Interesting…I have to believe he exists prior to coming to him.  Yeah…I guess that makes sense.  But I guess that works for any god out there too.  The lingering carrot stick of rewards is always a nice touch too.  Too bad the all knowing being couldn’t be a little more specific with what rewards he was referring to so that people would know when they were getting them…but oh well.  I guess this way you can assume anything at all that seems to be positive in your life could have only happened because of your belief in your invisible sky daddy.

My childhood family was very religious and continues to be. I am the only one able to break free from the dogmatic way of thinking that Christianity imposes.  While I am sad for them, we have enough respect for each other not to belittle each other for our different worldviews.  Therefore, my announcement of atheism came as no suprise. 

Has coming out, or the fear of coming out, been difficult for you?

But seriously…What is life like where if someone disagrees with you instead of having a rational and thoughtful discussion about the reasoning and evidence for your beliefs you instead call them the Prince of Darkness? This is the kind of irrationality that makes Christians look even crazier.  It seems to come back to black and white thinking.  If someone disagrees with you, not only are they wrong, but they are incredibly evil.  With this approach to life, you never have to examine your beliefs (because if you did then in turn you are evil).  It is a self-perpetuating and self-justifying way of keeping one’s dogmatic beliefs safe from scrutiny.

For myself:

1. I demand that the things I believe about life are based on evidence.
2. I want to have as many true beliefs as possible, therefore I critically examine evidence with a skeptical mindset.
3. I am open to changing my current beliefs when presented with valid evidence.

Now Marianne:

1. You believe in an imaginary sky daddy of which there is no evidence for. 
2. You disregard science, reasoning, and logic when it conflicts with your preconceived ideas of your religion.
3. You refuse to examine the evidence when it is presented to you, become angry, and call names.

Which way of examining the world sounds more foolish to you?

The reason I have not presented evidence for my writing is that my relationship with Christ is a faith. My relationship with Christ is the only true faith. You want to know why I know that?! Because it’s a FAITH, if you look up the word faith, it means “a belief that is not based on proof”. Christians have an extremely strong faith in the Lord because of the Word, support from other Christians. If you still want proof, your not getting it.

As I said in response to Kate:

Exactly my point.  But I demand that my beliefs be based on evidence. I actually care if my beliefs are true or not.

It makes my brain hurt to see how many people will openly admit that they have no evidence for the god they believe in.  Instead, it’s almost seen as a badge of honor to have this ‘faith’.  To me it just seems rediculous.  What other area in your life do you allow this level of ignorance to flourish?  Hopefully none.

A disbelief in any gods

Other than that one disbelief, atheists are completely varied in their actual beliefs.  Many believers will attempt to make the case that ‘atheism becomes a religion.’  This statement is completely false.  There is absolutely no dogma associated with atheism…no set of rules that one has to follow.  The only way to know if someone is an atheist is if they do not believe in any gods.

One other important note is the following:

A disbelief in god is completely different than disproving god.

I am not claiming to have disproved any of the gods, but instead that there is not any credible evidence in support of a god.  Just the same as one cannot completely disprove invisible unicorns, fairies or goblins – I just don’t see any evidence to believe in them.  Anyone who wants to make a supernatural claim has the burden of proof. 

So what questions do you have?

“THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT ARE DIVINE REVELATION.

But when confronted with the revealed truth of the Bible, they ( i.e. nonbelievers) shirk their responsibility, and choose to believe what makes them comfortable.”

This is just another argument that claims that because the bible claims itself to be true that makes it true.  This is circular reasoning at it’s best.  Atheists are not choosing to not believe in the claims of the bible because it makes them feel better, they are doing it because there is no evidence that the claims are true.

I am ready to hear any evidence of the supernatural claims of any religion.  No one has been able to provide any verifiable, testable, and objective evidence.  That’s all it would take to convince nonbelievers….just some evidence of the claims that any religion makes that are not better accounted for by secular means.

So if the entire bible is divine revelation…this god has some explaining to do.  What about:

The parts that describe how to treat your slaves?

Or what about stoning:
Your kids if they are disobedient?
Someone who curses?
Someone who commits adultury?
Or a woman who is not a virgin on her wedding night?
Anyone who picks up sticks on a Sunday?

It’s rediculous that people claim the bible to be divine inspiration and then pick and choose which parts they want to believe.  It almost makes sense why religous fundamentalists exist.  At least they take their holy book by the letter of the law….despite the contradictions and evil acts committed by and in the name of a supposed loving god.

So on what basis does a person choose which parts of the Bible to take seriously?  Unless one is a fundamentalist and takes his or her holy book literally, it seems that it comes down to simply guessing.  My opinion is that people pick and choose what they want to follow based on their own personal beliefs.  In this way the individual creates their own version of the religion.  Not only does there seem to be a thousand denominations of Christianity, but each person in each denomination has their own version of their specific denomination.