Atheism is for

"We chose to raise you where you could choose what religion you wanted for yourself."

At the time, mom was agnostic (I think) and dad was either catholic or closet atheist (or just didn't say much on the subject, I don't remember).

I've been to Sunday mass once, and just wanted more of the wine and crackers.

I was just raised without any religious teachings from my parents, and I went to a public school.

My mother is Catholic and my father is Anglican, so I find it weird I was raised to be atheist.

I was born athiest.

reading the da vinci code when i was 15. not even joking.
i would have come to the same conclusion sooner or later, though.

I grew past adolescence and I'm curious. It was sort of inevitalbe.

when i was six and wasn't sure if i believed in god
i asked for a barbie van under my bed to prove he was real
i woke up the next morning and there was no van under my bed
i concluded god wasn't real, i've believed it ever since

was convicted since when i was a kid i prayed to be the best of the class, obviously it never worked. still had a doubt until my parents divorced and my dad died. there can't be a god. even now look around you, you cant say someone is in the control of this chaos. barely some humans tries to do their best to make the world better, in vain.

Being miserable turned me away from Christianity. I wanted to believe in a benevolent God, but there was just too much doubt. Plus, I wasn't "feeling" it like everyone else seemed to be when I attended Church.

Pretty sure for most of the angsty fuckers here its more a case of Rebellion against Parents or Society.

INB4
OMG U CHRISTFAG LOLOLOLOL

I was sort of raised sans religion, sort of not. My mom was born Catholic, my dad born Jewish but they both hated their religions and joined the Congregational church so that me and my brother would have the experience of church. However they were very wishy-washy whenever I asked them if God was real ("He's in the human heart" - obvious bullshit answer) and then we stopped bothering with church and me and my brother went from agnostic to atheist.

I looked at all of the contradictions and logical flaws in the Bible (and in almost every other religion), and realized that this tiny species on this little spec of mud floating in the vast universe couldn't possibly understand how everything came to be.

agnosticism is what drove me to agnosticism. everything else is just stupid people thinking they're smart.

>>3676942
I suppose I should mention that I'm Agnostic.

If there is some kind of creator, it sure isn't anything we can comprehend or understand in the slightest.

My parents never really mentioned religion, either for or against. I've been technical/scientifically-minded since I was little. It always seemed obvious to me that there was no reason to lend more credence to Jesus creating loves and fish than to Odysseus poking the Cyclops' eye out. A shared mythology, no more, no less.

It just kind of happened. I was six years old, and my parents weren't religious or anything but since we were surrounded by Christians and Catholics, it led me to believe that everybody was Christian or Catholic.

After worrying about it for months, I finally admitted to my mom that I didn't believe in God and she said "It's okay, I don't either."

I spent my entire teenage years trying to find religion. I looked through christianity, wicca, paganism, satanism, the occult, new age, eastern spirituality, everything. Trying to find some scrap of meaning. I got to the end of it and realised in that time I hadn't found one tiny mote of proof. Hadn't found one religion that had delivered, hadn't found one person who knew as much as they claimed or could do what they claimed.

I realised it was all just people with empty lives trying to fill it with something that isn't there, and decided that instead of being one of them and deluding myself, I'd strive to have a life worth living 'without' having to make up things about spirituality or the supernatural to make it more comfortable or interesting.

catholic school. it wasn't horrible, but the funding stank and now it's finally being closed.

>>3676962
You're somebody who thinks they're smart by not forming an opinion.
Enjoy your deluded self image and inability to make fundamental decisions and form your own opinions

I wasn't driven to atheism. Atheism is the natural state of people. All babies are atheist; they lack a belief in god.

Raised in a mildly Jewish household. Celebrated the major holidays, went to temple occasionally. Anyway my grandma was a really hardcore Jew, like she did the whole keeping Kosher shit blah blah. Anyway about 4 months before my bar mitzvah she got pancreatic cancer. She died. The day. Before. My. Bar Mitzvah. I knew right then and there that there was no god. I did the Bar Mitzvah anyway, but only for the bitchin' party that was to follow plus all the easy money. After that I started doing a lot of research into atheism and what not and I'm convinced. In conclusion, it's not just that my grandma died, that was just the spark. The fire came afterwards when I actually learned about atheism and starting reading and watching videos about religion and god and what not. Yup.

Honors biology =D

>>3677011
Your someone who deludes themselves into thinking you choose your beliefs rationally. Noone wakes up one morning and says "Hey, I think I'll believe in god today"

The Skeptic's Dictionary

>>3677011
Neutrality is as much an opinion as much "for" or "against". Your logic is faulty, sir.

>>3677023

That's not the Christian's belief.

Just sayin'.

when i was 11 is asked my mom
"what happens to tribal people who dont know about god. do they go to hell?"
she said
"no because god knows they were never told so
he lets them into heaven"
and then i said
"so why tell anyone about god because when you
do you give them the chance to go to hell and
if you dont tell them they get to go to heaven."
nobody could give me a good answer so from
there i slowly quit believing

>>3677023
Not really. There is an innate desire for all humans to follow a religion of one sort or another that comes from the Hypothalamus. Of course, this can easily be replaced with beliefs in government or clubs and activities, but best said, humans thrive to believe that there is order in the universe.
>>3676830
It was somewhat gradual. I still pretend to be Christian so that I don't offend friends that are Christians. I don't like people worrying about me and "my immortal soul". I am just a person that thrives on rationality. People who follow their gut make me feel uncomfortable and seriously piss me off from time to time.

I just got sick of all the fake people in Church. I learned that all pastors are fakes, they're all well-educated, educated enough to know better. I'm sure all of them work on ways to fool themselves which makes it funny to hear them speak about God with that in mind.


It started out just like that, I stopped believing in God, and a few years later our Church burned down and our pastor ran off with all the insurance money. On my side it was a miracle.

Also while I was just starting to cast my doubts about God, my mother made me enroll in a Christian school, 8th grade or so. Those kids were monsters. I was going through a pussy phase and I used to get picked on all the time. Some of it was my fault for not sticking up for myself more, but these were the same kids who went into bible school everyday and memorized entire passages about love, kindness towards others, and right and wrong. And they all did it with a bright smile on their faces.

From then on whenever I thought about good Christians, I thought about those little fucks and their ignorant parents and it still makes me sick, makes me rage.

>>3676830
Can't be "driven to" what you start as, OP, just like how you can't lose what you never had in the first place. (IE: being told "You just lost the game." when you have no idea what "the game" is)

>>3677102
You, sir, are a fucking GENIOUS. Seriously, that is fucking GOLDEN GOLD PLATED IN GOLD.
Bind Mlown.

>>3677107

Delusions of an orderly universe are not even remotely the same as full scale religion. The leap from noticing natural patterns to saying "the universe was created by a sentient being" is inspired by culture, not biology.

I don't really remember. I used to like thinking there was some kind of god, because it made my life easier, but I was never adamant about it. It was either after a discussion with a friend, or something I read that made me realize there was nothing.

1st grade Catholic religion class, teh story of Jonah and the Whale.
I laughed out loud at the story, which was met with a stone face and a "I guess some around here don't have faith. God works in mys-"
"If believe that story, you're an idiot."

I then went on to try and explain to the class about the different whales and how one that big doesn't eat that way, before I was escorted back to regular class.

Then there was a priciplal's office incident where I told him I thought it was possible the baby Jesus was an alien, Mary was artificially inseminated, and the three wise men were led by a UFO.
That went over poorly

Agnostic/Deist here:

Both parents are Catholic, but not practicing for years and years. I actually used to go to sunday school - I remember coloring a picture of jesus from a coloring book once. I think I went with blond hair 'cos I was also in my dragon ball Z phase.

Anyway, I hadn't read or been read anything from the bible as a kid, so I would always ask my parents questions (especially my Dad). He said something once that I kinda never forgot, which is funny 'cos it's so simple and probably silly: I asked, if God made us, who made God, and he said, "God created man, and man created God." When I was 12 it blew my mind.

well, that's kinda where I'm at. I think that if there is a God, he either a) made the matter and/or energy in the universe, and has had no further interest, or died creating it all, or b) IS all the matter and energy in the universe. It makes sense to me, since I, with my inferior human mind, have no concept of what "infinity" and "always has been" are. I guess I just arrived at the conclusion in my thoughts, nothing special.

