What are your reasons to decide not to follow a religion or to become an atheist?

When it comes to religion I can respect peoples’ choices but it’s kind of hard to understand when someone says that they don’t belive in God when the signs are everywhere.

Lack of Faith in thy self

If u don’t believe wat the religion is teachin and if u don believe in higher powers

if u dont beleive ir have a particular isol, fro example, jesus, ala, buddah or the marshmellow man

because i think fighting because someones imaginary friend is better than the other is just silly

idol*

It’s all ONE God- just a different name.

still people fight because of religion even if it is all the same person… and it is stupid.

In the same way people find it hard to believe that you choose to believe in a particular god when there are no signs.

basically i dont beleive a man/woman or thing pointed it’s finger and “poofed” things into existance. many religions especially christianity contradict themselves and i find it all to be rediculously stupid. i beleive in aliens, life on other planets, dinosaurs, ect and other things most religious people dont. i beleive theres a logical explination to explain a lot of things, but humans obiously dont know everything. i dont beleive you have to serve soemthing and worship it just to get into an aftrelife wether it be good or bad…religion also causes arguments and very few religious people actually respect people who dont beleive in religion, and i find that disgusting. this is my opinion on some reasons why i dont beleive in any god, and i am perfectly happy with what i do and dont beleive in.

also because of the obviouse lack of real proof

dude your answers are soo long! i alove teh effort but i cant be botherd to read it so im just gonna like it cos you put effort in

Should I be worried when my kids tell me that they do not believe in God?

course not!!

nope there is nothing wrong with your children choosing not to believe in god

i did that a few months ago and my mum has learnt to accept and hs said its my life choice and that i can beleive what i want disregarding all the influence my media and stuff, and if they dont beleive in god i think u should support them

no, they have the right to choose to beleive in whatever they want. they wont always follow what you beleive in and you cant force them to

My reason has to do largely with the what religion does, firstly. It seems to me that if I commit myself to one religion, another religion will send me to hell for not affiliating with it, and only it. The problem with that is, what if the religion I picked was wrong, then what? Or better yet, how would I know if I even have the “right” religion when they all claim to be right and say everyone else has it wrong.

It’s really confusing for me to actually have to pick and I’d much rather not pick at all. I just pick what I believe in from time to time and that’s that. But the amount of contradiction in all religions as a whole really just makes me want to run the other way from it.

One of the really saddening things that I see in a lot of religions is the use of scare tactics and this really did it for me. With condemning people, Salem Witch trials, and shunning everything that is outside of their circle of people; how could I truly affiliate with them and he happy with what they did. That wouldn’t be fair at all so I’ll be free of religion for a long time :)

THANK YOU FOR THE SHARE!!! I appreciate that indeed :=)

just like their is a director to a film their is also a creator nothing happens just by magic their is always some scientific or matematical explaination to why mankind is here today. people should never judge eachother and never contradict anyone because only the person who created this world and animals and people have the answers by reading the kurani kerim you can find answers in what you are asking for. But yes being a good human being knowiing what is right for you and what is wrong for you is by researching for yourself and finding what you feel is right for you. its like an illness you have or a defect you have been given an exam to seek the right way of life and be thankful to what you have been given life itself is a mystery that needs to be unfolded.

The first paragraph, a religious person would respond by saying, you have to have faith and believe even if its tough, for your reward will be great. I believe that whatever a person believes its true for them. If i believe that i can lift a mountain then i can lift a mountain in my eyes. maybe not in others, but in mine. Plus one would have to truly believe something with so much logic contradicting it. And for those who think religious people condemn athiests, i disagree. Churches preach to love those who dont believe as Jesus loved us. And in fact the religious people are condemned, hence the option of saying “one nation under God” in the pledge. and more and more spiritual holidays disappearing, thanks to the radical democrats in govt.

thats like ignorance and stubbornace.

alot of religions to condemned people. Every church i have gone to would say how being a homosexual is a sin and they are diseased… They wouldnt let a guy in because his gf used him for a child married him then divorced him but the girl was allowed in not him… I dont see any Christians preaching love to others only how they are wrong

Thats hard to believe, but there are people in every religion who dont truly obey the commandments or ordinances, and there are radicals in all walks of life. and no one is perfect, not you not no one.

