Why are you an atheist?

Shagz · **#41** by **Shagz** » Sep 25, 2013 12:45 am

Perhaps, The_Metatron, you should ask your coworkers why they are theists. It's kind of sad (and funny, and frustrating, and maddening...) that belief in fairy tales is expected of people, and that you are a curiousity if you don't believe.

Oldskeptic · **#42** by **Oldskeptic** » Sep 30, 2013 7:42 pm

The_Metatron wrote:This was asked of me at work today. Have I always been an atheist? How long ago?

Looking back on it now I have to say that I don't know that I ever really believed in any of the myth that I grew up with, but I did go along with it. So possibly the answer is always. Or it could be from the time I was 18 when I learned that there was a term to describe what had become my active disbelief in the religion that I had grown up with. Consequently that disbelief flowed over into disbelief in all other religions as well.

It's the supernatural parts that caused and causes my disbelief in religions. I don't believe in anything without a natural explanation. So, at the heart of it I could be called an a-supernaturalist, and the 'a' could stand for 'without' or 'anti'. It really doesn't matter in my case because I have both negative and positive beliefs as far as the supernatural goes. I don't believe in the supernatural, but also I am convinced that the supernatural is impossible.

Why am I an atheist?

Because I can be nothing else if have have no belief in anything supernatural.

ADParker · **#43** by **ADParker** » Oct 02, 2013 1:47 am

The_Metatron wrote:This was asked of me at work today. Have I always been an atheist? How long ago? Why am I an atheist?

My short answer to that question is:

My question is "why should I be a theist?", and my answer to your question is that I have yet to hear a good enough answer to my question.

Thomas Eshuis · **#44** by **Thomas Eshuis** » Oct 02, 2013 5:13 am

ADParker wrote:
The_Metatron wrote:This was asked of me at work today. Have I always been an atheist? How long ago? Why am I an atheist?

My short answer to that question is:

My question is "why should I be a theist?", and my answer to your question is that I have yet to hear a good enough answer to my question.

I have never been a theist, nor have I ever seen any evidence for the existence of any deity.

Cthulhu's Trilby · **#45** by **Cthulhu's Trilby** » Oct 04, 2013 11:05 am

I was wandering in the wilderness and I came across what appeared to be a perfectly ordinary bush. Upon further inspection it turned out to be a perfectly ordinary bush and lo, even though it stood in a state of total non-flammability, yea yet it was not consumed. I cried out unto the bush: "Lord, would you have me take off my shoes?", but the bush kept its own counsel, which was something of a relief as you know how hard it is to get hiking boots back on after you've been walking for a bit.

After the Miracle of the Totally Standard Bush I found my outlook on life completely changed. I sold off all of my belongings...well, I E-Bayed some old vinyl and a top hat I'd bought in a moment of whimsy...and adopted the life of a suburban drone.

Scar · **#46** by **Scar** » Oct 04, 2013 12:08 pm

Cthulhu's Trilby wrote:I was wandering in the wilderness and I came across what appeared to be a perfectly ordinary bush. Upon further inspection it turned out to be a perfectly ordinary bush and lo, even though it stood in a state of total non-flammability, yea yet it was not consumed. I cried out unto the bush: "Lord, would you have me take off my shoes?", but the bush kept its own counsel, which was something of a relief as you know how hard it is to get hiking boots back on after you've been walking for a bit.

After the Miracle of the Totally Standard Bush I found my outlook on life completely changed. I sold off all of my belongings...well, I E-Bayed some old vinyl and a top hat I'd bought in a moment of whimsy...and adopted the life of a suburban drone.

columbo's cigar · **#47** by **columbo's cigar** » Oct 05, 2013 11:05 am

Because I have found no compelling reason to think otherwise.

Agrippina · **#48** by **Agrippina** » Oct 05, 2013 2:55 pm

I think it was when my younger sister was born when I was 8 and I realised that there was something about my mum and dad being her parents, and knowing that she wasn't brought in a midwife's bag from some baby shop, that got me thinking that Adam and Eve were the parents of children, Cain and Abel and some more of them. I asked my parents where their children found wives, which of course they couldn't answer except to tell me not to question. I went on asking that question of every person who tried to teach me religion, then decided that I simply had to attend whatever the flavour of the church of the month was, keep out of trouble, and think for myself. It was when I left school and was expected to hand over some of my hard-earned wages to my mother's church that I put my foot down and said "no more." After that I only ever went into churches for social reasons.

Nebogipfel · **#49** by **Nebogipfel** » Oct 07, 2013 11:21 am

NamelessFaceless wrote:I tried to be a theist, honest I did, but it didn't stick. There were just too many questions that were not being satisfactorily answered, too many dots that couldn't be connected, so I finally just gave up trying to convince myself that such things existed.

I too tried - goodness knows, I tried. But in the end I just could not make a "god-ful" world make more sense than a "godless" one.

Calilasseia · **#50** by **Calilasseia** » Oct 07, 2013 11:29 am

In my case, you can blame a most unlikely source. Arthur Mee. More is revealed here.

Fallible · **#51** by **Fallible** » Oct 07, 2013 11:40 am

My reason is so boring, but at the same time I am apparently in the minority. It seems most people were raised within a religious culture or family. I wasn't or at least not for several years right at the beginning. That's about it.

Weaver · **#52** by **Weaver** » Oct 07, 2013 11:44 am

Same here. My parents were atheists. They encouraged all their kids to make their own choices - my twin brother is some vague sort of deist, and one sister has flirted with many of the major religions, currently some sort of non-doctrinaire Buddhist - but I felt it was all nonsense once I got beyond the magical thinking stage and settled on reality instead.

Blackadder · **#53** by **Blackadder** » Oct 07, 2013 11:50 am

Fallible wrote:My reason is so boring, but at the same time I am apparently in the minority. It seems most people were raised within a religious culture or family. I wasn't or at least not for several years right at the beginning. That's about it.

Boring? Consider yourself lucky. :thumbup:

Fallible · **#54** by **Fallible** » Oct 07, 2013 11:53 am

I guess. I didn't feel lucky growing up though. Spent a lot of Sundays kicking my heels alone at the park while all my friends were at church. England in the early 80s was a lonely place to be for a foreign kid of atheist parents.

Arjan Dirkse · **#55** by **Arjan Dirkse** » Oct 07, 2013 2:25 pm

I'm an atheist because I do not believe a God exists. I was born and raised that way, so it could be I would have been a theist if circumstances had been different.

Scot Dutchy · **#56** by **Scot Dutchy** » Oct 08, 2013 7:30 am

Fallible wrote:I guess. I didn't feel lucky growing up though. Spent a lot of Sundays kicking my heels alone at the park while all my friends were at church. England in the early 80s was a lonely place to be for a foreign kid of atheist parents.

That was the only reason I went to Sunday school; all my friends were there. I did not believe on word of it. My father was a strong socialist (a Labour party card carrier). My mum did the washing on Sunday (in Edinburgh!) but although she never went to church she always said she believed in something so it was best to be out of the house.

The_Piper · **#57** by **The_Piper** » Oct 08, 2013 8:18 am

It was when I started to read the bible as an adult.
I always had doubts and serious questions, but said I believed in a god of some kind. I think I did that partly so as not to upset my parents.
House wasn't very religious growing up, we attended church a few times a year on holidays.
When I admitted to myself I didn't believe, it was when I was trying to get serious about religion! I got to page 22 in the bible, I think they were baptizing people. I called my mother and told her this book is worse than a fairy tale. She agreed. :lol:

Why tell it's true then? Never mind. :doh:

She's still trying to believe.

Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Re: Why are you an atheist?

Who is online