Reasons for atheism

[Tomef]

I appreciate that many people are atheist because they see no reason not to be. I'm interested in hearing from people who did have a belief, or were agnostic, and chose atheism for a specific reason.

Personally, I'm agnostic on whether or not there might be something that, if we encountered it, we would consider to be a kind of superior being something like what we'd call a deity. I mean, I suppose it is possible. I'm atheist as far as the chances of such a being matching up with the ideas of any of our human religions, though. I had a fairly brief dalliance with Christian faith, but the easily researchable, although time-consuming, fact of the fictional origins of the existence of gods, and the history of the creation of religious texts (based on earlier texts, earlier beliefs and so on) makes it very obvious that all of our religions were created by us. None of the divine revelation claims fit how the various religious books actually came to have the form they have now.

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

 

[ChristineM]

The church i attended had a tradition that every week one of the teenagers of the congregation would read a passage from the bible. I have an eye condition that was undiagnosed at that time and was unable to read. Of course, over the months i repeatedly refused. The congregation began to whisper then openly mock and taunt me.

Not good for a self conscious 14 year old. I eventually left the church (actually stormed out of a service tears streaming down my face) thought i was still Christian.

Soon after i was diagnosed and corrective eye glasses prescribed. For the first time i could see letters, make out words, it was a revelation to me. I taught myself to read, the second book i ever read cover to cover was the King James Bible.

It was all there, the hatred of difference in the name of god, the reason the congregation turned on me, and many more horrors. I understood, and slowly, over a couple of years i lost my faith to become atheist.

 

[Tomef]

The church i attended had a tradition that every week one of the teenagers of the congregation would read a passage from the bible. I have an eye condition that was undiagnosed at that time and was unable to read. Of course, over the months i repeatedly refused. The congregation began to whisper then openly mock and taunt me.

Not good for a self conscious 14 year old. I eventually left the church (actually stormed out of a service tears streaming down my face) thought i was still Christian.

Soon after i was diagnosed and corrective eye glasses prescribed. For the first time i could see letters, make out words, it was a revelation to me. I taught myself to read, the second book i ever read cover to cover was the King James Bible.

It was all there, the hatred of difference in the name of god, the reason the congregation turned on me, and many more horrors. I understood, and slowly, over a couple of years i lost my faith to become atheist.

Yeah that conformity is something you love or hate I think. Well done for getting through the KJB! Funny how people insist on using that. The language does bring out the smiting and the damnation though.

 

[libre]

The quote in my description hints at my views.
It's not so much that I came to atheism from existentialism, but it was existentialist ethics that convinced me that whether or not god(s) exist was philosophically independent of how we use our agency and make our decisions.

The text 'Existentialism is a Humanism' led me to the stance that the 'Divine Command Theory' espoused by my family was simply 'divine' bad faith. Even if any given deity could be demonstrated to exist or accepted as a first premise, it does not change that humans are condemned to make our own judgments and decisions. I don't think a man or woman in the clouds instructing me how to act would necessarily be any different than any other given human advising me. At the end of the day, I am the one who chooses to act and I am responsible for how I carry myself. To find comfort in having others make choices for you is inauthentic.

 

[Kfox]

I appreciate that many people are atheist because they see no reason not to be. I'm interested in hearing from people who did have a belief, or were agnostic, and chose atheism for a specific reason.

Personally, I'm agnostic on whether or not there might be something that, if we encountered it, we would consider to be a kind of superior being something like what we'd call a deity. I mean, I suppose it is possible. I'm atheist as far as the chances of such a being matching up with the ideas of any of our human religions, though. I had a fairly brief dalliance with Christian faith, but the easily researchable, although time-consuming, fact of the fictional origins of the existence of gods, and the history of the creation of religious texts (based on earlier texts, earlier beliefs and so on) makes it very obvious that all of our religions were created by us. None of the divine revelation claims fit how the various religious books actually came to have the form they have now.

