Why are you an atheist?

Burt Lancaster

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Ok will do

Thanks you your idea, I just started one on the Islam forum.
I might do the same for Buddhism.

For added interest, suggest you include a poll (click thread options on top right)

- I was born into Christianity, and I have faith that it is true
- I was born into Christianity; I have tried looking at other religions/philosophies/beliefs/atheism, but still feel Christianity is the best
- I'm a convert/revert to Christianity
- I no longer practice Christianity
- None of the above, I'm just here out of interest

Azure_sky

It's the default and rational position. The O.T. is badly written
sci fi- complete with appalling morality. It would take a hell of a lot of mental gymnastics to make me believe in Deism, let alone Theism.
If the Bible were a book I'd say it has a horrible prologue, improves greatly in the middle, and has an appalling ending.

fitz0

Azure_sky wrote: »

If the Bible were a book I'd say it has a horrible prologue, improves greatly in the middle, and has an appalling ending.

This put me in mind of the hilarious Bible reviews on amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Holy-Bible-James-Version/product-reviews/0529064634

Burt Lancaster

fitz0 wrote: »

This put me in mind of the hilarious Bible reviews on amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Holy-Bible-James-Version/product-reviews/0529064634

Azure_sky should post his review there !

scoob70

I was sent to a catholic school because my parents were catholic. By the time I left school at 16 I was quite convinced there was no such thing as a supreme being and it all sounded abit daft to me tbh. For along time now, and I'm 41 years of age now, I have been an atheist. I can honestly say I couldn't give a toss what happens after I die. All that matters is the life that we're living now and we should make the bloody most of it because it might be the only one we get. I can honestly say I have never felt more at peace in my life as I do now.

Dades

People, discussing moderation in the 'other' forum is specifically prohibited in the charter.

saladin

Rasheed wrote: »

I don't know anyone that is an atheist and was just wondering why people are atheists, were ye religious at one stage and did something change your mind? Or where ye parents atheists and pass it on? Just curious about it!

Bit of a stupid question really. Like youtuber ShockofGod asking for prove and evidence that atheism is fact. If you have to ask the question then you don't have much of an open or skeptical mind. Atheists are generally skeptics. From the Christian perspective you become atheist because we see realise that the Christian is largely myth and false and you simply grow out of it like growing out of Santa Claus.

Now as for a God in general as in a deity we atheists would be quite easily persuaded to be in one if we were shown credible evidence and rational for one but there isn't any nor is there likely to be given the increase in scientific understanding of the universe. For myself the idea of a Christian God seemed incompatible with the physics, chemistry and biology I studied in secondary school and furthermore in University. I suppose at 14 I began to question and gave doubts and there it evolved til my late teens.

If you believe in a God it means you have faith and that by definition is believing something to be true without a shred of evidence for it and it has no bearing on wether there is a God or not. Believing something to be true des not make it true. Atheists take something as true when we have the proof.

Technically speaking all atheists are agnostic because it is impossible to verify the non existence of an object only to high degree of probability.

Dades

saladin wrote: »

Bit of a stupid question really ... If you have to ask the question then you don't have much of an open or skeptical mind.

That's a nonsense.

fitz0

saladin wrote: »

If you have to ask the question then you don't have much of an open or skeptical mind.

I'm pretty sure that's the main sign of an open or skeptical mind, asking the 'stupid'questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers.

Rasheed

saladin wrote: »

Bit of a stupid question really. Like youtuber ShockofGod asking for prove and evidence that atheism is fact. If you have to ask the question then you don't have much of an open or skeptical mind. Atheists are generally skeptics. From the Christian perspective you become atheist because we see realise that the Christian is largely myth and false and you simply grow out of it like growing out of Santa Claus.
.

