Atheists, what made you stop believing in God?

Question

Makeushiver · Accepted Answer

The fact that the church and organized religion in general will insist on the stupidest shit despite overwhelming evidence and burn you at the stake if you happened to be smart ennough- or Jewish, that's always a handy excuse. There are spiritual traditions that do make sense- though none are monotheistic or any theistic for that matter.. Buddhism and Daoism think in terms as "skillful or unskillful" rather than "good and evil". The only evidence of historical Christianity, provided by 2 people. Josephus & shit, caN't remember other name. The Gnostics aka desert Christians' actually made sense. Unlike what is now catholic but at the time was simply the church. The church had Iraneus as its founder and he wanted to put as many paid morons required to reach this violent jealous god priests, bishops, cardinals, popes, 2 popes for a while, not to mention monks, friars abesses etc. Read Thomas the Gnostic and see if it doesn't make far more sense and ius so muuch ckloser to the original teachings of Jesus. The majority of information we have about christianity is from someone who thought it was insane until he feel off his ass on his ass. Not that any gospel corroborates anything, none of them were written by anyone who was alive when Jesus was. If the Greeks hadn't fucked up the translation of the Aramaic term describing Mary. The trans;ation could have been either young woman or virgin. Maybe just for a laugh they chose the far stupider of the translations and that's why Jesus wasn't conceived, nothing to do with the fellow, it was the Greeks. Paul had hias own ax to grind in Rome. Two apostles make no mention of the resssurection but, I think it's Mark and Luke do. The sermon on the mount has a page just before it that completely rverses every statement in the beatitudes. That's in Matthew, if you find the sermon on the mount, go about 4 pps. back and read the text in matthew that is completely the opposite stating that only the rich will get richer, and enter the kingdom of heaven, the meek can piss up a rope. The spiritual traditions that don't worry about god, just - read the Tao Te Ching, which is Lao Tzu'as Daoism and it makes perfect sense read 300 years. later. No smoke & mirrors about virgin births rising from the dead so he could chat with a hooker. Unlike what Christians call the mold testanment and the Jews call the bible and you'll find a od nthat if it were a kid would be on adderall and expelled from school. Written by so many different people at different times. Two creation myths in genesis, a tacked on ending to an otherwise surprisingly well written book of Job. A couple of kingdoms that were so irrelevant that they are barely mentioned anywhere else. Then a real empire steps up and makes all or most Jews slaves and hauls them off to Iran. No more Jewish state so who is keeping track of yahveh now. well Ezra, Jeremiah, etc. all of whom are unanimous that the existing remaining Jews were that much garbage. Then Pharisees take over with their axe to grind, the rabbis take over w/ their axe to grind. Much of the bible is referred to as the Pentateuch and Septuagint which literally translates into, "we don''t know who the fuck wrote this but it seems like there were 5 of them". If you approah the entire shebang asmyth- in the older sense of the word which had no connotations of "made up" but meant well, some thibngs can't bve put into words so we use symbols and metaphors or myths The US has aklways had plenty of stupidity to rely on as a natural resource but its best exemplified by the people who think myth= make believe so they take everything literally. ASll fundamenta;lists do the same. The third chronologically in the monotheistic pARarade is Allah or moreso, his 'splainer Mohammed. A man was fully supported by a woman throughout his life. He stumbled across a lone peyote cactus and had the angel Gabriel speak to him at various times over 22 years. Islam, as far as the Quran goes is the most civilized of the three. Jihadmis a spiritual term used incorrectly today. In any case, unlike Judaism which couldn't survive the 2 times the Romans burnd the temple to the ground because they just wouldn't shut the fuck up was mostly absorbed into Islam. Islam had the broadmindedness to say, well yeah we recognizee thoosemoyther fairy tales as long as they are monotheistic. Jews were very well treated when Islam spread further than the Romans of SAlexander untoil it covered akll