Ever wonder why you're atheist?

[PickelledEggs]

(Though it's a stereotype that atheists are angry people, what's often overlooked is why they're frustrated/unhappy)

[youtube:3vs83vjj]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9pD_UK6vGU[/youtube:3vs83vjj]

If only happiness was this easy.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

The reason atheism comes up in my little world is I'm constantly asked to go to church or told I'm going to hell then I have a tough time holding back and making fun of them especially when they give me that, 'You poor uninformed heathen' look. I give em back my 'YOU don't REALLY believe that nonsense do you?' look and hope they drop it, but we all know they're on a mission from god so..... it's open season. Hey, fucking crazy people grow on trees here and it's harvest season every single day.  :rollin:

[Jason78]

But, this is a serious question. Have you ever wondered why you ended up atheist?

I like to think that I started off atheist.   A better question would be, "Have you ever wondered why you didn't end up religious?"

When there are other highly intelligent, logical people out there who are also highly religious?

Those people don't exist by definition.   If one were highly intelligent and logical, then one would not be religious.

[GrinningYMIR]

Welcome to the forum!

And in answer to your question, sometimes I do wonder, how I managed to pop up an atheist in a more religious family. I've been told it's just a phase of rebellion, like what you went through, but I've also been raised to believe what I think is right.

When I was around 15 or 16, (I'm 18 almost 19 now) I decided to read the bible, since I had never done it before, so I bought myself a nice King James bible leather bound with a good blue coloring. (It's still one of my nicer books sadly, leather is expensive :/)

I read it hoping to become more religious, and instead I noticed every contradiction, every thing that didn't make a lick of sense, and when I asked my parents they simply told me to have faith, which wasn't good enough for me. That was my beginning, and around two years later I ousted myself as an atheist.

Yes, I do wonder why it happened. But at the same time, I'm glad it happened, because I don't want to be in anyone's thrall.

Especially some religion.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I don't like the "atheists are smarter" nonsense either. I know plenty with brains of mashed turnips.

The same question could very easily be replaced with why did you end up liking green beans? I'm still lost on that one.   :-k

[stromboli]

It all depends on how you define it to yourself. In my case, after a long history of coming out of religion, I see it as the default to everything else is bullshit, basically. Atheism is hard to define because it is a "non" rather than a something; non belief, non involvement. That is also why religious people have a hard time getting a handle on us.  Every religious person has a mindset that you have to believe something. Not believing something is a little hard to grasp.

As far as how I wound up here, it would require a life history to narrate. Basically by process of elimination. I studied my way out of both Mormonism and Christianity because I research stuff, its what I do. And now I'm an atheist.

[Mister Agenda]

It can get tiring explaining our personal journeys yet again. Suffice it to say that if you started out religious, you are likely very aware of why you're an atheist.

[josephpalazzo]

There isn't any real choice: no fucking evidence, no fucking God.

[mykcob4]

So, I'm probably posting this in the wrong section, I'm new to this site and having a hard time navigating so I apologize.

But, this is a serious question. Have you ever wondered why you ended up atheist? When there are other highly intelligent, logical people out there who are also highly religious?

I am one of 5 siblings, we were all raised going to church, my parents and grandparents and all my friends were religious. I never truly felt like I believed in any of what I was fed. I tried praying, when that failed it further fueled my idea that it was all fake. As I became a teen I rebelled and refused to go to church as did my other siblings. I continued to grow up around others of religion even after I stopped associating with those that I went to church with. I believe my dad was never really religious and only did what my mom wanted, after their divorce I don't think he ever went to church or talked about god/religion in any sense.

My other siblings followed the same path as I for awhile. My eldest brother briefly visited satanic stuff, but I think that was just part of his rebellion. I have never believed or worshiped anything. My younger brother was deeply religious for about 8 years or so and recently decided it was all a sham. My sister has never shown interest in religion until she married her husband, and I'm pretty sure she fakes it.

