Why I became an atheist…
Having been raised catholic and going through all the machinations of the Christian religion, although never being a fervent believer or serious religious practitioner, I came to the the obvious conclusion that over the last 5-10 years, I simply didn’t believe in God. Or more precisely, the notion of God was hypocritical, illogical, mythological and just plain didn’t make sense…
First I will use the term God , as most religious Christians, Jews and Muslims perceive him.. as a all-mighty , all knowing, benevolent supernatural being that created the universe and rules over it with his all-mighty power.. (funny how God is always portrayed male…why not a her? .. If there were a God and she wore a stripper outfit.. that would be hilarious)
With so many tragedies and suffering in this world; how can it be with a benevolent all powerful God?.. Why did the Newton massacre happen? why the Boston bombings? why 9/11 terrorist attacks, why world war II , why Hiroshima? why disease, famine, plagues, hurricanes and tsunamis? why? Because God is angry? or because the devil is bored? And if God is really all powerful, why does the devil keep whipping his ass and creating all this havoc? If your like most reasonable minded people you’ll quickly see all the hypocrisy and illogical reasoning this religious belief creates… if you try to take it literally…
In fact, when you stop and think about it, the world makes so much more sense, when you don’t attempt to reconcile it through the prism of God (or religion). When you attempt to introduce God into the affairs of man and nature you quickly run into the dilemma of explaining all the cruelty, death, injustice, pain and suffering in the world. The best explanation that religious folks come up with is that “The Devil made me do it..” , yes the Devil , God’s counter-part from the dark-side, and convenient scapegoat for why the world has all the drama and issues it has.
Maybe, just maybe it’s just the way nature and people interact with one another… It could be that simple..
The Logical Argument…
There are many logical ways attempt to prove that a God, or supreme being doesn’t exist. But at the end of the day your left with the quandary, how can you disprove something that doesn’t exist, so it’s virtually impossible to argue that. The best answer i can offer, is that in my 40+ years of living I have never once seen or experienced anything in the realm of the super-natural. God has never talked (or emailed or text’d me ), so after a while we come to realize, either he doesn’t know I exists or maybe, just maybe there’s no God.. and we live in a natural universe.
Why do we only believe in one God? Oh yeah that’s right the Greeks, Romans and Norse believed in many gods, but those are just silly mythological concepts… we’ve improved the concept now we believe in one-“true” God.. sound familiar…. Why has God not been scientifically proven, why has not one ever seen him? … cause he doesn’t exist.
God is always portrayed anthropomorphically (in the image of man), really? Why would the Universes supreme being model his appearance on advanced ape,a 200,000 year old species (homo sapiens), which are really just a form of advanced primates… if there’s any one notion that God is a man-made , this is it.
Religion always tries to explain everything , particularly the unknown, regardless of if its knows the answer.. Science on the other hand is humble and readily admits there are many things it doesn’t yet have an answer to, plus it encourages validation and verification. That kind of genuine honest and humility counts a lot in mind mind. I don’t know about you but that’s a pretty good litmus test..
I think the best logical argument is expressed in one of comedians George Carlin’s classic skits on religion:
When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion.
Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day.
And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time!
[pause]
But He loves you.
He loves you, and He needs money!
He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!
– George Carlin
Most religious people pay lip service..
I suspect, most religious folks really are only half or maybe a quarter religious. In their daily life life they likely break many of the the strict religious beliefs for their convenience. Religions are a convenient social group most folks in the modern world identify with and belong to, but they don’t take religious ideas or biblical concepts literally. , god is simply the framework laid down a long time ago to help explain how the world worked, when people understood a lot less of the world.
Heaven, hell, the devil, angels, exorcisms,the bible, eating pork..
Alex… “What are things that dont’ exist or are not true”..
The irony of religion…
One of the most interesting ironies of religion, is that religion at its core, when you strip away all the hocus pocus and god magician fairly-tale stuff, you’re left with people, people sharing a spiritual social group. That’s it! amazing right, for all the belief and prayer and other mystical incantations that religious people go through , what really, really counts, is the social nature of it all. In essence all the religious people are really just humanists in disguise.
The Church mass, they prayer at synagogue, the reading of the Koran .. All these are communal activities done with like minded people (I stress people here!) . In fact if you were to take the social aspect of religion out of the picture, you would be hard pressed, to have a following.. which is one reason Atheist and like-minded folks have a hard time expressing their beliefs to others, Because Atheism doesn’t have rituals or social events where folks can flock to. This is exactly what makes religious so potent, it’s not about the God (or Gods) its about the PEOPLE.. how ironic isn’t it?
Don’t try to convert the believers..
I sometimes fall into the trap of trying to logically explain the concepts of my god-less beliefs, only to be flummoxed by the incredulous ability of religious believers to fervently hold onto their views in-spite of unassailable logical arguments. But I have learned , that its best not to turn militant, and attempt to use heavy-handed approaches to “convert” or “enlighten” believers to see the atheist view point.
Rather one should let the theists express their beliefs and recognize this is the world view they prefer to live in .. Provide those beliefs are not causing harm to no one (I’m talking about muslim and other extremists here) , and are bringing peace and happiness to the believer, who am I to question their happiness.. The problem begins when they attempt to force their beliefs and the corresponding social behaviors and ideals upon me..
Be proud of being an Atheist.. Your’re in good company..
Its 2013, and there are quite of few folks like us in the modern world that share our view of a godless world. There are quite a few famous folks who are atheists..
Just look at a few famous atheists and their beliefs. plus there’s a growing resistance towards religion especially among the young , that they are all less religious according to this Pew Poll and many others.
life and happiness, doesn’t require a God..
Life to me is the dash between your birthday and the day you die. That dash that goes on your tombstone or other piece of a memorial that denoted your time alive. That’s really it, life is just that. You are a tiny piece of the universe that came to being and one day will return back to the wonder that is our universe someday. I understand when people tell me they are afraid to die.. sure I’m afraid of the unknown , but then again were you afraid to be born? That time in the universal when your particular collection and arrangement of molecules and atoms that made you up, interacted with all the other atoms and molecules that were around at the same time, that’s your life, its precious and focus your time on improving yourself and the world around you.
Our lives are our collective experiences and future potential experience we share with the world we live in , and for most people in the developed world its a pretty grand experience (its not perfect and their are many disappointments and challenges) , something to be celebrated everyday, with friends and family and to help make the human experience better and more universal… That’s why I believe in people, as a humanist, because at the end of the day, it’s people that brought me into this world, its people that will remember me when I’m gone and its people that make our world the wonderful place it can be ; no God required.