However: If something sufficient happens to me that I could legitimately call a religious experience, a rapture, epiphany, or what-have-you, then I would gladly induce myself into whatever that revelation told me. If I honestly felt God was giving me a sign, I would pay heed to it, and if it proved itself to me, I would give myself up to religious pursuits.

Just think, and do what's right- that's all that matters, and that's all that should drive people to whatever religious beliefs they have.

>>3677166
> Mary was artificially inseminated

No, she just had anal sex and the sperm dribbled out of her anus and into her vagina, thereby having a pregnancy without vaginal intercourse, and thereby remaining a "virgin" as her hymen was not broken.

>>3677186
and the lack of that kind of signs didn't make you an atheist?

People are biased towards believing

>>3677217
Lack of evidence is not sufficient evidence against, in my estimation.

I'll believe what I see, and I won't sweat what I can't.

>>3677110
>I learned that all pastors are fakes,
Our pastor was awesome. he hated kids and flipped out when they tried to let this family who could hardly pay their adopted kids' tuition fees back into school.

>>3677152
What I'm saying is that there is a desire to believe that there is sentience in the chaos that is natural order. That's why almost every culture has a religion, or a substitute for it. It's instinct.

>>3677166

I don't believe you. Nobody knows that shit in the 1st grade.

Parents were not really religious, same with me. One day I realized "zomgz i is atheist." Thats it.

Jesus wasn't a direct descendant of David, so he is therefore not the messiah. The end.

>>3677264

That's just the result of our linguistic way of thinking. We've discussed this.

>>3677245
maybe against aliens' existence but for a cultural construct it is

If you see there's no need to believe, perception is reality

>>3677283
this

nobody can accurately trace Jesus ascendancy to David, it's pure speculation and conjectures

>>3677275

1983, my favorite shows were Wild Kingdom, Nova, Dr. Who, and Startrek, I talked my mom into not believing in Santa earlier that year.

>>3677264

I do agree completely with you that it's instinctual to see reality as orderly. I think the reason you see religion in most societies is because it is an amazingly effective means of social control, and throughout history has been proven to be one of the greatest ways to bind peoples together under a unifying cause. But I don't think its instinctual.

>>3677315
If you want me to be really honest, then yes, I am biased. I do wish to believe in something, but without something that tells me I should, I couldn't just tell myself to - if I did, wouldn't I just be lying to myself and to God?

No, I'm a firm agnostic, in that I can't believe in anything, not even nothing (if that makes sense).

But I have a lot of respect for religious people. Many of my closest friends are devout Catholics. I don't think they're stupid for believing, I respect them for their self-discipline (especially in this time of Lent, several gave up meat altogether, not just for Fridays) and kindness, as well as their faithfulness, even in the face of people who tell them every day that religion is a waste. I wish I could be like that.

A girl told me in school god meant for me to have diabetes. So I told her that her loving god is a douschebag and relied on science for everything. Science has never let me down.

1) Age 9, I challenged some church lady in church school on the importance of saying grace at dinner. "Why do I have to thank god when my Dad went to work and earned the food?" No good response.

2) Age ~12, Church school "sex ed" dogma: "You have one person you love and you have sex with that person." Response: "Wouldn't you get better at sex with multiple people? How would anyone get good at one-partner sex?"No good response.

3) Age 13-18, all the jews are sexing each other left and right... nobody burst into flames or was struck by lighting. hmmmm...

College: Sex is now on open season.

Post college: If those people don't have decent guidance for eating and fucking... blah blah blah... and nothing of value was lost.

After being raised Catholic, I realized that the only reason I was Catholic was because my mom was. Every single other religious person in the world believes their religion because someone else convinced them to, and people are fallible. Therefore, no religion is more correct than any other.

oh and science.

Science is a cold, hard, loveless god.

My parents' insistence that I attend church every fucking day after school. Also my pastor molested me. Motherfucker. I hate religionists.

>>3677478

Where are you finding these jews who sex each other? The ones I know stay virgins even longer than the christfags, despite the lack of religious dogma.

It was no one thing. Just a bunch of little things that built up. I never really believed in miracles (the jesus walking on water variety, not the god curing some guy's cancer variety). I found things in the Bible that were contradictory, or just stupid. Prayer never worked for me. While I sometimes "felt God's love", I found it indistinguishable from how I felt when I was really happy or emotional for other reasons. I came to realize that there were logical problems with the concepts of omnipotence and omniscience. One day I realized that I "believed" without actually believing. But I wasn't ready to accept the idea that no one was in charge of the universe and that death was final, so I started calling myself an agnostic theist. But then I realized even that was bull, so now I'm an atheist.

>>3677484

Which is exactly why it's more likely to be the real one.

I wouldn't consider myself an atheist. I've learned to sum up my beliefs with the following sentence:

"The existence of a higher power is irrelevant to my life."

My parents have never mentioned anything about god or religion to me, even to this day, so I've never been religious.

When I was younger my dad would always show me these cool science books like powers of ten and stuff. Powers of ten > the bible.

>>3677517

Who knew the truth could be so undesireable?

>>3677536

Apatheism, also called practical atheism. Also known as cosmic indifference.

Good stuff.

I was never religious, and I've just never believed in a god of any sort.

My parents took me to church a few times when I was about 4 years old, but even then I just thought of everything they said as a bunch of silly stories.

I never really believed in God or religion as a kid but, as I got older I started learning more science and started to realize how absurd religion is. There are tons of facts that contradict religion but, not a single one that promotes it.

just a few examples;

1) 2/3 of the earth is water, but humans don't have gills or a way to live in water. lol creationism. If you think humans weren't meant to be a prominent species in god's eye then there goes the entire Jesus being god's son theory.

2) If god created everything then where did he come from? God doesn't explain anything, but just add a layer of abstraction to the mystery.

3) We went into space and god wasn't up there lol

TONS of others.

http://exchristian.net/ Join us brojas.

>>3677517

That's a pretty good argument for the existence of Cthulu.

I don't believe in God. But I'll be honest, I find hard atheist to be just a repulsive as fundie christians. People who exhibit that degree of certainty make me very nervous.

The concept of god is a logical fallacy in itself....

Can God create a rock so heavy he can't lift?

I remember going to a reenactment of Noah and the Ark when I was around 5 or so. People were running down the isles spraying water on our heads. Ridiculous.

Religious claims don't jive with reality or at least the objective universe.

I went to atheism becaue I couldn't see any proof of God, and because I had moral problems with Christianity.

Personally, I was raised non-religious, did some research into christianity, and found it full of flaws. However, my curious nature lead me to search more into it. It's easy to say that the millions of people who have claimed to talk, or in some way have a relationship with god (notice no caps!) were simply suffering from delusions.

I now have a very strange blend of "religion", which catches me flak from not only atheists (Omg u beleve in god thats so stupid), but christians, pagans, muslims, and whoever else I talk about religion with.

>>3677640

You have to define God as omnipotent for that to have legs, and any good theist will play the mystic "God is unfathomable" card to get out of it.

>>3677616
Cthullu doesn't provide insight as to how the fundamental concepts of our environment works. However, the bloop and the slowdown are really cool.

I became an atheist when a scientist also called a doctor sewed my arm back on, using medical practices that could only be developed using scientific method and fact. None of which can be related to religion.

>>3677658
So YOUR morals led you to the conclusion that there's no god? Oh that's rich.

This is coming from a fellow atheist, too. Find a better damn reason or GTFO.

>>3677569
Correct. I never really knew the term for my beliefs but yeah as it turns out Apathetic describes me almost to a T. With that said I consider myself very happy with my CHOICE.

>>3677684
I cut off my post too short, bro. Since then I have become rather amoral. I don't care what religious people do, as long as it doesn't effect me.

