why are you an atheist?

[Aino Ailill]

I was raised in an...apathetic Christian family. We (my mother, sister, and I) went to church regularly until I was in kindergarten. We stopped going because of a sermon given that said a woman's proper place is under men. At this point I still belived in God (though I did not reject any other god.) By the time I was six, my faith began to waiver. My (rare) prayers consisted of me asking God to do something (such as giving me a white bunny pet) to prove His existence to me.

Because of these doubts, and the strong Christian society I was surrounded with (outside of my home), I began to become insecure. When I was eight years old, I would tout around the Bible with me and read it at any chance I could. I was determined to be a faithful believer...but in reading the Bible, this opposite occurred. I began to question the benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient God I had been taught existed.

By ten, I was no longer Christian, but nor was I Atheist. Deist would most likely be the most accurate description. While I did not believe in a personal god(s), I had never even considered that nothing existed, nor had I heard these sentiments from any other person.

At eleven years, I moved. My surrounding were even more Christian than ever before but I was withdrawn from these surroundings and I was also exposed to those who claimed to be pagan (Wiccan, druid) and such, my first taste of a non-Christian faith. I was slow to make friends and so spent the majority of my time reading and learning how to more effectively analyze and question. I was then agnostic. The idea of a possible god once more entered into my thoughts but I saw no reason to worship, even if s/he did exist. My mother and father gave me life and yet I do not worship them, why should I an unprovable god?

By the end of my seventh grade, I was a strong Atheist. I never went so far as to claim (as fact) that no deity exists, as there is no evidence. But there is not evidence for a God to exist either, and no reason to assume one (or more) does. I later learned that this reasoning had a name, Occam's Razor. Make no unnecessary assumptions.

Quote:

Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or "shaving off", those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. In short, when given two equally valid explanations for a phenomenon, one should embrace the less complicated formulation. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae (law of succinctness):

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem,

which translates to:

entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.

This is often paraphrased as "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest hypothetical entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.

 

[Prince Rilian]

I'm an atheist because there is no evidence to indicate that any events occur due to the whim of an unknown being -- everything follows laws that can be represented mathematically.  

[Freebird4077]

Because religion is pointless.  

[Spooky Electric]

I'm an atheist because when I was about five or six years old, one of my first real exposures to Christianity was going to Sunday school with my best friend of the time.
We watched some of those cheesy stupid Bible cartoons that they have and then later on the adults started talking like it was all real. I mean, I figured Sunday school was for doing cutesy arts and crafts and watching TV, then I find out we're supposed to believe that the freaky-a** s**t going down in these cartoons are true stories?
Yeah. Right.
So the fact that Christians were obviously completely crazy turned me off the whole thing and I haven't questioned my decision since. I've been an atheist for 77% of my life, yay! o_o/
Even though I didn't know what the word for it was until I was 12.  

[[The Looney Bin]]

I was raised with parents who were simply "spiritual" not necessarily Christian but here in America that's the kind of church they dragged us to. So I enjoyed the simply answer to everything of "goddidit" but I hated church so I decided to really be "absent" from religion, I didn't believe in a god, I felt basically neutral, like I never thought about a god, I basically edited the idea of religion away from my life, but for some reason my parents kept forcing it onto me. And at some point I couldn't take it. I couldn't stand church and I soon investigated the idea of Christianity with less ignorance and found that "believing in a god means that you believe that you are a lesser figure" personally with two little sibling I wasn't treated as an equal, so I was a strong fighter of equality, so believing that I was a lesser was just something I couldn't do.

I lived life as a demi-agnosic, thinking of god as non-existent or my equal.

As I grew older I grew more and more against the idea that I was a lesser and soon dropped the idea of god altogether.

I had a friend that was Muslim and that one month a year he would fast, during this month he was a grumpy a**. I questioned, "why do you do this to yourself? Do you realize that your not eating until dark makes you an complete a** to us?" we couldn't hang out as often because he had to accommodate he feasting. This was the point that blew me over the edge "religion is the leech that lives off the soul".

