A question for atheists...?

Question

I am interested in why a person embraces atheism. What made you embrace atheism?

Answer 1

Religion.

Answer 2

I was raised a Catholic. I believed everything I learned in Catholic School. But then I found out other people believed other things not consistent with the Catholic church beliefs and I knew they all couldn't be right. I was, and am, a fairly independent thinking person and it was unsettling from me to be told what I must believe to be in good standing in the church. I have read philosophical arguments on both sides. I recently was reading "In Six Days" by Ashton. I was anxious to see how scientists might argue logically for a creator and the word of the Bible. They did so very poorly and with only my limited formal education in logic and philosophy I easily spotted the logical fallacies they employed. I was saddened that their so-called evidence was so lacking, so weak. I wish there were a God. I wish there were a heaven. I wish the good people of the world would be rewarded. I wish people did walk on water and Christ was coming again. But wishing doesn't make it so. There might be a God or Santa Clause, there might be flying saucers and little green men on mars, and big foot...but the truth is that there isn't enough evidence for a reasonable person to believe it. There are 100,000 religions in the world all claiming they have the "right way".
In some ways religion has been good for society, but in many ways it has been responsible for wars and abuse. Most people grow up and follow the faith of their parents and never truly examine their beliefs, I did not. I hope more and more people will come to these conclusions as time goes on. Religions are based on myths and for some reason people have believed them for a long time. Nevertheless, things change.

"Here lies a toppled god--
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one."
---Tleliaxu Epigram
In Frank Herbert's "Dune Messiah"

Answer 3

I am sorry, but I do not embrace atheism. That is entirely the wrong idea of what I think like.
I never did develop a God belief, not even as a little kid.
(I did however have a solid conviction that Santa Clause was real for a few years, quite understandable because of huge piles of evidence under the tree every year)

I have studied different religions and quite a few of the different Christian sects over the years. Nothing I have ever read, heard or seen has ever convinced me that Gods might exist.
There is nothing to embrace here. It is simply a lack of belief.

I give the Jewish/Christian/Muslim myths about the same value as Norse, Greek, Roman, Hindu or Egyptian myths. They all have some value as morality tales, about the same as Mother Goose, Grimm's or Aesop's fables do.

Answer 4

I'm an agnostic, but I'll answer. You'd probably ask me the same thing.

I embrace agnosticism because I think for myself. I am an educated person. Every class I've ever taken has pushed me further and further to explore religions and the world at large.

I personally have never been talked to by "god." I don't know if she exists. I have no proof that she does.

Unless god were to knock on my door (or materialize in my home, whichever she chooses) and say, "Hi, I'm god." and then PROVE it, there is no reason for me to think there is some all-knowing higher power up in the clouds.

It's possible that there is a higher power out there, but I don't know if it's anything beyond the neverending cycle of nature. And that is good enough for me.

Maybe I'm not making sense here. Being agnostic is the only way I CAN be. I find it hard to verbalize my simplicity. But just as you ask atheists how they can embrace their beliefs, I must ask the same of the religious, "How can you believe? HOW?"

Answer 5

Well really I am agnostic but most people just consider that atheism so w/e anyway there isn't really strong evidence that suggests god is real but none that can prove he isn't. I think that it is not embracing atheism but seeing no point in embracing religion.

Answer 6

I didn't embrace atheism,i embraced learning about religion from an unbiased source,i embraced finding things for myself, asking questions and trying to understand religion instead of blindly believing what my parents wanted me to believe.

Answer 7

I worked with a lot of people that were very religious, and when I disagreed with them about anything (I am pro-choice, I support gay marriage, I have dated men of different nationalities) their argument was always "But it says in the Bible!" or "Because God says so!". They rarely had any other reasons for their bigotry. I'm not saying this applies to all theists, it was just an experience I had that made me start thinking. I started asking questions about God, the Bible, the reasons my friends and family had for their beliefs. I also read a lot of books (not all atheist books) and really thought about the arguments for and against "Believing". It took me about 5 years to go from being a theist to an agnostic to finally an atheist.

Answer 8

When I was about 12ish.. i was at a catholic school.. for half a semester.. Everything had Jesus, Math, Science, History, ect, and at the begining of every school day.. you would write to jesus... in a diary sort of way.......... Yea.. pretty Mind inflicting that school was.. just for jesus it was...

Think i had nightmares where i'd wake up saying, Jesus , jesus, jesus.... haha just kidding...

***** The reason I didn't believe *****
The bible, it was not really answering my questions.. It basicly states in the simplest terms.. everything was created for man.. humanity.. was Earth's prime purpose.. I didn't believe that could be true... simply.. I believed that Earth, Life on earth was Based on pure sequences of abstracted physics, the tree in your yard(if you have a tree).. doesn't grow for you... doesn't grow for anyone.. it grows to live.. to just be.. thats why i stopped believeing in the bible/the god of the bible tells of.. mainly because.. EVERYTHING has its own significants and reason for life, life isn't about just humanity.. FAR from it.. no cow gets in line to be killed to be a burger.. just because IT WANTS TO.. I'm pretty sure a cow would like to just sit there an eat grass.. but thats what I believed back when i was 12..

I still don't believe in god the bible speaks of.. but i have my own reasons of why life is.. if my god was to be anything.. it would be the earth that leaves the oxygen so i can breathe.. an the Sun which radiates an allows everything to have light an color..

Each Solar system has its own rules to its nature.. i believe which, in short, means there is life all over the universe, every single tid bit of our selves.. is a branch, path.. of which our own planet GREW for us to live by.. we use oxygen, fruit, vegetable, an meats, off Earth to LIVE.. an i believe any other creature in the universe.. on theyre planet would follow the same values that are set from they're planet.. every small significant encounter that is faced on earth, such as, dangers or molments of pleasure.. is what creates a species to be.. no god constructed us to be.. paths in life our ancestors took.. made us be who we are...

Merry Chrismas

Answer 9

The same reason I embrace the belief that Santa is irrelevant, or doesn't exist, in more simple terms.

Answer 10

The same reason I "embrace" the fact there is no invisible pink unicorn in my closet right now.

Answer 11

When I figured out that religion is a mere cultural creation, and the idea that there is some unknown being controlling everything just sounds....dumb. Before the advent of modern science, everyone looked to describe why they existed, but now we have a better reason to explain that - evolution.

I can be a moral person - and am one - without having to owe everything to some creation of a cultural mind.