of Arabia. all of north africa, the subcontinent of India and get this 9Afganistan. Someth9ing neither the us or the ussr could don 1500 years later with far better arms than the 1st jihadists. The moslems were able to reach countries on the Atlantic and the Pacific. Of course, a few have revelations and the many get religion whoise Latin meaning is "to bind together which ismpretty much the opposite. First they couldn't decide Mohammed's successor. The family- if a stretc were to include Ali as the succesor decided they were Shia and the boys with power parked their asses in Iraq and as shortsighted as they may have been the outstripped the christiansnby a long shot. One good thing about having no intermediaries like Catholicism had was you couldn't cange much. The Qurasm is a closed boiok, done, no adding, no editing. So those intermediaries in the christian church sold about 10,000 crosses worth of the true cross, paid no itaxes and lived so luxuriously they bakrupted France. The rigorously trained Jesuits were in Madrid burning nJew for various reasons, they didn't float, theybate Christian Children but before that, it seemed like countries like England, France et al had far too many second, third sons, daughters but primogeniture meant they could receive any ingheritance. They wound up causing so much trouble in their adpopted role of civil servants. They didn't mwork, weren't smart but were very well paid. Instead of marching them astraightninto shark ndested waters where they wouldn't have done any h8arm, the church and royalty n figured let's see the furthest away place we know iis tthe middle east so go there and do somethung noble. Most stayed in the south oif france annd invented the concept of romantic love. something never seen before though some got tired of jousting, fucking and eating so they marched to meet the infidels. No one had come upon a culture thatb vastly superior to Western Europe at the time. Islam decided to leave science in the hands of scientists instead of illiterate monks and between that and a guy that kicked more ass then anything Christendom could throw at him, Saracen. They managednto kill a mlot of Moslems in the early crusades mostly because Moslems were sitting around thinking, "we own the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific and have an enlightened culture while westernn Europe was burning witches as social. Then church had hidden any books that contained wisdom from the Romans and Greeks. Having made the wise choice to ignore Plato and Aristotle they did keep Ptolemy who, remarkable for when he lived has created a universe that was getting far too complicated. Again the church and royalty put their heads together and thought, "let's see are best trained soldiers with the finest armaments we have couldn't put much if a dent in Saracen, hey, i got an idea, lets send kids. You cab guess how that worked out. Meanwhile a bunch of horse riders that outclassed all of the invred aristocracy thunderedout of the East and took over Europe, turkey, russia. The Khan's had no desire to make everyone believe their religion listened to the monotheists for an hour and said, "shut the fuck up nabout this shot. we just came from 5,000 miles away on horseback so you can practice whatever this silliness your talking about n or we'll kill all of you. They finally went away but when they stopped in the ports of Genoa and Venice- the 2 world powers at the time. Until the Khans left a few fleas who hopped onto the rats on board the ships bringing the only shit worth owning, dcent cloth, spices and,,, bubonic plague. By now even the west had developed rudimentary science and most of all- a printing press. The church no longer had final say on the order of the nuniverse since Ptolemy's concentric circles w/ earth at trhe center, a profound belief by the christian church long ago discarded by the Moslems and Jews, busy inventing alcohol, algebra. and a lot more al things. Gave a contingent of soldiers a bunch of hash with the lone demand of- "if you see any of those pestiferous Christians around smoke this and take care of them. The renassaince italians were making the church look stupider by the day as lenses improved and no amount of burning could seem to stop. The firstn great astronomernhad disacovered the correct design nof thenuniverse that did away w/ Ptolemy but Christianity as always a fiont ofwisdom and compassion, Copernicus ( notsuure mif it was him or Kepler whondid this) had the solar system as far bas was visible at the

