Hesistant to make this thread but here it goes:

Is anyone here an Atheist ?? If so what made you convert if you were religious prior to ?
I've never been super religious but my family is and they are very judgmental. Plain and simple seeing all the bad things that have been happening in this world has completely made me an a non-believer. Also so many different religions that all sound man made etc etc.,

Disclaimer: My intent is not to offend anyone so if this is a touchy subject you are free to exit!

 

I am an atheist. I was raised in a religious home. If the doors to the church was open we were in it.
When I was young I began to have questions.
No one would or could answer them.
Religion just does not make any sense.
Ask yourself. Would you go along with all of the stories in the bible?

 

Religious people have such a close minded cult mentality it really sucks. Especially when I see young girls that are constantly being brain washed into believing the BS... they arent living life to their full potential or exploring their sexuality because they have been indoctrinated into believing they are going to hell.

 

Not all religious people are closed minded. I believe in God. Perhaps not in the traditional way but that's why we have free will. To believe in whatever we see fit.

I can see why people don't though. There's a lot of hypocrisy surrounding religious groups.

 

Even though I am an atheist I think everyone should be free to believe anything they choose.
I just can't understand the wars fought over religion. If a person truly believed in any sort of religion a war would be the last thing they would be involved in.

 

Absolutely I don't believe in a GOD but I still respect those who do as long as they respect me. I really hate the hypocrisy associated with religious groups especially seeing all these young children being molested by these priest and then have their parents or even the religious followers blame the children for seducing them into committing such disgusting acts it's just all too disturbing.

 

RIGHT!! As if you need religion to be a normal human being and not know the difference between right or wrong.

 

Hipocrisy is everywhere. Not just in theology.

I think following anything blindly and without question is a bad thing. I live my life by my own moral code. Not one that my denomination tells me to.

 

Atheism is absolutely not a religion. The definition of religion is the belief in a supernatural all controlling power (a God) Atheists reject that.

 

No atheist in foxholes...plenty here.

 

I'm kinda but not really

 

Religion has caused a teribble state of affairs all over the world. Hate crimes and terrorist attacks are at an all time high all in the name of religion. As a species we have made so many advancements in science and technology. We now have the resources to sustain ourselves and live harmoniously with nature but we insist on persecuting each other becuase of conflicting believes in omniscient beings. We have to be the smartest and dumbest spieces ever to walk the planet.

 

Tits....or take you Atheistic ass out of here.

 

Couldn't have said this better.. people are blowing themselves up thinking they are going to go to heaven and be offered 72 virgins in paradise is so damn ridiculous. Santa Claus doesn't exist but yet there is an invisible man that lives in the sky who watches your every move. He gives you freewill but still judges and punishes you with eternal damnation if you don't kiss his ass or live by his "rules". Little humor

 

I was raised Protestant, but converted to Catholic once my daughter was born as my ex wanted to raise our daughter Catholic. I do not agree with everything Catholicism teaches. While I don't attend mass anymore, I still believe in the Christian God and in what the Bible teaches. God gave man free will to do as he/she chooses. God also makes it clear that we will be held accountable for our actions upon our death. I don't force my beliefs on others as I believe we each must make our own decision.

 

The way I see it is the moment you do something stupid like blow something up or assault someone becuase they where a veil or in that assholes case ruin a child's Christmas. You should lose your turn to speak becuase you prove that your not enlightened. See if these so called radicals were were that self righteous there weapons of choice would be pens. Nobody ever changed the world with an assault or a hate speech or even a bomb. But after MLK wrote the I have a dream speech the world would never go back to the way it was.

 

I am an Episcopalian. I attend church with a fair degree of regularity. I have read the Bible from cover to cover including the Apocrypha in several English translations.

I do not believe in the literal truth of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. That gets us from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel. I do believe in evolution and in a universe that is about fourteen billion years old. Most Episcopalians do.

Most Episcopalians who have studied the Bible believe in what is called "the documentary thesis." This holds that the first five books of the Bible were not written by Moses, as was traditionally believed, but were originally four other documents that were eventually combined, perhaps by Ezra during the Babylonian Captivity.

The ancient writing of the Canaanites has been discovered and deciphered. It is an early form of Hebrew. Canaanite settlements have been found in Egypt of around 1500 BC in the western part of the Nile Delta, which is where the book of Exodus says the Hebrews settled.

Egyptian writing has not been found that tells about Moses and the Exodus. However, the Egyptians did not like to write about slaves and military reversals. If a group of Hebrew slaves escaped into the Sinai Peninsula, and if an Egyptian army sent to bring them back had been destroyed, the Egyptians would not have written about it.

The earliest contemporary, extra Biblical mention of Israel comes from the Merneptah Stele. Merneptah was an Egyptian pharaoh who reigned from 1213 to 1203. The Merneptah Stele includes the lines:

The princes are prostrate, saying, "Peace!"
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkelon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano'am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merneptah_Stele

Merneptah was not the first Egyptian leader who thought that Israel's days were over. Nasser thought the same thing.

The Tell Dan Stelle was created about 870 to 750 BC. It was discovered 1993–94. It mentions "the House of David," or the Dynasty of King David, who the Old Testament says reigned from 1010 to 970 BC.

Archaeological evidence of the Israelites begins to appear in what is now the West Bank about 1200 BC, which is when the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges would lead us to believe the Israelites began to settle in Canaan. This consists of hill side terraces and cisterns. These enabled the Israelites to make greater use of rain water, and to settle in areas not close to streams and rivers. Evidence also consists of rimmed jars and the four room house.

In the nineteenth century the ancient writings of the Assyrians and the Babylonians was discovered and deciphered. This mentions Israelite kings, such as Ahab and Hezekiah. Babylonian writing mentions the beginning of the Babylonian Captivity.

None of this of course proves that God exists. It does give strong evidence that the Israelites are an historical people, and there is much accuracy in the Old Testament account of their history.

 

Agnostic.

Religion is just means of organising the control of others in a hierarchical system.

The churches , particularly the catholic , are some of the biggest businesses in the world.

It doesn't matter if it's the sun , mars , the earth , Jesus , Buddha , the sky ,
or whatever , the system is basically the same.

Of course as it became obvious certain things are just the order of the universe , they had to get more creative , and invent something that could not be disproved so easily.
Like virgin birth , resurrection and so on.

 

The interesting thing about stories in the bible is that they appear in plenty of cultures before they are exposed to religion.
For example, the Hawaiians have a story strikingly similar to Adam and Eve that predates by several hundred years the first known contact of Europeans with Hawaii.

The Australian Aborigines believe that before they were born, all of existence was darkness.

But the bottom line is, religion is a faith in something that can never be proven or disproved.
Shooter believes. But, he does not feel compelled to defend his religion, or try to convert anyone. He just believes.

 

Bible = Book of Fairytales for adults