Why I Don't Believe In God

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

At least, a benevolent one. . . .

Aids
Starving children
Children who develop cancer
War
Hate
Katy Perry

[G L Wilson]

I believe in God, I just don't like him. Hee, hee.

[Darcy88]

I don't believe in God because I was raised in a Godless household and a Godless culture. And I've seen people utterly destroyed, driven to depths of depravity and despair through absolutely no fault of their own, in light of which I find it hard to believe in the existence an active, beneficent deity.

That said, I've come to respect other people's faith in God. I see the existential solace it provides many and I can't help but approve of it. Sometimes I even envy them their faith. And Pascal's Wager actually makes a lot of sense to me. In the stark absence of certifiable proof which the thoughtful theist must endure, the possibility they might be right, along with all the boundless benefits that being right would entail, must be a great and welcome aid in maintaining their faith.

I say whatever gets one through the dark and lonely nights.

[G L Wilson]

I don't believe in God because I was raised in a Godless household and a Godless culture. And I've seen people utterly destroyed, driven to depths of depravity and despair through absolutely no fault of their own, in light of which I find it hard to believe in the existence an active, beneficent deity.

That said, I've come to respect other people's faith in God. I see the existential solace it provides many and I can't help but approve of it. Sometimes I even envy them their faith. And Pascal's Wager actually makes a lot of sense to me. In the stark absence of certifiable proof which the thoughtful theist must endure, the possibility they might be right, along with all the boundless benefits that being right would entail, must be a great and welcome aid in maintaining their faith.

I say whatever gets one through the dark and lonely nights.

The only solace a lie can give is outer good form, even the criminal is more honest than the spiritual.

[Darcy88]

The only solace a lie can give is outer good form, even the criminal is more honest than the spiritual.

There are plenty of people who truly believe. I know one person who has no fear of death. Even when people she cares about die, she is sad they're gone but is not sad for them. She thinks God and Jesus love her and are always there to listen to her. She believes she will go to heaven and spend eternity in paradise with her family. She's a mormon and so she does not drink, smoke, nor engage in premarital sex. I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. I pressed her and pressed her, relentlessly, until I got her to admit that her faith has no foundation, but then she put the question to me "but what if it is true?" Fair enough I say.

[G L Wilson]

There are plenty of people who truly believe. I know one person who has no fear of death. Even when people she cares about die, she is sad they're gone but is not sad for them. She thinks God and Jesus love her and are always there to listen to her. She believes she will go to heaven and spend eternity in paradise with her family. She's a mormon and so she does not drink, smoke, nor engage in premarital sex. I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. I pressed her and pressed her, relentlessly, until I got her to admit that her faith has no foundation, but then she put the question to me "but what if it is true?" Fair enough I say.

The true person of faith doesn't exist, what if that is true?

[WyattGwyon]

At least, a benevolent one. . . .

Aids
Starving children
Children who develop cancer
War
Hate
Katy Perry

I understand what you are getting at, though I have never heard of your sixth scourge (Katy Perry). Just wondering why one needs a reason to not believe. Belief requires a reason, not its absence.

[OrphanPip]

Because I haven't been convinced otherwise. Also, I have personal moral objections to the conduct and values of many of the dominant organized religions.

But it's all right, as an openly gay philandering atheist, I'm sure God wouldn't like me much if he did exist anyway.

[Alexander III]

But it's all right, as an openly gay philandering atheist, I'm sure God wouldn't like me much if he did exist anyway.

Could be worst, at least your not a openly gay philandering atheist woman.

[cl154576]

There are plenty of people who truly believe. I know one person who has no fear of death. Even when people she cares about die, she is sad they're gone but is not sad for them. She thinks God and Jesus love her and are always there to listen to her. She believes she will go to heaven and spend eternity in paradise with her family. She's a mormon and so she does not drink, smoke, nor engage in premarital sex. I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. I pressed her and pressed her, relentlessly, until I got her to admit that her faith has no foundation, but then she put the question to me "but what if it is true?" Fair enough I say.

I have no fear of death. Death is peace. I like Seneca's view of it – I was dead before and I will be dead again, and for me, the life in between is simply an inconvenient, excruciatingly painful phase brought on either by accident or for the amusement of this God.

I don't ask that God should take my sufferings away, only that He should make them bearable. Is that really so unreasonable? Is it necessary that I should suffer in life, and be damned in death? Must I live in endless pain, and in death find not even a shadow of kindness or sympathy, but only – a merciless tyrant's hand, reproaching me for my helplessness? How much does He expect from me; is anyone, anywhere, able to "turn the other cheek" and live well when there is no hope for happiness, in this life or the next?

I was taught to believe in God. I don't, but I still hate Him, or the idea of Him, and the hate is killing me.

[G L Wilson]

Could be worst, at least your not a openly gay philandering atheist woman.

You are lucky that you are not a midget, apparently God hates the midget with a special passion, according to the Bible.

I have no fear of death. Death is peace. I like Seneca's view of it – I was dead before and I will be dead again, and for me, the life in between is simply an inconvenient, excruciatingly painful phase brought on either by accident or for the amusement of this God.

I don't ask that God should take my sufferings away, only that He should make them bearable. Is that really so unreasonable? Is it necessary that I should suffer in life, and be damned in death? Must I live in endless pain, and in death find not even a shadow of kindness or sympathy, but only – a merciless tyrant's hand, reproaching me for my helplessness? How much does He expect from me; is anyone, anywhere, able to "turn the other cheek" and live well when there is no hope for happiness, in this life or the next?

I was taught to believe in God. I don't, but I still hate Him, or the idea of Him, and the hate is killing me.

You cannot hate him as much as me. Hate is best forgotten, for dwelling on hate seeds bitterness in one's soul. Who wishes to be bitter towards life?

[cl154576]

You cannot hate him as much as me.

Should this be "as much as I do"?
I usually don't nitpick with grammar, but here it changes the meaning significantly ...

Hate is best forgotten, but to be clichéd – "easier said than done."

[G L Wilson]

Should this be "as much as I do"?
I usually don't nitpick with grammar, but here it changes the meaning significantly ...

Hate is best forgotten, but to be clichéd – "easier said than done."

I have always found love easy to forget.

[The Atheist]

Good subject. I was musing on it the other day as I recalled Bertie Russell's Why I am not a christian.

There is no reason to believe, people believe because they want to. They are selfish and self-indulgent people who prefer myth to reality.

Both Einstein and Hawking have alluded to the concept of god to be childish fantasy, which concept I agree with 100%.

40 years after I realised it was a sham, it amazes me that people still believe.

[G L Wilson]

Good subject. I was musing on it the other day as I recalled Bertie Russell's Why I am not a christian.

There is no reason to believe, people believe because they want to. They are selfish and self-indulgent people who prefer myth to reality.

Both Einstein and Hawking have alluded to the concept of god to be childish fantasy, which concept I agree with 100%.

40 years after I realised it was a sham, it amazes me that people still believe.

A child of fantasy is not a creature of the dark - it is a bad analogy to call religion a childish whim. It is obviously the dark come to play in the light.