Lliam · Accepted Answer

I was raised Catholic, was a altar boy, and went to Catholic through 9th grade. But by 9th grade, I started asking questions that had no answers.

I retained an interest in religion and, over the years, read lots about the history of Christianity and Judaism, ancient history, cultural anthropology, world religions, mythology, and some philosophy and theology.

It became clear that gods are human inventions. There is absolutely no evidence that they exist. The only reason people believe in them is because other people do.

But praying to Jaysus and believing in religion gives a lot of people comfort, so I have no problem with their beliefs as long as they don't try to enforce them on others.

CateM · Answer

Shortly after I was born, my parents stopped going to church because it was hard for them. They decided to go back when I was 11, baptized and confirmed at 12, but they taught me about god when I was old enough to understand it. I believed then, and when we first started going to church, I was always bored but thought I'd come to like it and that it would build me up over time. But the opposite happened, I grew to despise going to church and it tore me down. In middle school science, I started to doubt god because what they taught refuted his existence. The first belief about the church I challenged was why can't women be priests. Then I learned what abortion is, that it's to end a pregnancy early. I was told that it's murder and any woman who has one is shameful, but I never saw it that way and am still pro choice to this day. And also that extramarital sex, contraception, and same sex marriage was strictly off-limits, but I agree to disagree on this. When covid hit, I was 14 and my faith was already hanging by a thread, and my life went south and I officially stopped believing in god. Pretending to be catholic didn't help either. I guess I showed signs that I was losing faith and my parents talked to me about it. They thought (and hoped) that I was just having doubts and that it was just a phase. But to their dismay, their oldest daughter is an atheist

OfDeath · Answer

I never actually whole heartedly believed in it. When I was a young child, I was told God existed by the various role models like grandparents, parents, teachers etc. I was taught christian prayers and read Bible stories. The usual christian inculcation.

Once I actually heard the full story of Jesus, I was quite incredulous. I couldn't believe it. It was just so absurd. I remember a scripture teacher telling me to stop laughing when she was telling me about the resurrection. Somehow even at age 8, I just knew it was bullshit. It was the serious in her face that set me off. I could see she truly believed what she was saying and I found that hilarious. It was no different to things on television that my parents assured me weren't real.

So Christianity was well and truly out of the question, but I wasn't fully an atheist yet. I thought about other religions and deism etc for a while. Then I came across a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins who is a famous scientist. The book was basically a vindication of what I already thought about religion and the existence of god but much better articulated and fleshed out than I'd be capable of thinking up myself. That was basically the nail in the coffin for my belief in gods.

I remember the feeling I had when I had fully accepted I was an atheist. It felt sort of like when you finally grasp a mathematical concept you've been struggling with.

D_Bone_Steak · Answer

Lack of proof.

You can tell me all the stories you like or hand me a book that was originally written by Jew wannabes or by a guy that was fucking a 9 year old... your old books don't convince me of anything. I see the ideas... but those ideas are really old.

I need proof and I don't see any miracles yet and highly doubt I'll see any of them soon. What I will see is chicks cutting their tits off to join this cult which is the trans movement. You want to get me hooked on religion and old school beliefs? that's where you start. The new world is fucking ridiculous and stupid.

Boromir · Answer

There’s one rotating planet with approximately everywhere sun once a day. Why would one part be more deserving than another part?

So, from the main global religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism up to tribal medicine men in native people’s tribes it all shows that it’s linked in gradations to the education and societal level.

Who’s right and who’s wrong? I think they’re all wrong. But if it keeps people from acting like animals, hey, then the benefits outweigh the negatives, relatively.

We have Catholic priest abuse choirboys, Muslims mutilating male and female genitals and the so peaceful Buddhists kill Muslim minorities.

In the name of god and religion.

TallAnon · Answer

I've never believed. The most compelling pieces of evidence to me are:
- Religion is mostly used to manipulate people, why would any of it not be made up in this case?
- I have never experienced anything that could not be explained by a "higher power"
- Why would I subscribe to any particular religion over the other? Because at my geographical location many others do? Is it a popularity contest? How weird.

Before anything else, give me just one compelling reason to believe your particular version of your particular god in your particular religion over any others.

qwert1234 · Answer

For me, logic and common sense. I grew up studying at a Catholic School. Religion started to make 0 sense as they contradict things in life. It then sounded more like a control or an alibi to some questions that can't be answered (ie: How did life start).

