A simple question deserves a simple answer: I am an atheist because I have no reason to be otherwise.
I was raised religious, but even at a young age, it didn’t “take”. I accepted what I was told as truth, but I didn’t believe what I was told. I’m not actually terribly good about believing in things, which is what I appreciate about the scientific method and the natural world. What I believe is not important to the world outside of my head, but what I do is. It’s extremely liberating to not have to invest belief in things- I just accept what works and ignore what doesn’t. New evidence can’t challenge my beliefs, only change what I accept as useful.
I’m still a human being, and I still very much want certain things to be true. I can’t claim that I’m always so coldly rational, but it’s something I get to aspire to.
Remy Porter
United States
Thank you Remy – very succinct. I can relate to religion not taking.
Nicely put.
Clare
Good for you.
There’s no need to pair “coldly” with “rational.” We’re not Vulcans; we’re human beings. Reason doesn’t divest us of emotions.
“Remy Porter” isn’t a common name. Could this be the “Remy Porter” of The Daily WTF fame?
Pretty much how I feel, too.
It seems that some people are just less credulous than others. I wonder if it’s genetic.
Remy like it! Short but profound really.
In your post you speak to a major impasse between theists and atheists.
The atheists I know well (including myself) are rational atheists. They don’t believe because there isn’t justification (neither real proof, neither objective good reason) to believe. It is as simple as that!
We weren’t angry at god and then reject god in our anger.
We did not love sin and/or perfidy so much that we displaced god’s grace with our filth.
We did not become so prideful that in some way we declared ourselves god and thus marginalized the real god.
No, we simply looked at the facts, thought through the logic, and assessed the alternatives, all honestly, and then choose the rather obvious reality of the matter.
There is one other thing I guess. One has to have the guts, the maturity, and the intellectual curiosity and honesty to overcome the need and desire to believe, to be part of the herd, and to give up the social perks you have been conditioned to associate with belief.
But the latter is NOT to know what is real. But to admit it to self and others that you know!