Oh sure, I believe in a lot of absurd things, I believe that dreams are a reflection to a parallel universe somewhere over the rainbow. Is everyone going to agree with me on this, no, as a matter a fact I’m sure there’s a lot of people that think this makes for a good joke. But that’s just my belief and I don’t need to a large mass of people to believe in it for me to have it validated. As what religion tries to do.

If you don’t think religion condemns atheist then you are only speaking for yourself here. You need only to go on Youtube and find out how many times religious people have pushed aside atheist and criminalize them for their lack of beliefs. Here’s a start if you can’t find anything, there’s a movie that’s called For the Bible Tells Me so: http://funadvice.com/r/14t9k1hksp0 In case you can’t find it.

And you know, there’s also a poem by Chaucer called the Canterbury tales which really explains how religious leaders teach one thing and do another and that was when the world was under the branch of religious control.

Here’s a thought, it’s not that religious holidays are disappearing, it’s that people can finally choose what they want to follow and don’t have to be forced to believe in something they otherwise wouldn’t have. Maybe that’s the reasonable explanation for the “disappearances.”

Oh and the pledge, I don’t see how religious people are condemned there. I can only see the redundancy of doing the pledge and it’s traditional values but stringing that to religious people being condemned I cannot see.

Oh and what is the relation to Democrats and religion and it’s followers? There’s only one I can think of and it’s what I’ve been saying, freedom of religion and the right to pick and choose but it seems that you think that’s something evil so I’d like to know why.

Kat, I am sure that is what a religion is for. Human is created with a very big free will. They can almost do anything they want. In order to organize them, to avoid doing bad things (of course bad and good which is according to the religion), then there is this religion. Those who claim to be the followers must obey the rules. And since religion is not law, then religion can not really punish those who make a mistake, all religion can say is that the sinner will go to hell and the good ones will go to heaven. The question is, is religion leading people into good human being so far?

I remember a long time ago, I was standing on the lawn (about 10 years old), and asked myself the question “who made god?”.

I could not answer it. No one could. Not satisfactorily anyway. So I knew than that most organized religions were full of crap.

This is why most curious people are not believers. Because your curiosity generally bumps up against faith, and you want to move beyond faith to find out the “why” of things. Once you shatter the faith wall and find an answer to something that is in the physical or the “real’, then there are other faith walls to shatter.

Thats why Gaillelo and Copernicus were so hated – they kept bumping and smashing down the faith walls of the church.

Just the feeling to be free…

I keep thinking of being in hell for the rest of the time….

For the second year in a row, President Obama has canceled the National Day of Prayer ceremony which was previously held every year in the White House since congress declared the day during Harry Truman’s administration in 1952. Separately a court case just decided that the designated day is unconstitutional.

this taken from rightpundits.com and goes to show that obama thinks that the choice to have a day (where we arent FORCING anyone to celebrate if they choose not too, i dont celebrate easter) to honor the basis upon which america was founded, under God, so convienientely taken out of pledge, and to welcome the thought of muslims building a mosque on ground zero, or the prison release where many muslim prisoners had been stationed, only condemns the christians. This is messed up and of course if we retaliate, we then get blamed for being racist for calling out a black president.

Sri, as long as you’re comfortable with your religion, don’t worry about it when others tell you that you’re wrong or offer proof to prove you otherwise. Only you can tell yourself what is right for your own well being.

I am only wondering why people come up into their decision on this issue. If I am in doubt, is it the sign of my being in the process like them.?

