Why are you atheist?

[fhbnfghnbfgbsnbg]

Oh, I just realized that this is the... fourth topic I've made in recent times?
Ah, well.
Perhaps this topic has been done before, but I digress...

In any case, this is a guild for atheists, and I'd like people to share their reasons.

They don't nessicarily have to be "good" reasons; why we do something is different for everyone.

The reason may not be good in someone else's eyes, but the result is the same.

So, if you care to, explain your reasons for not beliving in god(s).  

[Xiporah]

Simple. I wasn't raised in a religious household. We didn't go to church, we didn't say grace, I was never read to from the bible, nor was it really ever brought up.

My mother's agnostic and was brought up the same way. She's now more spiritual, and an ordained minister through that online church. She and my step dad do non denominational weddings for people.

My dad came from the quintessential all American family. They went to church (which he scowled through as a kid) but he's not very religious. He calls himself Christian once in a while, but more because he's white and American. He was quite content to not go to church or any of that crap along with my mother.

Every time I went to church with my grandparents once in a blue moon as a kid, it either felt weird, or when I was really young, God was never discussed in the Sunday School. The last time they ever took me, I was talking to the pastor on stage. Part of their service was to bring all the kids up to the front from the audience and sit down and talk to them in front of the congregation about their life, what they did, what was important tothem, etc.

I proudly proclaimed that I'd learned to 'dance like a spider' and proceeded to jump up and down from foot to foot and wave my arms around wildly while screaming SPIDER SPIDER SPIDER

Everyone laughed. My grandmother was horrified and never took me again.

I tried praying for a little while when I was about 11, but it felt extremely foolish.

It breaks down to this: I wasn't raised to think any other way and I've never had interest in reading the bible, or bothering to learn about it. To me, religion is boring and something that does not apply to me.

 

[x__Death-Of-Glitter__x]

That's interesting. I would have loved to be raised in an athiest family.

I'd always been agnostic, but it wasn't until 2 years ago that I decided I was an anthiest. A number of different things going on at the time contributed to it, but in the end, It came down to the fact that I didn't agree with theism. I didn't believe anything that I knew was in the bible, and most of my views go against what Christians believe. I even looked into other religions, but nothing made as much sense as atheism.

I don't believe in a higher spiritual being. I think the idea of an afterlife has too much control over how people live their life. And even if I had proof that there was a God, I wouldn't worship it.  

[Sanguvixen]

I probably have the most bizarre thing around the led up to me being an atheist.

It started out two-fold. I grew up in a very unpredictable military family with a gay father, who got married to try to save his family line from dying out, and attempted to suppress his homosexual tendencies. He was also very violent.

My mother was always in the back-ground, trying to protect her children, and ended up getting a divorce. That was her second divorce since her first husband murdered her first born son. My mother is Christian, but she doesn't go to church.

I grew up having no friends, since we moved so often, and I also grew up exposed to many different churches in different regions.

I turned to animals, and mythology for companionship, and I was the bad seed of every church I was put in, for the fact that I asked questions, and demanded answers.

Growing up I didn't understand why people believe in the stories of the Bible. So I kind of started ignoring religion as a whole. I was more focused on Dinosaurs, and more importantly dragons.

I knew Dinosaurs were real....and I wanted to believe dragons were too. Once I took a real look at the mythology of dragons, I realized that dragons are not real. I realized the reason why so many people back then believed in dragons was because they were making something up, based on something they observed. I took up and still side with the idea that people came across the remains of ancient animals, such as dinosaurs, didn't understand them, and mythological creatures, such as dragons, were the end result.

Once I came to that understanding, religion clicked in my head. It didn't mean it clicked in a way that I believed in it, but it made me understand why people could believe in such absurd things. That is why, I am an Atheist. I am aware of why religion exists, and therefore I don't follow it. In fact I tend to tell people that I choose to "disassociate with religion" because people don't usually link that to being "Atheist". I only tell people I trust that I am atheist.

For everyone else I simply "Dissociate with religion".

Anyway, after taking a series of history courses in College, my understanding of human history has only further solidified my original notion that religion is just the same as mythology. It's the result of an overactive imagination, and people willing themselves to believe in delusions for the sake of a fuzzy, warm, happy feeling that comes from thinking you understand even when you have nothing legitimate to base it on.  

[Born Of Ash And Despair]

I guess I'm atheist because the whole 'God is real' thing is kind of a joke to me.

