Why are you an atheist?

[Dpm12]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Turborama (a host of the General Discussion forum).

I'm an atheist because I just never believed in the existence of a God. I think rationally. Why are YOU an atheist, if you are one?

[Tikki]

1. Exactly, growing up nothing ever compelled me to learn to believe in god..

But I never really understood why there is a name for that.


Tikki

[MineralMan]

2. I was born an atheist. We all were.

For a while, I was a Christian, but then I became an adult and gave up childish things, just like the Bible told me to do.

1 Corinthians 13:11
King James Version (KJV)
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

[unblock]

3. because god made me a disbeliever.

[Indepatriot]

4. I was raised a Catholic, but by parents who taught me to think for myself....

My Mom (still a devout catholic) says I started asking questions that couldn't be answered right around my first communion.... It's like asking why one "believes" in science..... I guess the short answer is because I pay attention.

[MindPilot]

5. None of it ever made sense to me.

When I was about 8 years old, in the basement of the Rosedale Baptist church I discovered the the blood of Christ was actually Hi-C Grape Juice. That's when I started asking the questions that kids are not allowed to ask.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. atheist is the default, you have to be indoctrinated to be a theist.

[SidDithers]

25. I should have read the thread before replying...

'cause you had already said what I posted further down the thread.



Sid

[Apophis]

7. Where do I start?

There's no evidence of a god.
The bible is full of contradictions.
The church heirarchy is full of corruption.
The hatred from religious followers (ie fundamentalists).
The forcing of religious beliefs onto others.
I'd rather think for myself.
I need evidence.
This life isn't just a test to get into an afterlife.
I'd rather know than believe.

[phylny]

8. I'm not.

I just don't choose to bash those who are. Live and let live, be respectful. That's how I roll

[liberal_at_heart]

21. exactly!

My children are atheist. I never pressured them into believing one way or the other. I just let them grow into the individuals that they were going to become and let them form their own opinions and beliefs. I am an agnostic Buddhist. I don't really see the relevance in asking a question that can't be answered. I spend a lot of time defending people who do believe in God on this website because self righteousness is a pet peeve of mine whether it is religious people being self righteous or non-religious people being self righteous, but I don't actually spend much time wondering whether there is a God or not. My husband is an agnostic theist. He had a very spiritual experience in the hospital once, but he is a very rational person. he knows no one can prove there is a God. He also knows no one can prove there is no God. So, for him he recognizes it is a belief because there is no proof. My father is an evangelical Christian, and my mother in law who lives close by is a pagan who also believes in God and angels. Because we have such a deep love for one another we all treat each other with respect and tolerance, and we definitely believe in free thinking, but above all we believe in love which is why we treat each other with respect and tolerance.

[easttexaslefty]

34. Exactly. Beautifully stated.

[Arugula Latte]

9. I could never bring myself to believe it. I just seemed so-far fetched

and to me something that was obviously made up by people to make themselves feel better about everything. Even when I tried and tried to believe in a god (especially in third grade when some of my friends started expression religious fervor and I wanted to feel a part of it) it just never "took" with me.

Also, the "Earthcentricity" of a lot of religion began to bother me more and more. There are billions upon billions of galaxies, let alone planets, and life is probably happening on all sorts of them. But the perspective of most believers is that a human-like giant god hovers over this planet. Modern humans have only been around for a very, very short time. Where was this god before they evolved? Why would the Earth be the center of the universe? The lack of perspective of time and vastness of the universe really bugs me.

Okay, I keep editing this to add things, but one more ... When you are raised without a specific "faith" and then you see other people feeling so strongly that THEIR particular sect is the correct one, it is utterly laughable. People who find tales of Greek and Roman gods to be quaint ancient stories will still embrace as the literal truth a story about a guy with magical powers who lived in the desert 2,000 years ago and who will come back any day now to "save" the non-sinners. Others think that if you don't believe in the story of a seventh century "prophet" then you are damned. I realize belief in specific religious dogmas is not exactly the same as belief in some generic god, but it does fuel the feeling that all "faith" is utterly ridiculous.

