Atheists....?

Question

I was just wondering...I am not an atheist but I have always wondered what it was that you all believe in... I understand that you don't believe in God and all the other things that go along with certain religions...I am a Catholic and have always believed in God because it was how I was raised... I just want to know why and how someone can come to the conclusion that there is no God???? I am an open minded person and I think that people are entitled to believe whatever they want...but i just want to know what made you become an Atheist ... Something i want to know is what your beliefs are? For example, when you die do you just think thats it... you just die and nothing happens you don't go to heaven???

I have read a lot of the responses and something that a lot of people wrote about was how when they die they imagine things will be exactly how they were before they were born. I never really thought about it like that...I think the whole idea of dieing is just a weird topic because it is scary to think about not being around anymore...I still believe in God and always will... I have studied other religions in a class I took at my college we talked about the Muslim , Jewish, Buddist, Hinduism Religions, but we talked very little about atheism... I just wanted to point out that I have no problem with anyone's beliefs and i think people should and have every right to believe what they want...I can understand the answers about how could i believe in something that cant be proven ...and to be honest i can't give a reasonable answer it is what i was raised believing and still believe in now.

Answer 1

I was raised Christian, too.

When we die that's it, we are dead. I believe in many things, one being Humanity. There is only one single belief that all atheists have in common, the belief that there is no god. Evey single other belief is purely individual.

I know some people like to say "We are all born atheist," but I disagree with that. We are all born oblivious to god and religion, we are both without even the knowledge it would take to have a disbelief in a god. We are not born atheist, we are born oblivious.

Answer 2

*drink*

I was raised catholic. I am very intellegent and bent on learning. I've been that way since I was a child. I learned more and more about christianity. The more I learned the more I saw that it was wrong. I saw that genesis was a myth (I have studied other myths and legends from other cultures and genesis is rather similiar and less creative). I saw that there were so many scientific impossibilities and no evidence. I then saw that the bible consisted of this: lies, sexism, homophobia, contradictions and myths. I came to the conclusion that it was wrong. I was a complete atheist before the end of my freshmen year.

I believe in the Universal Mind. I have actually had a vision in which I saw it but I do not use it as evidence as I was under the influence, it could be interpreted differently and it is an anecdote. I will use this logical explaination for the Universal Mind. Matter is 99.99% empty and only .01% actual matter and it is constantly popping in and out of existence so it's not really matter it's more like thought. Since it is more like thought then who or what is thinking it? Well from our own experience and from experiments we know that our thoughts affect reality so obviously we are thinking it. Since matter is thought and we are thinking it reality is not really real. If reality isn't really real then what is? Well that what creates reality is real. The thing actually experiencing everything is beyond this reality. It is half in half out. Now I would like to point out if nothing is real then there are no opposites and all is one. If all is one then we are all one being. If we are all one being we are connected in both this reality and the real reality thus the name: The Universal Mind. The ego is an illusion and cause of all suffering.

I agree with the Buddhists on how to determine whether or not something is right.

Sometimes it is not that easy for more complicated matters you must choose the lesser evil.

I believe in reincarnation.

sorry if this is too long.

Answer 3

Do you think you would be a catholic if you weren't raised in a catholic family? How can you be so confident that your god is the only true and real god? Have you ever studied other religions. The more one learns about all of the religions, the more one begins to doubt the validity of any of them. I actually do believe that death is the final and forever end. As harsh as that may be for you to understand, it seems a lot better than a possibility of eternal punishment for simply not believing. I can't fake a belief. If I said I believed I would be lying. I don't understand how anyone can come to the conclusion that there is a god.

Answer 4

My beliefes:

When things happen they just happen, no divine intervention is needed.
The Bible is a book, written by men a long time ago. It has some history, lots of historical myth, a few sermons in the form of letters, four slightly different versions of the Jeus storyline which I beleive to be almost entirely a myth, a raving dream story (Revelations), some good advice (proverbs) some poetry (Song of Solomon, Psalms)
When I die, I will expereince some sort of afterlife. It would be silly to call it either heaven or hell, I won't get a harp. pitchfork or fluffy cloud. No one will great me and say "well done good and faithful servant" butthen that won't happen to anyone.
There is not going to be a day when every "good Christian" dissapears to heaven while we sinners and unbelievers stay behind fighting an antichrist
I ought to behave and treat my fellow beings with respect and the way I would like to be treate because there is such a thing as common good and I want to be a part of it

I am unwilling to say "There is no God" just that "There is no God as described by the Christian faith - a trinity, a being who answers prayers, a being who acted as described in the Old Tstament. I see no more reason to believe that than I do to believe in Zeus or any other Pantheon. Maybe even less since I can atleast see the constellations in the sky.

Answer 5

Atheism is just the belief that there is no god or gods. It is possible for atheists to believe in other non-physical phenomena, but I've never met any atheists like that. I personally don't believe that there are any non-physical things or beings. That includes the soul. So, that means I believe that when you die, nothing happens. It is the same as before I was born -- I will just not exist.

How can one come to the conclusion that there is no God? It usually starts by asking questions. Why don't you believe in Zeus, Vishnu, Odin...etc.? Why is it so obvious to you that every religion is wrong, except the one you follow? Don't you think people in all religions think every religion is obviously ridiculous, except for their own? Everyone else feels the same way about your religion as you feel about their religion. It only takes a second to realize that's because all religions are pretty much equally ridiculous. It's possible that hundreds of years from now, people will abandon the God of Abraham like they abandoned Zeus -- why should we think the idea of the Abrahamic God is any more valid than Zeus?