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

I was brought up in a Christian household which was fine when I was a kid, but as I became older my natural skepticism took over and a sincere search for the truth turned me away from Christianity. I consider myself skeptic but because I am skeptical of religion also, they call me atheist.
You call yourself agnostic; how are you defining agnosticism?

 

[Twilight Hue]

I appreciate that many people are atheist because they see no reason not to be. I'm interested in hearing from people who did have a belief, or were agnostic, and chose atheism for a specific reason.

Personally, I'm agnostic on whether or not there might be something that, if we encountered it, we would consider to be a kind of superior being something like what we'd call a deity. I mean, I suppose it is possible. I'm atheist as far as the chances of such a being matching up with the ideas of any of our human religions, though. I had a fairly brief dalliance with Christian faith, but the easily researchable, although time-consuming, fact of the fictional origins of the existence of gods, and the history of the creation of religious texts (based on earlier texts, earlier beliefs and so on) makes it very obvious that all of our religions were created by us. None of the divine revelation claims fit how the various religious books actually came to have the form they have now.

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

I was actually a dogmatic hard atheist after I left Christianity, but realized later that I was wrong about agnosticism by thinking that agnostics believe there was a possibility of a God existing, making them essentially fence sitting theists, for which on another forum I had my *** handed to me in the debating section over it.

That actually was a good thing because it prompted me to re-examine agnosticism and after reading Professor Dawkins, "The God Delusion", I realized agnosticism had to be scientifically approached which requires one to always be open should new information surface that me alter one's views which put me into Dawkins temporary agnostic category since the question of God being a yes or no question, makes it possible to be approached using science and associated evidences that go along with it.

I've since revised my views alongside Dawkins that my belief in God is of the same veracity as my belief that there are real actual gnomes living and walking around in my garden.

 

[Heyo]

I appreciate that many people are atheist because they see no reason not to be. I'm interested in hearing from people who did have a belief, or were agnostic, and chose atheism for a specific reason.

Personally, I'm agnostic on whether or not there might be something that, if we encountered it, we would consider to be a kind of superior being something like what we'd call a deity. I mean, I suppose it is possible. I'm atheist as far as the chances of such a being matching up with the ideas of any of our human religions, though. I had a fairly brief dalliance with Christian faith, but the easily researchable, although time-consuming, fact of the fictional origins of the existence of gods, and the history of the creation of religious texts (based on earlier texts, earlier beliefs and so on) makes it very obvious that all of our religions were created by us. None of the divine revelation claims fit how the various religious books actually came to have the form they have now.

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

I never "became" an atheist, I was born that way.

 

[Tomef]

The quote in my description hints at my views.
It's not so much that I came to atheism from existentialism, but it was existentialist ethics that convinced me that whether or not god(s) exist was philosophically independent of how we use our agency and make our decisions.

The text 'Existentialism is a Humanism' led me to the stance that the 'Divine Command Theory' espoused by my family was simply 'divine' bad faith. Even if any given deity could be demonstrated to exist or accepted as a first premise, it does not change that humans are condemned to make our own judgments and decisions. I don't think a man or woman in the clouds instructing me how to act would necessarily be any different than any other given human advising me. At the end of the day, I am the one who chooses to act and I am responsible for how I carry myself. To find comfort in having others make choices for you is inauthentic.

I get what you mean about ethics. The first people I met who thought and talked seriously about ethical behaviour were Christians, like you it was a while before I saw some of the holes in their worldview, and discovered existentialist thought.

Interesting what you say about bad faith. That chimes with how I see some of my nominally religious friends, people who profess a faith but can’t explain why or what it means. There does seem to be some truth in what (I think) is a Jesuit motto, that if they get someone as a child that person will be a Catholic for life. I know a few people who aren’t remotely interested in understanding what it means to follow Christ, as he laid it out, but who go to church for the rituals and some vague sense that they are doing the right thing, or something like that. That seems like religion as bad faith. I do know some really smart, thinking people though who have so intertwined the practice of Christian values into their lives, and who really, genuinely believe that there is a person called Jesus who is involved in their daily lives and who is also god. I can’t really think of them as living in bad faith. People whose lives, relationships, decisions are all directed according to that deep belief and a real, thorough understanding of what it means.