[Shadowflash]

10. No proof of the existence of gods or 'creators'.

[hack89]

11. I was raised in a non-religious household

so I was never indoctrinated.

[RC]

12. I started questioning around 6 or 7 years of age.

Stuff wasn't making sense. Like for instance, we are all God's children, but you had to believe to get into Heaven. But what about all those Africans (school geography) who never had a chance to even hear about Jesus? They would all go to purgatory, I was told by my mother. Why, if they never had a chance to even hear about God and Jesus? Something's wrong here.

Now If I could figure something like that out at that tender young age, why can't adults think these things through?

[RudynJack]

13. I spent too much of my life...

trying to "find" a god, and came up with nothing.

Then I read Sagan, Dawkins, and Gould. That clinched the deal.

[Poll_Blind]

14. I simply don't believe in a god. I have as much faith as an ardent believer in a god that...

...there is no god. I don't know that rationality necessarily has anything to do with it, but I would point to evidence as to why I believe there is no god- in the same way a believer would point to evidence that there is one.

Empirical truths and the Scientific Method light my path, wherever it leads.

PB

[lapislzi]

15. Teflon.

I received a run-of-the-mill Catholic education much like many other Catholic children. It never stuck. None of it. I walked through it wondering why it just didn't make sense to me, and why it had to be that "our" religion was supposedly the best one...I couldn't reconcile any of it, and no one could satisfactorily answer my questions. Eyes raised heavenward and "it's a matter of faith," were the conclusions inevitably drawn, as if there was something wrong with me for not accepting that as an answer.

Then, as more contradictions were revealed to me, and then abuses...I went from being indifferent to actively repulsed.

[pipi_k]

16. Wow...

some good points here I had never thought of before.

Like people being born Atheists. Yeah. It makes sense.

Both my parents were brought up Catholic, but my dad, somewhere along the way, became an Atheist. We kids never heard about religion until the family moved, when I was ten, to a house two doors from a Protestant church. Then my mom had us going to church and Sunday School, etc.

So at the age of 10, I became indoctrinated.

My "downfall" happened gradually, as I started reading more science books (I have always loved science) and thinking about some of the stories in the bible, like Noah's Ark, and wondering the usual things about how could millions of species x 2 fit on a boat and survive 40 days, blah blah blah.

At 16 I read books by Robert Ardrey ("The Territorial Imperative&quot and Desmond Morris ("Naked Ape&quot and it all made much more sense to me than Adam and Eve.

Those things opened up the doors. Since then I've wavered between Agnosticism and Atheism, but I never went back to religion.

Well, except that I am fond of Native American spirituality.

But organized religion...no.

[geek tragedy]

17. No religion ever made a sufficient case for adopting its

narrative.

There are good ideas in virtually all of them, but none of them have offered an empirically compelling case for believing their factual predicates.

More of an agnostic, as I do not think atheists have proven their case that there are no higher powers in the universe. Such a proposition is not provable, of course.

[Erose999]

18. They ran my mom and aunt out of church for smoking ciggs, having short hair, and wearing knee-length

skirts and make-up. This was in front of the whole congregation at a "revival service" led by a traveling minister who only known them for a grand total of 3 days.

That, and at that same service, the same traveling minister publicly shamed the pastor's brother (who was married with 3 kids) for "being a homosexual" in front of his wife and kids and the whole congregation. The pastor did not stand up for his brother.

The preacher in question had traveled in from Arkansas or Mississippi (I forget which) and the Church didn't have enough money in the fund to put him and his family (wife and 3 grown kids) up in a hotel. My aunt (the one who got rebuked) was the church treasurer and put in a sizable sum out of her own pocket to pay for their hotel.

Mom and I walked out and I haven't been back to a church other than for funerals or wedding since. After seeing what religion can do to people, I rejected it completely.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. Couldn't figure out the hypocrisy of the church I attended as a child. Then it all became

too much like fantasy fiction for me... men who live in the sky? Coming back from the dead? Conception without a man/sex? Angels walking the earth next to satan's creatures? Might as well believe that wishing makes things come true.

