Atheism and irreligion thread

[Zauriel]

I believe in God (a superio being), but I respect those who don't. I just feel like the universe is so complex and beautiful to believe everything was an accident. Maybe I want to believe in God and life after we die because it makes me feel better and more secure and hopeful.

I used to go to church, but it's been like 20 years that I stopped being a religious person and being part of an organized religion and I feel very happy because I do what I want and think it's right for me and my family. I feel organized religion really just want my $. They aren't better than me. I mean, just look at the news and all the bad things organized religion have been part of for centuries..

I am spiritual. I believe in an spiritual realm. I also love the idea of Jesus and his story. I have read the bible, but I consider myself an independent Christian. As a woman, I often see how organized religion really just benefits men. Women feel like second class and that makes me angry because it's not fair.

You are not the only one. I know a few practicing Christians who don't go to mass in a church anymore. Rejection of organized religion is different from rejection of spirituality or religiosity.

I don't believe in religion but I respect those who do as long as they are not shoving their beliefs onto me.

[dancj]

Full on atheist here - and beyond.

I believe there is no god, no magic, no Loch Ness monster, no ghosts - nothing supernatural.

I believe that religion is probably the single most damaging thing on the planet.

[WillieMorgan]

You can add me to the ranks of 'godless heathens' too. I realised that I was an atheist at a worryingly low age as far as my parents and especially my grandparents were concerned. I'm talking before my teens here. I was an atheist before I really understood what the word actually meant.

I live in Northern England, in one of numerous communities where non-conformism was a strong unifying bond for the people during those hard days of the Industrial Revolution boom. There are at least half a dozen different, and in some cases former, churches depending on personal faith in my village. My grandparents were raised under the Baptist faith. It brought my grandmother a great deal of comfort throughout her life, something I wouldn't try to deny her for a millisecond. Personal faith is one thing, mass organised religion quite another. One of those is a matter of personal choice, the other a hugely destructive force throughout human history.

[Kirby101]

When I say I am a nonbeliever, it is exactly that. I have no beliefs in a religious sense. I do not say I don't believe in a God or I believe there is no God. I say I don't accept that any Gods exist. For me there is a lack of evidence for the existence of a God and much contra-evidence for any of the Gods from the World's religion. Therefore God is in the category of other supernatural phenomena that i don't accept as real.

[WillieMorgan]

When I say I am a nonbeliever, it is exactly that. I have no beliefs in a religious sense. I do not say I don't believe in a God or I believe there is no God. I say I don't accept that any Gods exist. For me there is a lack of evidence for the existence of a God and much contra-evidence for any of the Gods from the World's religion. Therefore God is in the category of other supernatural phenomena that i don't accept as real.

I don't think your original post was misleading. I certainly understood what you were saying. I agree too. Alongside God, I also don't believe in ghosts or the paranormal.

I'm more than willing to believe that there is other life somewhere out there in the universe also. However, that doesn't mean that I automatically think that little green men have visited this planet often, skulking around in remote wooded areas next to their flying saucers and looking for some pissed, stoned or otherwise confused earthling to kidnap and subject to a brain probe!

[4saken1]

I believe that religion is probably the single most damaging thing on the planet.

I concur. Many religious people often conflate theism with morality and wonder how someone can be a moral person without it. To me, the simple answer is empathy, which is something that I find many religious people lack (almost exclusively those on the right side of the political spectrum) towards people who are not like themselves. I often wonder why this is! Could it be that by forcing somebody at a young age to believe something, under the threat of eternal damnation, causes something to break in their psyche? For me, I find it much more comforting that somebody doesn't want to do harm to others because it is not in their nature, rather than because some book of rules tells them not to.

I also think that religion stifles critical thinking. Although almost every religious person will tell you otherwise, the very nature of Christianity in particular informs it's followers not to believe any evidence that contradicts the teachings of the Bible. Looking at many religious people, it is evident that this mindset is carried over to many other areas of belief. Ever try convincing them that the climate change is real or man made? That trickle down economics is a fraud? That Trump is a bad person? I think that religion play a part in not allowing themselves to learn anything that contradicts what they already believe.

I'm not trying to attack people for their religious views, but I do think that it has been the greatest instrument in stifling mankind's growth since it's inception.

[Kirby101]

I don't think your original post was misleading. I certainly understood what you were saying. I agree too. Alongside God, I also don't believe in ghosts or the paranormal.

I'm more than willing to believe that there is other life somewhere out there in the universe also. However, that doesn't mean that I automatically think that little green men have visited this planet often, skulking around in remote wooded areas next to their flying saucers and looking for some pissed, stoned or otherwise confused earthling to kidnap and subject to a brain probe!

I didn't think my first post was misleading to anyone, I just thought I would expand further on my view on this.