I was baptized Catholic, and went to church every few holidays for my grandparent's sake. I remember being afraid of going to Hell when I was much younger, despite no real religious teachings occurring in my house. Then one day, I wondered why I was afraid of something that was so ridiculous, and something I truly didn't believe in, so, no god or religion for me anymore.
I think with all the shit life has thrown at my parents, they're quickly shaping up to be bitter atheists.

>>3677402
you wish to be deIuded to the point of no return, that's not something a sane person wouId want.

There's nothing impressive about abstaining from eating meat or been charitabIe for reIigious reasons, even knowing you shouId be ''good'' not because of fear of God or rewards in heaven, you realize you are pleasing God and eventuaIIy getting something out of it. lf i'm kind is to pIease myself and no-one else, it's because of my own altruistic utility function and not i'm obeying some archaic moral system. It may not sound pretty but it is much more honest

>>3677675
Fuck you. Of course he does. He tells us that the true powers behind reality are beyond human comprehension and attempts to comprehend will destroy us.

>>3677052
Same here, but no honors yet =(

Realizing at the age of seven the story of Adam and Eve could not be true and that the entire bible was a fairytale with the morals we should adopt to form a better civilization crammed in.

I was raised a protestant christian in a stubborn christian household and attended church every sunday morning and night and bible study every wednesday until a few months ago. Many many years wasted.
What made me begin realising was the hypocrisy in the church.
Upon further inspection, I realized a good number of the main church's beliefs were randomly thrown in for the sake of it, often from stories not even talking about the same thing in the bible.
Eg. Anti masturbation, anti-gay..

I'm really not sure. When I was younger I knew who god was but I never really looked into it or what he was all about. So, I suppose I was an agnostic most of my life until around Sophomore year of high school. For about half of the year I was just this little whiny 'don't swear friends!' asshole. The worst part of it is I didn't even read the bible. Anyway about half way through the year I had this biology class which introduced me to a new light on evolution. Eventually the seeds of doubt grew and a couple of my friends finally influenced me enough to say "Yup, this god character is bullshit." And the rest, as they say, is history.

God works in mysterious ways bros. That is the only fact you need.

I was raised by agnostic parents so I was never religious to begin with, eventually I started thinking about the subject logically and took it a step further.

No proof.

FUCKING SUNDAY SCHOOL DROVE ME TO ATHEISM. I SWEAR TO GOD I FUCKING HATE EVERYONE. FUCK YOU FUCKING NIGGERS. I FUCKING HATE NIGGERS. FUCK. IM AN ATHEIST. FUCK THIS SHIT MAN. IM NOT A NIGGER. FUCK NO. IM A COOL.

My parents were never religious, but when I was about 8 I read my friend's Bible and after the first couple pages I just closed it. Seriously, what the fuck a talking snake?

>>3677824
1/10

that's not an argument

didn't make sense to me. a lot of it probably had to do with the fact that my church experience was horrible. suffice it to say, the congregation didn't like me or my family.

You are all sinners, damned to hell in the eyes of Our Lord.

"Drove you to"..

Well, I'm agnostic. My mother doesn't think about it and my father was Catholic, but realised at some point in his life that it had no bearing on anything. I had no religion forced upon me, so naturally I became agnostic. No driving to be done at all.

I'm 23 and religion still seems irrelevant.

>>3677830
GOOD CHRIST I HATED SUNDAY SCHOOL TOO. THOSE FUCKING LITTLE BOOKLETS WITH THE CARTOONS ABOUT JESUS. I WANTED TO SMACK THAT OLD LADY UPSIDE THE HEAD FOR TRYING TO SELL ME THAT BULLSHIT.

I went to a Catholic school, most of the children were atheists.

>>3677938

Oh, and I forgot to add. When I began to think about this stuff, I originally took that immature hard-lined attitude towards the issue and defined myself as an atheist. A little later, I realised that there was no way I could know either way, and the only mature decision was to become agnostic.

My mom went to Catholic School.

She had such a fine time that she decided her children could wait until they were older to pick their religion rather than being indoctrinated at a young age.

I looked into it. Religions are dumb.

Dinosaurs -- thought they were awesome as most boys do. Loved reading about their evolution, the evolution of Earth, and science in general. Religion just couldn't compare.

>>3676830
nothing. i went from atheist to christian. not a troll btw

On my 13th birthday I realized that god (note the small letters) was a bullshit fake.

My mom, the angel with blue eyes that she was. She had a really hard time when she was in Catholic school, she got beaten up because some girls made up shit about her being a lesbian, for instance. So she decided that if it went alright with me in Catholic school, I would stay until I wanted to change to the other school board. I decided to after elementary school, solely because the nearest Catholic school was a half-hour drive away, to a 15-minute walk for secular. Then it just evolved to atheism from there.

I was raised catholic but after hearing of all the kids being raped by priests, and what the priests do with women(nuns often) and the kind of parties they throw i thought why would "god" create a religion based on complete lies?

The fact that my parents didn't go to church helped as well.

Im not really atheist, I just have my own set of beliefs that there is an all knowing god, much like the christian and Islamic god. But not like he loves you and all that crap, I just think think theres this person who you go to when you die to be judged.

I also believe that hell is reserved for a handful of really bad people, the pure evil people. Because from my experience; the really bad ones are mentally insane, Schizos and the like...
Because for alot of them, its not their fault, look at the other murderers and law breakers. Alot of them were beaten as kids and Saddam Hussein was a perfect example of that. His stepfather beat the shit out of him as a kid and Ive heard that contributed to his insanity. It may sound crazy that I think people like Saddam dont go to Hell, but its a thought in progress.

What do you guys think?

>>3678173
My mind has evolved to think that there's a benevolent being up there, who's really just a caretaker. Not a creator or anything, but when you die, you're given the chance to relive your life as often as you wish, changing it around to see what could have been. Then, when you're ready, your "soul" is wiped clean of memories and placed in another body.

>>3678195
You are fucked up, kid. Fucked up.

>>3678195

Ive thought of that, but I dont believe because I dont want it to be that way. Provoking thoughts ITT

>>3678017
if not a troll just plain stupid

>>3677708
No, that's not the point I was making.

How can disliking the actions of a human make you conclude there's no God?

Personally...I think anyone who tries to argue that there is no god is too much of an arrogant idiot to admit that, even if there WAS a god, humans would be too puny and insignificant in intellect to recognize it as such. However, on that same line...Because of how far out of reach a God would be, anyone who claims to know for certain the existence of said Divinity is just as idiotic.

Besides...Most of you AREN'T atheists. Atheist = lack of belief one way or the other.
Anti-theist = Believing that there is no god.

>>3678214
How so? I mean, I know it's all wishful thinking, but it seems like it would be nice, don't you think? Imagine if you've just finished your life, your given a chance to do it different, see what might have been. Ask out that cute girl, go to college, you know? And this whole time, there's a kind, non-judging figure up there waiting to embrace you, and guide you through everything you do, like a kind old grandfather. It seems like it would be just wonderful.

I was never really driven to atheism. Neither of my parents were observant christians, and I consider myself a logical thinker. I grew up with the assumption that there was no god(s) because the bible stories just seemed so improbable. If anything, I've become more open to the idea of the existence of a higher power as I've gotten older. I guess I'm agnostic now. Maybe god exists for those who believe in god... or maybe god is just a symbol for the power of optimism.

ITT I create my own God and blindly belive in it, i'm also a 5 year old

I have OCD. Not bullshit, self-diagnosed OCD, but serious shit OCD.

I've had two major attacks in my life. The first was while at a Catholic school in third grade. I couldn't stop praying and making the sign of the cross for about three months. Every waking moment I was doing this. I had no life, it was extreme anxiety.

I questioned why god had done this to me, then let it pass.

The second was in 8th grade - again after attending a Catholic school. I questioned my position in the universe and the afterlife, and would constantly worry about everything - it also drove me into a deep depression. The compulsions picked up, but weren't directly related (standing on one foot while the microwave was on, etc.)