Answer 6

I was raised in a Catholic family and was always being told about this "loving, all powerful God". As I got older, I started looking at the world around me and saw that there was a great deal of pain, misery and suffering in this world that such a being could easily cure. I came to the conclusion that any being capable of creating the universe who then leaves his creations in pain and misery couldn't be loving in any way what-so-ever. The people I asked about it always tried explaining it away with the old, "That's the way it is. They are God's rules." They would talk about free will and such. Well, if God made the rules, why make them so cruel and heartless? Why not make the universe a safe, happy place? That's why I don't believe in the Christian god, too many contradictions. There are many more contradictions but space is limited. I would refuse to believe in such a cruel, heartless being on principle even if I truly didn't believe. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this world is only pain and misery. I believe that life is fantastic, and as we only get one go at it we should do the best we can, experience as much as we can.

No, I don't believe in heaven. I don't know what happens but my guess is that we simply cease to exist. We don't have memory or existence prior to being alive. I don't believe death is any different to before I was born/conceived. A big, blank nothing.

Hope that was what you were after.

Answer 7

New much? It's okay. Everyone has to start somewhere.

I believe that when we die...that's it. No consciousness whatsoever. Scientifically, I guess there's a possibility for electrochemical interactions to spontaneously occur in your brain, allowing momentary, partial consciousness, but otherwise, you're done. There are, however, spiritual atheists. In other words, they believe in the spirit, but not in gods, like Buddhists.

As far as how I decided there was no God? Well, it just doesn't make sense. There's no evidence. There's no worthwhile benefit. And the Christian god really sent me over the edge with the Hell thing. I can't accept anybody or even a God that would claim to love but then turn around and torture any being capable of experiencing pain for eternity.

That's about it. Death's the end and gods don't make enough sense to be worth the effort.

Ultimately, though, atheism depends on faith (strict, "there is no God" atheism). Just like Christianity ultimately depends on faith (though a lot of atheists disagree with that statement).

Of course if you go by the basic definition of atheism (having no god, and not necessarily claiming that there IS no god), that type of atheism requires no faith and is actually partially agnostic.

I am, however, of the former type.

~atheist~

Answer 8

Hi :)

I was raised Catholic as well. When I was eighth years old, I began asking questions. Lots and lots of questions. In Catechism lol. The nuns didn't like my questions :p It silenced me for a while.

I continued to ask the questions of myself. By the time I was 14, I was calling myself an atheist. I realized it wasn't just the god of the Bible that I didn't believe in, it was any and all concepts of a super-natural higher power. There was no trauma, no horrible event that caused it. I just didn't believe. As to the "why"... to be honest, all the stories in the Bible are just too far-fetched. It's what got me questioning things in the first place.

"you just die and nothing happens you " Yep, that's pretty much it :) And no, it doesn't make me sad. It is what it is. I enjoy what time I have here with my family and friends and don't concern myself with what may or may not happen after I die.

Answer 9

The basic definition of an athiest is one that does not believe in God. Athiests can choose morals, philosophy and even if they want to believe in things like Karma.

After this, athiests can believe anything they want.
One particular Athiest could belive, say, that when they died, they turn fluro green underground and are reincarnated.

Most Athiests, however, (and this is what i believe) think what happens when you die.

You rot in the ground, or turn into ash. I don't believe in heaven or an afterlife. I don't believe in a soul. When you die, all your bodily systems shut down and thats it, theres no heart beating, no nerves working, no lungs functioning - no reason for you to be alive or continue to live.

What made me become an athiest? It was a gradual process over many years, I found that there were things with relgion that i disagreed with or didn't think scientifically possible.

Cya. :)

Answer 10

I don't remember coming to any conclusion that there was no god - I've always thought that way.

I don't remember hearing anything at all about religion, or even thinking about it, before an incident, that I've since figured out happened when I was four or five (because of where I lived then).

A neighbor girl had a bunch of us littles behind the bushes at my house, and was giving us the "Heaven/Hell/God is watching" thing. I remember thinking to myself "This stuff is insane Where did she hear this?" I told my mother about it, and she said "She belongs to a group that believes in a religion called Christianity." I asked if we belonged to the group, and my mom said "No, your father used to belong, and I'm Jewish." And when I asked what "Jewish" meant, I didn't think too highly of that, either.

As a child, I never really got it straight what it all meant - just that these people believed these things strongly, that it seemed nuts, and that by and large they were in control so I better shut up and not argue.

Years later my mother and grandmother took me to a Jewish synagogue. Like all kids, I fidgeted during services. My grandmother took me outside and said "Look, I don't believe in this stuff either. But it's part of our people's culture, and you better show some respect or I'll spank you. Besides, it's important to your mother." She took me back inside.

Afterwards. my mother took me aside and said, "Look, I don't believe in this stuff either. But it's part of our people's culture, and you better show some respect or I'll spank you. Besides, it's important to your grandmother."

So I can't really say I "became" an atheist - it seems to me that I always was one, and never received any effective pressure as a child to change. As an adult, I was too educated and self-confident to be able to be forced into changing.

As far as what I believe happens when you die? Your brain, of which your subjective view of its function gives you your sense of "self," stops functioning, and you rot. That's it - you end. That's why they call it "death."