When I was an atheist, I didn’t have a reason. I didn’t need any. I hadn’t ever come across any reasons for it, I just thought “alright, whatever. I’ll do what I want.” that’s reason enough. And to this day anyone who asks me what I believe in it’s kinda like “what’s it to you? Why do you need to know?” I never have this huge list of reasons for what I believe in. Kinda just how I am :]

Many people come to the decision based on their doubt, doubt is good, it makes you rethink things and sometimes come to a conclusion that will make you feel like you’ve learned more about yourself and result in you being happier. Most people have very different beliefs on different topics, even though they might share a religion with someone else. Just because you have doubt doesn’t mean you have to become an atheist and completely jump off that wagon of belief, just make changes that you’re comfortable with and see where it takes you.

I changed religions about 16 years ago and choose to do so because the religion I grew up with did not make me happy, it did not bring me joy, nor did it sing to my heart and soul. I did not agree with many of its preachings, I think it contadicted itself a lot and I saw the huge amount of violence and deaths caused by it.

America wasn’t founded under God. Unless you want to think that God gave James Madison an epiphany for a Constitution, sure, then God did have some taking part in it. But that isn’t justifiable now, is it?

Oh and you really can’t be saying that Obama took out that day just to piss of Christians? Firstly, Christians where oppressing Muslims when they decided to put up that Mosque by burning their holy book. Still, if you think that Muslims coming here means the demise of Christianity then we have only Christianity to blame for – intolerance sure finds its way through religion, doesn’t it?

How would Obama look praising Christians for how they treated Muslims? Answer that one, oh and maybe the fact that he is black is totally irrelevant.

America was founded under God. He is part of the Declaration of Independence which means as long as you live in america you better accept the fact that he is part of America. Its unbelievable how fast people try to ignore that. Its in the constitution! There cant be more solid proof! The Declaration states in the second paragraph, “that [men] are endowed by their Creator (didnt say jesus but this is what we were talking about earlier, some believe he is one and the same for all religions) with certain unalienable rights.” I am sure that you are aware that the freedom of religion is a right with which cannot be taken away, not by the president or the government. And the freedom of speech, if we burned a kuran (which i never heard about) it would be within our rights. However, taking away a national holiday to pray, that seems a little more invasive than simply burning a book. Any radical can burn a book, but it takes a President to ban prayer in school. Ban it. I can get kicked out for espousing my beliefs or bringing a Bible. Now if i had a Kuran, would i get kicked out? absolutely not. And to prove a point, i will buy a kuran and bring it to school, loudly proclaim it as the truth and i promise you i will be mildly verbally reprimanded at most. Then ill bring a Bible, proclaim the word of God and get kicked out. In fact, I might make the local paper! :) and when did i say it was the demise of christianity? no its growing stronger!

I love this saying by Roberts, it sums it up very nicely.

“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

I became an atheist because the religion I was raised in just didn’t make any sense when I looked at it objectively. When I got older I looked into some other religions and some of them seemed more reasonable at first but as I looked further into them I found things in them that I just couldn’t swallow either. I see atheism as the null hypothesis to the God theory.

…pretty much most of the founding fathers weren’t christian. They wanted a nation with freedom of religion. Having a National Day of Prayer at the white house is defying seperation of church and state, pleasing the christians who think everything should be about what they belief and irritating those who are living here and do not believe in the christian teachings. If there was a National Day of Wiccan Rituals at the white house or something that would cause a huge tantrum from the crazies out there.

“nation free of religion” i meant the nation itself not claiming a religion, having a vast amount of religions in the nation, not no religions allowed, i just realized that sounded weird

I am not a christian but my boyfriend of 2 years is, and when he had doubts, i told him doubts are there for a reason. You will come out of it either completely changed and seeking something new, or you will come out of it stronger. However you come out of it, you will be the person you are meant to be.

I never had a problem with God. But I totally clashed with his fan clubs.

I was baptized and educated Catholic. But I totally disliked the Catholic church since practically forever. Even as a child all this “every sort of fun is sin” stuff repelled me. So I started asking questions. Why is this wrong, why is this right? Is this logical? Why are people saying this?

And I somehow ended up Atheist… I just found a lot of the teachings to be illogical. And I noticed that in history, the church an organization of power and a lobby group for its own interests much more than actually the good guys they claimed to be.

