Causes of Atheism

[editec]

Atheists and believers are really very similar personality types.




Atheists and Believers --Two types of people who, for one reason or another, simply cannot stand uncertainty.

 

[Machaut]

I can't speak for others but for me, the "cause" for my atheism is my ability to think for myself. I was raised going to church but from a very early age, I knew it didn't make sense.

I have very strong religious and spiritual beliefs. They just don't include a belief in an invisible Big Daddy of the Sky...

Oh, how awesome. Rewind to the OP real quick:

While standard atheist talking points focus on claims that they're smarter than everyone else because they don't worship "a magical sky wizard" or that they "think for themselves," most of the actual reasons for atheists becoming atheists are usually along the lines of "My parents made me go to church every Sunday when I was a kid and it was boring, so God doesn't exist,"

A point-by-point prediction of your reasons for being an atheist. How cool! Seeing this, I can understand your butthurt in your previous post in this thread.

I doubt that many believers really do believe in a god

This is an interesting point. I have considered this as well, that many theists don't actually really understand the meaning behind the words "I believe in God," and many atheists are the same way with "I don't believe in God." Certainly you, as a butthurt atheist, must've noticed all the degenerates running around binge drinking, cursing, having sex outside of marriage, and essentially doing everything the Bible says not to do, while wearing a little crucifix around their neck. It's as if they completely forget about that whole "big guy upstairs that doesn't like what I'm doing watching my every move" thing and think that wearing a cross means everything they do is OK because it's "for Jesus," or "I go to church on Easter so all is forgiven," or some other stupid justification. I think that most Christians, for example, have a view of their own religion that is very culturally atheist, as in most of them have this unspoken supposition that the Bible is just a bunch of fairy tales. If you ask them if they believe in the Bible, they'd say yes, but they don't truly believe, for example, that Jonah was an actual person who was swallowed by an actual whale, or that David really did sling a rock at a human tank and kill him. The story of the Tower of Babel in particular is a major stumbling block for most Christians (reconciling what is essentially forced segregation with the modern "hurr durr everyone must integrate" push in Christian-majority nations), as well as the meaning behind the story of the Garden of Eden.

However, applying this same principle to atheists not understanding what "I don't believe in God" means, I must ask about the following:

The more I read, the more I learned about the natural world, the more I questioned the basic premise of first one belief and then others.

I have very strong religious and spiritual beliefs. They just don't include a belief in an invisible Big Daddy of the Sky who blackmails and punishes me for my beliefs while accepting the worst behavior as long as I "believe" in him. And, I certainly don't believe the outlandish and outrageous tales in the christian bible.

This is another trend that I have noticed. All but a few atheists I've met are largely critical of either Christianity or Islam; which one they blast the most is dependent upon which one they were raised in or around. Whenever an atheist blames bad human action on religion, or says that God doesn't exist because the Bible is obviously false, they are specifically rejecting Christianity, not theism. I have never in my life heard someone refute or attack Jainism or the Bahá'í Faith, for example; it's always focused upon Christianity or Islam. Anyone who blasts religion as "a means of controlling ignorant sheeple" never, ever brings up Buddhism or Taoism or essentially any other religion except, at most, any combination of the three major Abrahamic religions. Why is this?

In reference to your "very strong religious and spiritual beliefs," may I ask you to expound upon what those beliefs are? Feel free to add as much or as little detail as you like. Additionally, do you consider atheism to be a religion?

And when you talk about the "invisible Big Daddy of the Sky who blackmails and punishes me for my beliefs while accepting the worst behavior as long as I "believe" in him" as a cause for your disbelief, I must ask, have you been made aware that there are people who believe in God and do not believe in that specific principle of eternal forgiveness no matter what as long as you say the magic words? You seem to have put on the same intellectual blinders that the overwhelming majority of internet atheists use, i.e. "this very specific religious principle is abhorrent to me, therefore no religion in the world is true and God doesn't exist". Even within Christianity, there are people that disapprove of the "punishes me for my beliefs" and "accepting the worst behavior" ideas.

but, as long as they don't try to force their beliefs on me, on my government and on my children, they're welcome to whatever it is that gets them through the night.