 

[Tomef]

I was brought up in a Christian household which was fine when I was a kid, but as I became older my natural skepticism took over and a sincere search for the truth turned me away from Christianity. I consider myself skeptic but because I am skeptical of religion also, they call me atheist.
You call yourself agnostic; how are you defining agnosticism?

As I said in the OP, I’m agnostic about the possibility of there being some sort of mega-being out there somewhere. By that I just mean, well, who knows, I suppose it’s possible there might be some sort of being who would more or less fit the definition of a deity. I’m atheistic in relation to the ideas of who god might be as described in the various religious texts. Those texts, and the history of how they were put together, make it clear that the god personas are fictional.

 

[Kfox]

As I said in the OP, I’m agnostic about the possibility of there being some sort of mega-being out there somewhere. By that I just mean, well, who knows,

But agnostics claim nobody could know; their claim is not only about themselves, but everybody else.

I suppose it’s possible there might be some sort of being who would more or less fit the definition of a deity.

If Halle Selassie Or Kumari can be a deity, anybody can. All you need to do is convince others that you special like that.

 

[Tomef]

But agnostics claim nobody could know; their claim is not only about themselves, but everybody else.

How could anyone know? It may be a reasonable belief, based on what is known, that there are no such things as divine beings, but there’s no way you can know it, not in the same way that we could agree the things we do know and experience exist.

If Halle Selassie Or Kumari can be a deity, anybody can. All you need to do is convince others that you special like that.

Would they fit the definition of a deity, as per religious texts? Are they immortal, omnipresent, omniscient or have any of the supernal characteristics associated with deities? Does the natural world obey their orders? If you read my post, that’s what I’m referring to, a being that might fit that description, not someone who claims to be a god but doesn’t have those qualities. Whether or not they can convince others they do is besides the point, neither of them did anything god-like. But the possible existence of an actual spiritual being of some sort - although I don’t believe there is one - can’t be disproven.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I appreciate that many people are atheist because they see no reason not to be. I'm interested in hearing from people who did have a belief, or were agnostic, and chose atheism for a specific reason.

Personally, I'm agnostic on whether or not there might be something that, if we encountered it, we would consider to be a kind of superior being something like what we'd call a deity. I mean, I suppose it is possible. I'm atheist as far as the chances of such a being matching up with the ideas of any of our human religions, though. I had a fairly brief dalliance with Christian faith, but the easily researchable, although time-consuming, fact of the fictional origins of the existence of gods, and the history of the creation of religious texts (based on earlier texts, earlier beliefs and so on) makes it very obvious that all of our religions were created by us. None of the divine revelation claims fit how the various religious books actually came to have the form they have now.

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

For myself, even though I had a default religion seemingly passed on to me (Protestant Christianity), and if not by my parents (not so much) this came through my schooling, I just questioned it all, and via the number of other faiths being in existence when I was old enough.

I would still regard myself as an agnostic atheist, given that I am not so arrogant as to believe I could have the necessary answers, but to me all the various religions look more like coming from humans alone and without anything divine being a cause other than such being in human minds. There is just too much of the stick and carrot in so many of these doctrines and which seems to me to reflect what occurs within human minds and attitudes more than what they try to convey. This apart from so many other things that tend to not be reflected in our human existence but more in our imaginations.

Anything else as to the benefits or not of religions is irrelevant to me - given we might fare as well without them.

 

[LuisDantas]

Far as I remember I was always an atheist; it just happens that I was raised in a social environment that wanted real bad to make me believe otherwise for not very commendable reasons.

The way I see it both the definitions, belief and existence of deities are inherently very minor matters. I don't particularly mind them; I mind very much that such feeble things are so often raised to a role quite unsuitable to them, that being of central support of whole doctrines.

