Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I decided to make this post for those who want to do research or find information about why people choose to be atheist instead of religious.
I will start by saying that I was raised in a family that believes in god and have a vested interest in religion. I was raised to believe in god and up to a certain age I went to church and apparently prayed many times because I was told to do so. At some age I stopped going because of at the time I just felt as if I didn't want to anymore (still quite young). As I grew older into my teens I began to experience more about life and subsequently began to lean toward the idea that there was no god and that life is an intelligent, and complex system that happens because of reasons other than a supreme being( chemistry, physics, etc etc). In the last several years (early 20s), I have become increasingly aware that since I don't believe in a god and that I my beliefs lie in science that the closest thing I can come to a religion is the interest that I have in wanting to be as progressive as I can in moving foward to survive and flourish. As an atheist I want my role to be someone who contributes to our population in a positive way to make sure that what we do will assure the continuation and development of our race into the future. I want the systems of the world to continue on and I want the cycles of our spheres to continue and evolve in a way that promotes the very idea of what it means to be living organisms in this world that we know. I hope that one day as an atheist I can show the rest of the population that I believe in no god as a means to show that I care and that I only want to make our world continue to produce life as progressive as possible to continue the cycle of life that has come so far till now.
My reasoning was simple, the cognitive dissonance introduce by belief in contrast to the reality of the world around me was personally destructive and unmanageable. I realized I had to choose how I was going to define truth. Was my truth going to be based on the cornerstone of observable fact, or on invisible, untenable faith? I don't have the ability for both to coexist as my personal foundation.
I was always a skeptical person, even when I went to church a lot during my early teens. I wanted to feel something and wanted to feel that god was in my life.
The Tsnuami that happened to parts of Asia really made me question god. I remember reading the religion section of the Kansas City Star (I think that's the name) and it had in big bold letters WHY WOULD GOD LET THIS HAPPEN? or something to that effect. I wondered the exact same thing and always wondered that whenever something bad happened in the world. It was never enough that it was "god's plan" or "they're in a better place."
The messages in church were mixed. One minute god was a loving god and the next he hated you if you did x, x, and x.
I never fully believed the crap the nuns told me, it always felt wrong and the contradictions kept piling up and when you asked a question, you were told that was the devil making you doubt...not like in math or any other subject, when you asked a question, it got explained to you ..then also when you saw the way those nuns and priests treated us and others, it was apalling...these are so called people that are closer to god than anyone and yes, a god who loves you, yet he decides to allow little kids being raped by his priests?? and that's just one of the horrendously unfair things he allows.. so it was easy to step away from it when I got older and figured it out day by day...
Just take a look at prayer and you'll have every reason in the world to become an atheist right there.
Absolutely.
About the time I realized that there was no way Santa Claus could be real I realized that god just as much could not be real. I looked back at the praying thing, all the crap the nuns and priests rammed down our throats and all the statues in the catholic church and realized that catholicism and all religions were total fabrications. I couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 when I was totally convinced.
What I find very unfortunate about this whole situation for is that I can tell people these interests and beliefs that I have while being atheists and I am still degraded as low, without moral, a bad person, etc. I state that by being atheists it has made me think about focusing energy on making our society more connected, fact driven, and progressive and I am still labeled as someone who doesn't deserve to be here. This irony is very hard to deal with.
What I find very unfortunate about this whole situation for is that I can tell people these interests and beliefs that I have while being atheists and I am still degraded as low, without moral, a bad person, etc.
Are they right?
If so, then you have problem other than being an atheist.
If they are wrong, what does it matter?
Quote:
I state that by being atheists it has made me think about focusing energy on making our society more connected, fact driven, and progressive and I am still labeled as someone who doesn't deserve to be here. This irony is very hard to deal with.
The silver lining is that it makes it very easy to know who your friends are.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
