why are you an atheist?

Actually if every human being forgot about the Christian God you guys are referring to, though they may not remember that specific God (without bibles, etc) I think they would still have a basic concept of a higher being. I think it's kind of a instinct in humans to believe in a higher being. Even the Native Americans believed in higher beings, and they had no resources to the world outside America.

I am an Atheist because I've always been a skeptic, and religion isn't an exception. Even though I don't usually claim to be part of any belief system, I guess technically I am an agnostic Atheist, someone who doesn't believe there is a God, but is open to further evidence that their might be one.

This is assuming, of course, that all the Bibles in the world disappeared, all the songs about God and hymns disappeared, and all the literature about God disappeared

so it's okay to discuss religion on here now? Okay.......

(I did not read any of the 35 friggin pages in this thread)

I have my own spiritual beliefs. I choose to keep them to myself, however, as I believe all people should. This is the major reason I despise religion. I do not despise any certain religion for their particular belief........I despise all religions because of the very fact that they exist. I despise them because they serve no positive purpose. If a person is a devout Christian/Jew/whatever and live a good life accordingly..........wouldn't that same person live a good life and treat others well if there was no such thing as Christianity/Judiism/whatever? Religons are a strength in numbers game. They exist on the pretense that if enough people believe the same way that I do, I must be right. If you're beliefs are right........wouldn't they still be right if there was no such thing as a church or synagog (I know I misspelled that)? Religion is a form of self-assurance for those people who are lacking in self confidence about their beliefs and need reassurance from others. One might argue that if you need the reassurance of others, you don't truly believe it yourself.

This strength in numbers crap is the basis of all religion. What do they call Christianity? a religion. Why? Because it's a large group of people who share the same beliefs. What do they call a group of 40 people who all share the same beliefs? A religion? nope......they call it a cult. As I'm sure you all know, "cult" has a bad connotation. Why is it bad?......because a "cult's" beliefs can't possibly be right because they only have 40 members.........Christianity having millions of members must mean they are right. I'm sorry........the entire subject of religion is horse manure. If a person has his own beliefs........he should keep them and adhere to them......on his own. Once you get a group of people together and form a religion........bad things happen. Religous sects are just like any other mass of people.....they take on a gang mantality that they are right and therefore the best. No good has ever come of this...........from the Crusades......to the native American holocaust.......to the Muslim extremists who are terrorizing countries around the globe today. None would occur if there was no such thing as religion...........if people just held their own spiritual beliefs and kept them to themselves.

Now to Christianity.........Christianity holds a special place in my heart because it is the religion that I know the most about........therefore I know the most about how absurd it is.

Christianity is a bastardization of Judiism. They took the sacred Hebrew/Jewish text "The Torah" (The Jewish holy scroll)........and copied it word for word, you can read it in your Holy Bible in The Old Testament. For the second half of their holy book........they went back hundreds of years to find a figure to label as the son of god. They may not teach you this in Sunday school....... The group "christians" started off as a small number of people who would be considered a cult today. They just chose some figure and worshipped him as the son of god. How did the religion get so big then? We can blame this one on the Romans. Constantine concocted a great idea to unite the entire Roman Empire together in brotherhood..........Christianity. By imposing Christianity on all of the Roman Empire, he brought them together under one single religion (as opposed to the various Pagan gods different cultures worshipped)...........uniting them in brotherhood.......under his reign. Christianity was a marketing ploy by Constantine to gain favor and loyalty from all his subjects stretching from one side of the Empire to the other. Obviously it worked as even after the fall of the Roman Empire the seperate cultures kept the religion.......and we're still stuck with it today..........and people give George W. Bush a hard time for attempting to unite America with the hatred of Osama Bin Laden..............atleast 1600 years from now our ancestors won't even know who Osama Bin Laden is.

Nice to be noticed... just a few pointers

Hospitals for the first paragraph. One might argue that if you need the care of others, you don't truly protect yourself. Humans make mistakes, and it's societies (like this forum) job to point them out. Possibly heal them as well. Same with religion. Not everyone can be a perfect Christian, we need others to help us. Going solo isn't the best choice for humans.

A cult's beliefs cannot be right, if they have very little proof or effort (as with the Loch Ness monster). The only way that I'd say that numbers proves Christianity, is that we have many scholars to help us (and can proof more than you). . Plus we have a bit more history than you'd expect. Don't make broad statements about any group of people unless you've studied them.

Copied it word for word... You do know what our religion is? It's based on Judaism. The first Christians were Jews, who heard a second message. We "got lucky" about three hundred after being persecuted. Our beliefs were stronger than most cults. Then Constantine... He choose that because he saw a sign that the cross would bring him victory (a cross of light with the inscription in hoc signo vinces, which translates to “in this sign you shall be victorious.”) and won every battle he used it in. He did it because the Christian God was more powerful than all the other Gods.