Having the mind of an engineer, I eventually realized that the whole thing didn't make sense. It was hard, I was a pretty devout Catholic and loved the church and god, but it seemed like the whole thing was simply absurd.

It started with being agnostic, then atheist, but I finally settled on secular humanist.

I was brought up in an extremely religious household, although as far as religion goes mine was pretty liberal. but at some point during the endless youth group sessions i realized that this was the stupidest waste of time in the world. i had stayed there because i thought weirdly it would make me "a better person" if i believed in god, even if i had no proof/reason to do so (hey, i was 12, don't hate). and then i realized i would be, in fact, a more rational person if i didn't believe in god and i could still be a GOOD person and be an atheist.

i never went back.

>>3678256
atheism and agnosticism are complemented but not replaced by secular humanism

>>3678256
Er, wow. I have OCD too, but your stuff makes mine look like a pussy. In games, the number of shots in a clip has to evenly multiply into the extra shots I have (6 per clip, 30 extra, for example), I have to always have an even number of anything, spell everything right (used to extend to others' spelling, too.) and if I touch a certain area (left palm, with my index finger, we'll say) I have to do the same to the other hand in the exact same spot. Nothing too crippling. But..damn. Kudos for being able to handle that, even if only a bit.

A majority of religions believe that people are made in god's image. Well, if we were made in god's image, then we'd all be very similar. Which means the religions are lying or there are multiple gods. At this point, multiple gods sounds even more insane than just one, leaving the option that the majority of religion is just insane and I don't want to deal with any of it.

was born without a belief in god...

>>3678285
I know. Secular humanism is a 'life stance'. I couldn't define my outlook on life through atheism alone.

>>3678298
Shit sucked bro. Thankfully, severe symptoms are few and far between, the rest of the time my compulsions are only mild (triple checking locks, etc).

>>3678173
>>3678195
This is sort of like Deism. Deism is the belief a creator exists, but he doesn't have any effect on the natural world.

Just get rid of the "hell" and judging bullshit and there you go.

none of the above. simple really. logic dictates otherwise. even considering the fact of any GOD is not only insulting to my intelligence, but also to your own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy#Evidential_problem_of_evil

This one kills the whole theism thing for me.

In after "I reached puberty."
There are no rational reasons behind the atheistic mindset of most of our fellow brobots.
Faggots.

Nothing drives anyone to atheism since that is how people start off. People are driven to religion.

The burden of proof, mostly.

mootbawkss

Read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, it really connected with me, and I've unfortunately (very very unfortunately) been an atheist ever since. I liked it much better before, as a kind of combined deist/Christian.

When I kicked gods ass for being a faggot

I learned Jesus was Jewish.

Did not want to have faith in jooz

:\

My mom was a devout Catholic while my dad was atheist/agnostic. He never let it show in my younger years, and I was raised as a little pissant Catholic. During middle school I went to Sunday school, and that's when I first started asking questions. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the nuns didn't like that I wanted to know the deal about Jesus being born, then a dark hole, then suddenly he's some 35 year old Messiah. I never took it real seriously, but high school is when I started getting real bitter. Only a little bit later did I finally figure out that all the mysticism bullshit was pretty much the same and gave up on religion. I stayed a cautious agnostic until I came upon the intrawebs and became a full-blown atheist.

Nothing. I was born that way, just like everyone else. Raised by an agnostic family.

I'd follow a religion, but I have thoughts. Thoughts tend to really fuck up the system. Also, I actually read the shit from both sides.

Logic? Lol at people picking their beliefs (or lack therof) for emotional reasons.

>>3676897
Actually both of your parents were born athiest, just like everyone else in the world. They were just raised into their respective religions, just like every other religious person in the world.
My mom was raised catholic, don't know about my dad. I think he used to be the "I'll believe it when I see it" type but switched to the "there has to be something" type. My dad never talked about it, but my mom used to tell us stuff like "God lives your heart" which can be very confusing to a 4 year old, and we read bible stories for kids, but we never went to church. Also being around my mom's family who are all also catholic and growing up in a largely christian culture as an impressionable young child, I grew up "believing" in God because I heard all these adults talk about God as if it was all fact, and when you're a kid adults know everything. I had a pretty shitty childhood and my own misery led me to think of all the suffering in the world and to the conclusion that if God is real then he's an asshole, but it's more likely that he's just not real. My views have evolved a great deal sense then and I am now what you might call a strong atheist.

>>3676981 If there is some kind of creator, it sure isn't anything we can comprehend or understand in the slightest.
So you're an agnostic theist?

>>3679898
A sunday school teacher tried convincing me that the fact that a jewish woman was chosen to bear christ's child instead of a christain woman was proof of God's willingness to accept anyone.

ATTENTION ALL ROBOTS:

SOLIPSISM, FTW.

/thread

>>3680445
that's like alerting yourself about something you already knew

Was raised in Communist Family.
Even my grand-grandma was atheist.
Soviet Union had it's own benifints and ban on religion was one of them.

My mother was a zealot, and it wasn't so much growing up in religion as it was suffering through it. My mother wasn't terribly bright, but she had conviction, and enforced her faith with an iron hand. Once I realized I was smarter than her, the first thing I did was abandon religion. I went out, got drunker than shit, did a bunch of drugs, got tattoos, fucked a bunch of sleazy bitches, and got myself arrested several times before I settled down.

>>3676962
Agnosticism is not a third alternative to theism/atheism. You're either agnostic theist or agnostic atheist. You either believe that God exists or you don't. You either believe that there is a god who's properties we cannot know, or you lack belief in a god but do not claim to be certain that one does not exist.

The christian theory of how everything came into existance. Creationism - i read alot of it and thought - i cant belive so many people blindly believe this crap

Sure we dont know everything about the universe, but i think we have a better idea then relegion.

raised catholic then I discovered the theory of evolution. also catholic church sux and all my catholic family is crazy.

I'm still working on how to deal with the fact that my girlfriend believes in this retarded bullshit.

I was raised into atheism, if you can call it that. In America, you're never really raised into Atheism, because all your friends and all your teachers and all the people on TV and in movies and in video games are Christians. So my parents are atheists. I wouldn't call myself "open minded", in that I'm fairly skeptical of things unless I see a source or some sort of evidence, but neither do I have my ears plugged while I shout, "la la la". I've got into my fair share of serious business internet arguments, and I've talked with my religious friends and I've yet to see any convincing argument for me to convert to any religion. Even Pascal's wager is negated by the fact that since every religion is equally likely to be correct, the fractional chance granted by picking one at random is nearly negated by the shear number of other religions that condemn you to hell for worshiping a different god (or tartarus, or next-life, or whatever that religion's Hell is).

In fact, one of said friends abandoned his religion because he realized it was bullshit. His parents and his girlfriend and most of the other people he talks to still think he's a Christian, and he tells me how amusing it makes going to church. He said he can't tell his parents, even though they highly suspect his change of view, because they might not pay for his college education if they found out. Shame really.

>>3680602
One thing that I've learned is to never go out with christian girls. Perhaps it's my own personal experience, but everyone I talk to agrees, it ends badly.

How long have you 2 been going out?

The only religious people I've seen have been on the television.
Family isn't religious, friends weren't religious, school wasn't religious. The first time most people in my class had been in a church was when we did building drawing in art.

Just never had a reason to believe in a god.

Oooo, im so excited. My first post as a robot, and it gets to be about atheism.

I was raised in a strict Catholic family. I was really nerdy and smart as a kid, but also was an altar boy for years.

Honestly i got my first taste of eastern philosophy through Dragonball Z. lol I began to flirt around with all kinds of zen ideas. Eventually, feeling really naughty i tried to do all kinds of occult nonsense. I didn't want to go to hell, but god would never answer me, so i figured maybe the devil would and then i would get god to forgive me. Needless to say that didnt really work.

So for two years i kinda made up my own bullshit spiritual heirarchy that i thought made sense. Then i smoked weed and realized...oh, i made this shit up....and applied that to every other religion. Got really into Dawkins and Hitchens and the like.

tl; dr - Dragonball Z plus Weed = athiest

Well one day I was thinking. All gay people have a distinctive voice right? I'm sure no one can change their voice and that you are born with it. If God hates gay people, why does he give them a different voice from a normal male so that we can tell they are gay?

