Synaesthesia

Bialar Crais,
This is one of my two main reasons for explicitly taking up the radical atheist stance. Not only is there no evidence for God, we have reason to think that such forms of explanation and knowledge are flawed as explanations and conceptions of truth-determination.

I find the argument so strong that I find myself surprised at how little attention it often gets.

Regards,
Synaesthesia

Hobbs

One thing I find mighty suspicious about the concept of God is that in matters of theology, morality, politics, etc., God always invariably agrees with his followers.

Now, since those followers so often disagree with one another, something is obviously wrong here. Despite their sincerity and certainty that they know and experience God, at least most of them must have gotten it wrong, and it's not really "God" that they "know" from the experiences they label as "religious." It seems to me to make much more sense to conclude that people create their gods in their own image, by taking their own opinions, preferences, and prejudices, which they feel so strongly and believe must be right, and granting them divine status.

SUTG, if you believe in God, your claim to reliably know anything about God would be significantly enhanced (in my eyes, anyway) if you were to list a few points about which you and God disagree.

D.H. Cross

Because there is no good evidence to base your belief in a Goddess upon. Same as with a God. Wish to challenge that?

Kassiana

No. I have no interest in proving my Gods and Goddesses are real to anyone but me. But I thought my answer already showed that. I'm not here to prove I'm right. I'm more interested in living my faith than proving it to atheists. If you see no evidence for Gods, don't believe in them. I will continue to, myself.

DarkBronzePlant

Hello SUTG,

One thing to keep in mind that might help you understand many atheists' lack of belief is this: many of us do not start with a presumed belief in god. Instead, in making up our minds about god, we begin by looking for evidence of his existence. Finding none, we have no choice but to disbelieve in god.

I'll explain roughly how my belief system arose. When I was younger, I was taken to church, was told cute stories about god, Jesus and Noah, and just bought them all. At the same time, of course, I was told stories of a bunny hopping around each April leaving candy for children, and a jolly fat man who rode around every December also leaving gifts for kids (this jolly fat man, it seemed, usually used slid down chimneys in order to leave presents for the kids; my parents told me that, since our house had no fireplace or chimney, they simply left a key under the doormat for him.)

I eventually discovered from my parents that the Santa Claus/Easter Bunny stories were all make-believe. Well, the god/Jesus/Noah stories seemed even less credible. And then I started reading about other religions which, while they had similar themes to the Noah/god/Jesus stories, had entirely different casts and different storylines. So I started from point zero and began looking at the evidence.

First, there was the bible. Second... well, there was no second. Really the only possible evidence for the existence of god is the bible. So I began examining the potential truthfulness of the bible. I soon realized that the bible was full of holes. The earth is not 6000 years old, yet the bible claims it to be. The earth is not affixed to pillars, the sun does not revolve around the earth, stars cannot fall to the ground like figs, and there are no mountains or trees up which someone can climb to see "all of creation" -- all claims made by the bible. It began sounding more and more as though the bible was not written by an all-knowing god, but rather by *gasp* ordinary people, reflecting what ordinary people might have thought thousands of years ago.

In examining the so-called evidence, it became apparent why the bible may have been written in the first place. The ancient Israelites were having a rough time back then, and needed some kind of hope... a tough, protective warrior god to look over them. So they started writing stories about this warrior god who, despite all of Israel's grief and suffering, had pegged the Israelites as "the chosen people." Time passed, and the Israelites started needed less of a warrior god and more of a father figure,and lo and behold, that's just how the bible progressed. Comparing the social issues of the time with the alleged laws handed down by god was equally enlightening. Was there really a god who waited until societal ills befell his people before installing laws designed to prevent such ills? Or was it simply human beings passing laws as they saw fit, claiming them to be in the name of god?

Anyhow, the more I looked at the "evidence", the more apparent it became that it was not, in fact, evidence for the existence of a god; rather, it was evidence for the fabrication of god by mankind. Not only did I find no reason at all to believe in the existence of god, but I found a wealth of information suggesting why the bible was written by mere humans. Thus, while I cannot state with 100% certainty that no god exists, I am very secure in the idea that if any god does in fact exist, any similarities to the biblical god is purely coincidental.

Vibr8gKiwi

I think it's quite rational to do what makes you happy.

Illithid

I believe in a Goddess. In fact, I'm married to Her. Well, I suppose you could say I have physical evidence of Her existence (offspring, for example), so it's not really "belief". And she lacks the "omni" attributes of other deities, especially omniscience, thank Cthulhu...

Doubting Didymus

Gee fellers, how long was that threat you made poor SUTG read? He must still be there, after all this time.

Vibr8gKiwi

I'm sure the thread of atheist "testimonies" answered his question. And it probably scared him off when he discovered how many have dumped theism for atheism, and all the good reasons they did so.

Viking

Well, belief in god is like a drug that makes you feel warm and fuzzy.