[Whisp]

20. about the same reason why I don't believe in Santa any more. n/t

[hobbit709]

22. On my mother's side they've been atheists since the 1880's

When my great great was officially excommunicated by the church for publicly questioning papal infallibility-this was in the part of Austria that back then was part of Italy.

[SidDithers]

23. Atheism is the default position...

religion and belief are a learned behaviour.

In the absence of any evidence, the "learning" never took with me.

Sid

[99Forever]

24. Because reason tells me that without evidence...

.. of the veracity of myths and magic, they aren't real.

Occum's razor.

[dmallind]

26. Well your "reason" is pretty much just a definition.

Why don't you believe in gods?

One level up from a mere definition of atheism might be to say that there is no evidence for any god claims.

Two levels up might be to say that god claims are untestable and unfalsifiable, and thus not positions which can even be evaluated.

Slightly more inferential weight would come from the inherent contradictions and impossibilities of almost all common descriptions of gods (the triple omni claim is exhibit A here)

You could add in the anthropological development of god claims, their similiarity in basic nature but variation in cultural decoration, and the evolutionary advantage in assuming extrapolated pattern recognition to be true ("we built small house out of rocks and trees and it took us a long time - the whole world is rocks and trees so something much better than us must have made it. We should worship it" isn't all that different from "camp dogs make small movements in tall grasses - this big movement in the tall grass must be much bigger than camp dogs and thus capable of hurting us - run away!&quot .

You could add the burden of proof rests on the positive claim, and that traditional inductive arguments like Anselm's all have major flaws.

There's a whole bunch of reasons. Yours may be different, but just telling us what an atheist is (even though some buffoons need to be told repeatedly I confess, either foolishly or more often venally claiming atheism necessitates an active belief in absence rather than a passive absence of belief) doesn't really offer much to go on.

[EOTE]

41. Atheism IS an active belief in absense.

The absence of belief would be Agnosticism. I'm surprised that so many here don't see that distinction.

[fadedrose]

27. Can I answer if I'm an agnostic?

I don't believe in any religion but feel there is something, but I don't know what.

Started out as Catholic, lost a child, and so desired to be with him that I wanted to know where he was. After reading the bible (several of them) I found out nothing. My priests didn't give me real answers, and I felt that was something they SHOULD know if they are our shepherds.

I found out in the new testament that there would be a rapture, where the dead would meet the living. Then I found out a lot in the Jesus Seminar that told me most of the gospels were "altered" or misinterpreted.

Going back to Christian beginnings, found out the atrocities done by the Catholic Church, and became Protestant. Looked up the differences, read the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gnostic gospels, found out how all Christian religions were based on pagan beliefs, and found out that pagans weren't so bad, they worshiped the earth. I also read much of the Pseudeopigrapa - these are the books written between the old and new testaments, and there are hundreds of them in two gigantic books that I purchased (there is more evidence for ufos than describe god in a definite way).

One of the most astonishing books I read was one I learned about on the History Channel - written by Dr. Barbara Theiring of the U. of Australia. It was somewhat banned in the US. Read it if you can find it.

I thought about being Jewish and called a Rabbi. A very nice guy. He told me that I don't have to be Jewish to go to heaven, just be a good person.

I follow his advice and try to be a good person, not to get to heaven, because I haven't found any evidence that there is such a place, or hell.

I keep hoping there is a hell so that really mean people who kill, lie, steal, etc., will be punished, but deep down, I think they get away with it. That's why I'm an agnostic. Hoping for some kind of justice for those who do evil, and a reward for those who do good.

Sorry to be so long, but you asked...

[liberal_at_heart]

32. yes, this desire to be with loved ones is definitly something that weighs on me

I don't spend much time thinking about whether there is a God or not. I feel it is a question that can not be answered. But, we form such incredibly strong emotional bonds with parents, spouses, and children. I do not believe that bond disappears simply because we die. At least I hope it doesn't. I could be deluding myself but I don't care. It comforts me, so I believe it.

