Atheists and Agnostics, can you explain why you don't believe in a "God"?

[Anonymous]

I can't... reconcile? in my own mind that there is a being who on the one hand is apparently all loving. Yet at other times seems to be manipulative and down right cruel. My ds, at 12, said if God were a real person on Earth he would be a really big jerk.

Why do people, kids especially, get cancer etc? Some say there is no explanation, you just have to accept it. Some say it's a test to bring you closer to God. Really??

Then there's the many hypocritical "Christians" I've known in my own life. There have been a few where I've figured if they are an example of Christianity, I'll stay out if it, thanks just the same.

I used to go to church. I took my kids to church. I really didn't get much out of it, I just.. went to church. I read the passages, sang the hymns, listened to the sermon. Sometimes it would resonate with me, but usually not.

I eventually accepted that it just isn't something that works in my life. I can't wrap my head around it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an atheist. I'll happily grant that God made the universe if that keeps folks from going nuts over the something from nothing problem. But that gives absolutely no reason to think that the being that created quarks and galaxies is concerned with what I do on Sundays or who I marry.

Exactly. It always gives me a chuckle when people jump straight from "there is a Universe, therefore there was a creator," to "and He loves us so much He gave us his only begotten son".

Talk about your leaps of logic...

It's not a leap of logic. It is a consistent progression through the history of time and all of mankind, God's reaching out to us. A LOT happened between the creation of the universe and the coming of Jesus Christ.

A lot happened, all right and if you believe in Jesus Christ, then none of the humans during that huge period of time could experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ because the supposing loving god who sent him here for our salvation decided not to send him until just 2,000 years ago.

I know a lot of people find real comfort in Jesus, but when thinking about it like a 21st century adult, it seems more like a teddy bear - comforting for while, but not for the long haul.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Catholic-raised atheist and I'm the opposite of OP. I can't understand how any rational, intelligent adult could believe in God. The notion of God has changed over time and place to fit the mold of what society needs & wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an atheist. I'll happily grant that God made the universe if that keeps folks from going nuts over the something from nothing problem. But that gives absolutely no reason to think that the being that created quarks and galaxies is concerned with what I do on Sundays or who I marry.

Exactly. It always gives me a chuckle when people jump straight from "there is a Universe, therefore there was a creator," to "and He loves us so much He gave us his only begotten son".

Talk about your leaps of logic...

It's not a leap of logic. It is a consistent progression through the history of time and all of mankind, God's reaching out to us. A LOT happened between the creation of the universe and the coming of Jesus Christ.

are you ^^ that atheist who comes around here trying to make Christians look dumb? Not all believers in Jesus Christ are so naive and narrow-minded as the Christian depicted above. Some simply find comfort in the concept of a loving god who is with us on earth. These people don't demand that everyone share their beliefs and some of them are very sophisticated and well educated and don't deny science. They wouldn't use terminology like "tired, bitter atheist" to describe someone who doesn't share their concept of god.

I'm the first PP. My point was not to derogate those who believe in a personal God, but merely to say that the question of the origin of the Universe is a totally separate issue. For those who have a personal relationship with Jesus, His existence and divinity are no doubt obvious. But they are not obvious to me, and no amount of discussion of how the universe came to exist or how life arose sheds any light on Jesus, prayer, marriage, or any religious issue. What is obvious to some is no more real to others than that snarky old Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I believe, and I think the other two PPs above also do, that while we do not share beliefs, and may not understand why the other believes as he or she does, we can nevertheless respect each other. Unfortunately, those of us who feel that respect may not always make it clear, and Even more unfortunately, I think there are people of many persuasions who do not share that respect. I hope, however, that I am not starting a wound of finger pointing about which group is les respectful.

The problem is that If you grant that there us a creator, then you necessarily remove rationality and evidence from the conversation. At that point you just have two people arguing which imaginary God is better based in personal opinion, like arguing which color is best.

You don't have to go there at all as long as you maintain the burden of proof on the existence of a creator.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe in god because I don't want to and I don't have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Catholic-raised atheist and I'm the opposite of OP. I can't understand how any rational, intelligent adult could believe in God. The notion of God has changed over time and place to fit the mold of what society needs & wants.

Yeah -- I notice that God has changed a lot since I was a kid -- he's much more into loving and less into punishing.

[Anonymous]

Atheists and Agnostics, can you explain why you don't believe in a "God"?

First you explain why you don't believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster

[Anonymous]

It was hard for me to come to atheism, because I grew up in such a religious environment, but it felt comfortable and right to me when I did. It was a big relief to finally have a name for what I'd known since I was a child. I can't say why I don't believe, just that I don't and never have, despite growing up in a very religious home. I just didn't have the words to explain it as a child.

[Anonymous]

I'm PP above. I have sometimes wondered if there is a biological component to whether you believe in god or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, there's an immortal pink sperm whale named Fred. He created the universe. How do I know this? Someone had to have created the universe. Therefore Fred. Ah, but who created Fred? That's the thing: Fred was not created. That's what makes him Fred.

Blasphemy! Fred is PURPLE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, there's an immortal pink sperm whale named Fred. He created the universe. How do I know this? Someone had to have created the universe. Therefore Fred. Ah, but who created Fred? That's the thing: Fred was not created. That's what makes him Fred.

