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Permalink Reply by Isaac on January 18, 2012 at 12:53am

It seems that in practice that the term 'god' means whatever the user wants it to mean. That pretty much makes the concept of god meaningless. That, and it seems that nobody can support their 'god' ideas with empirical evidence. That is why I am an atheist, but I don't think that goes far enough. There is no evidence for anything supernatural and I don't think there ever could be. Suppose that there was some measurable supernatural effect on the world. If something can be measured, then it means that it is a physical part of the universe and obeys the laws of nature, be what they are. Thus, it cannot be supernatural. That, and if something is to exist in the universe, then it must be measurable in principle.

Here's the argument:
1. If something is a part of the universe/multiverse or interacts with the universe/multiverse, then it must be measurable, at least in principle.
2. If something is measurable in principle, then it is physical if it actually exists.
3. Physical things are not supernatural.
Thus, if something is part of the universe/multiverse or interacts with the universe/multiverse, it is not supernatural.

Suppose there is something that is supernatural. Then neither is it in the universe/multiverse nor does it interact with the universe/multiverse. Thus, it is pointless to postulate the existence of the supernatural and the notion of the supernatural can be discarded. That is why not only am I an atheist, I am a physicalist.

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Permalink Reply by Rodney Ashby on January 18, 2012 at 1:47am

I became Atheist around 5 years ago after researching Biology and how they can trace our past though DNA,  and studied different time dating methods scientist use and how there's so many different ways to determine how old the earth is. Then I researched how the earth was formed and how long it took to form. However I guess the biggest thing I observed that changed my mind was the dark side of the moon and how many thousands of times it has taken on asteroid and other collisions, and then imagine how many times the earth has been hit, and what effects it would have had on our planet, that would of changed the direction of evolution each major hit. Then after excepting the fact there is no God or God's and remembering everything I was taught, told, and read for the past 40 years was just plain crazy, and made no since what so ever. Talking serpents, Noah's ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah and the big fish, warlocks, witches, Aaron's magic cane, slavery, the way women were treated, stoning women for not being virgins, and never could comprehend Christ returning on a flying white horse. So I went with what was most logical and decided I would go with logic over faith. And my mind just felt so free, and am now able to see and appreciate life for what it is and how lucky we all are to just be here. One day each of us just happened to be the fastest and strongest swimmer at the right time, we wanted to survive and evolve more than the other sperm did, and we made it, that's how evolution works from the strongest sperm to embryo to human and thinks to the internet and technology I believe were going to evolve at a rate never before observed in the history of our rock we call home. If we can all start using the internet for knowledge and exchanging ideas across the globe, we could turn this hell into a great place. However that being said I don't see things changing anytime soon, So I guess for now I'll just put my faith in hope that one day we'll change for the better.

  

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Permalink Reply by Diane on January 18, 2012 at 6:18am

I was raised an atheist.  I sought out God and religions as I grew up, but when looked at from the outside, they all seem arbitrary and equally absurd.  To me it just makes sense that humankind makes up religion.  Also, I have not seen or read any convincing evidence to the contrary.  So here I am, as atheist as can be.  

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Permalink Reply by Seasidechap on January 18, 2012 at 9:39am

I was raised as a Catholic. I can still remember my first holy communion - absolutely nothing happened. No feeling of being with god, or anything spiritual. That was the first nail in the coffin.

Even as a child I had an interest in science, and used to argue with the priest a lot, who was a real fundamentalist, burn in hell Catholic. Eventually, he got so fed up with me that he went into a total meltdown in front of the congregation, accused me and by inference my family of being bad catholics for raising such an undisciplined and unbelieving child. That was nail two.

Spend my teens and twenties going from one religion to another, not as a blind believer but as someone who wanted to see if they had anything to say about the world. Had a look at just about everything going. Well, all I acquired was a handful more nails for the coffin.

By the time I had left university, I had pretty much given up on religion - it had nothing to offer me and I could see the amount of strife and trouble religious belief was generating in the world. Science on the other hand was different. I'd gone into a scientific career (first astrophysics and then into IT based R&D). The scientific mindset and worldview, to me, gave me answers to the questions we all encounter as we grow and age.

