Are you an Atheist? What Promted Your Choice?

Long Article by Ricky Gervais.. But it is still a very good article although some people will discredit it based on who it is written by. But still pretty much a summation of why/how I became an atheist also.

[h1]A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Atheist[/h1]

Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me
 
Originally Posted by TimCity2000

i was raised in a pretty strict catholic household. grew up playing piano in the choir and all that.

when i got to college, i kept going. every week in fact. in some ways it was a respite from the stress of college life. but looking back, i never really paid attention to the readings or the sermons. i was there because i needed to belong to something. the power of numbers is pretty compelling. it's a comforting feeling knowing that you're surrounded by hundreds of people who are all kind of working towards the same thing. the problem is, i'm not sure i ever believed in that "thing"....

now that i've graduated, i still go. it's hard to explain why. it certainly isn't every week anymore. and the more i go, the less sense any of it makes.

so here i am at 32... and i still don't know what i believe in. i think ultimately i am headed towards a mild version of agnosticism. i just have too many questions that i don't think can ever be answered. where did god come from? with the size of the universe, how can there not be something else out there? did i just get lucky by being "born into" the right religion, and all those other 5 billion people are screwed? at the same time, however, i'd be lying if i said i didn't feel some sense of comfort when i sit in a pew on sunday. regardless, just imagine if we put all the energy we spend fighting about religion into helping each other.

and then there's the huge white elephant in the cathedral: i've only recently been able to admit to myself that i'm gay. imagine growing up in an entire institution only to slowly realize that it does not accept or support you. where then do you turn? it might seem like a no-brainer, but after 30 years how do you turn your back on something you've come to depend on in a way?

so that's where i am.

[sorry guys, i didn't intend to type all that when i first entered this thread... just sort of came out (so to speak). i've never mentioned my sexuality on NT before, and never felt like i owed anyone that, but it's been a trying year for me.]
Click to expand...

My EXACT point. I have a personal theory that gay people often find themselves in the church because its one of the things they use to redeem themselves in a society that tells them who they are is wrong. They attempt to move closer to god instead of accepting who they are and validating themselves intrinsically.

Props to you for coming to your realization. Its not easy.

My understanding of religion has made me MORE aware of what it takes to be grounded in what I'm more sure of regarding the lack of religion. Most atheists and agnosts spend MORE time spending doing research and investigating their own biases. Its truly a gratifying experience.
 
Originally Posted by TimCity2000

i was raised in a pretty strict catholic household. grew up playing piano in the choir and all that.

when i got to college, i kept going. every week in fact. in some ways it was a respite from the stress of college life. but looking back, i never really paid attention to the readings or the sermons. i was there because i needed to belong to something. the power of numbers is pretty compelling. it's a comforting feeling knowing that you're surrounded by hundreds of people who are all kind of working towards the same thing. the problem is, i'm not sure i ever believed in that "thing"....

now that i've graduated, i still go. it's hard to explain why. it certainly isn't every week anymore. and the more i go, the less sense any of it makes.

so here i am at 32... and i still don't know what i believe in. i think ultimately i am headed towards a mild version of agnosticism. i just have too many questions that i don't think can ever be answered. where did god come from? with the size of the universe, how can there not be something else out there? did i just get lucky by being "born into" the right religion, and all those other 5 billion people are screwed? at the same time, however, i'd be lying if i said i didn't feel some sense of comfort when i sit in a pew on sunday. regardless, just imagine if we put all the energy we spend fighting about religion into helping each other.

and then there's the huge white elephant in the cathedral: i've only recently been able to admit to myself that i'm gay. imagine growing up in an entire institution only to slowly realize that it does not accept or support you. where then do you turn? it might seem like a no-brainer, but after 30 years how do you turn your back on something you've come to depend on in a way?

so that's where i am.

[sorry guys, i didn't intend to type all that when i first entered this thread... just sort of came out (so to speak). i've never mentioned my sexuality on NT before, and never felt like i owed anyone that, but it's been a trying year for me.]
Click to expand...

My EXACT point. I have a personal theory that gay people often find themselves in the church because its one of the things they use to redeem themselves in a society that tells them who they are is wrong. They attempt to move closer to god instead of accepting who they are and validating themselves intrinsically.

Props to you for coming to your realization. Its not easy.

My understanding of religion has made me MORE aware of what it takes to be grounded in what I'm more sure of regarding the lack of religion. Most atheists and agnosts spend MORE time spending doing research and investigating their own biases. Its truly a gratifying experience.
 
Originally Posted by Essential1

Long Article by Ricky Gervais.. But it is still a very good article although some people will discredit it based on who it is written by. But still pretty much a summation of why/how I became an atheist also.

[h1]A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Atheist[/h1]
Click to expand...
Ricky Gervais is a god.




EDIT:  By the way, I just realized he used the same example, Flying, that I used.  That made me laugh.  Oddly enough, when I posed this hypothetical to a certain someone in this thread they couldn't wrap their little bitty mind around it.  Shocking, I know. See:

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?
Click to expand...
 
