Atheist: Polite questions for you (Q#1 of 3). Please respond.?

Question

I come from a country where there are no atheists. So all I know about you is from what I can imagine myself.
What makes you an atheist? I have given a few choices that I could think of ...

A) Revolt against the absurd notion that God cannot exist because everything they say is unscientific and unrealistic (like Adam/Eve, Earth is flat, A man was born again three days later, Earth was built in 6 days etc etc)

B) The fact that religion and the concept of God stifles your independant way of thinking

C) You do not believe what you cannot see or hear or feel and it's too degrading to believe something only because everyone else is doing so.

D) Something else. (Please enlighten me on this)

Or is it a mix of some or all of the above??

(This is question # 1 in a series of 3 that I am going to ask - and I do request you to please help me understand your kind)

for Tuyet:

No one is born an Atheist. Perhaps some religions like Christianity believe that you had been born of sin - but my religion (Hindu) says that "EVERY SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE". So we do not need to baptise people into faith. In fact there is no ritual to convert people to Hinduism - either you are born as a Hindu or you start behaving like a Hindu, in which case you are a Hindu already. No pomp and show is mandatory (and neither is it forbidden)

Many hindus never go to temples or pray, but their way of life is still a Hindu way of life. Prayer is a personal thing - and need not necessarily include accompaniments to make it a mini rock-show of sorts. Whatever you do, as long as you listen to your inner voice, is correct. In that sense, we have no Atheists - for even these people follow their inner voices.

Answer 1

I would say 'D'

No evidence.

Or at best, there is very bad evidence that people use for their belief.


'A' is an argument against one kind of God (the Christian God).

'B' may be right that religion stifles independent thinking, but a concept of God does not necessarily do that.

'C' does not make sense... It's not that we can't see or hear it, it's that there's no evidence. We can not see nor hear black holes, but we have good evidence. We can not see nor hear unicorns, plus there is no evidence, therefore I do not believe in them. I'm sure you would agree it would be foolish to believe in something just because everyone else does too?


By the way, where are you from?
It's hard to imagine that their are no atheists in your country. It seems more probable that you just don't know any.


EDIT:
I gather from your Q&A's that you are from India. I lived in Nepal for almost 3 years. I knew many Indians who were atheist. Most of them told me that they just did not tell others that they thought that way. (There is a lot of social pressure in Hindu society).

Answer 2

Many people get to a point to where they will start to question things. This is very common and has led to many advancements in human history. Many people start to question the idea of god. What evidence is there to support the idea of a god. Many people point to the bible but it is a very flawed piece of work and cannot be verified so it is no good as evidence. What it all boils down to is there is no proof of a god.

Toss onto that some of the errors in the bible that contradict science. We know that the earth is much older than the bible says. We know that humans arrived on the planet much later than what the bible says. We know that the earth is not the center of the universe. We know that the sun does not revolve around the earth. We know that the earth is not flat. We know that there was no great flood that destroyed all life on the planet except for those on the ark.

Now, start to look at the lack of anything supernatural on the planet. Many people have made claims and still make claims of the supernatural however they cannot ever offer evidence to back up those claims. 400 years ago, when the world was much more religious, supernatural events supposedly happened all of the time. Look at the Salem Witch Trials. The testimoney and the acts of people during the trial clearly showed that people believed there were supernatural acts going on. However, humanity has grown and learned that the supernatural does not exist. You do not see (sane people at least) running around claiming people to be witches and claiming that demons are lurking about. If those things were so believed one day and turn out to be false today then why not a god.

Now, with a lack of evidence to support a god you should ask why do you believe in just your god? You could easily believe in any of the gods from history. That is one reason why the Flying Spaghetti Monster was invented. To show just how easy it is for a religion and a god to be invented.

