Atheism v. Religion

I don't believe in god because:

a) No evidence supports the need for one. I freely concede that there is no definitive proof either way, but there is no more reason to believe in a creative deity (in the absence of evidence) than there is to believe in naturally occurring coke cans orbiting mars.

b) If you assert that the universe requires a creator, then who created the creator?

I don't want there to be a god because:

a) If there were one, and it let humanity abuse itself in the way it has, it would be malevolent, and the last thing we need is a malevolent ultimate power

b) Because I believe in equality, and a deity would never be equal to humans

c) Because if you take even one look at politics, you can see that power and moral corruption come hand in hand. If I can't trust a politician to work for the good of humanity, and not his/her own good, why should I trust a deity to do so?

One, additional thing occurred to me. If there is one god, then its reasonable to assume that there are many, because if the existence of a god is a natural phenomenon, and it would have to be, then it could happen many times.

 

I am a Christian, but I think the established churches have the capacity, and the will, to do a great deal of harm. This shouldn't be a matter of atheists vs. theists; this should be those who want to do good against the corrupt, harmful, and misleading churches who act only in their own benefit. The Anglican and Catholic churches (among others) are politically active businesses; acting in their own benefit and misleading their followers in order to achieve their own ends. This picture basically sums up my views on hypocritical churches (even my own, to some extent)

 

I would consider myself an agnostic atheist, in the sense that I cannot be certain that there isn't a God, and don't particularly care at this point in my life. I was raise Protestant (as in non-Catholic Christian) but had many issues with the Bible as a child. From the fact that God (who is presented as unchanging and atemporal) changing his position from that of mass genocide against those whom didn't believe in him (and their families) to that of bountiful mercy. This bipolar aspect of God never sat well with me. Apologists have given reasons why this is the case, but I have yet to be convinced.

Another aspect is the fact that I cannot believe in tales of Noah's flood and other events that should have altered the course of civilization. Given that the Bible is presented as inerrable, it makes it harder to overlook such details.

That being said, I do have a small part of me that wants to believe in God. This believing part of me says that life without God is meaningless because we are bound for extinction one way or another. My scientific side of me says that humans want to believe in God because we are the most intelligent, powerful beings known to our environment. Animals always look up to the next thing up the food chain, same as my dog derives her comfort from knowing I will take care of her. We humans have nothing else to protect us from the cold and destructive natural forces that abound all around; our belief in an omnipotent being(s) assuages our fears of living in a brutally inhospitable universe.

But, if God exists and I were to meet him, I would ask, "why have You made it so hard for me to believe in you?"

 

It should be noted that one of my earliest memories was of fearing that god would hate me for being a boy.

 

I felt the same way. I used to pray at night that my family and I wouldn't go to hell because I was a girl. Now I look at religion with resentment for making me so fearful as a child.
I was brought up religious I suppose, although not strongly. My mom is Catholic, and I and my sisters were brought up Catholic as well. Although my mom never put much emphasis upon it, we went to Sunday Mass every week and that was really it.
I do NOT like religious gatherings of any description. But, I have actually been attending Mass with my mom quite frequently, but I don't really participate and genuinely I find it relatively uncomfortable as people often stare at me as I just sit there.(I literally sit at the back with my mom, I don't pray, kneel or anything) But, I do it for my mom, as I think she somewhat needs company.

 

I don't really believe in God, but I'm more of an agnostic than an outright atheist. I believe in science more than anything else, and thus far have found no real purpose for any religious belief. If I were to believe in God, I'd be inclined to go to a stereotypical 'black' gospel church, because those guys know how to have fun.

When my mum was talking to me about God, she asked me if I didn't think it was all too convenient for the universe to be random. I said no. If there's one thing quantum physics has taught me, it's that things simply happen because they do, and you're not going to get anywhere by shaking the God stick at it.

The way I see it, religion was the science of the past, and science has moved on. I don't have a problem with people believing in a god, but I don't see why anyone would want to.

 

The only difference between me (an Atheist) and a religious person is I believe in one less god then they do.

Science will win out, and some day the religions and gods we have now, will be looked upon like the superstitions and gods of old we snicker at today.

 

My Dad knocks on doors for 30 hours each week - he says he has to. At weekends he does a car boot sale (like a market) and has purchased special 'racks' that hold books and magazines to try and sell religion to the general public.

While I turn a blind eye to what someone else believes; it's their choice in life, I don't understand how they can try and 'sell' their belief(s) to strangers because it's something that cannot be proved one way or another.