This is not to say that the faithful has no logic but think of it as a more personal view on the matter.

I respect everyone's religious beliefs as long as it does not trample the rights for others.

sunflower00 · Answer

I didn’t really believe in god in the first place. My family aren’t religious, they just used god as a way to answer a kid’s difficult questions that they weren’t sure how to answer appropriately at that time haha. Science, logic, reasoning etc. made me realise that the idea of a god just doesn’t make sense.

Kaneki05 · Answer

Bold of you to assume I believed in god/s in the first place. The first issue I had with it and still always will have is this idea that god needs to be the answer to as how everything came to be but yet there is zero answer to how god is to be?

Like what was before god? what created god/s? If you accept nothing did then why can't you accept that the universe just exists as it does rather than needing a creator?

Why does a universe need a creator but a god don't?

slatyb · Answer

Stop? Children aren't born believing in God. I was taken to church but by the time I was old enough to believe, I didn't. So for me there was no stopping, I just never started. There is only one thing we know for sure -- prayer works exactly as well as doing nothing at all.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

Polythesists. Because it made no sense to me that ONE god can exists but others can't. That was however until a Dominican Republican guy on THIS website, explained that Christians believe in Hindu and Taoist deities, but don't believe they're gods but demons. I was like, "YES! That makes so much sense to me!" There IS only ONE true GOD and the rest are demons. That makes so much sense, especially if you look at how they look and how they're worshipped.

call_me_scar · Answer

Well first I learned that my religion wasn't the oldest that kinda planted the seed. Then a few years later I started to look into religion and learned and thought about how messed up the bible is both morally and factually. I still remember waking up in the morning and realizing their just is no excuses her god probably doesn't exist. It felt very freeing

Hispanic-Cool-Guy · Answer

They gonna tell you there' no evidence for His existence blah blah blah but the reality is they are wicked and like sinning and don't like the thought of God holding them accountable for their actions so it makes them feel more comfortable just to say God doesn't exist but deep down they know He does.

Berethor · Answer

I prefer to call myself secular, I had a pretty big crisis and God did not helped me, also logic.

Petr87 · Answer

"Stop" believing in God? You're assuming that every atheist believed in God at some point in their lives, but  I never did.  Many atheists just never bothered with that idea in the first place, because they were never drawn to it.

Stressyalaire · Answer

My doubts come from other people. What could make me stop altogether? People. And I'm not talking about the ones who hurt others, but also the faithful. Some of it just doesn't make sense to me.

JustinTheGreat · Answer

I don’t know. I just grew up and thought about it logically and said “this shit doesn’t make any sense”

Jessica405 · Answer

I didn't stop believing. I never started believing. Having an enquiring and scientific mind, I could never see any reason fo any God or Goddess to exist.

WellGreetingsISay · Answer

That's a long story. It comes down to critical thinking of the world around me and reading into religion and everything that comes with it.

Flower7 · Answer

I’m not an atheist, but I’m very curious about what peoples’ reasons are.

aaron210419 · Answer

Reading the Bible cover to cover 6 times over the course of a few years.

Pohjolan · Answer

Agnostic here but all the discrepancies and absurdities in the bible like you just need some coin and its not only a Ok to rape any single woman but you get to keep her as well.

admles · Answer

I never believed in the first place, and seeing the suffering caused by religion and the bigotry kept me Atheist.

htmndg183 · Answer

Became agnostic for a while. Not sure if thats still relevent to your question

Hanrej · Answer

School.  The more I learned the less reason I had to believe.

Astarlessnightsky · Answer

I never believed in God.

Razp_Sorbet · Answer

I never started.

genericname85 · Answer

reading the bible ironically.

goaded · Answer

I never did.

Atheists, what made you stop believing in God?

Most Helpful Opinions

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

Atheists, what made you stop believing in God?

Most Helpful Opinions

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

We're glad to see you liked this post.