I never get an answer from anyone when I bring this up.

>>3680621
about four months
I don't want to break up with her over it. She's too awesome, and it's not a major part of her personality.

>>3680663
I'll take your word, anon. However, I figured it would be fair to warn you that it's not the first time I've heard that in this situation.

Never was religious, just never questioned the idea of God NOT existing.

- As a child read a lot of mythology.
- Began to read more materials and expand my knowledge on many subjects.
- eventually became frustrated and started wondering "What the hell makes MY Religion the right one?". How could so many be sentenced to damnation for things that are innately not their fault?

If God does exist, he is a capricious bastard.

>>3680552
Sounds like you were just rebelling to get back at your mother.

>>3680691
Appreciated. The thing is that when I'm with her it's not an issue at all. It's only when I'm not with her that I even think about and feel a little uneasy. It has nothing to do with anything she has done personally, and everything to do with my very strong views.

My parents weren't too rough on religion, but my grandparents were. I was pushed into the the church at 13 and I stayed for about a few months, never really able to believe in it. I questioned my sexuality a lot when I was a kid, and the way they talked about being gay and the like made me feel very uncomfortable. So 14 on, I just went through life not really having faith in any religion.

I had my first doubt in second grade. It was when my teacher told us her father didn't believe in God, but she thought he would still go to heaven. I thought it was ridiculous at the time - he was obviously going to hell, but since this came from the same woman that taught us religion, I was very confused.

My mother was diagnosed with M.S. and Lupus and was in and out of the hospital, the Mayo Clinic, and Cleveland Clinic when I was 10 to 15 years old. It's when I first started questioning the nature of God if he could let a woman as good as my mother suffer.

I stopped attending mass on Sunday at 15. I stopped considering myself a Catholic at 18. I didn't pick up any literature on the matter of religion until I was 21, and until that point I largely thought of religion as just a comfortable lie. Then I came to my job at gitmo, and was then face to face with religious fanatics every day.

I considered myself a true agnostic until that point - I incorrectly thought that the probability of some sort supernatural higher power responsible for the universe was better than nearly zero.

Then I opened my eyes to the danger that religion can pose to civilization. I started reading Dawkins, Hitchens, Darwin, and have actually read the Bible and Koran more often than when I didn't considered myself an atheist*.

*I don't profess with absolute certainty that there is no god(s), strictly because presently it's impossible to do so, much like disproving the existence of sentient loaf of bread in orbit around a distant star. All religions are obviously man-made, and the existence of anything supernatural is nearly zero.

i'm not going to read the thread and not going to read any replies but here's mine:
god is scientifically impossible to ascertain the probability of. he may be there, but he is still unable to be gauged or studied in any scientific way. anybody who's gone through a basic science-related class knows that for something to be scientific it has to have a way of being proved wrong. how do you prove that god isn't there or that god isn't acting on the universe? for that matter, how do you prove he is? like he said, he may be there, but I and no other human being has no way of knowing the likelihood of him being there. and even if he was there, how is that knowledge useful to me? how do i communicate with him? what are his rules? is he a protestant, a muslim, a catholic, a pagan? something else? there are so many questions on something we can't know for sure in the first place that it just complicates living to an absurd point.

It started with me not wanting to go to church in 3rd grade. Simply because it was boring. (as part of school it was mandatory)
I then learned I could skip church and christianity lessons if I wasn't a christian, turns out, I'm atually jewish! Whoopdedoo. No more church and shit.
I started experimenting with prayer. It didn't work. I pretty quickly concluded that it was all bullshit.

My only regret is not being more religion hating in class.

Anybody who isn't agnostic is just kidding themselves

That being said, I still believe in Jesus and whathaveyou, for my own reasons

My opinions started to form around the age of at least 3. My mom put me in Sunday school, and took me to church, etc.. Of course, she just got lazy with church but kept me in CCD. I asked her "Why not go to church? Won't we go to hell?", she responded with "I think some of the things they teach are ridiculous, so I don't believe in those things.". I found that to be a flaw within itself, since our CCD teachers always preached how mass was part of a commitment to god, etc..

As I got older, I was still in CCD. I ended up bringing in toys to my classes and just playing with them until the teacher was done. He'd always demand my toys, to which I would respond "You aren't legally my teacher. You have no right in taking my things." Eventually, he told me to tell my mom he wanted to speak with me after "class". I just bolted my ass out the door, and got in my mom's car.

Eventually, my mom stopped bitching about me going, realizing that it should be my choice when it comes to my beliefs.

TL;DR I was forced to be Catholic and it ended up making me see the fallacies within all religion.

The nature of the Abrahamic God as described by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

1 Omnipotent
2 Omniscient
3 Omnibenevolent
4 Transcendent
5 Perfection
6 Free willed

Which right off the bat tells you it's a load of shit, because you can't be omnipotent and omniscient at the same time. How can an omniscient god find the omnipotence to change that which he already knows? Illogical. First red flag.

You can't be omnibenevolent if you damn or allow people to go to hell for eternity. The Problem of Evil is still maintained despite arguments of free will and Platinga's Defense because it is all based upon the opinion that it is better to have free will and evil than no evil and no free will, or that a supposedly omnipotent god could not create a reality in which no evil existed and free will a reality. Second red flag.

Even if you limit God to capable only of what is logically possible, you're negating omnipotence. Third red flag.

Next, the claim by all Abrahamic religions that their scripture is the literal or divinely inspired word of God, and all the contradictions (there's nearly 1500 across all Abrahamic scripture), the bigotry, and all violence done by God or in the name of God therein. Thousands of red flags.

Next, scientific explanations for the nature of the universe having evidence and religion having none.

Suddenly, millions of red flags.

I use to believe in god and all that crap but stopped when I found out I was gay and that not matter how hard I prayed I was still gay and that god hated me and wanted to keep it that way.

It started with doubting the usual inconsistencies a religion has, why does god allow evil, how can he be both merciless and merciful to his enemies and just while doing it and shit like that. The kind of things priests usually justify with "because he's omnipotent and he can".
Growing up I just dimissed the pretty underwhelming set of mythos about an omnipotent neckbeard and started to think about religion as set of morals and experience of life, and realized you don't need to call it 'religion' and that everyone should have their own personal religion. I don't believe in some higher power but I believe there are people who need to think there is some higher power validating their existance or standing in a group. My basic summary of religion now is "whatever makes you sleep well at night".

I'm not religious, but I ask: why is it that many of you decided that there is no god simply because the world isn't a paradise to feeble human intellects.

agnostic parents, fuck yes

>>3680976
have copied and pasted to a text file. will spam at christian pals on msn.

>>3681108
Because when they're telling you a guy can do anything for you but doesn't do it, butthurt makes you think.
Bu honestly, going beyond the whole problem of evil thing, I'm a pretty materialistic guy, I don't believe in something said to exist by people born before me who heard it from people born before them, etc. There is no God, but there is a good set of principles and virtues in each religion. The whole bearded guy thing worked when people believed whatever bullshit they fed them, human society has advanced in the meantime.

>>3681121
When they ask for the nearly 1500 contradictions send them this link http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html and this link http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

>>3681124
You didn't answer my question. What you're describing is what Christians worship (and I agree). But that's not the only construct of god out there.

>>3681147
thanks for that chap

a combination of being interested in science from about 4 and finding the forced praying bullshit. just checking is forcing children to pray illegal in Britain? its odd until i got internet access i had no idea people actually believed the bible. it seemed stupid to me at the time.

Meh, I was never raised with religion. My dad's pretty much the same kind of "I don't give two shits either way" agnostic as me; and while my mother would like to call herself a Christian, she probably hasn't been to church since her wedding day.

The only time I was exposed to religion was through my ant, who was very religious. Occasionally I would have to go to church with her if she was childminding me or whatever. I never cared too much about it, and I just accepted the idea of heaven and hell and all that bullshit just because I felt like I was supposed to. Everyone just seemed to accept it without much complaint, so I did too.