How is it a stupid question? I don't know any Atheists and I was interested in how a person came to be an Athesist. Maybe I was making a generalisation that most people in this country were brought up in a Christian faith so I was wondering when did people change or if an event lead them to change. And I do have an open mind, just to clarify. If I hadnt an open mind I'd have done the usual 'atheist bashing' that goes on on other pages which I didn't.

beerpong

Used to get worried about it as a young teenager. Seen us with so much(Irish) and others starving in other countries and thought we'd all burn. Used to get worried about god judging me for thoughts normal to everyone. Was even thinking of priesthood. So I picked the bible up and had a read. It didn't take long to disbelieve. As I've grown and learned about physics and reality, it shows the elements that make up everything are common to all, our elements came from the stars. We are animals, our DNA is no more than 2% different to apes. Do other apes have a god? Where do they go after death?Religion is selfish ego used by the powerful for their own end, just look at the man with a golden staff, large hat sitting on the worlds largest bank, judging people and claiming to follow the myth of Jesus. It's ridiculous. Look at the evangelists in the USA, the Jewish fundamentalists in Israel, Muslim fundamentalists, all brain washing children to meet their own end and most believing the world will end soon. Why is blind believe not to be questioned? It should be quizzed and mocked for the dangerous nonsense it is.

Pushtrak

Dades wrote: »

That's a nonsense.

fitz0 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that's the main sign of an open or skeptical mind, asking the 'stupid'questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers.

I think the point he was going for was that atheism is the default. The point has already been brought up, just phrased differently.

fitz0

Well it was phrased terribly if that's what was meant. In this country, chances are that Catholicism has been shoved into our heads and unwinding that indoctrination in a hard enough process that may require us to ask 'stupid' questions.

Fortyniner

I read this today, Rasheed, and found it expresses my views very well. Maybe you will find it helpful..

http://tucsoncitizen.com/freethought-arizona/2012/07/02/atheism-simple-in-concept-difficult-in-practice/

Rasheed

Fortyniner wrote: »

I read this today, Rasheed, and found it expresses my views very well. Maybe you will find it helpful..

http://tucsoncitizen.com/freethought-arizona/2012/07/02/atheism-simple-in-concept-difficult-in-practice/

Ah thanks very much, that's a great way of putting it!

ppn

As far as I am aware, the definition of 'atheism' is the non-belief in a supernatural being creating the universe (or something to that effect). The bible was written by man (many different men) and selectively published. There are many religions pre-dating christianity which mirror the accepted stories of 'christ', resurrection, etc. Check out mithras and other ancient belief systems. Pope Constantine also has a lot to answer for: JC never actually claimed to be divine, merely a prophet. Constantine placed divine attributes on the JC stories to control the ever growing masses of conflicting belief systems.
Just ask yourself, if you were born in any other area/country other than the one you now live, would you have been brought up in a different religion? - Of course! Science and logic are the most important traits in humans for continued development and improvement. And science can and admits to being wrong sometimes and changes accordingly. Why is it so unacceptable to amny to question religion? Of any kind?

SpaceRocket

Mine is not the norm... Was raised by an ex priest in an 'unusual' christian cult. Left that when I was old enough to be allowed to (excommunication ensued). Became interested in paganism, was involed in that for a few years. Its actually very earthy and innocent in comparision to catholicism. Had a great time.

Then... read The God Delusion one day, and my whole world turned upside down. Truly changed my life in every way.

I'm so happy to free of the mindset that was ingrained in me. Was raised to be so judgemental and hipocritical, generally 'holier than thou'. The group pack mentality of your average cult. To have grown up in that mindset is so ugly. I'm finally free now of those shackles.

Have never been happier nor more fufilled 'spiritually',and am now a science NUT

Listening to Carl Sagan and co. fills me with more hope, awe, wonder and happiness than any christian, bible verse, charismatic session ever has. Ever. And I've seen a lot.

Chief_Jack

I have a hundred different ways to answer this but the one that I have firmly built my belief (or lack there-of) on is just one and it is the one I use when some overly religious person is trying to tell you your going to burn etc. and then ask you why you don't believe. Just one sentence always leaves them with absolutely no reply.

I refuse to believe in a God that would let innocent children die.

SpaceRocket

Chief_Jack wrote: »

I have a hundred different ways to answer this but the one that I have firmly built my belief (or lack there-of) on is just one and it is the one I use when some overly religious person is trying to tell you your going to burn etc. and then ask you why you don't believe. Just one sentence always leaves them with absolutely no reply.

I refuse to believe in a God that would let innocent children die.

They put that down to a "testing of one's faith", or "they'll be getting an even greater reward in heaven" though.
There is no rationalising with a set of irrational beliefts.

