Why Do People Become Atheists?

I don't consider myself an atheist but I guess I could be considered one depending on how you define God. I don't think any of the religions have it right but I won't rule out the possibility that some type of God or Deity does exist.

Everything you said can be reversed and projected onto believers. Even though believers and atheist are on opposite ends of the spectrum both exhibit the same arrogance that you talk about. Believers think they know that God exist because some book that was written a thousand years ago by dozens of people says so. Is it not arrogant to believe that you know what happens when you die, when nobody has ever died and came to life? The fact is NOBODY knows what happens when you die, the origin of the earth, and Universe.

 

Actually you'd be considered agnostic, not atheist Reggie. An atheist denies the existence of God or any type of deity, whereas an agnostic doubts such a being exists, but isn't completely sure.

 

As I've said through the thread the subject is atheism that's why I haven't criticized other ideologies for their dogma. Well many have died and come back and reported near death experiences. We consist of energy and according to the law of thermodynamics energy can't be created nor destroyed so I believe we will always be here in some form another the only thing I question is present conciousness. Will we be aware of it? Who knows but I do revel in the grand design of existence as we know it. Its absolutely awe inspiring.

 

First time poster, lifelong atheist

I was never raised in any particular faith, which I thank my parents for. Religion, god, etc were just never talked about in our household. Everyone is basically born an atheist. No one comes out of the womb believing in Christianity, Islam, in divinity, etc. They generally pick that up along the way depending on who they're raised by and what community they're raised in.

I'd also disagree that it takes a lazy mentality to become an atheist. Especially when dealing with a society and family members who can be very hostile to the concept. Reading up on accounts of former theists, in many cases discarding their faith in a divine being or the supernatural is not a decision that is made lightly and without a lot of thought. You don't get a book or scriptures with ready made answers to dictate what you should find right and wrong in life. Unless they simply tell you you're an awful person or morally flawed for not believing. It can be a very difficult process to go through.

I've lost count how many Christians I've had tell me that homosexuality is abhorrent and gay marriage should never be allowed in this country. When I ask them to tell me why 9/10 I get "The Bible says so." I've heard "God put the races in different areas of the world for a reason" to justify hating interracial marriage, defending segregation, or not allowing kids to have friends of other races more times than I can count. Sorry but sounds like lazy thinking to me. Not to say that ALL Christians have that mentality. I'm just saying lazy thinking is not necessarily ideologically specific. Plenty of theists are critical thinkers which has nothing to do with their religion, just as there are plenty of atheists who are lazy thinkers which has nothing to do with them being atheists.

Atheists have faith just as much as Christians do. Maybe not in a divine authority or alternate planes of existence but we have faith in friends, family, the well being of ourselves and people we care about, etc. It might be passive faith, as in we don't focus on it specifically, the way a theist focuses and affirms his/her faith in whatever deity they worship but it's still faith. And likewise I'd argue there are atheists out there who have faith in things many theists do not.

As for why I'm an atheist personally, I guess I'd just need more evidence than what's been presented. It's not something I talk about much because where I live when people realize you don't believe in God they can get nasty FAST. But scripture, sermons, and faith alone (the very definition of which is basically belief without evidence) are not enough for me to dedicate myself to or accept belief systems (of which there have been thousands worldwide). While I think most people believe what they believe and go about their business, the violence, bigotry, atrocities, hypocrisy, judgmental attitudes, and trying to dictate how others can and can't live their lives based on religious beliefs, scripture, and dogma in itself has always turned me off to organized religion in general. And I realize there are plenty of judgmental atheists out there too. I'd be lying if I said I don't fall into that category to some extent. I'm far from perfect believe me:smt028 It just seems to me the greatest annoyance people have with atheists is many of us can be condescending and patronizing. Which while annoying to me doesn't seem nearly as horrible as some of the behavior I've witnessed coming from some members of the other side in regards to how they treat people who they disagree with or don't follow their worldview.

But it's good that people can discuss these things and agree to disagree. I like the atmosphere here. I've checked out this forum for a couple of months now and am glad I got to make my debut in this topic:smt023

 

Nice first post. I agree with you completely.

 

Welcome to the club Jase:smt023

 

I know the definition, and do consider myself agnostic. I have some alternate theories or what God could/may actually be which is why I say that. In some ways I think the definition of God could change depending on who is asking the question what is God? If an ant somehow had the mental capacity to ask the question what is God, in some ways couldn't humans be considered Gods to them? I think the same thing could apply to humans. Imagine if prehistoric humans came into contact with Aliens that were millions of years more advanced than they were. Based on what they knew about the world they would probably consider those aliens Gods. If you think of some of the abilities that are assigned to God then a very advanced alien species could very well be considered god by our own definition.

 

Sorry this was a double post of my last comment.