I used to believe in god until about fourth grade, when one of my best friends died while we were playing soccer during school. That was a major turning point in my religious beliefs.

Another reason is because people keep trying to force religion into my skull. I hate being told what to do or believe in, so I just tell them to back off.

Well, that's about all there is for me.

 

[Niveous]

I've always doubted God when I was little...at age 10 really.

Because I loved God...a lot.

But I started learning of starving kids around the world and lots of people suffering, not just me personally. I did have a rough childhood, but I had food and water and rationalized it like a good thinking person to still be a decent disposition.

But then around 13-14 something horrible happened to me, and God wasn't there at all. When I asked almost completely broken why God didn't even try to comfort me then, someone actually told me..no joke:

"You didn't have enough faith..you didn't pray hard enough."

I already wasn't a Christian in my heart at that point, but hearing that from a close friend made me realize just how useless the religion makes people and how dangerous it is to make phrases like that the "Advil" of the religion.



It was far better to just think that God doesn't exist, or doesn't care. What happened to me......and the horrors that happen around the world are just tragic events. That and humans need to take RESPONSIBILITY for their own actions and stop hiding behind a God to prove it was OK to slaughter others.


Well, that's my personal sob story. Boo Hoo. razz  

[i theta]

i've been atheist since i was 8 and a disabled person joined my school. She was born with a problem in her legs, and she couldn't walk. I was church of england (protestant, christian) at the time, but I wondered why the hell would God do that to people? So I became an atheist. (Obviously i didn't know the word at the time, or at least I don't think I did.)  

[fhbnfghnbfgbsnbg]

I think I said this in another topic, but whatever...

I made this topic because I wanted to know why other people have chosen to abstain from religion.
To be honest, I'm finding myself doubting my atheism here. An odd position to be in, I do admit.
I'm not considering being religious again; I never really was. I don't know the feeling, I've never had the vibe. At this point, I've just accepted atheism. I've gotten used to it. I rather like it, actually, because I feel that I can view things with a clearer head.

I've seen a friend of mine tell me proudly she's stopped going to church and argued with her parents so she wouldn't have to. Why? She doesn't care. About religion at all.
For some reason that just makes me very angry. Its a big descision to disregard one's faith, and here she just disregards this entirely with an "I don't care about it."
People are persecuted daily for their faith, atheists and religious alike, and she just throws it away with "I don't care." As if it makes her special somehow.

I realize that I hate this, but at the same time I'm unsure of my reasons for being atheist. I do have to wonder: Am I any better than that?

This was completely unrelated, I realize.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

I understand doubting your atheism. I've had moments where I sort of doubt mine - not that I think I believe in God or anything, but that I do think there's some non-entity out there that people mistake for God. I identify myself as a "non-theistic ietsist" ("ietsisme" referring to belief in "something" and usually described as "agnostic theism," therefore I add the distinction of being non-theistic as I do not believe in a higher entity as a conscious being).

Anyway, I was raised in a Christian family. Most of them are Roman Catholic, but my parents left the church when I was little because the priest at the local Catholic church wouldn't baptize me as a baby since they only went to church occasionally. The whole family started going back to church when I was around six because my grandfather found an Episcopal church that everyone liked. Gradually we all became pretty active in the church, primarily in a social manner and also because the environment encouraged serious discussion about why we held our beliefs, rather than just "God said so." If this had been it, I would likely still be a Christian, because I would not have realized why it inherently just "doesn't work" for me.

Of course, that was not it; in high school I started hanging out with a group of Bible Belt Southern Baptists. One of them had invited me to a weekly Bible study, and as I was always interested in learning about lots of different religions, especially my own, I started going. Gradually this evolved into not only a weekly Bible study, but also daily prayer meetings at school (often led by a teacher) as well as a romantic relationship with one of these Baptist boys. Additionally, I had no critical reasoning capabilities of my own, since my parents had raised me to regurgitate their opinions about controversial matters, rather than taught me to formulate my own ideas. I was afraid of doing "wrong" and therefore pushed aside all questions and opinions in my mind and became a mindless bigot.

In college, a pagan best friend started to break me of the bigotry. She introduced me to her religious ideas and asked me about mine. Slowly, I began to realize that Christianity wasn't right for me, and after a few years of moving away from it, I began to investigate other religions, hoping that one of them was right for me; just saying, "Well, I don't know" wasn't good enough. I became very confused and overwhelmed, so I decided to start from scratch. I wanted to have solid reasons (perhaps not empirical, but at least justifiable in my own mind) for any beliefs I might have, so I discarded all of my prescribed beliefs and started examining them one by one. Eventually I came to the realization that the only reasons I ever had for believing in God came from fear, indoctrination, and wishing. Emotional reasons and brainwashing. Neither of those are reasons enough to believe in something; it would be disrespectful to my own intellect and to any religion to claim belief out of such ignorance.