Chief_Jack

SpaceRocket wrote: »

They put that down to a "testing of one's faith", or "they'll be getting an even greater reward in heaven" though.
There is no rationalising with a set of irrational beliefts.

Yes but no matter how blinded they are I have never encountered a fundamentalist who hasn't struggled to reply to this. I have heard both of those before but the most occurring one would be the "God works in mysterious ways". To which I reply "If He lets children die and make others suffer for it without explaining why just to remain 'mysterious' then even if he did exist I would have no respect for him"

SpaceRocket

Chief_Jack wrote: »

Yes but no matter how blinded they are I have never encountered a fundamentalist who hasn't struggled to reply to this. I have heard both of those before but the most occurring one would be the "God works in mysterious ways". To which I reply "If He lets children die and make others suffer for it without explaining why just to remain 'mysterious' then even if he did exist I would have no respect for him"

I agree. Perhaps the environment I came from then is more fundamentalist than you have ever encountered before. There are people out there that are brainwashed to such an extent as those answers allude. Those two 'explanations' seemed totally valid and rational arguments to me when i was one of them. It's a very hard mindset to remove oneself from.

Chief_Jack

SpaceRocket wrote: »

I agree. Perhaps the environment I came from then is more fundamentalist than you have ever encountered before. There are people out there that are brainwashed to such an extent as those answers allude. Those two 'explanations' seemed totally valid and rational arguments to me when i was one of them. It's a very hard mindset to remove oneself from.

Haha I wouldn't be so sure about that, I was an alter server for three years when growing up and attended Church every Sunday for about 14 years of my life.

I understand how people WANT to believe that their God is one who takes away the children for a greater purpose. I get it and I leaned on that for a while myself until I just really sat down and thought it all true and came to the conclusion that even if a God does exist and He does these things for a greater purpose, he is not worthy of worship from those He leaves behind confused and hurt from the loss.

I wish I could be a believer as a way to deal with the hardest things in the world, I truly do. But even if it is comforting I don't want to live my life in denial of what I truly believe just because that is the easiest thing to do.

That works for some people and in many ways I envy them for it but it doesn't for me.

SpaceRocket

Chief_Jack wrote: »

Haha I wouldn't be so sure about that, I was an alter server for three years when growing up and attended Church every Sunday for about 14 years of my life.

I understand how people WANT to believe that their God is one who takes away the children for a greater purpose. I get it and I leaned on that for a while myself until I just really sat down and thought it all true and came to the conclusion that even if a God does exist and He does these things for a greater purpose, he is not worthy of worship from those He leaves behind confused and hurt from the loss.

I wish I could be a believer as a way to deal with the hardest things in the world, I truly do. But even if it is comforting I don't want to live my life in denial of what I truly believe just because that is the easiest thing to do.

That works for some people and in many ways I envy them for it but it doesn't for me.

My situation is differant though in that I was brought up solely around others that were in my particular cult, so i can say with absolute conviction that i was grossly brainwashed from a ridiculously young age and it was only when I reached my teens and began to turn a listening ear to others outside of the cult that I began to question things. Even then there was a lot of work involved in me "letting go" of the guilt, the turning your back on everyone and everything you think you know, excommunication etc, make it all the more difficult and these are issues which are sadly fundamentality entangled within the twisted cult mentality.
For the average Irish catholic I can see how you managed to let go of religion more freely, I'm just pointing out that brainwashing is out there, it's going on, and it is very very real, and unfortunate. And that there is very little you can do to rationalise with people harbouring such irrational beliefs.

Chief_Jack

SpaceRocket wrote: »

My situation is differant though in that I was brought up solely around others that were in my particular cult, so i can say with absolute conviction that i was grossly brainwashed from a ridiculously young age and it was only when I reached my teens and began to turn a listening ear to others outside of the cult that I began to question things. Even then there was a lot of work involved in me "letting go" of the guilt, the turning your back on everyone you know, excommunication etc, make it all the more difficult and these are issues which are sadly fundamentality entangled within the twisted cult mentality.
For the average Irish catholic I can see how you managed to let go of religion more freely, I'm just pointing out that brainwashing is out there, it's going on, and it is very very real, and unfortunate.

