Why Are You An Atheist

[idiosyncrasy]

Since being on this site it appears that 9 out of 10 are atheists. So just out of curiosity, I wondered why? Have you always been one? If not, what made you reject belief in God? I would love to hear your views.

[Hypognosis]

Jonah and the Whale
Methuselah
Lazarus coming back from the dead.
Curing the blind
Feeding the 5000
Water into Wine
The resurrection

I only found out about the talking donkey within recent years, thanks to answerbank.

[Old_Geezer]

I doubt 9 out of 10 are anything of the sort. There are folk willing to debate with those pushing their beliefs though.

[Boto]

Nobody has proved to me that there is a God.

[douglas9401]

I find I'm able to function as a human being without any mysterious ways, thank you.

[Mosaic]

I think you might be working from flawed data. You can only guess at the opinions of most people who you encouter on this site, and there will be many more people who you don't encounter because they don't find the thread of interest.
I rejected my given belief system because it was clearly being used to shore up temporal power, and my studies of humanity over millennia showed that this was a repeated phenomenon.
I haven't replaced it with another belief system, but observation suggests to me that kindness and generosity are innate human traits and don't need the permission of a higher power to flourish.
And nobody comes back from the dead, suggesting that despite the offering of a fabulous afterlife, death is actually the end of an individual.

[1ozzy]

What makes you so sure idiosyncrasy?

[andy-hughes]

I used to believe in God as a child.

As an adult, the notion that any loving God would let people suffer in the way that they do killed the idea stone dead.

I have major issues with the smug superiority of Christians, the 'I've got something you need ...' approach.

[ToraToraTora]

I have been an athiest, almost since the day I discovered religion, I went to a Sunday school and all my schools where C of E. I always put it in the same bracket as Father Christmas as a child, I figured it must be a technique that parents use to help in day to day upbringing. To be fair though my parants never forced it on me and really it wasn't a big thing for them, I noticed it mainly in others. Anyway I am an atheist for 3 main reasons, 1) all religions cannot be correct, they all claim to be the "one" and all the others are wrong, I therefore deduce that they are all wrong. 2) There are many things unexplained by science but science does not demand we believe on blind faith, thus I deduced early on that if something is going to be explained the best chance of that is by scientific experiment and scrutiny. 3) religion is the cause of most evil in the world.

[Copacetic]

The bible and various stories about god seem very fanciful and at odds with facts, this is the main reason I feel more atheist. The bible was written by word of mouth and recanted tales, we all know that when one passes on knowledge to others over a period of time the story can be altered or embellished. I remain open minded about all mysteries but I would not just blindly believe in something.

[grasscarp]

Mosaic, you say - And nobody comes back from the dead, suggesting that despite the offering of a fabulous afterlife, death is actually the end of an individual.
The fact nobody comes back does not mean there is no afterlife. Quite the opposite. If there is an afterlife, it is after your earthly life, so why would you come back - you are in the next life.......
People do die for a short while and get revived and all seem to give similar account of what happened in that time.
I also saw a ghost once, and found out afterwards who that person was when they were alive - nobody I knew, or related to me.
So I believe the spirit does go on.

[mikey4444]

Hypognosis has said it all for me. Include the ludicrous story of the Ark as well !

Its just not remotely believable.

[Cloverjo]

I used to believe in god. As a small child, I remember a coalman came to my school, and he looked exactly like my image of God: short black hair, black clothes and boots. I also believed in fairies back then.

[VHG]

Surely the question needs reversing.

We are all born Atheists, then for some reason some people start believing in a strange "person" that nobody has any proof exists.

So the question should be, "why do you believe in a god?" (I use a small G for god as I don't believe there is any such thing).

p.s. You only need to see and hear about all the people in the church (like Catholic priests) who abuse young children to realise the whole thing is a massive con and a sham.

In fact I believe religion is the biggest con of all time.

[thesecondlaw]

From school, at a very early age. I remember thinking "what a load of old pony this is", nothing has changed since.

[RATTER15]

I come from a christian family that has been deeply involved with the Salvation Army since it was founded, My grandparents knew William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) and attended his funeral.

I was a Salvation Army member and attended the meetings and played in the band with my brothers and sisters until the age of about 12 when I was attending bible study classes. It was at these classes that I would ask my teacher the Salvation Army officer at our Citadel, also my cousins, about things that were contained in the Bible. He really didst answer many of my questions about some of the bizarre things contained in the Bible. Then at School I was being taught about Adam and Eve and how we were created, in one lesson, and then how we evolved from mud dwelling bugs and evolution in another lesson, and I thought, they cant both be correct!

So on looking at both sets of ideas, the only one that made any sense at all was evolution, I then started looking at the Bible in a new light, it then occurred to me that the Bible really does make very little sense and could not possibly be true. So I closed the door on that belief all together. Then life started making a lot more sense.

[vulcan42]

grasscarp, you contradict yourself, you say "the fact that nobody comes back.." and then say you saw a ghost, so isn't that somebody returning? also if ghosts exist why are so few of them seen?
To answer the question, I too was sent to Sunday school and church. I was frequently told the bible was the word of god but when I questioned the contradictions I was told there aren't any. Realising I was being lied to in the name of religion I rejected it and all it stands for.

[Hopkirk]

I studied the bibie and couldn't find reference to the dinosaurs anywhere.

[naomi24]

For me it’s far more than simply disbelieving irrational tales of talking donkeys, the dead walking, and voices emanating from the sky. I was raised a Christian – then I grew up, studied the bible, and discovered that God wasn’t what he was claimed to be. He wasn’t omnipotent, he wasn’t omniscient, he wasn’t omnipresent, and he was far from loving and just. If you need proof that God was not ‘God’ read the bible. It’s all there.

[anaxcrosswords]

I’ve never been an atheist. By definition, atheism is the rejection of a god. What I reject is the concept of religion, which too often uses coercion and fear to gain followers – for me that’s downright evil.

[RATTER15]

anaxcrosswords, so you do believe in a God? if so, which one?