Dec 19 2011

Why I am an atheist – August Pamplona

Categories:

Atheism, Testimonial

by PZ Myers

At some point I really thought about it and realized there’s no evidence for a god or gods.

August Pamplona
United States

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24 comments

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1

StevoR

19 December 2011 at 6:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

But that leaves goddesses as real right? ;-)
2

humanape

19 December 2011 at 7:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

August Pamplona, very good explanation. Why waste a lot of words for something so simple. No evidence, so throw it out. One sentence is enough to explain why there’s no magical gods for the same reason one sentence is enough to explain why there’s no magical Easter Bunny.

My one sentence would be — There are no gods because there is no magic in the universe.
3

=8)-DX

19 December 2011 at 7:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Bravo. I love the way “I really thought about it” evokes a kind of elementary-school aproach to what *is* an elementary and childish issue.
4

catdog

19 December 2011 at 7:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I like it. Mirrors mine except midway through my really thinking about it I purchased The God Delusion and that pushed me right over the edge in its first 30-50 pages or so. If that.
5

crocswsocks

19 December 2011 at 7:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Short and sweet. I like it.
6

Brother Ogvorbis, OM . . . Really?

19 December 2011 at 7:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Excellent, August Pamplona.

As for

Why waste a lot of words for something so simple

well, for some of us, using a lot of words, going into indepth detail, using allegory, allusion, stories, and appeals to universals, is an occupational hazzard.
7

Louis

19 December 2011 at 7:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This one nails it for me. Same happened to me, I encountered religions, I thought about them, realised there was bugger all evidence, went about my day.

Okay so I’ve thought about them since and this process started when I was seven, so when I went about my day it was mostly concerned with collecting frogs to release in the school dinner hall (Important!), but it freed me up for vital matters.

Louis
8

geeefcee

19 December 2011 at 7:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m an atheist because I’ve never felt the need not to be!
9

René

19 December 2011 at 8:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The same short process turned me into an apatheist (I was around 11 at the time); it took 9-11 and a few years in Indonesia to turn me into the anti-theist I am today.
10

Glen Davidson

19 December 2011 at 8:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Aw come on, is any normal person really as stupid as, say, Mormonism, which has many relatively normal people in it (apart from their Mormonism, that is)?

If that isn’t evidence for their malicious god, what kind of evidence would even be possible?

Glen Davidson
11

Thomas Lawson

19 December 2011 at 9:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Was this a first draft? Seems a little wordy.
12

Holms

19 December 2011 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Uh… inspiring.
13

augustpamplona

19 December 2011 at 10:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Was this a first draft? Seems a little wordy.

Sorry about the wordiness.
14

Dhorvath, OM

19 December 2011 at 10:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Clever.
15

ciucilon

19 December 2011 at 10:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I am sure that an ever more concise statement can be formulated.
But it sorts of stray away from the purpose of those essays*, no?

Well why not taking us on the path you strolled through from you mandatory faithfull** youth to the atheist you are now?
Normally even “born” as an atheist there is still some reflexion on the subject.

Bref c’est un peu court.
It would be much fancier: God made me this way.

*procrastinating at work of course.
** as an american it is mandatory.
16

mikelaing

19 December 2011 at 11:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

augustpamplona says:

Sorry about the wordiness.

K
17

rwgate

19 December 2011 at 11:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hemingwayesque!
18

jacobfromlost

19 December 2011 at 12:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I appreciate the fact that the Faulkner route was avoided.
19

you_monster

19 December 2011 at 1:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

tldr
20

Rich Woods

19 December 2011 at 3:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

At which point?

Enquiring minds want to know!
21

catdog

19 December 2011 at 4:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

> Uh… inspiring.

Well maybe not inspiring but kinda comforting. :) After all these long descriptions of how people came to be atheists, some quite… personal I was wondering whether my own comparatively “boring” story was worth even stating. Did everyone take a whole bunch of twists and turns to get here? Does it really take suffering at the hands of religion before you can go atheist in full?

Or can just simply looking it over and going “what a load of shit” be enough? Nice to see someone else take that route and advertise it. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen it done so, but then I’m just a noob here.
22

Crudely Wrott

19 December 2011 at 6:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

At some point I really thought about it and realized there’s no evidence for a god or gods.

Well, then. There you go!

Now, wasn’t that easy?
23

saguhh00

19 December 2011 at 8:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

All religions say that all other religions are false and that this time it’s for real, this time it’s actually TEH GOD who spoke to humanity. But it’s not, because it makes the same claims that all other false religions have ever made. If you have any doubt, read about what other people of completely different religions write/say about their own religion.
24

saguhh00

19 December 2011 at 9:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Not to mention personality cults and cults, which are religions as well. “One element short of a Trinity”.