Oh, I see! Wow. I am sorry to hear about your brainwashing experiences then and am happy that you have gotten away from that cult behavior. It is happening yes and it is a disgrace to humanity that it does.

Sarky

You've gotten through everything so far with only yourself and a few family/friends. You'll get yourself through everything else to come in a similar way. Give yourself some credit, you're better at this than god.

User2611

GarIT wrote: »

I have read the bible fully and found that many things in the bible defy the laws of physics. There are so many mistakes in the bible that I feel it couldn't possibly be true.

A quick example of one is where god is quoted saying "all the lands that floats on all the waters". Simply physics or geography will tell you that countries arent floating but if someone created the earth they should know that.

The Bible also says that if you ever question gods existance, even just think to yourself "I'm I sure got is real?" that is a sin that can never be forgiven no matter what you do. Therefore theres no chance of me or many other people getting in ever.

Then there is the changability of the church. All Catholocism is based on the bible, yet they think they can change their views on things freely, if they want to live be the bible they should do it right. Cutting your hair is as bad as murder, or stealing as far as the bible is concerned, so if the bible has any truth were all sinners.

If you take articles from the sun newspaper that equal the length of the bible, there will be more things wrong in the bible.

I'm currently writing a book on all the mistakes in the bible.

i would read that.

ShaneTheThird

Hi guys, I suppose this is as good a place as any to introduce myself. Lurked a bit for a while before deciding to join the fun.
There's probably not an accurate term to describe people like me. I think that the simple processes of nature and physics are fascinating, buy not in a religious sense. The idea that these are built into the very being of the universe or developed almost randomly over time is, to me, far more amazing than any intelligent design.
As regards religions as a whole I generally have no issue. Whatever stops you from raping and pillaging really. The organisations may be corrupt to the corner but the ideals seem ok.
I have a pretty low opinion of humanity, but that's ok because it generally doesn't care and churns out geniuses every now and again to redeem itself.
As for the exsistance of God issue, I hold the line "There's no proof either way". While the knowledge of the universe may be infinite, our ability to comprehensions it isn't; there's so much we don't and may never know. Which to me is a much better motivator than living with cloud people forever.

Kivaro

ShaneTheThird wrote: »

As regards religions as a whole I generally have no issue. Whatever stops you from raping and pillaging really. The organisations may be corrupt to the corner but the ideals seem ok.

You think religion stops us from raping and pillaging?

Morality 'evolved', and we would be in serious trouble if we based our morality on religion.

Dietsquirt

GarIT wrote: »

I have read the bible fully and found that many things in the bible defy the laws of physics. There are so many mistakes in the bible that I feel it couldn't possibly be true.

A quick example of one is where god is quoted saying "all the lands that floats on all the waters". Simply physics or geography will tell you that countries arent floating but if someone created the earth they should know that.

The Bible also says that if you ever question gods existance, even just think to yourself "I'm I sure got is real?" that is a sin that can never be forgiven no matter what you do. Therefore theres no chance of me or many other people getting in ever.

Then there is the changability of the church. All Catholocism is based on the bible, yet they think they can change their views on things freely, if they want to live be the bible they should do it right. Cutting your hair is as bad as murder, or stealing as far as the bible is concerned, so if the bible has any truth were all sinners.

If you take articles from the sun newspaper that equal the length of the bible, there will be more things wrong in the bible.

I'm currently writing a book on all the mistakes in the bible.

Any updates on this?

Obliq

ShaneTheThird wrote: »

Hi guys, I suppose this is as good a place as any to introduce myself. Lurked a bit for a while before deciding to join the fun.
There's probably not an accurate term to describe people like me. I think that the simple processes of nature and physics are fascinating, buy not in a religious sense. The idea that these are built into the very being of the universe or developed almost randomly over time is, to me, far more amazing than any intelligent design.
As regards religions as a whole I generally have no issue. Whatever stops you from raping and pillaging really. The organisations may be corrupt to the corner but the ideals seem ok.
I have a pretty low opinion of humanity, but that's ok because it generally doesn't care and churns out geniuses every now and again to redeem itself.
As for the exsistance of God issue, I hold the line "There's no proof either way". While the knowledge of the universe may be infinite, our ability to comprehensions it isn't; there's so much we don't and may never know. Which to me is a much better motivator than living with cloud people forever.

Hello then