Atheists! Why are you atheist?

Question

and please be logical here... like just don't say religion is dumb. Being one thing because the other is what you consider wrong is not a valid reason for being the first thing

first respondant, i am not a theif because i believe in respect for others rather than the idea that stealing is wrong. Which one holds more support for a good reason to not be a thief? Its not smart to be one thing just because you don't like the other options

What the hell people? I never said I am an atheist, or christian or anything. I am just trying to see if anyone is atheist because of the fact that they believe it is right, rather than they, themselves believe religion is wrong

Answer 1

first of all. i LOVE religion, its a beautiful thing. i am so happy for those people in life who have something to look foward to after death, ect, ect. i just dont believe in it. and the more people press their religion on me, the more i rebel. its always been like this, i live in a southern country. i will always remain atheist and i wont budge.

why?
1. i have speculated the bible and 'god' and life after death, ect. for a long time. none of it makes enough sense to me at all. i think its all a bunch of stories that people have passed down for years.
2. alot of my friends are very religious they always try to argue with me, but their arguments are just plain ridiculous, they are crap. this makes me consider it even more
3. my family has always been this way.
4. to rebel against my weakening rights as a u.s. citizen. im not happy that the u.s. pledge and my state pledge have god in them. not everyone believes in god. and in public school, even then i have to stand up and say it..
5. christianity is always pushed in my face. kids are brainwashed. people are gullible.
6. there just is no god.

Answer 2

They may be racist because there has been no proof of there every being a God. There have been hundreds and hundreds of religions over the course of human history and even one claimed they were right with no real evidence. The best of their evidence could have been used to prove that the universe is run by Space Rats.

The majority of wars have been religion based and have caused millions of deaths. Maybe they dont want to be apart of something so cruel and meaning less. Maybe the rather focus on here and now and not what happens when they die. Maybe they like taking responsibility for the things they do without saying a higher power caused them to do it. Maybe they realized that religion is just a way (and a good one) to control huge amounts of people by convincing them that they will spend the rest of forever in happiness; meanwhile if they dont, they will be forever damned. They most likely dont need a higher power telling them how to live peaceful lives.

They mainly attack the bible because of the countless "revisions" it has gone by people who have never seen Jesus . They dislike the "BIG THREE" (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) that basically believe in one thing except the story of one guy. Or they could hate the fact that when Constantine made the Roman Empire's main religion Christianity, it ultimately lead to the dark ages (the period where everyone was waiting Jesus to return to Earth and people stop advancing culturally).

Or the simple fact that religion is a word of mouth story.

Answer 3

Actually most are only agnostics... not atheists. Atheists are as dogmatic and closed-minded as religious fanatics. Justas the religious "know" there's a deity, the atheist "knows" there isn't. There is no logic, independent, objective though exhibited by either camp.

The rationale of the agnostics is logical. They want proof that a deity exists.

Religion has none. And the dogma they spout is so ful of contradictions that it's laughable.

The existence of a deity is a matter of faith. Agnostics don't care about faith. They just want proof. And, in matters of faith, there is... there can be... no proof. If there were proof, it would no longer be a matter of faith, but a scientific fact.

Religion has a problem with science. Religious "truths" have historically consistently fallen before scientific research. Earth is not flat nor is it the center of the universe... though scientists were threatened with excommunication... even death for holding those ideas. Man isn't the only thing on the planet that is intelligent. So religion says, "Man's the only critter with a soul." Now, science can't find a soul in any other critter. So religions says, "See? Told you." But science can't find a soul in man either, to which religion says, "Of course man has a soul. put it there." As I said, it's purely a matter of faith.

Answer 4

You are operating from the premise that theism is the default position. The natural question is, what makes a person decide to believe in an invisible, supernatural deity?