I suppose the only religious aspect that has carried over is aspects of Buddhism. I find the Buddhist concept of mindfulness very useful, as it makes you stop and think about what you are thinking about.

For me, religion is just a way to delude oneself. I truly feel sorry for those who have a religious mindset.

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Permalink Reply by Francis Traynor on January 18, 2012 at 10:01am

I think therefore I am.....an atheist. Only joking!

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Permalink Reply by Dale Headley on January 18, 2012 at 2:01pm

  I never shifted. I always WAS a rational, thinking, intelligent person, even as a kid.  I always knew that religion was a delusion clung to by fearful, ignorant grown-ups, including my parents.  What I didn't understand was why they believed in Santa Claus, especially since he didn't promise to make them live forever.  When it was finally revealed that they DIDN'T believe in Santa, after all, I wondered why they persisted in believing in something even MORE preposterous: a magic, old, white man who floated around in the sky without a sleigh or reindeer to carry him as he ominously waved his hand and orchestrated all things earthly.  At first, I thought they were lying, as they had about Santa.  But then it gradually dawned on me that the world was full of similarly benighted believers in gods and other supernatural nonsense.     There are three reasons I don't believe in God: 1) It's nonsense; 2) there is no evidence; and 3) I don't need to, since I'm not afraid of death.  To put it simply, I am an atheist because my brain functions in a logical way that won't permit me to be anything else.

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Permalink Reply by Michael R on January 18, 2012 at 2:59pm

I think I always was. I never believed the stories that were told in Sunday school. I kept them in the same category as the stories of Odin or Mars. The people of history believed in their religions as much as people believe in their religions today. They were wrong then, so what makes them think they are right now?

This was going thru my brain throughout my childhood. That plus all the inconsistencies. Nothing added up.

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Permalink Reply by Syn Peralta on January 18, 2012 at 3:44pm

I was born/raised in a very devout (extended) family, in a Christian country (Philippines). The families' religion is a christian sect called "iglesia ni cristo (church of christ)". This sect always challenges the belief of roman catholics, especially with their interpretation of the bible. Since I was a child up to my teens, I was a devout, defending "our" belief against roman catholics, born again christians, and other christian sects/denomination. Then came a time when I questioned everything. And every answer goes against God, but still I remained on "his" side for a while but I guess it's inevitable. I was asking myself silly questions like, "why is God cruel?", "If there's a god, then it's not the god described in the bible", "why don't he just make us good so we can all go to heaven...", "why did he let judas betray jesus?, does this mean that there should be someone bad so somebody else can be good?", "Only members of this church can be saved? how about those cavemen who lived before religion existed?", "Is adam and eve dinosaurs?(nah kiddin' :D)", "if this is God, then why does he do this yada yada...". There was a lot of questions in my head and silly those questions were, those were questions they cannot answer. They would answer "free will", "fate", "bible should not be interpreted literally", "God's will" etc. That's the time I've gone "anti-god"(but christians still looked at me as anti-christian, they don't see the difference). I read what I can read about other theist religions, but didn't change my mind: God was created by man, a figment of imagination. Sometime after that, I decided NOT to waste any more of my time for something not that important :D

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Permalink Reply by Matthew on January 18, 2012 at 4:03pm

The book of numbers helped a lot.

I read the bible at a very young age and shrugged off a lot of what it said and continued to believe. I found that I was very interested in space and cosmology. So I began reading. I had read many science books and learned much about our cosmos and with some knowledge under my belt about our natural world. I decided to read the bible again, and I found many factual errors and began to ask questions. At that point I became a deist, lest I may go to hell. The idea of hell haunted me for a long time and I had a rough time shaking it off. Instead of trying to think of god, I started thinking about his supernatural aspects. The more I learned, the less supernatural god seemed to become. After shaking off the idea of hell, I hovered in agnosticism for a while until I rationalized the improbability of god.

And here I am, a baby eating, venom spitting, amoral, arrogant and sinful atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew on January 18, 2012 at 4:04pm

Sorry for the grammar, it's hard to edit with an iPad.

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Permalink Reply by Seasidechap on January 19, 2012 at 9:48am

You do not suffer alone....... Stupid device.

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Permalink Reply by Blake Herrington on January 18, 2012 at 6:35pm

What is a constract?

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