Am I really an Atheist?
I think we first need to define what encompasses a theist and deist in order for me to explain the situation.
Let's first start with theism, or as I see it, the belief in a God with a personality. A God that meticulously watches over you, cares for you, intervenes in special actions and so on and so forth. Keep in mind, that the God of the Theists (any denomination) is one that usually has had some sort of more primitive explanation for his actions. In other words, if we research a lot of modern day religion in comparison to "ancient" religion we find that these Gods tend to change their personalities and their ways. The Christian God no longer strikes down with great vengeance on those who defy him until, of course, you die and then the real fun begins. In so many Theistic religions of the past there seems to be one trademark. And, that trademark seems to be reflective of the cultural and moral values of the society that adhere to them.
But, this is merely the Christian religion and not any other religion. For you to ask if I am really an Atheist in regards to your God conveniently leaves out so many other Gods that people worship or have worshipped in the past. I don't suspect you are angry or mad at Allah, Deb. You just simply don't believe in him because that is not the reflection of society that you have been brought up with. But, I rest assured with relative knowledge that had you been born in Kuwait you'd be worshipping Allah. I still do not understand why accepting that a God exists automatically precludes the Christian God.
So, no, I am not mad at the Christian God although I do find him to be a little bit over-the-top, to say the least. It is with these feelings that I also look upon other gods of other religions and I ask myself if they are worth believing in. Granted, because I grew up in a country where the Christian God was the most prevalently worshipped it is indeed hard to look at other gods without encompassing the same characteristics we hear from birth. But, alas, I must say that I do not see evidence for a personal creator as that which is described in the Bible, the Torrah, the Koran or other holy writs.
And so, with the lack of evidence provided for a theistic sort of God we have to regress backwards to the notion of deism.
Deism seems to be a little less personal as far as how God is viewed. I view Deism as the "God" that many Agnostics would believe in if they found evidence for a God. I must sit here and ask myself, is there something, an unmoved mover, a being that requires us not to infinitely regress because he/she/it always was and always will be? If, for example, we want to justify a Deist god as something that started the initial Big Bang and let the rollercoaster ride go from there than I find that to be a more reasonable stance but one altogether still unreasonable. Yet, I have a hard time reconciling this because in order to define God we have to reach outside the realm of the natural. We have to make the astonishing leap to the supernatural realm and that seems to be where I have a hard time with things. For something to exist, something to be something at all, it must be constituted of, well... something. Yet, supernaturalism defies this. Supernaturalism states that there is no matter, no energy, no force, nothing which can be explained by anything natural. In other words, if we were to enter this supernatural "realm" (what is this "realm" consisted of to begin with?) what would it be made of? Could we run tests on it? Could we scoop up a sample of heavenly cloud and see what it is made of? The answer would be an inherently and resounding NO! The reason is that to explain supernatural we must resort to that which is wholly unnatural and devoid of explanation.
Keep in mind, that we cannot define what makes up this supernatural realm because it is and would be beyond words. Therefore, I am left grasping for straws when I hear that a God or deity, even one of Deist proportions, exists outside of this realm.
So, that leaves me with one other option. A God, a deity, an unmoved mover, if one exists, must also exist within a realm that is natural. He/she/it would also be the cause of a slow, gradual process of change and could be defined quite well (even if very advanced explanations were warranted) by laws of nature and science. It makes me sit here and think what we might consider God. If, for example, human beings advanced so far forward that they were to come back in a time machine and tell us of all the things that were to happen we might look at them as a prophet or even as something of a deity. But, in all reality, they would be descendants of us. And such is how I look at Gods - if we were to call such a thing a God and how we might define it.
So, with a complete lack of evidence for a deistic God, a theistic God, a personal creator, or simply an unmoved mover, I cannot bring myself to reconcile that there is something out there that needs no cause himself or is not the process of a slow, gradual, process. And that, ultimately, does not a God make. A God is supposed to have been complex from the start; needing no further help or assistance along the way and that always makes me wonder what created the God.
Therefore, with a lack of faith or evidence in anything deistic or theistic, I can quite confidently come to the conclusion that I am an Atheist. While I can't prove 100% that a God does not exist, I have yet to see any sort of evidence to suggest that there is an unmoved mover, a deistic God, and furthest from the truth, one who cares about you, loves you, can convict you of thought crime, and ultimately will send you to a place of fiery torment (which is also somehow supernatural - which makes me wonder where Hell is located - but that's another thread that I've already asked before).
I am not mad at any particular God although I probably would be if I found out that he did exist. I simply do not see evidence for your God, the Muslim God, the Hindu God, and so on down the line. Nor do I see the evidence for the existence of a deistic God somewhat akin to the one Thomas Jefferson believed in.
If, ultimately, you want to pin a God down on me than Spinoza's or Einstein's god would probably do just fine but I would rather stick to the title of Atheist as I really don't believe in any of it and not because I'm angry.
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Are you really an atheist......
Linear Mode
