Jobar

Truthfully, njhartsh, I have no idea, and I'd kind of like to know. May I suggest going to the CF outcasts thread and linking back to this one, or perhaps starting a poll?

I do have a comment on what the *last* (and hardest to defeat) argument is, though- "my mother told me when I was very small." That one's near-universal and damn difficult to counter!

sandlewood

In the case of Christianity, I’ve heard Christians say that the reason they believe is because of the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus’ dead body was found, they would no longer believe.

Personally, I suspect they give that answer because it’s the one they’re supposed to give. But anyway, that’s what they say.

NonHomogenized

While I agree with a number of the posters, including the first couple replies, that the main reason people believe in gawds is because they are afraid of death, this isn't the most common argument, by a long shot. I have never heard someone say "The reason I know that god exists is because the idea that I could someday cease to exist terrifies me, and if my idea of god exists, then it means I will live forever, and, since this comforts me, obviously god exists."
Admittedly, though, I have heard some arguments that were way too similar to that one, such as the arguments about "why" the universe exists (as opposed to how the universe came to be in its present state), and the arguments centered around "the universe is so big, there must be something bigger than us out there, and so there must be a god" theme.

Um, back to the subject, the First Cause argument is probably the most common argument for god, as little sense as it makes. Which, come to think of it, is about as much sense as *any* argument for god makes.

T. E. Lords

Before I reply to this question let me give everyone a brief history of my religious background.

I was born into a mormon family but because my mother did not really believe in the LDS religion she did not raise me in that manor after my parents were divorced. When I was 14 I became a christian and lived my life very devoutly until I was 19. At that point I reasoned my way out of christianity and am now essentially an atheist.

I think the "logic" that I used to justify my belief in God no matter how christian I was at any given point always boiled down to something my mother told me when I was a child. She said it was just egotistical to believe that humans are the end all be all of creation and that there has to be something bigger and more powerful than us. Similar to AA's Higher power dogma. I've run into that concept quite often in theists.

Lobstrosity

Heh, and yet it's not egotistical to state that an infinitely powerful being created man in its image along with an entire universe just for him? The Christian God serves only to boost the human ego as he promises us control over powers we wish we had (e.g. we can pray for whatever we want and our prayers might be answered! God loves us and is looking out for us and we're going to go to Heaven when we die...yay us!) If we wish to avoid egotism, we have to realize that if there is a god out there, he probably doesn't care about us in the slightest.

Godot

One of my flatmates professes xianity, and when I asked him why, he got all "deer in the headlights" on me. He finally answered, "because I do". For those theists that have unwrapped their brains and have occasionally used them (as rare as those are), I think it's a combination of First Cause and the Argument from Design-- depending upon how hard you press the issue.

quartodeciman

Tom Sawyer said: "...without having to use any complicated math"

I buy that. I know lots of people who panic at the very thought of figuring fractions and percentages.

---

Remember that the arguments people offer to defend beliefs and their actual reasons for belief are NOT apt to be the same things.

quart

Mageth

Remember that the arguments people offer to defend beliefs and their actual reasons for belief are NOT apt to be the same things.

Good point, and in the anecdote I gave of my brother, he used the need for an afterlife as a reason for belief and other arguments in defense of belief.

njhartsh

You're welcome to link this thread from wherever you'd like--though of course this is about more than just the reasons those of us who are ex-Christians have believed in God.

As for a poll, I don't think this question befits a cut-and-dried list of possible answers. The diversity of responses (and the screwy ways that people have been splitting their votes--"screwy" in the nicest sense, of course ) would make a given list of choices awfully artificial.

Here's my tally to date:
Design: 2.5
First Cause: 1.5
Bible: 1
Evidence of Resurrection: 1
"Has to be something bigger and more powerful" than we are: 1
Faith: 0.5
"I wuz told so": 0.5
All of the Above: 1
Don't Know: 1

By the way, I would be interested to know what theists think about this question, as well. Though please note that the issue is what argument is most popular with all theists, not necessarily with you.

Yes, of course. This thread is intended to be about the former, not the latter.

- Nathan, breakin' out the nightstick

Asha'man

When faced with the concept of talking to an atheist, the first question that a theist will usually ask is "But where do you think we came from?"

Based only on that, I'd have to say the argument is one of origins, both of the universe in general and of human life in specific. They may not really know the arguments, but that seems to be the first thing they think of.....