Really, for me religion was always the same thing as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, where you always knew the shit wasn't real, but for some reason kept up the pretence.

I wanted to edgy and cool like my other fifteen year old friends.

My parents were completely religious. Church every sunday, praying before meals, etc. Then around 14 I managed to break BOTH legs snowboarding (fucking hurt) and was bedridden for 2 weeks. I used that time to read the entire bible, back to front (being the good christfag I was).

...Reading the Bible turned me into an athiest. Seriously, if there's any excellent detterrent from Christianity, it's the Bible.

(1.) As a baby, my mother took me to be baptised. Apparently, I cried from the minute she walked through the door to the minute she left. Could that have been a sign of things to come?
(2.) As a pre-teen, I hated Sunday School. It never made any sense. I never understood what was going on. There didn't seem to be any lesson and no one got rewarded or punished for what they did or said.
(3.) As a teen, I went to exactly one Confirmation class. It was full of kids reading passages from the Bible and nodding importantly. I remember reading the bottom of one page, flipping the page, and continuing again at the top. I couldn't tell that two pages had been stuck together. It made no sense at all.
(4.) Finally, in grade ten, I was just sort of staring at my English teacher as he stood at the front of the class, teaching his lesson. I realized there was no mystical bond. There was no puppet master up in heaven controlling or directing his life. He was just alive and alone, like we all are.
#4 sort of put me into a funk for me teen years. I sort of liked the idea that the world just didn't happen, but I couldn't believe. It didn't make any sense. It was all lies. Lies with history. Lies with tradition. Lies with people nodding importantly. Screw it.

>>3676962

Get off the fence, anon. You either believe in God or you don't; there is no middle ground.

>>3676879
And the Nile is just a river in Africa

>>3677575
>1) 2/3 of the earth is water, but humans don't have gills or a way to live in water. lol creationism. If you think humans weren't meant to be a prominent species in god's eye then there goes the entire Jesus being god's son theory.
I can add to your dismissiveness if you want. Organisms live in 3D in the ocean, meaning that the biosphere is 20 times larger in the ocean as it is on land, which except for insects and birds is life lived in 2D.
Sauce:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/craig_venter_on_dna_and_the_sea.html

Gave up on religion in the sense that I went to a catholic high school and found it all to be bullshit.

>>3681147
Thanks for the site.
It's a great delight.
It set my heart alight;
It will give the faithful fright.

> 1 Thessalonians 5:21
> Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Oddly enough, the Bible agrees that I should reject the Bible. That's pretty comprehensive.

>>3680703
>If God does exist, he is a capricious bastard.
Huh, if God was a jerk, then maybe I would start to believe.

because i never found the concept of theism appealing - and because my highschool 'religion' class teacher was of the firm that belief that any religious scripture was written by mortal men, for mortal men, to effect mortal ambition

I remember getting into a fight with some kid already in preschool because we we're arguing about God's existance. I was the one denying his existance of course. My parents never really took sides on that kind of stuff because they didn't want to have any influence on me when it comes to personal beliefs.

I hate to break it to you, but all you kids that were allowed to "discover your own beliefs" and yet STILL taken to Church were being unfairly abused by your parents.
That stuff is mind poison. By allowing exposure to it, they were TACITLY approving of it. Oh yes they were.
You have to swallow a lot of BS before mainstream Christianity or the Bible makes any sense at all.

Q: Is there a version of the Bible that is written like modern day office memos?
Other than 4chan, that's the only other type of communication that I understand.

sunday mornings nigger

My parents are both protestant though neither of them practise and have given me no religious influence. I was however sent to a catholic school (Because the other ones were shite) and I developed a slight bit of faith, but by the time I was 12 I got heavily interested in Science and I got sick of the religious indoctrination, and I spent the rest of my school life resenting religion's ignorance and developing deep hatred for anything theist, I began seeing Catholicism as a cult (Pic related).

when i realised it was stupid

hardly any Brits are practicing Christians because we know how fucking dumb the whole religion thing is

ERAR FELD TOO LUNG HURRRR

I was raised by an atheist family who never told me they were atheist. They did this becuase they wanted me to reach my own conclusions.

What they didn't factor in was that even non-denominational schools in this stupid fucking country (not Amerikkka) are full of Christian bullfuck. I became a Christian because of school and my parents never stopped me.

When I was 8, my dad died, very suddenly, of an aneurysm. I was comforted by the idea that he went to heaven. Then everyone around me (grandparents included - they're Christians) started telling me that god would help me through such difficult times. I became confused, because it was clearly my MOTHER who was helping me through difficult times. I got told as a result of this that god was helping me through my mother, and felt very, very angry the moment I heard that. I can't remember exactly who it was I was speaking to, but I told them that I considered that an insult to my mother's steadfast love and hard work, and that it was all her doing it, not some god.

A week or two later, I renounced Christianity. I remember where I was and exactly what I did. I always had a silver cross that I wore on a chain around my neck, and I took it off and never put it back on, and told my family that I was renouncing Christianity because while I wasn't sure God existed, I was sure now that he either lacked the will or the power to help people in their time of need, making him either a real bastard or a real liar, and that I didn't consider such an entity worthy of worship.

At that exact moment my mother decided to tell me LOL WE WERE ATHEISTS ALL ALONG, explaining that she had reached a similar conclusion in her youth. I was pissed at her for a while for letting me go down the Christian path for so long but in the end I came to understand that she actually WAS letting me make my own decisions... which is probably more than I'd do for my kids. If I was ever going to have any. (Yet another reason I acknowledge I wouldn't make such a great father.)

Fifteen years later, I still believe everything I said that day when I was 8.

For the record, before some douchebag points out that "acknowledging that god may exist but not finding him worthy of worship isn't atheism", I contend that it IS. Doesn't atheism simply mean the absence of belief in, or adherence to, any established theology? Isn't its meaning as "to completely discount the existence of god or gods" kind of a hijacking?

Last I was aware there was no religion that went along the lines of "God might exist but he isn't worth your time", so I guess that makes me an atheist.

Went to Sunday school a couple of times. In the end my view on the bible was the same as a Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland.

Was surprised that these adults actually believed in it.

>>3681518
True enough. Even if they are 'religious' they don't actually seem to give a fuck.

Neither of my parents gave a shit about religion, and clearly don't believe. They never even mentioned it to me growing up.
I live in the most multicultural town in Britain and growing up, most of my friends were of different religious beliefs. I just remember coming to the conclusion that I couldn't distinguish between any one of them in terms of superiority, because I respected all my friends and their families equally.
So I just didn't believe in god.

Also, when I was really young, in class they asked what religion everyone was. My mother had told me to say 'church of England' if any one ever asked, but I heard the words 'Bank of England' alot more often... So I said that by accident instead. Teacherd lol'd.

>>3676873
This is how atheists actually think.

I was raised Catholic and I went to a really Catholic middle school, not because it was Catholic, but because it was the best school in town. I always had my doubts but then we had religion class and we started studying the bible. Everything was so fucking nonsensical that I could not believe it. Then in history I also learned about the corruption of the church throughout the centuries.
Little by little I began to realize that religion didn't follow the same rules as everything in the world. I noticed that religion could not stand up to rational arguments. Everyone around me was Catholic so I was scared of letting go of my faith, but eventually I did. Luckily I had like four atheist friends and that made it much easier. I also took my best friend along with me because we was a skeptic too.

During high school I went to a more normal school. I was already a full fledged atheist but somehow all the friends I made were atheists too. No exceptions. I noticed that the more clever, better educated and "more free" people tended to be atheists. Since then in my social circles believing in God or anything like that has been a reason of mockery, so I'm not really used at watching my mouth in front of theists.

>>3681518
>>hardly any Brits are practicing Christians because the country is ruled by Muslims nowadays
Fixed that for you.

>>3681618
Assuming that's the only reason for unbelief in such a cute story is stupid. This is also how they think >>3680976 >>3681147 so if have anything to say in opposition, say it, don't just drop in and troll with meaningless garbage.