It is very sad indeed that such potentially constructive things as religions and pseudo-religions are often so contaminated by requirements of god-beliefs.

 

[Clizby Wampuscat]

I appreciate that many people are atheist because they see no reason not to be. I'm interested in hearing from people who did have a belief, or were agnostic, and chose atheism for a specific reason.

Personally, I'm agnostic on whether or not there might be something that, if we encountered it, we would consider to be a kind of superior being something like what we'd call a deity. I mean, I suppose it is possible. I'm atheist as far as the chances of such a being matching up with the ideas of any of our human religions, though. I had a fairly brief dalliance with Christian faith, but the easily researchable, although time-consuming, fact of the fictional origins of the existence of gods, and the history of the creation of religious texts (based on earlier texts, earlier beliefs and so on) makes it very obvious that all of our religions were created by us. None of the divine revelation claims fit how the various religious books actually came to have the form they have now.

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

I was a christian for 18 years. What finally drove me to atheism is that I started asking questions about how I and other christians know things are true. What I found was that I and other christians in my opinion don't have good enough evidence to be convinced. I don't think there is good enough evidence to believe god does not exist either. I don't identify as agnostic because that is a claim about knowledge, that we cannot know if a god exists or not. I think that if a god does exist it is possible to know that it does exist.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

So, that's my main reason for rejecting the various ideas religions present about gods and salvation. I think religions have had some uses in a social sense, but that it's about time we left them behind. But that's for another thread. Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

I've never believed in a religion or held theistic beliefs, but there was an extended period where I tried my best to accept the Catholic Church.

There were certainly lots of things that I couldn't assent to intellectually, but I found that the biggest obstacle to me accepting the religion was the cruelty... especially on issues related to sexuality.

 

[Revoltingest]

Please give your reasons for why you became an atheist if you have any that are specific.

I was born not believing.
I later learned that others do believe.
It all seemed utterly ridiculous.
So a non-believer I remained.

 

[Kfox]

How could anyone know? It may be a reasonable belief, based on what is known, that there are no such things as divine beings, but there’s no way you can know it, not in the same way that we could agree the things we do know and experience exist.

What qualifies as God varies from religion to religion. Agnosticism applies to ALL religions; not just Christianity (or similar) .

Would they fit the definition of a deity, as per religious texts?

Per THEIR religions texts? Of course! Otherwise they wouldn’t be calling them deities.

Are they immortal, omnipresent, omniscient or have any of the supernal characteristics associated with deities? Does the natural world obey their orders? If you read my post, that’s what I’m referring to, a being that might fit that description, not someone who claims to be a god but doesn’t have those qualities.

Again; don’t confuse theism with Christianity; not all religions have Gods with the qualities you listed; especially Polytheistic religions.

Whether or not they can convince others they do is besides the point, neither of them did anything god-like. But the possible existence of an actual spiritual being of some sort - although I don’t believe there is one - can’t be disproven.

That’s why for me being an atheist is about not calling anything God; but something else. I realize what many call God does exist, (nature, the Sun, even people as real as you and I are called God by some) But even if there was a being that meets all the Christian descriptions of God you previously listed, because I never met this being, I don’t call it God thus I am atheist towards that being.

 

[Heyo]

But agnostics claim nobody could know; their claim is not only about themselves, but everybody else.

Some agnostics (and also Agnostics) claim that, I don't. I claim that nobody does know about the existence or nature of gods. There is enough evidence for that. I have yet to find a conclusive reason that nobody can know.
So I identify as a "soft" Agnostic, if I could, I'd become a "hard" Agnostic.

 

[Kfox]

Some agnostics (and also Agnostics) claim that,

What's the difference between agnostic vs Agnostic?

I claim that nobody does know about the existence or nature of gods.

But if the God in question is Kumari or Hallie Selassie, How can you make such a claim about people as real as you and I?

 

[Tomef]

I was born not believing.
I later learned that others do believe.
It all seemed utterly ridiculous.
So a non-believer I remained.

Almost a poem