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Why are you an Atheist?

Started by pagan1, January 03, 2008, 06:06:05 AM

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Kylyssa

#15
This may sound like a throw-away answer but I am an atheist because I don't believe in God.  As simply as that, it says it all.  I do not have thoughts wherein any godlike entity is part of reality.  It's just the same as if I were to say I am an aunicornist because I don't believe in unicorns.  Neither concept is filed under reality in my brain.

I was born an atheist just like everyone is and my parents never lied to me or made up stories.  They kept their opinions on the matter to themselves until I ran into some thorny religious problems, none of which suggested that the God story was anything but wishful thinking.

McQ

#16
Why am I an atheist? Hmmmm..... Because we're ALL atheists. Yep. You, me, my wife, the lamppost over there. All of us...atheists.

That's because NONE of us believe in god. gods. a god. some gods. certain gods. all gods. no gods.

My wife, a Roman Catholic (cue the choir of angels) eucharistic minister...she doesn't believe in god. Well, not THAT god (you know, of Abraham, Isaac, and Kevin Federline). She believes in THAT one, of course. But not Vishnu, Baal, Rael, or Elvis (wait, he was just a king, not a god).

Get my drift?

You and I are atheists, it's just that I believe in one less god than you, mister christian.
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Kona

#17
I think ultimately my faith was done in by a heavy science education coupled with personal observations of human behavior.  When you spend most of your day diagnosing patients and having to justify your treatment recommendations, this also begins to slowly creep into one's personal life.  It was by this constant assault of logic and reason that led me to conclude god is an illusion....a fantasy....a tool to aid people in coping with their fears and uncertainty.  The problem is though that these are the tools religion uses to gain control of people and enslave their minds to magical thinking and twisted logic.  It's nice to know that I have many years of continued freedom from this trap.
Fight Global Warming......Save a Pirate!


Smarmy Of One

#18
I just don't believe in God. When I look back at my life, I guess I never did. Religion was never a big part of my life. Church was something I was always trying to get out of by faking sick on Sunday mornings or whatever.

It's not because science can explain things better. For the most part, I don't care if science can explain everything. I don't mind some mystery in the universe.

I also am not embittered because bad things happen to good people. I think that this is kind of like rejecting santa because he didn't bring me the G.I. Joes I wanted for christmas.

For me, the existence of god is pretty much like the existence of unicorns or elves - a fairy tale. Frankly, I think there is more chance that bigfoot exists than any god.

Kona

#19
Quote from: "Gibson"So, I'm an atheist because I finally let go of the shackles that were holding my mind a prisoner.  It was gradual because there was so much fear and guilt ingrained in me from Christianity, but those emotions fade more every day that I think for myself.

I completely understand how you feel in this regard....a prisoner of fear and/or guilt.   It can be overwhelming at times.  I think one of my biggest fears and the one that produced the most guilt was the concept of Judgement Day.  In evangelical circles this was described as the instant replay of your life (kind of like the movie "The Truman Show" with a twist of "1984") in which your sins are laid bare for all to see in their unedited glory.  How fun would that be?? :oops:    

I think the one book that I read,  "How We Believe" by Michael Schermer, is credited with helping me get beyond the veil and confirmed the psychointellectual roots of my developing unbelief.  One of the most frequent thoughts I had while I was reading through it was "How could I ever believe such crap?!".   It's easy when a lot of other people do, too!
Fight Global Warming......Save a Pirate!


moosegoose

#20
Quote from: "pagan1"Why are you an Atheist?I would like to know how other people came to the conclusion that there is no god.Sometimes on some very superficial level I start to doubt the validity of making any absolute statement,because I am unable to know everything or even see around corners for that matter,but I feel totally and absolutely certain that there is no such thing as god...
How about you?