Originally Posted by Essential1

Long Article by Ricky Gervais.. But it is still a very good article although some people will discredit it based on who it is written by. But still pretty much a summation of why/how I became an atheist also.

[h1]A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Atheist[/h1]
Click to expand...
Ricky Gervais is a god.




EDIT:  By the way, I just realized he used the same example, Flying, that I used.  That made me laugh.  Oddly enough, when I posed this hypothetical to a certain someone in this thread they couldn't wrap their little bitty mind around it.  Shocking, I know. See:

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?
Click to expand...
 
my dad and I are the only ones that seem to do away with religion in my family. When I was younger I went to church and just thought that was the thing to do (believe in god) Now I just can't fathom believing in an invisible man. the whole dinosaurs thing had me. Evolution. The Universe. Man and Woman. Other religions. War. It seems way too simple to believe in some type of religion when we are just a speck of dust in this world.
 
my dad and I are the only ones that seem to do away with religion in my family. When I was younger I went to church and just thought that was the thing to do (believe in god) Now I just can't fathom believing in an invisible man. the whole dinosaurs thing had me. Evolution. The Universe. Man and Woman. Other religions. War. It seems way too simple to believe in some type of religion when we are just a speck of dust in this world.
 
when i was a kid, i used to believe in god, the good and loving god. then growing up, i found out that god would let innocent people burn in hell after they die because they grew up on a remote island on the other side of the world and never knew about or came in contact with his son Jesus Christ in order to believe in Jesus.... and so i figured, if god is like that, he's unfair, biased, racist, wrathful, destructive and doesn't love the people he created equally.... how then could he be THE god?.... then i considered other religions and realized their gods are just as evil, if not the same. with that in mind, i could not bring myself to continue to worship something this bad.... if there is a good god, he does not exist in our world.
 
when i was a kid, i used to believe in god, the good and loving god. then growing up, i found out that god would let innocent people burn in hell after they die because they grew up on a remote island on the other side of the world and never knew about or came in contact with his son Jesus Christ in order to believe in Jesus.... and so i figured, if god is like that, he's unfair, biased, racist, wrathful, destructive and doesn't love the people he created equally.... how then could he be THE god?.... then i considered other religions and realized their gods are just as evil, if not the same. with that in mind, i could not bring myself to continue to worship something this bad.... if there is a good god, he does not exist in our world.
 
Never have believed in god. I'm glad my parents didn't brainwash me into that mess. Finland though isn't the most religious place.
Only god i believe is basedgod.
 
Never have believed in god. I'm glad my parents didn't brainwash me into that mess. Finland though isn't the most religious place.
Only god i believe is basedgod.
 
Because if everyone tried to be good people just for the sake of others, we wouldn't bother with religion.
 
Because if everyone tried to be good people just for the sake of others, we wouldn't bother with religion.
 
I'm glad this thread came up and people are using it share their personal stories and as a form of group therapy almost. I started a thread a couple weeks back questioning whether the belief in an invisible cosmic being could be related to insanity/delusion and was berated for "attacking" religion.

I want to share my story.

I grew up with a heavy Christian influence. Even when I was in preschool, I attended one where the teachers taught us Christian songs and about Christianity. I was three or four years old at the time. The next thirteen years of my life were spent attending the same Christian school; Kindergarten through the senior year of high school all spent in the same building. I remember vividly my conversion to Christianity. During one of the recess periods in third grade, my teacher pulled me aside and asked me if I believed that Jesus died for me on the cross and if I wanted to accept him into my heart. I said that I did believe that and I wanted to become a Christian. I was eight years old. During those years at the school, I strongly considered myself a Christian. I would attend the chapels we had every week and I'd attend the fellowship groups on Friday nights. During the summers, I attended a summer school program that was church-backed until after the eighth grade. In high school, I volunteered at that church for three years.

For someone so immersed in Christianity though, I became really confused and conflicted on the inside as I grew up. Christianity, as a concept, started falling apart when I began questioning it. So much of the Bible started to sound like fairy tales when I had accepted them as truth when I was younger. Did a man really get swallowed by a giant fish and survive? Did a man really build a giant wooden boat and gather two of every animal into it and survive a forty day flooding of the world? Did a man with divine powers really come back to life? Was he able to bring others back to life? Even though I had all these doubts, I still considered myself a Christian. All my friends were Christian and that was the life I knew.

Someone mentioned whether introducing the idea of sin and burning in hell could be constituted as psychological torture. I think it is. Since I learned about Christianity, it was always prefaced with the opposite which was eternal damnation. Whenever I did anything "bad" as a kid, I would get really afraid that it would lead to some kind of consequence. I'm actually really mad as I type this because I don't believe any person should have to go through with that kind of self-induced guilt. I remember watching porn for the first time in middle school and thinking I was going to hell for it.

