So, the title pretty much explains it all. What's your story? This isn't about a debate, b/c there are plenty of those threads already, but rather about how and when you finally decided atheism was "for you".
Well, I did because I started to see how the church supported, and in some cases, started intolerant movements, I realised that no real god could allow that, so god couldn't be real. To put it simply, I find it more believable than religion. In my opinion, although religion once aided progress, it now impedes it.
^I agree with you on that one
I became an atheist, because well, I don't believe there is a god up there watching us, I don't believe that a God created us in a couple of days (creationism) and I don't believe that a God would want his "children" to commit mass murders ad make each other suffer. I respect people who follow a religion, but I don't really believe in any of them.
No better alternative presented itself.
I did not choose atheism. I did not choose no religion either. I just was raised completely without the concept of religion or gods, no theism at all. No one I know (friends/family/relatives) is religious or believes in a god or something. We did not even touch religion in school.
Of course I heard about gods and churches and stuff, but when I was little, I almost never heard "it's god's work" or the like as an answer for my questions. Just a couple of time someone more or less unknown came up with something like god created earth and and dead people go to heaven and so on and so forth, and I was like "damn that man must be 40 doesn't he know we were on the moon there is nothing up there, what is he stupid?"
I never understood how a grown up person seriously could believe what was obviously wrong to me, a kid, and I also never understood that someone with problems would rather waste time to pray and whatever, instead of just dealing with it. That's also the reason why I never ever considered to "seek religion" later.
I know that this isn't exactly an answer to your question since I'm not an atheist, but here goes.....
I'm a Deist. For years I was an agnostic who believed that there was no definitive proof that a god existed, but there was no proof that he didn't exist either.
The reason I wound up a Deist is because my mind needed an answer for existence. How could we be here if something didn't start the ball in motion?
For those of you who don't know what Deism is, here's a short answer for you. Most believe that the "supreme being" or "first cause" simply acted as a clockmaker. It created the mechanism for the universe, set the clock, started the pendulum swinging, and went on vacation without his cellphone or his beeper (prayer). Deists don't pray to a god, because he/she/it isn't active in our daily lives. I tend to think that the "clock" sometimes needs maintenance, so it'll enter the picture again as needed to check up on things, but otherwise, the universe is left to its own devices.
Deists see this "god" as a dispassionate being. Therefore, the idea that he/she/it couldn't exist because of the evil things we see and experience in the world is pure nonsense to us. I think the idea of a loving god as put forth by the Xians drives some people to jump past the possibility of a neutral and disinterested first intelligence and go straight to claiming he/she/it doesn't exist.
My post was nuked by the db crash yesterday, so here it is again (modified)...
If I had made a specific choice to be atheist, I probably wouldn't be one. I didn't exactly want to give up religion - far from it. Unfortunately, when I began trying to talk about my faith to others I couldn't even justify the assumptions necessary in my own eyes, much less anyone else's. So I worked on it. I read theology, read philosophy, read logic. That didn't really help me with my belief - at least as far as justifying it - so I looked if anything else would work out better. I didn't find anything then; I still haven't found anything. So here I am, not so much the product of a particular conscious decision to reject faith, but more as an inevitable consequence of believing that things should be understandable...
I still read apologetics, but it doesn't provide enlightenment - except insofar as I gain greater understanding of the motivations of those who still believe - and I somehow doubt it ever will.
I can't say I chose it. It just felt right for me. When I became one is hard for me to answer because I've never been religious. So in a sense I guess you could say I've been an atheist my whole life.
I'm a very logical and liberal person so believing in my self, science and the truth feels right for me. Stuff like us having an afterlife and the possible existence of a 'heaven' is a comforting thought, that I may see my dog and a very good friend of mine (who died in a car crash a little over 6 months ago) again. But when I think about it seriously I don't believe in an afterlife.
I find it very strange that someone would have the need to believe in some higher being and for example creationism in the 21st century when so much has been explained with the help of science in the last 100 years or so.
You mean you can be both?
Sure. :xp:
Dad is atheist, moms atheist. Just kind went with it. They didn't really push discovering religion, but they didn't prevent me if I wanted to.
I also always get bad vibes near churches.
Right after my first communion where I felt nothing and for the first time really started to think about what church meant to me, why I was Christian and so on. Just made sense.
It started three years ago when my friend invited me to a D&D game...
It started three years ago when my friend invited me to a D&D game...
:naughty:
It started three years ago when my friend invited me to a D&D game...
I wonder if you are my friend who is demanding to play as a "Half-Celestial Half-goblin Atheist Cleric"
I'm actually a quarter-Celestial quarter-Goblin half-Kobold 'Vegan' Thief/Cleric.
For those of you who don't know what Deism is, here's a short answer for you. Most believe that the "supreme being" or "first cause" simply acted as a clockmaker. It created the mechanism for the universe, set the clock, started the pendulum swinging, and went on vacation without his cellphone or his beeper (prayer). Deists don't pray to a god, because he/she/it isn't active in our daily lives. I tend to think that the "clock" sometimes needs maintenance, so it'll enter the picture again as needed to check up on things, but otherwise, the universe is left to its own devices.Although my view of an atheist would not exclude or contradict the possible existence of a first cause (which mustn't necessarily some being), simply because we have to have many first causes out there, not just one for the universe. Also, in case it's some being, or which seems to be more likely, beings, they're maybe just part of some kind of universe which our universe is located in. It's also possible, that our universe is just some kind of really cool simulation of how the "real" universe developed, maybe because some beings were curious about their existence and where they came from, too.
In my opinion, the existence of a higher developed species, beings, whatever, with the knowledge (and technology) to "create" universes, does not contradict atheism, nor does it imply the necessity to worship them by any means. It would, however, render like 99.9% of the religions earth has ever seen wrong.
And for the small nearly impossible chance that it *is* only a one man show going on "up there" and that being seriously wants to be worshiped by all people and stuff, by all means, he's doing a very, very, very bad and lousy job. Firstly, there's an uncountable number of planets out there, which could be overcrowded with people worshiping him, but no, he just puts a handful of jerks somewhere, who are secondly not even sure who to worship, or if there is someone to worship at all. Third: prayers. I mean listening to people is all good, but really, if I were able to create universes, would I want to hear people whine about broken legs or lost amulets, or listen to their selfish hopes and wishes? Yes, we might not know what god's intentions are, but in *my* universe, there *would* be clear Ray has the biggest tree in the garden, and at least 40817 planets would prosper copiously with human life, and the human race would show only one, the female gender. Now *that* would be godlike. :)
The evil of religion.
Which particular evils did you have in mind and how do they differ from the evils of the nonreligious?
Well because science gives me the answers, it gives me more answers than the bible or church… that’s why I choose to become atheism.
I started questioning my fundementalist beliefs, and concluded they were impossible to really fit into any rational world view. When I heard hate preached from the pulpit at a church full of otherwise great people, to a chorus of 'amens' by the way, I finally decided that religion was not for me.
edit: What I'm basically getting at is that the amount of doublethink required to rationalize all the beliefs overwhelmed me.
Extremism in any camp is bad, and religion has time and time again adopted a 'join us or die' attitude.
Extremism in any camp is bad, and religion has time and time again adopted a 'join us or die' attitude.
To be fair though, such attitude are often results of mofos using religion as a political plot device to manipulate things.
Personally I am only technically atheist only. I am more of a buddhist.
I don't remember. Currently, though, it is because there's no evidence for the existence of gods and thus no reason for me to believe in one.
Yes, to be fair religion has been manipulated by those who seek to use it to get their own way.