I grabbed the idea of Satanism "be your own god" and fought hard against any religion I could.

So far the only religeions I respect is Paganism (Harry Potter For the win!), Buddism (All life is equal for the win!), and Satanism (Be your own god for the win!)

 

[Becka Minato]

I'm Atheist because I'm sick of people trying to shove bullcrap down my throat. I believe in pure, scientific facts, and that we evolved from lesser creatures.  

[Dathu]

Becka Minato

I'm Atheist because I'm sick of people trying to shove bullcrap down my throat. I believe in pure, scientific facts, and that we evolved from lesser creatures.

Damn right!  

[Niveous]

Why am I an atheist..hmmm



I think...

therefore...

I am....


one.


Sorry Descartes ::points to the last word:: It's not copyright!! IF vanilla ice can do, so can I!!!!  

[nightingale_squall]

Hmm. I remember always questioning religion when I was little, because so many things didn't make sense (My mother attempted to raise me as a Catholic). Like why people couldn't love who they wanted to love, and how so many people would hide behind their religion and whatnot. And a lot of the "logic" that most religious people would use would contradict themselves or was just... false; or at least somewhat false. I didn't even know what athiesm was until I hit middle school... I'm extremely open-minded, and I'm quite happy as an athiest. biggrin  

[ChocoChan]

I used to be what you may call a hardcore holy-rollin' Jesus freak.
But problems started coming up, little by little, depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies just took over, and no matter how hard I tried, god was silent. He never answered my prayers.

God abandoned me, and so I abandoned him.  

[Dathu]

ChocoChan

I used to be what you may call a hardcore holy-rollin' Jesus freak.
But problems started coming up, little by little, depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies just took over, and no matter how hard I tried, god was silent. He never answered my prayers.

God abandoned me, and so I abandoned him.

So...do you still believe in god, but choose to say you don't in order to "abandon" it? Cause then, technically, you'd just be an antitheist, not Atheist. Right? sweatdrop  

[[x] Natasha [x]]

Religion seems completely impossible. The idea that there is a "God" watching our every move seems a little odd (and pervy) and seems completely illogical. I believe in fact and all things scientific. End of story.  

[Recca]

Hmm, I will consider this my introductory post, I guess.

I was born to a Jewish mother and a Lutheran father and I grew up celebrating both Christian and Jewish holidays. I went to Hebrew school until I was 12, but dropped out before my bat mitzvah because I did not believe in it and had already gotten in too much trouble with the rabbi.

Once I declared myself an atheist to my parents, my father admitted he too was an atheist and my mother admitted she was actually agnostic. I was only sent to Hebrew school so I could appreciate Jewish culture, as it was very important to my mother and grandparents (they are survivors of the holocaust).

As for what made me realise I was not a theist, that is more difficult. I forever remember deep interest in sciences (I am to receive a B.S. in molecular psychobiology come May), and scientific study most likely led to reasoning that there was insufficient data to back theism. I am also certain the lack of gods in my household did not hinder this development.

Sorry my post was so tl;dr. sweatdrop  

[Meirelle]

I'm agnostic.

There is no proof of god, nor is there proof of a lack of god.

And if there is a god, and he's arrogant enough to damn me to eternal suffering because I don't worship him... then he's just not worth my time. And if there is a god, and he gives eternal life to those who do good... then I respect that and I look forward to meeting him. And if there is a god, and he came down to Earth in his UFO to dump microbes in a cesspool so they could evolve into people... then damn, can I have his spaceship?

For real, though, "god" is a dumb word. I'm a very scientific person. Maybe the dude you call God is just an imperfect being like us, only living at a higher plane of existence.

There is no way to prove such a being (or beings) exist-- but they might. Does that mean I'm gonna worship it/them if proof is somehow found? No. Not a chance. Why not? 'Cause all sentient beings are equal, in my humble opinion.

Psh. Or maybe I just think about this way too much.

I'm just glad I have nice, liberal Roman Catholic parents who respect my choice of beliefs, and who taught me to respect the beliefs of others. We need more people like that in the world. heart