Why are you an atheist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Make good choices and be a moral person, and you can forget about the rules of a specific religion and forget the issue of whether there is a God or not - none of that is helping you to be happy or be a positive member of society.

Well said.

So you don't think religion can help an individual be happy or be a positive member of society?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Make good choices and be a moral person, and you can forget about the rules of a specific religion and forget the issue of whether there is a God or not - none of that is helping you to be happy or be a positive member of society.

Well said.

So you don't think religion can help an individual be happy or be a positive member of society?

My point is not that you can't be happy or productive if you are a member of a religion, it's that you can be equally happy and productive without religion.

Still, hypothetically, if your religion says that homosexuality is damnation and you suddenly learn that your very best friend is gay, are you going to choose to cut all ties to your friend or your church or simply bend the church's rules to your own circumstances, and would doing any of those choices be cause for happiness?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Make good choices and be a moral person, and you can forget about the rules of a specific religion and forget the issue of whether there is a God or not - none of that is helping you to be happy or be a positive member of society.

Well said.

So you don't think religion can help an individual be happy or be a positive member of society?

I think certain features of certain religions can enhance a person's life -- community, ritual, music, traditions, a set of morals, a way of looking at life - and that these things can also be found outside of religion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Make good choices and be a moral person, and you can forget about the rules of a specific religion and forget the issue of whether there is a God or not - none of that is helping you to be happy or be a positive member of society.

Well said.

So you don't think religion can help an individual be happy or be a positive member of society?

I think certain features of certain religions can enhance a person's life -- community, ritual, music, traditions, a set of morals, a way of looking at life - and that these things can also be found outside of religion

I agree. I thought you were dismissing religion as a potential force for good. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama - these are religious people who have made profound contributions to society. For lesser folks like me, a spiritual path can help us tap into our better natures, and this help us lead happier, more positive lives.

[Anonymous]

Sorry - thus, not this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Make good choices and be a moral person, and you can forget about the rules of a specific religion and forget the issue of whether there is a God or not - none of that is helping you to be happy or be a positive member of society.

Well said.

So you don't think religion can help an individual be happy or be a positive member of society?

I think certain features of certain religions can enhance a person's life -- community, ritual, music, traditions, a set of morals, a way of looking at life - and that these things can also be found outside of religion

These are also things that can worsen people's lives:
Community based on religion is exclusionary - it means people who live together but are of different religions can be excluded from each others' church community. A Catholic friend of mine lives in NC, everyone in his town goes to some evangelical church and they keep telling him that he's missing out on all these great events so he must convert. These statements sometimes leave his wife in tears.
Ritual - Whether the ritual is positive or negative depends entirely on the content and message of the ritual. What about when the little Catholic girl turns to the little Jewish boy in school and says "You're going to Hell and I'm not because I got to take Communion and you don't get to."
Music - can't you have music and appreciate the music of the past without belief?
Traditions - this is so vague I dont even know how to respond. Traditions like Priests abusing alter boys? Pogroms? Crusades? Suicide bombings?
A set of morals - ahh, relief for the lazy, who cant decide for themselves whether blowing up a building or refusing birth control is a good or bad thing to do.
A way of looking at life - Like "I'm not responsible, it's God's plan" or "It's okay that life sucks for those people, they will be happy in heaven"?

Don't like those examples? Want to pick your own examples? Go ahead - but consider who is doing the picking - YOU ARE - you are deciding what's good or bad, not the church. Well, suck it up and take some responsibility for your choices

[Anonymous]

I think many people today are more agnostic than atheistic.
We've been educated to question everything. Since there is no proof that God exists, it's logical to question religion.

People are born into a religion. They believe something is true because they have been brought up that way. You can't say all religions are correct in their interpretation. People just pick the religion they are most familiar with to defend.

I can understand that people feel that the way the world was created had to have some divine intervention. I just don't understand it when people are sure about how it happened or so sure about who their God is. Someone next to you thinks completely differently and neither person has any evidence to support their argument.

I was shocked to see the recent poll that voters would be skeptical to vote for an atheist. Wouldn't our desire to keep church and state separate mean that this would be a good thing?

More and more people today still identify with a religion because they were brought up that way. They don't go to church or pray or really incorporate religion into their lives. Their children will be much less religious because they won't even have to pretend for the sake of their parents (as many people in their 30's and 40's are doing now).

The biggest issue I have is when people say, "It was meant to be." I just don't think that even if there is a God, that a God has a hand in everything. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think many people today are more agnostic than atheistic.
We've been educated to question everything. Since there is no proof that God exists, it's logical to question religion.

People are born into a religion. They believe something is true because they have been brought up that way. You can't say all religions are correct in their interpretation. People just pick the religion they are most familiar with to defend.

I can understand that people feel that the way the world was created had to have some divine intervention. I just don't understand it when people are sure about how it happened or so sure about who their God is. Someone next to you thinks completely differently and neither person has any evidence to support their argument.

I was shocked to see the recent poll that voters would be skeptical to vote for an atheist. Wouldn't our desire to keep church and state separate mean that this would be a good thing?

More and more people today still identify with a religion because they were brought up that way. They don't go to church or pray or really incorporate religion into their lives. Their children will be much less religious because they won't even have to pretend for the sake of their parents (as many people in their 30's and 40's are doing now).

The biggest issue I have is when people say, "It was meant to be." I just don't think that even if there is a God, that a God has a hand in everything. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don't.

I totally agree with all this.