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Permalink Reply by Doug Reardon on May 1, 2009 at 1:44pm

Having read the replies to this question, and seeing that many stated that they just could not believe, not because of any active quest, but just the way they felt, I feel that my hypothesis that there is a genetic component to religious belief and general credulity. For millennia believers have been eliminating skeptics from the gene pool by killing them, thus humans have been selecting for belief.

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Permalink Reply by Chelsea on May 1, 2009 at 2:53pm

Richard Dawkin's likens natural selection for religion to moths flying into manmade light (i.e. candlelight, bulbs) and frying themselves to death...The mechanism that causes them to do it actually works for navigation with natural light; therefore, the propensity to use light for guidance needs to be preserved. Likewise in humans, the propensity for community and mutual support needs to be preserved; religion is an unfortunate misapplication and aberration of an otherwise healthy propensity. Sounds about right to me!

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Permalink Reply by Henry Lui on May 1, 2009 at 2:47pm

Yes, I was once a very devoted Christian. After being in church for quite some time, I came to realized that having faith (as we have all been told that we first have to let go of ourselves and totally surrender to God) is a means designed by whoever started this to keep people deceived. Take a look at all that is happening around us, and one can easily arrive at the conclusion (if there is still any God given logic left in that person) that the God of the Bible, if he is even there, is not like anything the bible describes him to be.

No loving God will play such nasty games on his beloved creation. Tornado, Tsunami, Earthquake, evil and wicked people who fly planes into sky scrapers.... How in heaven and on earth will a loving God simply sit around with his arms crossed and let all these happen. Furthermore, everything I heard and learned from either the bible or from church is a he/she said God said scenario. God has never spoken directly to anyone except through others. We all know how that goes....

Simply put, I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see !

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Permalink Reply by Robert Bumbalough on May 24, 2009 at 8:12pm

Greetings Henry Lui: I hope you and yours are well.

You wrote: "No loving God will play such nasty games on his beloved creation. Tornado, Tsunami, Earthquake, evil and wicked people who fly planes into sky scrapers.... How in heaven and on earth will a loving God simply sit around with his arms crossed and let all these happen."

The problem of evil, POE, is not well understood by theists who claim to believe in an all loving, all good, all powerful, all knowing GOD. If they did understand how fatal the POE is to their faith they would not be theists. It is interesting to note that religious apologist want to have and actively seek the best apologetic arguments in order to save souls. When that behavior is contrasted against the actions of any alleged Deity that allows natural evil, moral evil, non-moral evil, and animal suffering to occur on a wholesale scope as is observed, the fact that the religious apologists demonstrate superior morality to that of their alleged Deity argues most effectively against the existence any such Deity.

Best Regards and Wishes

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Permalink Reply by Robert Bumbalough on May 22, 2009 at 7:20pm

Once upon a time I was a Christian, but I'm feeling much better now. Here is a url to my deconversion story.

http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-bumbalough...

This is one of my better essay's. Although that is not saying much as I am not a good writer.

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Permalink Reply by Ronni Poole on May 25, 2009 at 11:17am

My parents had me go to church as a child. Many times it seemed gross to me that God liked some people and hated others and that He couldn't control Satan, but I was to believe he was all powerful, I believed there was someone, along with my parents, judging me. When I began college I took any class on the study of religion that I could find (my major is Sociology) and those classes, along with my science classes made me see the truth of religion. Religion was created by egomaniacs for egomaniacs and used to control the masses.

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Permalink Reply by Chelsea on May 25, 2009 at 2:56pm

Right on, Ronni! I agree with your final assessment of religion. Very succinct! <3

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Permalink Reply by Justin Capozzelli on July 7, 2009 at 4:36am

Catholic school. I was interested in evolution and I had a library book about it. At this point, probably 3rd or 4th grade I didn't realize that people actually didn't believe in evolution. A nun told me the book was just a story and that god created us as we are now. Of course even that young I facepalmed. I still believed at the point, but I guess after having to make excuses for my religion, It started to add up in my head... It was all a fairytale...

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