When you say "on my government," do you mean that--as an example--in a country where the majority of the population is and has always been Christian and has Christian symbolism engraved or monuments erected with government funds, and where governmental bodies pray before doing business, you would want these long-standing Christian traditions removed? Do you believe in an absolutely rigid separation of religion and government, or do you think that it is acceptable for a government to reflect a nation's religious culture, be it Christianity or Buddhism or agnosticism?

 

[Machaut]

Honey, if you can't figure out that it is taught then you are a lost cause and definitely a waste of my time. You're pulling crap out of your behind because you just want to be silly.

Oh, so disbelief in the Holocaust is taught, but disbelief in a deity is entirely 100% natural and inherent to every human being? Is this your argument?

I'm trying to understand where you're coming from.

You understood completely the first time.

From the "all babies are Holocaust deniers" camp? Because that's a really strange perspective to have.

 

[Disir]

Oh, so disbelief in the Holocaust is taught, but disbelief in a deity is entirely 100% natural and inherent to every human being? Is this your argument?

I'm trying to understand where you're coming from.

You understood completely the first time.

From the "all babies are Holocaust deniers" camp? Because that's a really strange perspective to have.

Religion is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of a deity is taught. It isn't that hard. You got nothing.

 

[Machaut]

I'll tell you what my journey to Atheism was like.

I went to a Catholic School. Which means, after about fourth grade or so, they sicced the nuns on us. A bunch of angry old women who were using religion to beat down their lesbian feelings, and they inflicted them on kids.

As soon as I read "Catholic School," I knew pretty much the rest of what you'd say. Catholics, for some reason, produce more atheists from among their ranks than any other theistic religion. Coincidentally, I have also noticed that a disproportionate number of lesbians seem to come from Catholic households--specifically lesbians, not gay men. Can you offer any insight into this? It seems to me that there is something in the Catholic system, particularly in Catholic schools, that instigates atheism and lesbianism. Is it just the typical separation of the sexes during education that drives lesbianism, and the harsh, nonsensical, and repressive "don't question me" attitude of the nuns that drives atheism?

Well, one day, one of these old hags was telling us all about Noah's Ark. And how God drowned everyone but Noah and his family because they were 'wicked'. When I asked why God drowned the babies, the old crone screeched. 'They were wiiiicked babies.. Wiiiiiicked!!!!!"

Anyway, a few years later my mom got cancer and despite everyone in the Parish praying for her to get better, she died. Another one of these nuns said at her funeral, "God had a good reason for this.' If I smashed her head into the wall, God would have had a good reason for that, too.

Long story, short, I really started to question the whole bullshit that these folks had been laying out to me for 12 years. Why would a eternal, omnipotent God care about any one person living or dying? If God created the universe and the universe is at least 14 billion years old, why would he care about one person on one planet in an nearly infinite universe?

"I'm an atheist because some of the Catholics I grew up around were dicks and I can't understand why God would care about me." Does that about sum it up? A lot of nuns in the educational system--or really, just most old women in any educational system, public or private--seem to lack a basic understanding of whatever they're teaching, as well as having a Judge Judy-style dictatorial arrogance.

If he cared about all humanity, then why was religion geographically limited? If Yahweh was the real "God" and Zeus and Odin and Krishna and Amaterasu were all fakes,

Why do you make this particular assumption?

 

[Machaut]

You understood completely the first time.

From the "all babies are Holocaust deniers" camp? Because that's a really strange perspective to have.

Religion is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of a deity is taught. It isn't that hard. You got nothing.

Historical knowledge is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of the Holocaust is taught. It isn't that hard.

Why can you not accept that all babies are Holocaust deniers?