So anyway, that was a long explanation. My eldest brother recently questioned my dad and asked him how we ended being so anti-religious after being raised christian and had no real devastating reason to believe it was all made up, other than the obvious.. logic.

My dad's answer was, you are half me. I am logical, smart, and free-thinking. Therefore as my offspring, so are you. But as a free-thinker, an intelligent, college educated woman.. I have to wonder, is there more to the story? I know many other intelligent, logical people who do believe in god and I just have to wonder.. why? Why do they believe? They're not stupid, they're not uneducated.. Do they really believe, or are they faking it to be part of something? I used to want to believe, so I could be a part of a group, feel included and such, but I couldn't force myself to pretend. I felt too.. stupid.

Nope never wondered about it at all. I only ever wonder why I ever let myself be anything other than an atheist.

[Insult to Rocks]

Welcome to the forums!
I've asked myself that question many times, and the answer I came up with is that I do not need to be happy, or know all the answers. Thats what religion is: an easy answer that will always keep you happy so long as you don't question anything. I beacame an atheist during a very unhappy time in my life, and solved my problem was that I realized that I don't have to be happy. Sometimes reality is harsh and unforgiving, and believing yourself entitled to  happiness will only bring you misery. Once I realized that, my atheism was an inevitablility.

[leo]

I was a atheist at 16 years old . I grew up mentally. Seriously the creator god idea is very childish. Sky daddy ?     I think santa and the Tooth fairy are more realistic. :roll:

[TrueStory]

I grew up in a non-religious family in a fairly non-religious part of the US. Religion rarely registered a blip in my childhood, except during visits to my grandparents' house, where I experienced the boredom and pointlessness of church and prayer. I guess you could say I was an "apathetic atheist" - no god belief, but didn't give the issue much thought or care. I just lived then, as I do now, as if there's no god.

I grew up the same exact way.  I remember going to church on the odd occasion with my grandmother and just sitting there thinking it was some kind of performance, like a play.

[stromboli]

I confess. I'm an atheist so I can watch porn guilt free.

[Shol'va]

Have you ever wondered why you ended up atheist?

You ask this as if to get the point across "have you ever looked back to figure out how you ended up in the hole" ;)
I never wondered how I ended up atheist since my deconversion was a logical, thought-out journey from beginning to end. I am still in the process of deconverting but I am pretty much mostly there. The reason I say still in the process because indoctrination has a surprisingly strong grip, and sometimes when I am by myself I still catch myself thinking somebody up there is watching.

When there are other highly intelligent, logical people out there who are also highly religious?

Because people are good at compartmentalizing.

I am one of 5 siblings, we were all raised going to church, my parents and grandparents and all my friends were religious. I never truly felt like I believed in any of what I was fed. I tried praying, when that failed it further fueled my idea that it was all fake. As I became a teen I rebelled and refused to go to church as did my other siblings. I continued to grow up around others of religion even after I stopped associating with those that I went to church with. I believe my dad was never really religious and only did what my mom wanted, after their divorce I don't think he ever went to church or talked about god/religion in any sense.

My other siblings followed the same path as I for awhile. My eldest brother briefly visited satanic stuff, but I think that was just part of his rebellion. I have never believed or worshiped anything. My younger brother was deeply religious for about 8 years or so and recently decided it was all a sham. My sister has never shown interest in religion until she married her husband, and I'm pretty sure she fakes it.

had no real devastating reason to believe it was all made up, other than the obvious.. logic.

Logic is devastating enough by itself :)

I know many other intelligent, logical people who do believe in god and I just have to wonder.. why? Why do they believe? They're not stupid, they're not uneducated..

Muster up the courage and ask them!

[Shol'va]

Almost forgot. I'll tell you when I started seriously doubting. I started doubting when I was about 6 years old, a well behaved little boy, who was vomiting violently in the middle of the night due to severe illness and was begging the angels to make it stop. So I started weighing the possibilities. I was either being punished for an unknown reason, or angels did not exist.