GodSceptic

Every athiest has their "best" reason for being so. I have my best reason, but, unfortunately, it is my only reason. I need to know what fellow athiests think of existence and of "God".

My belief:
The Blind Man's Perspective

The Question- What does a blind man see?
The (Common) Answer- Blackness, Darkness
The Correct Answer- Nothing

This exchange presents the same mistake that man made ages ago when creating god. In trying to identify the state of existance after death, men found that a darkness or an afterlife seem most reasonable. I believe that there is no life after death (a more reasonable statement than you think), thats why it is called death. The absence of the human conscious and the absence of life are what death should really be considered as. Non-existence is so depressing and abstract a thought to people that they adamantly deny that it is a possible outcome of death. But one can forget that there is hardly a "soul" or "personality" in a human, considering that most feelings/reactions/emotions derive themselves from chemical activity in the brain and body. My main argument in a nutshell is that we do not exist after death. When life ends, its over.

Please tell me what you think about my words. Also, if there is any confusion as to what I believe, feel free to ask. But the reason I have shown you mine, is to see yours. Tell me your points of view on being and god.

Draygomb

You can find <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=50&t=000081" target="_blank">My Reasoning Here</a>.

phlebas

I never understood why people expect atheists to have some convoluted, logical "proof" to back up their lack of beliefs.

My reason is simple: I don't believe in God because I haven't seen a reason to believe.

My "deconverting" was simply a dawning understanding of that.

David Gould

My deconversion started out as a search to solve the problem of hell and a loving God and ended with Paine's 'Age of Reason', which blew the foundation of christianity, the bible, out of the water.

Since then, I have discovered that you do not need a reason not to believe - you need a reason to believe, and there are none.

No evidence = no belief.

However, as the Christian religion has been demonstrated by people on this board to be logically impossible, I am a strong atheist on that point.

Koyaanisqatsi

Fictional characters don't exist. I know that may be difficult for some to comprehend, but then those same people kept the Dukes of Hazzard on the air.

David Bowden

<img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

[falls off chair trying to reach oxygen tank in the middle of near-paralyzing laugh attack...]

My own 'best' reason for being an atheist?

Theism fails to justify itself. There are simply no grounds for believing in any of the gods introduced by prophets or theologians.

There being no justification for belief in one or more gods, it is most reasonable to give up the belief, if one previously held it, or never to adopt the belief, if one previously did not hold it.

Further, if it is morally good to adhere to the truth as I can best apprehend it, then belief in the gods ought be abandoned by me, and by anyone who accepts that there is no rational justification for belief in a god. Belief in god despite the evidence is not only "absurd," as Tertullian or Kierkegaard might euphemize, it is immoral, IMO.

-Wanderer

Jayhawker Soule

IMO, any truth is better than a lie.

John Page

Quite so and I think you've identified a key reason why people feel the need to believe. I think belief in life after death can give their collective society an advantage too, people will take the long term view and also sacrifice themselves for the 'common good'.

I took to reading a lot of stuff about differing religions and investigations into the paranormal to find clues. I couldn't find anything convincing and was agnostic for a long period. What finally brought me to being an atheist was not the falsity or lack of proof in other claims, rather it is the more coherent explanations, based on hard neurological evidence, for our perception of god being a psychological/brain/mind phenomenon. Once I could see the why? and how? elements coming together there was no longer any reason to sit on the fence.

I think atheists need to be aware they may have an 'innate preference to believe in something'. For this reason I eschew logic as a placebo religion. I also think atheists need to be positive about their non-belief - I suspect that some of the theist-bashing that goes on is because of the human need for 'us-and-them' stuff. Actually, the christian attitude on this is excellent "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. Perhaps we should adopt "Think and you shall be forgiven"!

Jayhawker Soule

You avoid logic in deferrence to what?

Christianity's fragile claim on forgiveness is based on little more than an isolated quote, while "christian attitude" has been remarkable unforgiving throughout its history. Be that as it may, why would you find the assertion that atheists "know not what they do" excellent?

tronvillain

I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember, before I even knew the word - belief in God just never seemed justified.