Another thing that causes many to be atheist is disillusionment with the promises and realities of religion. People trying to convert others will make all sorts of claims. I have heard people claim that converting to christianity will cause incurable diseases to be cured. I have heard people make the claim that it will make you happier. I have heard people claim that it will make you more successful. However, these promises do not pan out. Also, there are many people who use religion to promote hatred. Soon people get disgusted with that and shun the whole thing. Obviously there was nothing special about the religion. There was no god to keep this stuff from happening or to keep the promises.

Answer 3

"my Kind" ...like your kind have a variety of reasons that may motivate thier beliefs.

1. There are a ton of religions both currently and actively worshipped and a bunch more that have past into extinction. Many of which pre-date Judeo-christian belief's.

2. The fables and stories in the Bible are largely borrowed from a variety of other pre-existing religions. The resurrection, the trinity, and the more rare concept of good and evil all pre-date Judeo christian belief.

3. I consider it possible there is a scientific reason why people need and feel a faith in a higher power. And thus find it resonable that religions exist without an actual god or gods.

4. The lack of clear proof of gods existance... you might expect a loving father to call once in a while.

5. The hypocracy of the "belivers"

Answer 4

Where on Earth are you from? It must be a pretty repressed state. Wow! Imagine, a whole country brainwashed - amazing...I think there are people even in your society that have the intelligence to know not to believe in invisible sky fairies or cats in tin hats. It is probably just that it would be punishable by law to have an opinion. You can fool most of the people most of the time but not all.

E. I do not believe in fairy tales.

Edit: I just read the part you put in brackets. What do you mean by "your kind"? You say that as though there are a different species on this forum. Last time I checked it was only the species homo-sapiens that was capable of using technology. However, if you have discovered that dolphins have sprouted fingers and they too can type I would love to know.

Answer 5

D

It's not that the notion of God is questionable. It's that there is no such notion. Every person I've ever seen present a deity was either obviously anthropomorphizing some natural principle, or they could not come up with something coherent.

For instance, the Abrahamic attempt at a God concept is self refuting. The "omnis" (omniscient, omnipotent, etc.) can be played against each other, with questions like "Can God create a being that knows more than him?" Therefore, no real concept is there to agree or disagree with. Atheism is all that one is left with.

Answer 6

You'll get different answers to this question from different people.

For me, it is a mix of all those things. Essentially, I don't see how a God could interfere with the world without obeying physical laws. Because of that, I think that the only possible God that could exist would be one that created the world and left it to run on its own. However, there is no reason to suppose that such an event would have a personality, or any other attributes associated with God. Therefore, I conclude that God doesn't exist.

Answer 7

D)

The existence of God was not unthinkable to me, and I was a Christian for many years, until careful bible study, combined with reading in history, philosophy, cosmology, physics and biology built up an interlinked picture of the universe which was a better fit with the "no god" model than the "god exists" one. And that allows for such things as firm beliefs and powerful religions, without there having to be a real deity behind them.
Humans are good at beliefs, and social conventions and power structures.

Answer 8

C&D) I will not believe in something that has no substantial evidence to support its existence. And I will not change my mind based on what the majority may claim to know. The unrealistic and unscientific claims that religions make, like the ones you stated, just reinforce my atheism.

Answer 9

I think the reason many atheist become atheist is because they are willing to accept the fact that many hindrances to society come from religion. I also believe that anyone who searches for a reason not to believe will easily find an infinite number of reason to not believe in a deity, because of the fact that there are no deities.

Answer 10

Its a mixture of things. I do not and will not just "believe" or "have faith" in something that has not presented proof of its existence in mine nor others' lives. The fact that most religions go off a book that is physically written by man doesn't make them credible enough for me to 'believe'.

Also as a scientist, I do not simply say "oh this is so complex, it must be supernatural or magic!". Things should be tested and recorded and retested in order for me to 'believe'.

Religion has been used by man kind of centuries for the use of controlling the masses. Its been used by men to gain power of women. It has been used by one group to justify waging murder against another group. Its been used by law makers to justify their laws against certain groups of people.

I'm atheist because I believe that in life you must do your own and make your own. There is no safety net and that you must make your own in the world.