The huge point is that, when home, all he does is talk badly of his children, the very people he should love. It seems that my parents sit at meeting and learn about love, life and togetherness, and then do the exact opposite when they get home. Mum is better than Dad right now, but I just don't understand how they act the way they do. I could go on, but you should get the point that religion is a word that shouldn't exist.

 

I consider myself agnostic, I do believe in a higher power, but I feel organized religion has missed the mark drastically. Organized religion has become nothing but a way to make money for most institutions. I also find fault in religions that based their beliefs and actions on tradition. It seems humans have smeared spiritual truth with things that suit them.

 

I was a devout Catholic for much of my life, but now I am an atheist.

Part of the reason I think I retreated into religion (I mean I would literally get down on my knees and pray the Rosary every day as a 12-year-old- in Latin :eek was that it provided a crutch, it provided hope that an omnipotent god was out there who could do or change anything if I just prayed hard enough.

And thus I envisioned myself getting married (to a girl) by age 20 and we would pop out lots of little Catholic babies and go to church every Sunday, and everything would be perfect and normal.

When I was a Catholic, I was completely in the closet even to myself, not even entertaining the idea of non-straightness. Coming out as gay and abandoning religion seemed to go hand-in-hand for me. At times I miss being able to turn to a God to pray to when I feel alone and isolated, but I can't justify lying to myself anymore. I don't need a crutch, I need to walk again. I need to solve my own problems, not just pray and wait for God to fix things.

 

As my username might imply, I'm more atheistic than Christian, despite being raised in the Christian church. I'm open to the possibility of a higher power existing, but there is certainly no almighty god. Roman census records prove that Jesus existed as a person, but Mary was NOT a virgin, and there was no resurrection.

Some people have called my views "a less r**arded version of Christianity." Whatever.

I really tried to be a Christian. I really did. But I just couldn't get past the impossibility of a virgin giving birth in 1AD, and that a dead man would "magically" move a boulder and walk out of a grave. And to think that in my country, over 70% of the population calls themselves Christians.

I tried religion too, but I was too smart for it. While most dyed-in-the-wool believers just blindly accept not only the fairy tales, but also obey like sheep in how to vote. In 2008, the Mormon church told its followers to give every dime they had to help pass Proposition 8 to ban marriage equality. Mormons believe that you must do as you're told to get into heaven. This led to people selling their homes, cars, all their belongings, emptying out their kids' college funds, everything.

Point is, I think too much to believe in religion. It's no wonder that the more educated you are, the less religious you tend to be. I like being able to form my own opinion on abortion, and other issues. In 2012, the resounding Christian refrain was that their main goal was to defeat President Barack Obama and replace him with someone who would help overturn Roe V. Wade and make abortion illegal in the United States. :bang:

The most recent surveys show that atheists are more hated in the US than Muslims, and boy do Americans hate Muslims ever since 9/11.

The United States is not a "Christian Nation" and we have what's called the Separation of Church and State ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 1st Amendment), which is and always has been ignored in our government. "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Prayer in schools. Putting portraits of Jesus in public schools. And whenever there's a lawsuit to get these removed, Christians go screaming bloody murder that _atheists_ have declared war on Christians and that we're attacking THEIR religious freedom! :bang:

Point is, I can't stand the way most Christians act. I don't run around trying to convince everybody that there is no god, yet they always feel the need to chase me through the airport trying to convince me to believe what's impossible about Jesus! (sigh)

 

I've read Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and while I agree with 9 out of 10 of his points, I think he's wrong that there is absolutely no God. He did mention the anthropic principle, which means that however unlikely the chance that a life-supporting universe would form (even some otherwise pointlessly tiny number like 1x10^-googleplex) it did, at least once. Therefore, you don't need a deity to do it.

However I don't remember his ever explaining what established the laws of nature that govern the universe. Someone or something did, and to avoid the issue of "Then what created God" we can safely assume that God exists outside of time. Most people will be completely unable to grasp that concept, and people familiar with cosmology/quantum physics will likely agree it is possible.

I don't think I know enough to develop a consistent "theory" of how God exists, but let's just say that there doesn't need to be an earlier, mightier super-God in order to do it. And that's good enough for me.

 

Even if the deity in question were to exist outside of time, which yes, is possible, the deity would be an effect requiring a cause, even if said cause isn't linear. If, on the other hand, things don't require causes, then the establishment of the laws of nature didn't have to be caused, so god didn't need to do it.

And while Dawkins never explained the existence of laws of nature, I've seen at least one theory that does. You mentioned in the first paragraph that a life-supporting universe has formed at least once. With the emphasis on at least. According to the multiverse theory, universes form with randomly assigned laws of nature. We just happen to be in one that has laws which make the evolution of life possible.