Sometimes when I am sad, I think about how much Fred loves me. Also, Fred wants us all to do certain things, and Fred himself becomes sad when we don't do them.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a country where almost everyone is an atheist. Interesting enough quite a few of my friends who came to US to complete their PHD in chemistry or biology started to believe in God.

Do they believe the world is 4000 years old? No. They believe what the bible called a day is a metaphor. What is time anyway? It's merely a dimension that can be warped according to the theory of relativity. A day on a different planet can be a year, a century, or a millennium on earth. A black hole can make time pass extremely slow.

Do they believe Evolution? Some do. Some don't. For those who do, they think that's the way God created humans. As a species who never quit asking where we came from, who created us, humans are fundamentally different than other species. Why all human races possess the innate need to find out who created them (be it God, a set of rules in the universe, chemical reactions of some sort)?

There are so many things we still don't know. To say we figured the myth of human creation out by science today is like those who claimed they figured everything out centuries ago by religion. All the scientific theories are still evolving. Steve Hwaking, who himself doesn't believe in God, just modified his theory on blackholes. Maybe one day, we'll find there's a converging point between science and religion. Some scientists don't believe it has to be one way or the other, just like Isaac Newton believed in both science and God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a country where almost everyone is an atheist. Interesting enough quite a few of my friends who came to US to complete their PHD in chemistry or biology started to believe in God.

Do they believe the world is 4000 years old? No. They believe what the bible called a day is a metaphor. What is time anyway? It's merely a dimension that can be warped according to the theory of relativity. A day on a different planet can be a year, a century, or a millennium on earth. A black hole can make time pass extremely slow.

Do they believe Evolution? Some do. Some don't. For those who do, they think that's the way God created humans. As a species who never quit asking where we came from, who created us, humans are fundamentally different than other species. Why all human races possess the innate need to find out who created them (be it God, a set of rules in the universe, chemical reactions of some sort)?

There are so many things we still don't know. To say we figured the myth of human creation out by science today is like those who claimed they figured everything out centuries ago by religion. All the scientific theories are still evolving. Steve Hwaking, who himself doesn't believe in God, just modified his theory on blackholes. Maybe one day, we'll find there's a converging point between science and religion. Some scientists don't believe it has to be one way or the other, just like Isaac Newton believed in both science and God.

Odd that people always bring up Newton. Why is that relevant? That was before the naturalistic evidence against supernatural beings became too great to bear. Today, Newton would be agnostic--just like all of the other top physicists.

And Hawking adjusted his theories based on available evidence. That's what rational people do. What evidence would be sufficient for you to give up your belief in gods? Is there any level of evidence? For most religious people there isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:That doesn't really make sense though. If you need God to exist to create the inverse out of nothing, what created God?

I grew up catholic too, even married someone else who grew up catholic, baptized our kids, but we are actually agnostic. Religion seems like a belief system created out of fear and certainty, because people didn't really understand science or the laws of physics or astronomy at the time. And people will always look for something to add meaning and deep dad to their lives. But it just seems like a lot of very wishful thinking when the simplest, most logical answer is that the universe (not some mysterious superpower) created itself, and that dead people are just dead and don't go to a special sky farm with angels and clouds.

God (at least the God of Christianity) always was and always will be. That cannot be understood but has to be accepted. That's what makes Him God.

Part of your problem, OP, is that you are trying to understand this with the limitations of the human mind in place. That is why I find Christianity so appealing. It is literally God coming to earth, with historical evidence that it happened. He came to us, in a form that we can understand.

How do you square that with the knowledge that there are billions and billions of stars and planets and surely other life on planets? When I became aware of that, it really made me think that our ideas of religion are very "me-centric" or "earth-centric" -- which just seems too convenient given the vastness of space and time. What are the chances that God just happened to come to THIS planet a few short years ago (short in the history of time)? And came here to save US! -- how lucky are we? Or maybe it's all just something we made up to make ourselves feel better along the way.... which seems more likely.

Religion seems so comforting and personal -- it naturally is going to arise in a population. But, given the science, I just can't go with the "we're special" ideas anymore.

And how do you know that God/ Jesus did not visit other planets, assuming that there is life there?

The evidence is pretty compelling that God / Jesus did visit other planets. Or at least as compelling as the evidence he / they visited the Earth.

Well, okay, no evidence.

There is much evidence that God did come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.

I'm going to stop there, because I have a strong sense that this is the same tired, bitter atheist who makes his/ her way to this topic every time it appears on DCUM. We've heard from you before, we know your views and that you are not interested in changing them. Until you open your mind, you really should find a new hobby.

not just one

There are MANY of us. lol

There is NO scientific evidence that Jesus came down to Earth in the form of a human. There are no accounts (at least those approved by historians) that Jesus was in fact - Jesus. The name was common back in the day.

It's so simplistic to think that some supreme being created us and then chose a "few good men" to spread his word. And if you didn't see the light, you'd be condemned to a Dante's Inferno.

really?

[Anonymous]

The failure of Abrahamic religions to improve or clarify over time. If there was a god why would I need a building and interpreter to talk to him.