Why there should be any god! Just because it has been a tradition to believe so?
I guess much of it, comes as built-in with you. My mind has always been such a debugger, so when priest in school or elsewhere talked, I spotted holes in logic. But I was so kind and nice child (ask my mom) that I trusted when someone was so sure about it. When I grew up and got more character and will, it was natural think logically to final end and make my own conclusions.

I have studied anthropology so I know something of history of religion.
Also studied basics of theology, so I know that priests are lying even about that (theologically atheism is a fact!).

Of course being openly atheist in small country place gave me good experience of bad effects of religion in practise.
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#If problem isn't a practical one, #
#it is misdefined.------------------.#
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pagan1

#21
(quote="moosegoose")I have studied anthropology so I know something of history of religion.
Also studied basics of theology, so I know that priests are lying even about that (theologically atheism is a fact!).

Of course being openly atheist in small country place gave me good experience of bad effects of religion in practise.[/quote]

In Hinduism there seems to be a progression from earlier Upanishads with key statements such as "Tat tvam asi" (meaning Thou art that),to a later Upanishad coming up with "Aham Brahmasmi" (I am Brahman),to an even later Upanishad saying "Neti,Neti" (Not this,Not this) which means to say that any concept or idea of God will be incorrect.Then of course along came Buddhism,which has no need of God at all.In Islam I think that it only takes a very small step in thinking to go from "There is no God but God",to "There is no God..."In the Koran it says that God is closer than your jugular vein meaning that god is closer than life itself,so with such an intimate concept of god it would be easy to come to the conclusion that there is only one reality,and not some superficial division.So I can see the natural progression in thinking towards Atheism in the above mentioned faiths,with Buddhism needing no progression at all,but I am unable to see a similar evolution in christian theology,could you please clarify your statement,"theologically atheism is a fact!"?
From the flag near your name,I take it that you are from Finland,if so I was under the impression that Finland was a very tolerant country with a very high standard of education,so could you tell me what bad effects of religion in practise,you have experienced?

moosegoose

#22
Quote from: "pagan1"*snip*Buddhism needing no progression at all,but I am unable to see a similar evolution in christian theology,could you please clarify your statement,"theologically atheism is a fact!"?

To clarify: I was not talking what is situation in christianity.

In theology "theism" is assumption and as an opposite ("atheism") is automatically a fact (only thing is that it is a fact with no need to be proved cause it is just not accepting assumption made in "theism" and no assumption is a fact itself).
I am talking about scientific theology of course, not theology theology :)

Quote from: "pagan1"From the flag near your name,I take it that you are from Finland,if so I was under the impression that Finland was a very tolerant country with a very high standard of education,so could you tell me what bad effects of religion in practise, you have experienced?

It was (maybe less nowadays) so standard and obvious to be evanchelic-lutheran that many people simply were shocked to find out if you were not. So being an atheist means automatically that you are a communist and so on. For example when going in parish school to prepare for the first communion, my parents simply couldn't accept me quitting it. I can sure you that my parents are not religious persons.
Being member of ev.luth.church is so intensively part of idea of Finnish unity, that there's still a lot of persons who does not accept that you are a proper Finn if you are not church member.
From other countries Finalnd may look very progressive country, I agree that she is, but still there's a long way to go.
Church is still engaged with goverment, there's a law about blashemy, priests are considered as civil servants, evanchelic-lutheran classrooms are default option for everybody in school, and of course social pressure is very heavy.

More smaller place you are living in, less progressive it seems. My cousins was having computer class a couple years ago and made his homepage as a part of it. So he added some atheist websites to his schoolmade homepages in school server and was kicked out. His parents raised a noise and later everything was ok for him, but no the authorities thought there's any problem before his parent's made an official complain.
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#If problem isn't a practical one, #
#it is misdefined.------------------.#
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Maakuz

#23
Hi  Moose, it´s cool to have other finns here! 8)

Why am I an atheist? Because of lack of proof about any gods. I´m a big fan of science, beause it attempts to explain the world around us logically and rationally, and I think science has done great job so far.