I recommend you take an Internet course on Christian history, if you want to kick it.

A cult's beliefs cannot be right

So when Christianity was comprised of only 100 people........it was incorrect? It didn't become correct until thousands of people became Christians making it a religion?

The only way that I'd say that numbers proves Christianity, is that we have many scholars to help us (and can proof more than you). . Plus we have a bit more history than you'd expect. Don't make broad statements about any group of people unless you've studied them.

- first off........there is no way you can "proof" more than anybody as the very definition of faith and believing is to acknowledge something without proof. If there was proof, it would be fact.

- secondly....scholars cannot verify anything. There is not one iota of Christianity that can be verified. The Christian God cannot even be verified....much less the actions/morals/teachings attributed to him. Not only that......the very existence of the man the religion is named for cannot be verified.......nor anything else in the bible referring to any religious belief. That is why it is called a belief.......there is no evidence.

And no....for whatever reasons Constantine chose the religion himself....he imposed it on his people as a form of control....to unite them all under him with loyalty to him.

He did it because the Christian God was more powerful than all the other Gods.

really........because last time I read the bible (which was recently) it clearly included, "I am the one true god...thou shalt have no other gods before me"................if he's the one true god, how is he more powerful than the rest....if there are no others? elaborate on that contradiction for me.

If you would like to have a serious discussion......I suggest you get rid of your google bookmark. If you are relying on bits and pieces of information you read on the internet from various sources, you yourself are not too serious about the subject. I grew up engulfed in Christianity........from Sunday school......to church......to bible study every wednesday night. The older I got the more absurd not only Christianity but all religions became.......I still hung in there asking questions. The place where most folks go wrong is they ask a question....and recieve an answer and that's it. I asked the questions, recieved the answers, then questioned the answers.........the dance can only last so long in that cycle before you get the inevidable "I don't know, only god knows" and "it requires faith"...........

How many times have you read the bible in your life? I've read it front to back dozens of times......I actually have an old Bible here somewhere that I actually went through highlighting contradictions...........I'm anti-religion yet own several different versions of the Holy Bible. How about that......you ran into somebody on the internet who actually researches what they speak about and not just some 14 year old kid talking out his ass.

If you want to "kick it".......put away your google sound bites and read the scriptures, spend 20 years deeply emersed in it.........

If you would like to have a serious discussion......I suggest you get rid of your google bookmark. If you are relying on bits and pieces of information you read on the internet from various sources, you yourself are not too serious about the subject.

Im not an athiast but I dont really know what I am

If there was a god, why would he care what I believe. How would it effect him at all???

On the other hand, what's the point of being a god if there is nobody to worship you?

On the other hand, what's the point of being a god if there is nobody to worship you?

whats the point of reality if nothing is ever certain?

There are certainties in life: death, taxes, etc. And maybe reality isn't supposed to have a point. Reality is just the what actually exists around you...

im not im agnostic...

oh atheistism is mind boggling, but that something hidden in the sky is a master of all creation with a son who walked on water, raised the dead, cured the blind,resurrected himself from the dead aint

Heaven is not hidden in the sky, its another plane altogether.

I find it funny that atheists believe in the big bang theory, aliens and all this other crap but dismiss the possiblity of God.

This is something ive mentioned in another thread but ill pose the question here.

If there wasnt God, how would anything ever exist? The space in which this whole "big bang" would take place could not emerge from nothing. Science has "taught us" that it is impossible to get something out of nothing. So space itself would never exist, let alone whatever other nonsense was involved in making this "big bang". The thought of which is far more comical than believeable.

Um, for the few that have stated they are agnostic athiests how in the world can you get that?? an atheist believes in nothing and an agnostic believes in something but believe we will never know what that something is...so do you believe or not??

I dont belive in god.. mostly because of so much BS religion is. Look at 9/11.. oh thank god my daugter lived or blah blah blah.. yeah lets THANK GOD. People are so quick to thank god for all these things but never see all the bad things in this world. Where was god when the holocaust happened?

Where was god when the holocaust happened?

The Holocaust wasn't the worst the world has to offer? I don't know if we've seen worse......

I think worse atrocities were committed by people like Ivan the Terrible.

Originally posted by FeceMan
Why should God have intervened with the Holocaust? Because it was bad? Because it was the error of humans that caused it? The Holocaust isn't the worst that the world has had to offer...

human error? God created humans? I guess god is not perfect right? Also what was worst then the holocaust that killed 6 million jews and another few million soldiers?

Originally posted by FeceMan
I think worse atrocities were committed by people like Ivan the Terrible.

Ivan the terrible did not kill over 10 million people.

human error? God created humans? I guess god is not perfect right?