So that's why I became an atheist. I still have twinges of the emotional wanting to believe in God, but I know that this is most likely biologically based (as I believe religious leanings to be largely an evolutionary adaptation for the purpose of survival). Sometimes I think of a God-like idea as my imaginary friend, but I don't think it goes any further than that.

 

[Edi Gammon]

I could write the whole story of how I became atheist after being Roman Catholic for almost 30 years (and I would if you wanted to read it) but I'll just give you the short and sweet.

It all boils down to this. Honesty. With myself primarily.

In the Roman Catholic church at one point people all chant together the Nicene Creed. It goes like this:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen


I've said this thing thousands of times before at church without really thinking about it.... but....
At a point in my life where this honesty with myself became REALLY important to me, I had to ask myself. Do I believe in this God? And the answer I had was 'I don't know, why would I believe it?'... Which really is the same as no. This meant that I didn't believe in any of the rest of this creed... in which are the central tenets of Catholicism. So I couldn't bring myself to say it...


It was pretty clear to me in that moment, when everyone in the church was chanting this except me, that this action of chanting was a kind of social glue. Even if you really didn't believe and were just trying to believe... Just pretending to would be enough to keep all these social ties intact. And I had a choice. What was more important to me? My personal integrity or the approval and acceptance of all these people (including my family).

I mean, virgin birth? We know that can't happen. Bringing the dead back to life? Not without modern medicine, and definitely not after being dead for 3 days with grievous physical wounds. All those miracles in the bible are just stories. Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat. Magic? No.

And in the time since I left the church, the core beliefs of my previous religion and all religions have been crushed, destroyed, evicerated, covered, smothered, hunked, and chunked. By one thing. Honesty.  

[PathlessPlot]

I was Mormon until about 10 or so. People used to love me. I swallowed everything that was told to me without thinking about it. Then I began to move around in Baptist and Methodist churches. After a while (at about 14 I think) I realized that I didn't believe in Christianity anymore. I began to search around for another religion. I became Wiccan for awhile until I realized that Wiccanism didn't really make sense to me either. So I decided that agnosticism was the way to go. Well, after finally finding someone intelligent to date I had the chance to discuss my beliefs and hear opinions and facts from someone else. Then I joined the Society for Free and Rational Thought. That group is what really helped me make up my mind to be atheist. They present facts and websites and books that I can reference for the information I am being told. I like that.  

[SkeletonPhoenix]

Wow, I have a tame one compared to most. I have always thought that science trumps all even when I was a little kid. So yes when I learned about evolution I automatically droped religion as a whole. It didn't help that I never paid any attention to anything when I went to church. It never made sense.  

[D i v i n i t y]

I realized that there isn't sufficient evidence for God's existence; so I decided that it was time I stopped believing in my childhood superstitions. I also decided to not stop thinking whenever people were talking about religion and God. I instantly felt more open-minded and more of a rational being when I accepted that
"extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
[carl sagan]  

[Edi Gammon]

Just to turn this around a bit...

KuroFur, why are you an atheist?  

[fhbnfghnbfgbsnbg]

Edi Gammon

Just to turn this around a bit...

KuroFur, why are you an atheist?

I went to church camp once upon a time (about 1-2 years ago.) and became slightly religious: I don't know whether I believed in God or not, but I was accepting their teachings.

About a month to two months later I was looking at the bible (I.e, reading Genesis) and realized what I was reading made no sense to me. I thought about the irrationality of it all, and decided I didn't agree. Thus, I became atheist.
Pretty hasty of me, I realize now.
EDIT: Actually, I think my timeline is a off. It took longer than that to decide I was atheist.

Anyway, I did research on it, read stuff, read the bible, until I went to church camp again. My (atheist) friend and I even talked to the head pastor for about two hours about religion.
It was very... enligthening. I asked him how he felt God.
I'd never felt what he was talking about, so that reaffirmed things.

And that is my meager tale.

I can add, however:
I don't agree with the religious's views, but I'm not going to disrespect them to the point of calling them crazy, deluded sheep, moronic followers, or schitzophrentic.