 

Thats not Christian thinking - that is racist thinking. Has nothing to do with Christianity other than using it as an excuse for their racist beliefs,

 

Can't speak for other atheists, but I stopped believing in god because so much bad shit goes on in this world to good people and for what? I've heard the whole "god is punishing this filthy world" shit. I'm not falling for it. And people tell me to "just have faith". That's not good enough. And it seems like with religion, people can't be wrong in their explanation. The power of god reigns supreme over any and all facts. If somebody is sick, you may have somebody say, "don't worry, you will get better. I know it. God will find a way". But then *OOPS!*, they happen to die, and then all of a sudden, "It was all part of god's divine plan". Fickle much? I remember singing this one(of many) Christian songs back at my old school called "god has a plan for my life" and I never really understood whay the plan was. Then I realized a few years ago that I make the plans, not god.

I also don't like how these stories about walking on water or turning a loaf of bread and a fish into a buffet for all. People take the bible too literally. On top of that, people interpret the bible differently. If you told somebody who believed in god that you walked on water, they would say "that's impossible". But will believe jesus walked on water as if it was proven on Mythbusters. Also, things get twisted over time in history. Think of it as a game of telephone. By the time the message gets to the 20th person, it may be fucked up. Think of how distorted shit gets over two millenniums. Hell, I'm sure a lot of them mufuckas back when "Jesus" was alive were dehydrated as shit and "saw things" or were fairly superstitious in some way and may have exaggerated these stories in some way. Because let's be real, people will blow up a person's hype if they admire them enough. And I haven't read the bible in years, but have any of these miracles performed by Jesus ever been done twice? It makes me think that if he can feed a bunch of people once, why not do it twice, or why not walk on water again? I would think if somebody had these kind of powers/abilities, they would use them more than once.

And If my faith is gonna be tested by getting boils, my livestock killed AND my family killed(icing on the cake), I'll tell god to his face, "fuck that shit and fuck you, puto". I'm not gonna attempt to sacrifice my son to make anybody happy, either. How does that make a mufucka happy. How does that help me and how how does that help you,

And as far as being lazy, that's a bunch of Steve Harvey bullshit. Straying away from believing in fairly tales and magic tricks and extra ribs isn't what I'd call lazy. I'll believe in a parallel universe before I believe in this stuff again.

I've been told by many people that they've "Seen or felt" god or some presence. When they got in a car accident, they saw or felt god. In my mind, I'm thinking, "yeah, sure". Hell, I think I feel a presence all the time when I'm walking down a street with no street lights, but that doesn't mean there is anything or anyone there.



But this is just me speaking on what I think.





But I'll be damned if I let my family know I don't believe in god. All hell would break loose(pun?). I'm just glad my group of friends don't believe in god. We can be shit talking heathens with no consequences on a biblical level.

 

Gotta disagree on that. It's much easier to believe in something that you've known all your life. Yeah, people go through their rebellion stage with their parents, but for the most part agree with much of what they were raised on. It's easy to say "because the bible said so". It's just as easy as saying "because I can't see god". Although, there is usually more after they say they can't see god. I usually hear nothing after somebody says "because the bible said so", or they just repeat the same thing but reword it.

 

I agree. the more you ask questions then more questions come about because of dumbass answers (ambigous). example the bible states that he will protect the righteous because he is a just G-d. yet he allowed Job to get done over by the devil. when Job ask him what the Fuck then G-d gets mad. was G-d playing a game with Jobs life and the people around him ? what the fuck is up with that ? why do christians go to church on sunday and eat pork, dont keep passover like Christ did but say you have to be christ like. that is the definition of christian being christ like.

 

their favorite thing is you cant see the air but you know its their. yeah but air has weight also and you can feel it too.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Dude, my dad uses that line.

 

The aliens are godlike thing wouldn't work for me, but then faith is an area that I simply do not question in my life. Why that is, I'm unable to articulate, all I can tell you is I know there is a God, and were someone to appear with what people consider godlike qualities, I would know it was not God. Sorry Reggie, I know that's terribly unhelpful, but it's the best I can do at the moment. Some things defy explanation, and faith for me is one of them.

 

:smt038

 

So its not that many of you are actually atheists its that you don't believe in the validity of Christianity because believing there is no God is totally different than rejecting dogma.. I think its important for us to clearify.

 

I think living a life of faith is far more difficult because you are constantly being tested opposed to a life where you don't have to be tied to any one way of thinking.

 

..because life is nothing more than a series of random occurrences that we can either quantify or label through research and innovation.


(sarcasm)

 

I talk about Christianity in my post more because I was raised a Christian. I can't speak on experiences of being Buddhist or anything else. I don't believe in any "gods". Doesn't matter what the religion is. And at the end of the day, a lot of religions have similar ideas and such, such as putting your faith in some kind of reigning power that isn't seen, isn't a person, etc.