 

[Machaut]

1. The scientific process.

2. Sociopolitical ideology of the church.

3. Skepticism

For clarification, what question(s) are you responding to?

 

[Toro]

1. The scientific process.

2. Sociopolitical ideology of the church.

3. Skepticism

For clarification, what question(s) are you responding to?

What causes atheism?

 

[Disir]

From the "all babies are Holocaust deniers" camp? Because that's a really strange perspective to have.

Religion is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of a deity is taught. It isn't that hard. You got nothing.

Historical knowledge is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of the Holocaust is taught. It isn't that hard.

Why can you not accept that all babies are Holocaust deniers?

Why can't you accept that the concept of a deity is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Jesus.

 

[Machaut]

Religion is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of a deity is taught. It isn't that hard. You got nothing.

Historical knowledge is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of the Holocaust is taught. It isn't that hard.

Why can you not accept that all babies are Holocaust deniers?

Why can't you accept that the concept of a deity is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Jesus.

Why can't you accept that the concept of the Holocaust is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Nazi plan to murder all the Jews.

 

[JakeStarkey]

One of the leading, perhaps the number one, causes for atheism is the inability of the believers to practice what they preach.

 

[Machaut]

1. The scientific process.

2. Sociopolitical ideology of the church.

3. Skepticism

For clarification, what question(s) are you responding to?

What causes atheism?

Do you believe, then, that science and belief in God are mutually exclusive? If so, why?

What sociopolitical ideology of "the church" (please elaborate on this--do you mean Christianity in general, or Catholicism in particular?) causes one to reject the existence of God?

 

[Disir]

Historical knowledge is taught. You aren't born with it. The concept of the Holocaust is taught. It isn't that hard.

Why can you not accept that all babies are Holocaust deniers?

Why can't you accept that the concept of a deity is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Jesus.

Why can't you accept that the concept of the Holocaust is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Nazi plan to murder all the Jews.

There is no Jesus.

 

[Machaut]

One of the leading, perhaps the number one, causes for atheism is the inability of the believers to practice what they preach.

I agree, this is certainly one of the top causes. Going back to the OP:

"Individuals of a certain religion have done something to displease me, therefore absolutely every religion ever is completely false and God doesn't exist."

Interestingly, it is the segment of atheists in particular that pride themselves on not being sheeple, but rather being scientific and rational, that seem to have their opinions on religion dictated to them based on what other people think or say or do. In effect, this makes them sheeple as well, but they have deluded themselves into thinking that their particular blindly-followed path is better because they follow it for the sole reason that they perceive more people following another path.

 

[Machaut]

Why can't you accept that the concept of a deity is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Jesus.

Why can't you accept that the concept of the Holocaust is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Nazi plan to murder all the Jews.

There is no Jesus.

I must ask you to get your line of faux-discussion back on track. This thread is not a platform for people's ideology, but rather a discussion of what causes it. Feel free to talk about why you think there is no Jesus; however, a simple one sentence post declaring a particular belief you hold doesn't constitute actual discussion of said belief's causes.

 

[JoeB131]

[
As soon as I read "Catholic School," I knew pretty much the rest of what you'd say. Catholics, for some reason, produce more atheists from among their ranks than any other theistic religion. Coincidentally, I have also noticed that a disproportionate number of lesbians seem to come from Catholic households--specifically lesbians, not gay men. Can you offer any insight into this? It seems to me that there is something in the Catholic system, particularly in Catholic schools, that instigates atheism and lesbianism. Is it just the typical separation of the sexes during education that drives lesbianism, and the harsh, nonsensical, and repressive "don't question me" attitude of the nuns that drives atheism?

Um... I don't know. I have a lot of Lesbian friends, and not a one of them was brought up Catholic. I had an Aunt who I suspect was a lesbian, but she kept it in the closet until she died, including a sham marriage.