>>3681653
Lol, trolling atheists is so unbelievably easy and yet so satisfying because the rage is always genuine.

Athiests are worse than Religious nuts nowadays.
Your arguments are just as ridiculous as theirs.
They have Jesus, you have Dawkins.
Atheists who shout and spout their nonsense have made the rest of the Atheists look bad too. Just as Jesus-freaks/Extremists etc have done to their respective religions.
To not beleive in God so conclusively is just as bad as beleiving in him conclusively.

bitchesdontknowboutmahantitrolling

>>3681662
Oh wow. "lol i troll u"?

>>3681672
Some of the greatest minds in history (Descartes, Locke, etc) believed in a God, and they're a lot smarter than any fat fucking neckbeard posting on 4chan will ever be.

>>3681618
If you are told that "God answers your prayers" and then you test it out and your prayers aren't answered, then doesn't that mean God doesn't exist?
For me it wasn't a Barbie van but a 100+ collection of Scratch 'N Sniff stickers in Grade 3. I *needed* those stickers dammit and I didn't get them.
Of course, I didn't drop God that day, but it's the day that Doubt entered my mind quite clearly and never ever left.

I think Douglas Adams said it best:
People have already formed their opinions.
Their arguments for or against anything are really just justifications. They don't actually represent the reasoning they used.

>>3681672
thats why only a minority of atheists claim 100% certainty and most will tell you religions are man made garbage and the chance of gods existing is abnormally small.

theists rage so hard about dawkins because he uses things like reason and scientific evidence to so loudly proclaim religion as bullshit.

id just like to also point out saying "atheists have dawkins" like "christians have jesus" at best isnt a good analogy and at worst just shows how retarded you are. some atheists may admire dawkins, and some dont, but they certainly dont think hes the son of a made up deity and worship him.

>>3681721
lol rage more

bump for more hilarious atheist rage

L O L I WAS LIKE REBELING IN SH!T
FUCK GOD !O! IM SO HARDCORE I GOES TO 4CHAN TOOO I F'M ALSO A VIRGIN CUZ WIMENZ ARE UN ATHIEST

I learned to read with Illustrated Science and I was glued to the television set as soon as a documentary about history, nature och technology showed... My father taught me very early that all gods are imaginary friends. I got payed to not have a confirmation.

So, yeah... raised to be an atheist. Or rather an antitheist.

There are many things that we can't know. That we cannot explain. And I'm fine with that, as long as we try to learn more. Maybe there is a god, if you can call an all-creating force of sorts God... just like there should be an all-consuming force, for balance. We can call this destructive thing a god, too. But nah, don't care since it doesn't matter... I enjoy the beauty of the world and I try to be a good person. That's enough. I don't need religion for that.

Those of you that do believe in the Judeo-Christian God, or any other one, go ahead... I won't rip on you for having imaginary friends. But I will think that you're deluded and naif.

Agnosticism is the only intelligent reasoning. We don't know, we will never know, so why the fuck do you think you do?

>>3681744

No, the only intelligent stance is not to get involved with the conversation.

>>3681693
let me show you why that means nothing.

1 - most importantly, someone else believing something should have absolutely no effect on your opinions or belief unless they have evidence to support their case

2 - the power of the church and violent stigmatism of anything other than a homogeneous acceptance of Christianity in western society

3 - modern day theists try to claim "great minds" from the past because none in the present believe it

Agnostics strike me as the ultimate fence sitters.
I see them as failed Atheists.

>>3681744
ITT one guy with sense others nerds

>>3681732
i'm not raging.

this is why you should feel stupid:

1 you should feel like an inadequate troll for your "lol i troll u".

2 you couldnt refute anything of the previous post so you just tried to change the subject

>>3681797
>>3681744
I detect samefaggery. Agnosticism is reasonable as long as you don't claim the existence of the supernatural is 50/50.

>>3681800
That wasn't me (the person you called retarded)
Someone else was feasting on your tears

>>3681817
then #1 applies to him, and #2 to you

After being forced to read this "kids bible" when I was about 7 or 8 I figured that this shit can't be real. Can't really remember the specifics about what "disproved" religion for me, probably just the sheer amounts of stupidity.

>>3681811
Not samefag, I'm the anon who said it;

I don't want to put labels on things that I don't know for certain. If I've never experienced it but others claim to, can I say it's not real?
I keep my mind open because I assuming things which we cannot know for certain are definitely so or not so, is a sign of arrogance and ignorance.

Does anyone here share my belief that people who believe in God or Gods are somehow inferior to the rest of us?

I was raised in a highly religious family. My parents still are fundamentalist Christians(the gays are going to hell type). For years I attended a nondenominational church every Sunday. I went to revivals and spoke in "tongues". Every time I had a doubt about my faith, I set in the in back of my mind, reassuring myself that God worked in mysterious ways. I live the whole Christian life, trying to convert people, praying all the time thinking it actually had an effect, ect...

It wasn't until I was 18 and in college I started questioning my faith. I took a Bible as Literature class, and that really opened my eyes to see what the Bible was and who it was written by. I still didn't want to accept the fact that it wasn't inspired by a God. Eventually, I started reading the apologist L. Ray Smith. He spoke so fluently about the Bible and referred to it's context in hebrew and greek. He eliminated the neo-Christian idea of "hell", the "trinity", and other practices which are only quite recent to the Church and never really existed in the earlier practices of religion.

Cont...

>>3681773
lawl learn what agnosticism is.

>>3681851
You've probably already heard all the reasons why Agnosticism is stupid.
At some point, you have to decide if a 0.0000001% chance of something being true is close enough to 0 to round down.

You don't see scientists saying "Well, my trend line is only 99.97% accurate so my theory is neither right nor wrong but possible". If you actually could get reality to match your theory this well, you'd be claiming PROOF that you are RIGHT.

Agnostics that can't trust anything make bad human beings and worse scientsts.

>>3681861
With age you will come to realise how ridiculous that statement is because you do not know if a higher being exists. You will never know if a higher being exists. Not beleiving in it is just as small-minded as only beleiving in it.

It wasn't really until I started my research in Biology and Philosophy and the understanding of Evolution where I truly came to terms with my faith. I started to realize how utterly idiotic they were. How the fact's didn't line up. I watched numerous youtube channels with debates between atheists and creationists. And about two months after this internal struggle, I gave up religion.

The funny thing is, nothing has changed, and I wouldn't expect it to. Life hasn't gotten easier. But one thing that is different; I am more accountable to myself and others. I know I don't get a second chance. There is no magical deity looking over me ready to redeem me and all my sins. It's hard sometimes know that everything you believed in is a lie. It would be so easy just to plug my ears and go back believing all the bullshit. But I can't do that, I can't be that intellectually dishonest with myself.

I became a full blow irreligious person when I came to the conclusion that everything "supernatural" that I had experienced can be explained rationally, either through sensory perception, self hypnosis, ect...

I can never go back to religion or believing in the supernatural. It's an irrational and illogical belief to put 'faith' in something that holds no observable bounds within nature.

>>3681863
>>3681889

Same poster, FYI

I was raised in a secular family, like most of my friends in Sweden.

one word DINOSAURS

>>3681884
Do you rememeber when the world's scientists thought that the tinyest thing was the atom? Or when the world was considered flat? Or when we thought the Sun moved around us?

>>3681884

It's evident to me that you don't really understand agnosticism.

An r^2 value of .9997 is good enough for me to claim that for all forseeable practical purposes, it's right. Maybe someone will come along and get a model with a .9998 r^2 value. My hat comes off to them.

Also, I don't believe in bigfoot, UFOs or the loch ness monster, even though their existence isn't completely ruled out! Oh my!

>>3681867
Lawl. Atheists have no god.
You agnostics do. Or don't. But could. If that ain't fence sitting, I don't know what is.
I'm a strong Atheist myself. God doesn't exist. He falt out doesn't.
Now, if God's gigantic dead body was found floating out in the Hudson River, well, I would change my mind. But until there is incontrovertible evidence of a God, then there isn't one and you should stop waisting brainpower over him, her, it, or they.

