atheistdave

Like everyone else, I was born an atheist. In my particular case, I was never indoctrinated into xtianity or any other form of fantasy.

Dave

miscreant

Bonjour Tarnaak,

I wasn't brought up in a religious household, so by the time I realized what people were talking about when they refered to the Christian god, I viewed it as any other myth. I see it no differently than Egyptian, Roman, Pagan, or any other gods.

I did look into it quite a bit because when you learn about it at the age I did, you generally think there has to be SOME reason all these otherwise rational people believe in this mythology... but I have yet to find any. It always comes down to "I just know because I can feel it..." which is generally the same answer you'll get from any other group of people with respect to their prefered mythology. So I chalk it up to indoctrination that so many people believe it in the first place.

With respect to a 'god' that is different from the xian one, I'll assume you simply mean some 'higher' power that created the universe and everything in it or something along those lines. The problem I see with that is that if it has no effects on the universe that we can experience, why assume it to start with? All it does is make things MORE complicated. Essentially you're saying that the universe is too complex to have just existed, so you propose something infinitly MORE complex to make up for it?! Doesn't make sense to me, but maybe it's just me.

Not much. You're dead, gone, no longer sentient. Best you set about enjoying life while you have it.

As an aside, why do theist generally find this so hard to deal with? It seems to me that the lack of a cosmic justice is one of the hardest things for theists to give up. Even the christians I know who don't really believe in much of the christian doctrine, want to believe that in the next life the good will be rewarded, and the evil punished. I wish we'd all spend more time making it happen here instead.

Miscreant

Bumble Bee Tuna

No evidence.

-B

Mageth

For those that are atheist, why are you?

Because I lack belief in god(s), obviosly. If I believed in a god, I wouldn't be an atheist.

As far as why I lack belief in god(s), Bumble Bee Tuna's answer says it best, perhaps: lack of evidence.

And I'll warn that Tarnaak, on another thread, seems to be under the impression that us atheists "choose not to believe", and could apparently simply "choose to believe" if we wanted to. I pointed out some of the problems with that in that thread, but be forewarned that he (or she) might bring it up here.

What do you believe as far as life after death?

Wouldn't know, never been there. Neither has anyone else I've known. Have you? Has anyone you've known?

From my perspective, there is no "after" death. Once the candle of the brain blows out, "poof", non-existence. So "life" after death is, well, nonsensical.

Another way to look at it is that what's "after" death is like what was "before" birth (or at whatever point the fetus becomes "sentient").

So, what do you believe as far as life before conception?

mike_decock

Because I don't believe in God.

I don't believe in God for the same reasons you don't believe in Zeus.

I hold no belief in the afterlife. I believe I'll slip back into the blissful non-existence from which I came. I think it would be nice to live on for a while, but that's just wishful thinking.

-Mike...

Shadowy Man

Most probably very similar to life before birth.

BioBeing

Thanks for the heads up, but I for one, would like at least like to see Tarnaak pop back into this thread once in a while to comment on his/her beliefs... Maybe he/she is looking for an excuse/reason to become atheist?

Pyrrho

Although others have adequately responded to your question, I will do so as well, since it was directed at me.

After you are dead, you rot or maggots eat you, unless your body is preserved.

I suspect that you have in mind, not a life after death, but a continuation of life, which comes from primitive superstitions, the current version of which goes something like this:

A person is a "soul", which is an immaterial* thing, that is in the body, the way one can be in a car. At the point of death, one leaves the body and goes somewhere else, like one can leave a car and go somewhere else.

The story, of course, is extremely primitive and silly. There is absolutely no reason to believe it, any more than one would believe that Santa Claus is going to deliver presents to all the good children every Christmas, and switches and lumps of coal to the bad children.

To briefly go back to your original question, God is Santa Claus for "adults". He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake, though, really, the message is NOT to be good for goodness sake, but be good for the reward, and to avoid the punishment, just like traditional Christianity with "heaven" and "hell". So, really, Christianity preaches immorality, as one should do what one is told to do out of fear of punishment and for the bribe of heaven; one is not to do what is right because it is right.



* "Immaterial" is extremely problematic, as it does not say what the thing is, just what it is not (immaterial = not material). "Immaterial" is the same as "not a thing", which is literally nothing. So "immaterial thing" is the same as "thing that is not a thing", which is self-contradictory.

Fred

I have simply never thought a God existed, even as a small boy.

I have been given no reason to change my mind no matter how many people tell me they know the truth. None could prove it and when someone says something without being able to back it up, I trust them even less.
I am very happy with my atheism.

CaptainOfOuterSpace

I was born in the former USSR, and lived there for 10 years. Therefore, I had no exposure to any kind of religion whatsoever. When my family moved to the U.S., I was already conscious enough to be immune to the religious virii. So I guess I've been an atheist all my life. I really have no "reason" for being atheist, except that it's how we're all born. Of course, reading the Bible greatly solidified my atheism.

When I die, I'll cease to exist, and I'm quite comfortable with that.