One social topic that really pushed me away from religion was homosexuality. I'm absolutely disgusted by how religious people treat homosexuals as a class of people beneath them. They drive the idea that homosexuality is abnormal and a sin, something that can be cured with counseling and the word of God. Watching people, not just extremists but moderate Christians, so fervently condemn something that has so little to do with their own lives really snapped me out of the illusion that Christians were all good people that were somehow more special in the eyes of God than anyone else.

The last two years of high school was when my faith started wavering. I still hung out with the same crowd but I didn't really care anymore about the church stuff. I went to school and did my thing. I got into art and started painting. My art teacher was the most chill, non-judgmental Christian guy ever. A part of me, to this day, thinks he's not really a Christian at all. When I got into college, what left of the Christian facade I was still sporting fell away. I don't publicly denounce religion or anything like that but I no longer live with the self-induced guilt. I no longer question everything I do in relation to how a religion would respond. Although I no longer subscribe to a religion, that doesn't make me any less moral or immoral a person. I now trust in reason and logic. I don't reject the possibility of there being a god although I'm inclined to believe there isn't one. There could be a god...there most likely isn't one...and really I don't care either way.
 
I'm glad this thread came up and people are using it share their personal stories and as a form of group therapy almost. I started a thread a couple weeks back questioning whether the belief in an invisible cosmic being could be related to insanity/delusion and was berated for "attacking" religion.

I want to share my story.

I grew up with a heavy Christian influence. Even when I was in preschool, I attended one where the teachers taught us Christian songs and about Christianity. I was three or four years old at the time. The next thirteen years of my life were spent attending the same Christian school; Kindergarten through the senior year of high school all spent in the same building. I remember vividly my conversion to Christianity. During one of the recess periods in third grade, my teacher pulled me aside and asked me if I believed that Jesus died for me on the cross and if I wanted to accept him into my heart. I said that I did believe that and I wanted to become a Christian. I was eight years old. During those years at the school, I strongly considered myself a Christian. I would attend the chapels we had every week and I'd attend the fellowship groups on Friday nights. During the summers, I attended a summer school program that was church-backed until after the eighth grade. In high school, I volunteered at that church for three years.

For someone so immersed in Christianity though, I became really confused and conflicted on the inside as I grew up. Christianity, as a concept, started falling apart when I began questioning it. So much of the Bible started to sound like fairy tales when I had accepted them as truth when I was younger. Did a man really get swallowed by a giant fish and survive? Did a man really build a giant wooden boat and gather two of every animal into it and survive a forty day flooding of the world? Did a man with divine powers really come back to life? Was he able to bring others back to life? Even though I had all these doubts, I still considered myself a Christian. All my friends were Christian and that was the life I knew.

Someone mentioned whether introducing the idea of sin and burning in hell could be constituted as psychological torture. I think it is. Since I learned about Christianity, it was always prefaced with the opposite which was eternal damnation. Whenever I did anything "bad" as a kid, I would get really afraid that it would lead to some kind of consequence. I'm actually really mad as I type this because I don't believe any person should have to go through with that kind of self-induced guilt. I remember watching porn for the first time in middle school and thinking I was going to hell for it.

One social topic that really pushed me away from religion was homosexuality. I'm absolutely disgusted by how religious people treat homosexuals as a class of people beneath them. They drive the idea that homosexuality is abnormal and a sin, something that can be cured with counseling and the word of God. Watching people, not just extremists but moderate Christians, so fervently condemn something that has so little to do with their own lives really snapped me out of the illusion that Christians were all good people that were somehow more special in the eyes of God than anyone else.

The last two years of high school was when my faith started wavering. I still hung out with the same crowd but I didn't really care anymore about the church stuff. I went to school and did my thing. I got into art and started painting. My art teacher was the most chill, non-judgmental Christian guy ever. A part of me, to this day, thinks he's not really a Christian at all. When I got into college, what left of the Christian facade I was still sporting fell away. I don't publicly denounce religion or anything like that but I no longer live with the self-induced guilt. I no longer question everything I do in relation to how a religion would respond. Although I no longer subscribe to a religion, that doesn't make me any less moral or immoral a person. I now trust in reason and logic. I don't reject the possibility of there being a god although I'm inclined to believe there isn't one. There could be a god...there most likely isn't one...and really I don't care either way.
 
Haven't posted on NT in about 2 years, and when I used to, it was mostly in these Atheism threads. Just wanted to say that tml09's response is dead-on and should be read by all in this thread, and on NT in general. Without delving into the philosophical shortcomings of religion, and not even mentioning any of the contradictions and errors our knowledge stemming from science poses for religion, that post sums up some of the most notable issues most atheists have with religion.
 
Haven't posted on NT in about 2 years, and when I used to, it was mostly in these Atheism threads. Just wanted to say that tml09's response is dead-on and should be read by all in this thread, and on NT in general. Without delving into the philosophical shortcomings of religion, and not even mentioning any of the contradictions and errors our knowledge stemming from science poses for religion, that post sums up some of the most notable issues most atheists have with religion.
 
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