · answered by Todd T 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Not believing in a high power or the supernatural makes one an atheist. Atheists believe in emperical fact rather than subjective thought about where we came from.
2007-10-04 12:02:37 · answer #4 · answered by Megegie 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Not believing in any god(s).
It is irrational to think that a god would be present and not leave some sort of evidence to indicate its existence. It is even more irrational to believe that an "infallible" holy book would also have no evidence and would have strong evidence that it did not accurately portray events, and yet be truthful or a good source of information.
2007-10-04 12:06:12 · answer #5 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I used to be a devout Christian Bix.
I evolved into an atheist, because I kept finding problems with the bible, and the behavior of religious people. That caused me to explore why religious people act the way they do, and why I believed in what I did, which ended in Atheism.
There are far too many problems with religious doctrines and premises for them to be true.
2007-10-04 12:03:43 · answer #6 · answered by ɹɐǝɟsuɐs Blessed Cheese Maker 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I am an athiest because I do not believe in God. In the Christian religion alone, I have been told thousands of different forms about how the world began, the Flood, and the birth and death of Christ.
I abandoned religion because no one wanted to make sense. I've been able to get this far in my life without it, and I live in this world without sin.
2007-10-04 12:20:02 · answer #7 · answered by Lost 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
One of the main reasons that I am atheist is because I studied the bible.
Also,the Earth is billions of years old and in all that time not one tiny solitary shred of evidence has come to light to show the existence of a god.
2007-10-04 12:03:38 · answer #8 · answered by darwinsfriend AM 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is no such thing as atheist views, atheist beliefs, atheist dogma... nothing like that. Atheists simply do not believe in invisible, magical, all-powerful sky-fairies.
A 'theist' BELIEVES that dieties EXIST... in particular, the kind of diety that creates things and then, from time-to-time, fiddles with his 'creation'. In Latin, the letter 'a' negates what it is stuck in front of... so 'atheist' specifically means 'NOT a theist'... i.e., does NOT 'believe' that god(s) exist. Now here is where it gets really tricky... because it requires that you have the intellectual chops to be able to discern that there is a HUGE difference between NOT believing that gods exist... and BELIEVING that god's DO NOT exist. The difference is huge both qualitatively and with respect to its implications.
In general, atheists do not 'believe' simply because the reasons or so-called 'evidence' purported to support the idea that invisible, magical sky-fairies (gods) 'exist' are not compelling, and thus are insufficient to initiate or sustain a mental state of 'belief'. The notion that there is some kind of 'choice' involved in this seems silly to me. One does not 'choose' NOT to believe.
Let me try to explain this in another way. You guys come around here telling fantastic stories about this wonderful, loving, capricious, vengeful, murderous, genocidal, caring, compassionate, mass-murdering, forgiving, jealous... loving... did I already say loving?... supernatural entity who poofed the universe into existence, fabricated humans from a dust bunny and a rib... while WE know that 6,000 years ago... here in the REAL universe... just outside of the 'gates' of the Garden where he was doing all this, the Mesopotamians were making beer. And you have no credible evidence... none... at all... zilch... nada. And your story is suspiciously similar to OTHER stories which are known to be myths. You tell us that a cosmic Jewish zombie, who is his own father, can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced, by a talking snake with legs, to eat from a magical tree... (etc.)... and that there is something horribly wrong with people who ARE NOT so gullible and droolingly stupid as to believe such outrageously ridiculous codswallop.
OK... here's the thing... we DON'T BELIEVE YOUR STORY. That's it... that's what an 'atheist' is. Somebody who DOESN'T BELIEVE your story. Simple, huh?
The reasons and evidence that you present, for WHY I should believe your story are either 'good', or 'NOT good'. If they're NOT good, then my 'bullsh*t alarm' goes off. One does not CHOOSE to have one's bullsh*t alarm go off... it just goes off.
So... your story makes my bullsh*t alarm go off... and that means that I think your story is BS. I do not have to PROVE it is BS... I don't have to BELIEVE that it's BS... I just have to THINK that it is BS. In other words, I am simply NOT IMPRESSED with your story.
Are you still with me here?... good... so... by YOUR way of 'thinking' (notice the absense of the word 'logic'), if you came around telling us that there is a herd of invisible, magical pink unicorns that prances around in your back yard under the light of a full moon... but you had no proof, or credible evidence... I just have to take this on 'faith'... I just have to 'believe'... and I DECLINED to 'believe'... that would make me 'religious'... a 'believer' in the 'no pink unicorns in your back yard' cult... an 'aunicornist'.
No... I don't think so. I think that it would just be an indication that I might actually be sane. Just like the fact that I don't believe your god story is an indication that I might actually be sane.
Atheism can be considered to be a 'belief', or a 'religion', only in the same sense that one might regard NOT collecting stamps to be a 'hobby'.
.
2007-10-04 12:12:11 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
I have no belief in a god or gods which is all that is required.
I require proof of something or at least some logical reason to believe in it and all the major religions have way to many holes in them to buy into.
2007-10-04 12:07:15 · answer #10 · answered by discombobulated 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