Now, religions don´t seem to realize what proving something means. They prove their god quoting bible or whatever their holy book is, as if it´s The All-knowing history book - most of these books were written hundreds or thousands years ago, mostly by people who thought that the earth was flat.

Well, i´m not impressed... But I think most of the religious peeps, if, for example, get ill, will turn to science... And when they get well, they tell people that the earth is 6000 years old or something similar nonsense.

It´s quite sad how diluted these people are, rejecting all the facts science has presented about the real world. :cry:

lacey_sawyer

#24
My mom raised me to believe that I had psychic abilities and that there was a supernatural world behind what we see. Aside from these things she encouraged me to have my own beliefs.  

I did not really see the effects of her influence until I came to a point in my life where I got involved in drugs. This is not like me, but I became a drug addict for a short time.

During this time my life was ruined and all the time I thought that I was in tune with this world that had remained invisible to me until I started doing drugs. I thought that I could see the past and the future. I believed that I saw demons and God. I thought that I had literally seen heaven and hell.

Towards the end of this time in my life I fell into madness and I stayed cooped up by myself for months. Nothing made sense at all and I felt like I was lost in the dark.

I wanted to find my way out. I felt I had lost my sanity. I couldn't get out of the drug environment enough to quit, so I got in my car and drove away from everything. I drove a couple thousand miles and pitched a tent.

I decided to just worry about what was directly in front of me. After a few months I started to think about my beliefs. I looked for truth that I could see in the world around me.

I thought about what makes sense, not because I feel it, but because I can see the evidence. I thought and worked my way out of the darkness that had consumed me.

maielle

#25
When I was about 11-12 I still thought that nobody really believed id God or gods. I thought that they were playing. I thought it was some sort of game. I mean: How on earth can somebody believe in something obviously impossible when they know that other imaginary creatures (santa, tooth fairy etc..) don't exist? Then I realized that they really do believe...

I was 13 when I read about atheism. I knew the word but I hadn't thought about it. I had no opinion about God. I read one atheistic blog and I understood everything. I still remember that moment :)

It was so weird to understand that most people on this planet are strange and perhaps delusional since I had lived all my childhood like every child. I had no abilities to question things. I believed everything I was told... but not anymore.

So that's how i became an atheist.

It's nice to see I'm not the only Finn here. I just have to say that Finland is actually very open country. You're not going to get beaten or anything for being an atheist. Most people don't have much to do with the church except for marriage, confirmation, baptism, funerals and perhaps going to church at Christmas. Of course some people pray and go to church every Sunday but I think that for most Finns being a christian is just a habit.

Happily everyone here has the right to say their opinion and there's been open discussion about disestablishment (separating the state and the church) and the church's status. We've also got few openly atheistic politicians. ^^

moosegoose

#26
Hehee, so many Finns here...
We are taking over...
Start learning Finnish you Unitedstatians (and other)...

Seriously, hearing in school that Jesus is the issue - not Santa Claus, is always a shock.
#-------------------------------------#
#If problem isn't a practical one, #
#it is misdefined.------------------.#
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tomday

#27
Quote from: "moosegoose"Hehee, so many Finns here...
We are taking over...
Start learning Finnish you Unitedstatians (and other)...

Seriously, hearing in school that Jesus is the issue - not Santa Claus, is always a shock.
Although off the theme of this thread, I would like to say that I admire the way that our Finnish members are able to communicate so eloquently in the English language - good on yer!

User192021

#28
It's the only way I know how to be.

Enigma

#29
I was raised as a Mormon.  Although when I got old enough to read the book I found it ridiculous and full of things I knew, even at such a young age, to be false.  But I still thought there was a god.  So I was a Deist up until the age of 10.  But at that age I came to the reasoning that believing in something, anything, without proper reasoning and evidence was inane.  Also I realized the ridiculousness of explaining away a complex system with something infinitely more complex.
“The earth is flat, and anyone who disputes this claim is an atheist who deserves to be punished”