I suspect that perhaps unlike the Evangelical Christians, who pride themselves on being stupider than dirt, Catholics actually want their kids to be smart. For instance, we were taught about this thing called "Evolution". Now, of course, the problem I guess is that since I was taught about Adam and Eve in religion class and Darwin in Science class, at some point, I'd have to put them side by side and figure out which one was right. (Spoiler alert, the Darwinists had FOSSILS, so they win.)

I guess if I were as a dumb as a doorknob Evangelical, I'd have never heard of that and never asked the question.

[
"I'm an atheist because some of the Catholics I grew up around were dicks and I can't understand why God would care about me." Does that about sum it up? A lot of nuns in the educational system--or really, just most old women in any educational system, public or private--seem to lack a basic understanding of whatever they're teaching, as well as having a Judge Judy-style dictatorial arrogance.

Meehhh, not really. they did a perfectly fine job teaching me how to read and do math and, hey, they didn't even do the science that badly. They were just generally mean-spirited and were teaching mean-spirited nonsense.

Frankly, the big problem was the source material. As ass-poundingly stupid as Sister Mary Butch's explanation of "Wicked Babies" was, I have yet to find an apologist who has come up with an explanation of why God needed to drown babies that wasn't equally retarded.

If he cared about all humanity, then why was religion geographically limited? If Yahweh was the real "God" and Zeus and Odin and Krishna and Amaterasu were all fakes,

Why do you make this particular assumption?

I think this is the implied message of a religion whose first Commandment is "Thou shall have no other gods before me!" Now, we can get into a deep philosophical discussion about whether the Bronze age Hebrews were really monotheists or polytheists, or whether all religions are true because they have a notion of God... but that's talking in circles, man.

If we are talking about the Abrahamic God, he is only worshiped by half of humanity, and until 2000 years ago, his worship was pretty much limited to the Levant.

 

[Disir]

Why can't you accept that the concept of the Holocaust is taught? How is this hard? There is no historical Nazi plan to murder all the Jews.

There is no Jesus.

I must ask you to get your line of faux-discussion back on track. This thread is not a platform for people's ideology, but rather a discussion of what causes it. Feel free to talk about why you think there is no Jesus; however, a simple one sentence post declaring a particular belief you hold doesn't constitute actual discussion of said belief's causes.

It's a platform for your faux ideology. What causes your faux ideology is you teaching them. Period. There is no historical Jesus.

 

[Machaut]

There is no Jesus.

I must ask you to get your line of faux-discussion back on track. This thread is not a platform for people's ideology, but rather a discussion of what causes it. Feel free to talk about why you think there is no Jesus; however, a simple one sentence post declaring a particular belief you hold doesn't constitute actual discussion of said belief's causes.

It's a platform for your faux ideology.

What is my ideology?

What causes your faux ideology is you teaching them. Period.

Again, the same cause of belief in the Holocaust.

 

[Crystalclear]

One of the leading, perhaps the number one, causes for atheism is the inability of the believers to practice what they preach.

No, the first cause is (at least for the smart atheists) that they have come after reasonable thinking to the conclusion that they don't think there exists a God. And the smartest of them do not judge Christians for believing, but do only not believe in a God themselves. Only the dumber ones insult religious people. On the other side, I keep seeing the most stupid arguments from Christians why atheism is bad.

 

[JoeB131]

One of the leading, perhaps the number one, causes for atheism is the inability of the believers to practice what they preach.

No, the first cause is (at least for the smart atheists) that they have come after reasonable thinking to the conclusion that they don't think there exists a God. And the smartest of them do not judge Christians for believing, but do only not believe in a God themselves. Only the dumber ones insult religious people. On the other side, I keep seeing the most stupid arguments from Christians why atheism is bad.

I'd have no problem with believers if they weren't 1) constantly trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us or 2) enabling the 1%ers in screwing the rest of us on the hope the 1%ers will let them impose their beliefs on the rest of us.

Therefore, I feel perfectly justified in insulting them.