Attention Non Believers...

[baza]

Why do you not believe in a God?...

[China Doll]

I just never have despite being brought up a catholic - the whole thing never made sense to me.

[pixie373]

I think the question is more- why would I? The only reason the idea of God exists, is because it was a common belief a very long time ago. The story has been passed on with no evidence, proof or witnesses. Even with more plausible scientific theories, the myth goes on. It is just used as a comfort to some and I just don't need that.

[vulcan42]

It's all down to man's egotism, he cannot accept that he came from a creature that dragged itself from the soup of evolution, it sounds so much more important to have been created,how arrogant is that?

[jim360]

I think there is an inherent human need to make sense of the world they see around them. How people choose to do this varies. Religion is still about trying to make sense of the world, but it's a bit of a weak way to do so because all questions have the same, untestable, answer, "That's just the way God made it." People can try to flesh it out a bit but in the end that's what it boils down to.

One of the things a lot of people miss is that the best ways of thinking about the world are those that have the potential to be proved wrong. In that sense religion fails because it can never be challenged. If things are always the way God wants, and you can't see why they are that way, it doesn't matter because it's all "part of the plan". How do you argue with that?

In the end, then, for me religions fail because there is no evidence for the existence of God -- at least, one that doesn't also admit an alternative explanation just as well -- and so for me religion is therefore just intellectually unsatisfying.

[beso]

Not just created but created in the image of the God.

That is absolutely incredible arrogance.

[saxy_jag]

Because there is no such thing. It is a concept dreamt up by early man to explain what he didn't understand and perpetuated by those who seek to control others by claiming a higher understanding of it.

[DrFilth]

my mum was very religious she would often come home and see me and say

oh jesus what heve you been up to now -)

[Khandro]

jomifl; //QED// I don't think so, what do you think you have demonstrated?

[jim360]

In some ways, too, religion can be viewed as the world's largest conspiracy theory. The features are, essentially, the same: that ultimately everything that happens does so for a reason, and that someone is in full control of what goes on. There is no evidence for either of these claims.

[ll_billym]

Because I have basic requirements that have to be fulfilled on order for me to believe in something.

[jomifl]

Khandro .... madhouse full of irrational zealots.... QED
anything else that I can help you with :o)

[Khandro]

jomifl; All you have demonstrated is an opinion. If asked, I show the congruency of two angles in Euclidean geometry I can write QED at the end, but you cannot add this suffix to an opinion formed when you were 14. I too at that age was confirmed atheist, but with further study I later moved on. :-)

[naomi24]

Khandro, //I too at that age was confirmed atheist, but with further study I later moved on.//

I’d be interested to know exactly what you studied. My experience is quite the reverse.

Baza, Why do I not believe in God? Because I studied.

[Sparkles62]

If there was a god, Why did he let my sisters two month old, innocent baby die from cot death, why did I lose my first little boy, innocent child again, and why did my great grandmother ( a devout believer) die a horrible painful death, I held her hand as she died aged 102, screamming in pain, and asking why her god had left her.
Thats just me, there must be millions every day with far worse stories that dont believe in your 'loving' god.

[Khandro]

naomi; It's obvious you studied the wrong things :-)

[naomi24]

That isn't an answer.

[jim360]

It's not really clear that "Because I studied" is any kind of answer either... there are certainly a number of people who believe in religion because they've never really thought about it. But what about those who have studied intensely, how do you describe them? Presumably they didn't "study the right things", or just saw it in a different way.

I'd like to think that if compelling evidence came up to support the existence of a) a God, and b) a particular religion's God, then I'd change my views. But it would never be a matter of belief.

[naomi24]

My post to Baza is clearly causing confusion. I'll clarify.

Baza, Why do I not believe in God? Because I studied the bible which confirms that the God of Abraham is neither omnipotent, nor omniscient – hence he is not what religion claims him to be.

[Khandro]

Study: 'The pursuit of knowledge, as by reading, observation, or research.'
Most among these, - observation.

[naomi24]

Khandro, why do you rarely answer a straight question with a straight answer? Okay, tell me what you 'observed' that convinced you to believe in God.