I am agnostic only because of the possibility that there may be some sort of quality to the universe that might eventually be classified as "divine", but I don't believe in anything resembling the anthropomorphic, self-aware, humanity-judging "God" most religions promote. This is because I can detect no significant difference between the works of "God" and random chance. The simpler explanation is that there isn't anyone in charge out there.

Answer 5

I am an atheist because I truly don't believe in a supernatural creator. I believe in scientific explanations. HOWEVER, I will say this...I believe in the way Jesus lived his life and the things he said in the Sermon on the Mount. The problem is, so many modern-day "Christians" don't follow his teachings. "Love thy neighbor", "Blessed are the meek", "Turn the other cheek". Jesus was very Buddha-like and did NOT condone the death penalty, torture, war, etc. How can people call themselves Christian and support these things? The hypocracy of the church is what turns me off. If someone calls themselves Christian and lives their lives per Jesus's teachings, SWEET. Otherwise, don't pass judgement on me.

Answer 6

Good question!
I'm a nonbeliever, but people call me " atheist ".
I am simply an advocate of empirical evidence and reason.
I base everything upon claims.
Evidence for a claim must be just as strong as the claim made. Extraordinary claims without extraordinary evidence has no merit with me.
An all powerful, invisible man in the sky who loves me, but will also throw me in a lake of fire if I doubt his existence, is an extraordinary claim....where is the extraordinary evidence? In an ancient book written by people that didn't know the world or the universe very well? The biblical evidence is hearsay and it's not strong enough for me to accept it as fact. It's evidence is like a pill....it must be swallowed whole without chewing.
My mind loves to chew before it swallows.

Answer 7

I was seven when I first heard of the concept of the invisible guy in the sky - I was amazed that adults would believe in imaginary friends.

During the intervening 54 years I searched for this invisible critter - never a hint of evidence that he ever existed anywhere.

Now-a-days, with the advent of information at our finger-tips, I'm even more amazed there are still people who believe in these Bronze Age myths, superstitions and invisible sky monsters.

I have been in war and in peace (I like peace better) and seen damaged children in both places - any 'god' worth his salt would do something about that BUT 'he' never has because 'he' doesn't exist and people who insist ‘he’ does whilst ignoring evidence to the contrary make me ill.
.

Answer 8

not another one calling me an atheist! i'm an independent! the whole hierarchical concept of accepted religion is wrong. where is the personal accountability that they claim you bear for following their orders. how can they claim that you are held to account when you are offered no choices but follow their rules or be rejected. it's a club and as a member you support the club or get kicked out and shunned (at best). and as we are seeing with the anglicans this attitude can can turn and bite them (ref: homosexual marriage/ordination).
to throw a spanner in the works, everyone follows a religion, including those that call themselves atheists. your religion is not defined by any written word, it is solely defined by the way you live and treat others.
if i have to stand alone and suffer for making my own decisions so be it.
if you would prefer to hang for someone else's crimes that's up to you.

Answer 9

Religion was invented by man to unite people, build cities, armies, control the population of sheep.

Also, through out human history, from the time we looked down in the pool of water and saw that we're alive, just like the animal we just clubbed to death and ate, realizing we too can die. Once we learned mortality, we needed to come up with something to explain it all else live in constant fear, agony.

I don't need the crutch, death will be black and void, just like before birth and I'm looking forward to the rest, life is a lot of work.

Answer 10

Probably the simplest explanation is that the definition of God is inherently contradictory, so I can't logically believe in it. That is to say, God is generally defined as an all-perfect being. Specifically, he sees all, knows all, is all-powerful, and is perfectly good as well as having created the universe and everything in it.

I find it impossible to accept all those qualities in a single being, as some preclude others.

How can a perfectly good God permit such things as genocide, infantile leukemia, and torture? According to the definition, he created those things. To suggest that genocide and torture are man's exercise of free will is not acceptable; God (according to the definition) created man, knowing in advance that he would do those things.

There are many other logical inconsistencies, but, in my view, that one is sufficient to adopt a position that I don't believe in god.