I agree, I am fairly certain, based on the number of planets and the prevalence of the building blocks molecules in this galaxy alone, that there is some time of life on other planets. Intelligent life? Hard to say, intelligent technological life? Much harder to say. But I am also fairly certain that no alien life has visited us in space ships.

[Powerboy]

I noticed a discussion thread about the Bible and Christianity. I wonder if I can make a thread about atheism on this board.

I apologize if my rejecting the God's existence has offended any forum members. If you take offense, then you can close this thread.

I am an atheist and I do not accept any religion in my life. I not only reject the organized religion, but I also do not believe divine beings like gods actually exist.

You can disparage my irreligious thoughts. You can criticize my lack of religious belief but I will not be discouraged to abandon my irreligion.

I don't want to get into a lengthy process from Christian to Theism to Atheism. But, for me, once the yoke of needing to believe was broken, that was it. I spent years trying to rationalize and keep believing the Bible was true. But it was a house of cards on every level. It just didn't remotely stand up to reality factually or morally.

I think there Are a couple of big barriers for most of us. The first is indoctrination. Dr. Dawkins once said that almost everybody is an atheist over and over. They reject endless mythical beliefs. But the only one they don't reject is the one they were brought up on. That's the psychological line they can't cross.

The other is "There has to be a god to explain where everything came from". The big breakthrough for me was realizing that "God" doesn't explain anything because then the next question should be, "Where did God come from?" Having always been or the Uncaused Cause is evading it. The real reason people don't ask where God came from is because they have found their comfort zone so why keep questioning?

[Powerboy]

Anyone else here been compared to Hitler just because they are an atheist?

No. But I've heard people say atheists have no compassion or mercy. I mean, how could they? Without believing in a deity that tells people to go kill thousands of other people in other cities but keep some beautiful women for themselves, how could one be compassionate and merciful?

I had one person, not knowing I'm an atheist, explain to me that atheists are people who worship themselves and are so egotistical they see themselves as God. I bit my tongue and didn't reply that atheists are just people who don't accept fantasies to feel comfy.

[Powerboy]

When I say I am a nonbeliever, it is exactly that. I have no beliefs in a religious sense. I do not say I don't believe in a God or I believe there is no God. I say I don't accept that any Gods exist. For me there is a lack of evidence for the existence of a God and much contra-evidence for any of the Gods from the World's religion. Therefore God is in the category of other supernatural phenomena that i don't accept as real.

I know what you mean. I've had people want to sit down and have a serious discussion about why I don't believe in God. But it's long since obvious that every discussion is the same with the same false arguments, baseless assumptions and unsupported assertions. It's like having a "serious discussion" about the existence of Santa Claus.

[Chubistian]

I believed in God without a doubt as a child, as many kids I guess. But I started questioning certain things when I was 8 years old. I would say that was the start of a pretty skeptical man. I don't believe in anything supernatural, mystical, magical, etcetera. As an atheist I'm not well versed in the different streams of thought or theories defending atheism because I don't truly get into discussion about my nonbelief. I have zero problem with religious people and one of my closest relatives is a big believer in God and angels and stuff (though disappointed with the church). I have not encounter homophobia or other types of discrimination that sometimes come from some interpretations of the bible and other sacred texts in the people close to me, and that many times I've seen as a big reason for certain people to dislike religion or at least religion in its orthodox form, so I haven't had any trouble with my family in that regard, which doesn't mean that there is no discrimination in my relatives, but it usually comes from other sources. If relatives wants to talk to me about their belief, I don't have a problem listening and I think even as an atheist, religion is a great matter to know about and a very interesting subject

[MyriVerse]

Atheist and Buddhist, here. I don't accept any type of paranormal/supernatural.

Had an uncle who used to scream that I was going to the Outer Darkness when I died. I told him that sounded like Heaven to me. Shut him up nicely.

[Kirby101]

Atheist and Buddhist, here. I don't accept any type of paranormal/supernatural.

Had an uncle who used to scream that I was going to the Outer Darkness when I died. I told him that sounded like Heaven to me. Shut him up nicely.

Wasn't that the second Star Trek movie?

[Odd Rödney]

I'm glad this thread exists. I consider myself an apathyist: I don't know and I don't care.

[seismic-2]

Atheist and Buddhist, here. I don't accept any type of paranormal/supernatural.

Had an uncle who used to scream that I was going to the Outer Darkness when I died. I told him that sounded like Heaven to me. Shut him up nicely.

Most people consider answering the god(s) / no god(s) question to have the effect of answering the afterlife / no afterlife question as well. In fact, these are wholly separate issues. Although of course most religions that teach the existence of a god (or gods) also teach the existence of an afterlife, not all do. In fact, some would say that immortality is the definition of a god, and there is no afterlife for humans. Conversely, some atheists consider it is at least possible that there is a life after death but no god, just as there is a life before death and no god.