Today I believe that “wise” people invented Gods some time in the past in order to pretend having knowledge about thins they could otherwise not explain. Because the leaders of archaic societies just couldn’t admit that they do not know where the drought, the thunderstorm or the flood came from. They needed to say something when people turned to them to ask “why is this?” so they just invented “you must have done something that angered the Gods”.

And I found out for myself that for a decent ethical view of the world, you do not need a God at all. You don’t even need philosophy or anything. The first paragraph of the general street traffic law in my country will totally do. It says “Everyone has to behave in a way that will not endanger or molest anybody else except if unavoidable.” You can do your entire life by that sentence.

I thought so. God isn’t the problem. But his fan clubs do suck.

well how do we even know if a God or higher power exists? no one knows for sure, that’s why it’s called faith.

Well the separation of church and state is not in the constitution, therefore it is not national law. It was an idea expressed by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Asso. that religion should not conflict with state. It is not law. And Miguel, in the same line that I cited earlier from the Declaration, one could make the case that slavery should never have been abolished either. If our Creator is the one who gives us freedom, we are endowed to only take it away! So slavery was not freedom, in addition, man cannot give freedom. Only take it away. js

Whether or not its a law, it shows some respect to those with different opinions and beliefs. The different viewpoints is what makes america great, there are other religions and belief systems out there and maybe a good number of people need to realize that its the differences that make america, not christianity. People need to get off their high horse and realize they aren’t the only ones worth recognition and respect. Im not going to argue with you, you’ve already proven yourself to be one of those close-minded crazies.

Yeah, sheep, let’s hack that other god’s web page and trash it and make them vote for ours!

There are too many things out there that religion just brushes aside to me, because mainly they are too scared to admit they don’t have the answers. Also I became agnostic after I realized that I would never agree with many of the radical beliefs which religion has. If there is something out there I would leave it up to them to judge. I don’t like being part of a fan club for lack of a better word that judges what it does not understand.

Well your viewpoint is too passive to work in a world where govts are more aggressive than they will ever be, and religion is intertwined with our fate. Why is it then that when i lived in michigan the school i was going to made it against the law to pray in school, but they were building foot baths and rug placements for the islamic believing kids? thats the govt not being respectful. Hurting our feelings.

I agree with you, sleep!

I can’t think of any reason why someone would choose to become an atheist..any life without Jesus Christ is a life without purpose!

You don’t believe that a man (God) pointed his finger and poofed things into existence…yet you believe ‘nothing’(evolution/big bang) poofed things into existence??? By the way.. it took God 7 days to create the earth, not a single “poof” in time. Also, I’m a Christian and I believe there were dinosaurs, I believe people walked with dinosaurs and the earth is only 7,000 years old from creation till now, the millions of years crap, is just that. As far as “proof” the bible has remained the same since it was written, never once proven an error in it. Do you know how many times the textbooks have changed the “evolution” story….countless revisions!

religion is man made so yea it has faults but that does not mean that there is no God. If there was Proof then we would not need faith nd thats wat its all about. If we had proof we would not need God.

but there are. Look around. Science is true. evolution is true. But Science has no beginning and God is the beginning. We were made to know only so much. wats important. and thats how we live r lives.

religion is man made therefor has mistakes and is not perfect. All we can do is read the bible and learn in our own way. if thats the path you choose

religion is man made and not perfect. it is evil. but thats no reason to give up on God. Finding a way to worship him in a way that makes u happy and him. But it is your choice, and i am not one to judge. May ur life be blessed

we’ll all find out the truth when we die.

i dont follow religon for its wt seperates every1 from eachother. but i do beileve in a stronger power just not anythn specific.

I believe in a stronger power but i dont believe in Jesus and my life has plenty purpose for religion dosn’t control my life and seprate me from others. Religion is a nice thing but also man made past on through generations. not to mention ther r people who believe as strongly as u in totally opposite beilfs.

its tru, its sweet to beielve in more thn just this life but its not nice to separate ur life from others and jujge thm cuz they dont copy the same rituals u choose to do in ur life. we r praticall fightning over wt r imaginary freind should be life