[Whisp]

28. being harnessed by all those ridiculous and crazy rules

is as anti-freedom as you can get.

I probably was around 17 or so when it hit me that everything about it was horse shit. And slowly over the years it became apparent that religion was a method of power and control and nothing to do with sweet jesus. If I picked a carrot out of my vegetable bin, and placed it on my counter and lit a candle and bowed to it and said words to it, ... that would make about the same sense to me.

[hootinholler]

29. Because apparently God appeared spontaneously

I've never gotten a satisfactory answer to if God made everything then where did he come from and why is he singular?

[HuckleB]

40. Exactly.

[Egalitarian Thug]

30. Because I have worked my whole life to learning to understand how things actually work

and once I discovered that Santa wasn't real... well, the whole thing just fell into place.

[corneliamcgillicutty]

31. Are you implying that those who believe

in a higher power are thinking irrationally? It seems to me that the obvious need for non-believers to seek each other may be indicative of something that might be lacking. I don't recall seeing those that do believe banding together on DU.

[theKed]

33. Sone quotes that illustrate my position

" I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one
fewer god than you do. When you understand why you
dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand
why I dismiss yours"

-Stephen Roberts

" Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is
not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is
malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence
cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why
call him God?"

- Epicurious

" a church steeple with a lightning rod on top
shows a lack of confidence"

- Doug McLeod

[HuckleB]

37. +1

[csziggy]

35. Because my preacher uncle was an racist asshole

I can thank him for making me really think about religion and its role in the world. When I was 11 we visited him in the Arkansas town where he was preacher for the largest Baptist church in town. This was in 1963 when the civil rights movement was really heating up. He told some of the most revolting, racist jokes I have ever heard - I was appalled.

My parents though never liberal had stayed neutral about the civil rights issue. As Mom put it, "The children are going to live in an unsegregated world, let them work out how to do it." Mom had left her family's Christian sect (Baptists) as a teenager and joined the Presbyterian Church when she married my father, so she was not as fundametanlist as her brother the preacher.

The more I thought about how disgusting it was for a man who was supposed to teach the "word of God" to be so vile and hateful, the more I considered the damage that religion had done in the world through history. All that thinking eventually lead me to reject the belief in a god.

I am not a true atheist - I call myself an agnostic since I am not positive about some things and I don't see any reason to waste any more of my time thinking about it. I usually refer to myself as an apathetic agnostic since, as the The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic (http://apatheticagnostic.org/ourchurch/intro.html) motto says "We don't know and we don't care."

[madmom]

36. I was not raised in a religious home, but what really sealed the deal was

when I was about 12, my 2 best friends where Roman Catholic and Catholic. Being female, I noticed all the double standards in both families. The Roman Catholic was an only daughter out of 6 children. She alone had to be the "perfect" Catholic child while the boys got to lead a pretty normal childhood. The other friend came from a family that really liked to party on Friday and Saturday, but always attended mass and always went to confession. This made me start doubting and asking questions. I have never looked back!

[truebluegreen]

38. Raised Presbyterian but none of it made sense. Ever.

That was reinforced by classes in philosophy and comparative religion and history...

[HuckleB]

39. It took me nearly 40 years on this planet to finally, completely realize that a deity made no sense.

The more I learned about how to evaluate evidence, the lack of evidence, and even how placebo effects work (they explain much of the supposed "magic" pushed by believers), the less credence I gave to religion. The more I saw it abused for the aim of power in a few, the more I saw the whole thing as a big facade.

Life is magical itself. Enjoy it. Live it. Treat each other well. Just don't tell me I'm going to hell. It doesn't exist.

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false.....

and by the rulers as useful"

Attributed to Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger

[HuckleB]

43. +1

[Turborama]

44. Locking

Religion OP: Violates GD's SOP.