>>3681851
>If I've never experienced it but others claim to

Those personal experiences attributed to a god? Why can't they be attributable to nature? Or human nature?

Standing up for reason against unreason is not unenlightened arrogance and ignorance.

The existence of gods or anything supernatural is close to zero, only because of the technicality that I can't show you every inch of the universe at the same time, I can't defend against ridiculous claims that anything exists outside of reality.

I'm agnostic about there being a talking dog on a distant planet in another solar system, does that still mean it's existence is any more likely if billions of delusional people worship it?

Just realised how retardedly irrational it was.

>>3681942
>I'm agnostic about there being a talking dog on a distant planet in another solar system, does that still mean it's existence is any more likely if billions of delusional people worship it?

This sentence is irrelevant. Whether billions of people beleive in something or not, we don't know if it's the case, and it does not and will never increase the chances of its likelihood.

>>3681954
Unbelief being irrational? Please, enlighten me.

>>3681930

You need to learn to spell.

>But until there is incontrovertible evidence of a God, then there isn't one and you should stop waisting brainpower over him, her, it, or they.

Until Dalton, Brown, Einstein, and Perrin came along, there was no incontrovertible evidence for atoms. Did they not exist until then?

But I agree, people should stop worrying about it.

>>3681969
That's exactly the point I was making.

>>3681970
Beleiving in something you don't know is irrational. "Unbeleiving" in something you don't know is irrational.

>>3681970
In before Pascal's idiocy.

>>3681977
You enitre post was nonsensical.

My parents weren't religious, so I just didn't know about religion. When I did, I thought they were just stories, and that people didn't actually believe they were true.

>>3681918
Yes, and they were proved wrong.
But let's review. During the "flat earth" time for example you either:
1. Believed the earth was flat
2. Believed something else but without any valid reason
Most people would go for #1. Once you had proof against it, then drop it.
In person, I could show you that you actually BELIEVE in things no matter how much you claim to be "open minded". There are some AXIOMS buried deep in your snob prat body. I could haul them out and insult you with them.
tl;dr grrrrrrrrr

Both parents were raised catholic, although neither of them ever pressed religion onto me or my older brothers, i learnt about religion from a "born-again" christian that knew how to play a guitar, i was interested in this new thing, like learning to count. As i matured i started questioning god, tried praying, no reply. When i was 13,one night i was literally crying and was hugging my pillow, locked in my bathroom because i had got a virus on my computer from watching porn, seriousley, for a little kid that shits fucking horrifying, so anyway, older brothers were atheist, they influenced me alot until i reached the age at which i could think for myself, Im now a proud atheist, and i love arguing with theists, seriousley, shits entertaining, i also carry with me anti-religous stickers and flyers with me when i go out.

Fuck yeah.

>>3681979
That's sounds great, until you think about it for longer than a second.

Not believing any of the miracles in scripture or believing that scripture is divinely inspired of or the inerrant word of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent being is not irrational when you account for any of this >>3680976 >>3681147

Simply because there's an infinitesimal chance of God or any gods does not make it irrational not to believe because there is inherently an equal chance of any of them existing and an equal chance of all of them existing at once.

Do you believe in Bigfoot? Do you believe in aliens abducting rednecks to probe them anally? Do you believe that moot is actually a faggot cyborg from the future? No. According to your logic you are irrational.

>>3681996

It's true that agnostics believe some things without meeting their standards of evidence, unintentionally.

That's why a good skeptic is willing to allow his preconceived notions to be challenged. If they're wrong, they're wrong.

And actually, during the "flat earth" era whenever that was, educated people did know the earth was round. The horizon is the simplest way to prove it. Beyond that, you can always measure sun azimuths.

I thought everyone knew moot was a faggot cyborg from the future.

<3 mootles

>>3681989
What was so non-sensical? You only responded to the last question, which was rhetorical and when read in conjunction with the rest of the post, was just used to to point out a common misconception of agnostics, especially "agnostic deists", that they believe the existence of the supernatural to be greater than almost zero purely because religion is has been ingrained in society.

>>3682016
There is no one "flat era" in history. It depends where you lived and when. Go read up on the history of ideas.

>>3676871

you'd best be trollin' nigger

>>3682077

You missed my point. There was no "flat earth" era, period.

After the Greeks figured it out, well, someone always knew the truth.

This invalidates >>3681996 's argument, since there were people who knew a very close approximation to the truth, and people who knew falsehoods because of ignorance.

Strictly speaking, the earth is an oblate spheroid.

I had a fucking xbox hueg picture book. It was about space.
Like some posts I assume are in this thread, blah blah tiny aspect of the universe as a whole, it's how I came to my conclusion, although followed by apathy for most of my life, and when it came to actually learning about it I followed where the evidence lies.

Faith disgusts me.

>>3682127
And my parents, although dogmatic in most aspects (drugs/alcohol) did not force anything upon me.

>>3682140
And another thing to add, I've always loved dinosaurs.
Yeah... my post's content are coming on a whim.

Why do Christfags (American Christfags at that) always believe that young atheists are doing it just to be 'edgy' and that they've put no other kind of thought into the decision to be an atheist? As though the default and obvious position is to believe in God?

>>3682150

Because Christfags have a monopoly on truth.

Didn't you know?

There was some guy who came up to me in the city once. I thought he wanted to know what the time was but he spent the next half hour talking to me about religion and God. I hated him for wasting my time, ironically, he slowly ended driving me to atheism.

>>3682157

That still doesn't explain the accusations of 'edginess'.

>>3682150
Most simply can't see it both ways.
I dated a believer and when I told her i didn't want to be part of her religion and such, she accepted and it only a week later, when I was asking her what she thought of me being an atheist, she answered "You're an ATHEIST?!"
She assumed that i just gave it up but in her world, everyone believes in god =\

I could've worded it better, but I hope you gentlemen get the gist of it. Any other similiar experiences?

When everybody close to me began dropping dead like flies and my parents gave up raising me because they found heroin more worth while. Prayer never helped me.

bawwwwwww

>>3682162

Yeah, it does. They are threatened by the thought of anyone who believes differently from their own beliefs, since you represent something that could eventually become and that they are trained to hate.

So they accuse you of just being rebellious and wanting to be edgy. They take your philosophical position and think of it as you following a trend to fit in.

Not all Christians are like this. Don't get me wrong, I have lots of Christian friends (it's unavoidable here in the States). They just aren't faggots like the above or they wouldn't be my friends.

I grew up in a country where religion is not a big deal. I've never really believed in god.

>>3682146
FUCK YEAH DINOSAURS

>>3682167

My mum thinks that 'deep down' I still believe in it, because to her it's crazy that someone might not believe in God. She can understand why people might not believe in God because of the bad things in the world, but she just can't get her head around the notion that people might not believe in God because there's just no good reason to do so.

>>3682167

Haha, oh man. She doesn't sound like the brightest candle.

>>3682191
Yeah, she was an idiot, you know I fingered her before she even did it to herself? Pathetic.
She said that her dad wouldn't walk her down the isle at her marriage if she married a non-christian.
I hate her family, she's a nice girl but has a completely different side that calls her best friends sluts (17y/o dating a 20y/o) and friends losers for drinking.
It's sad.

>>3682202

Ditch the bitch.

>>3682210
We dated for three months (i got 2 bjs and a maybe 10 handies out of it) a year ago.

>>3682213

I hope she was extremely good looking.

>>3676844
What a liar? You don't just walk into the Church and get communion.

>>3682167
Why the fuck would you ever date such an idiot?

It's clear to see why all you Amerifags are agnostic - you come from first or second generation irreligious families and the absence of the divine is still unthinkable in such a religious society as your own. You'd probably get scorned somewhat.

Me, I've never seen the inside of a working church, and was only baptised because of my catholic grandmother, who has always kept her religion to herself. I don't know when the impulse that made me interpret religion as social ritual rather than an independent part of the human experience came, must have been when I became acquainted with sociology and took some mushrooms at 17.