Why I am not religious and how it effects my life

[Rambler56 (imported)]

It is funny how most religious people I talk to cannot understand why I am not religious and even pity me for my lack of belief in a god of any sort. Yet, I am able to see why they are religious. Safety and security.

To me, and I say these things only to express how I feel, not to cut down anyone for their beliefs. To me religious seems safe. Who would want to live with the knowledge that once I die i will simply cease to be, that all that is me, all my feeling wants and hopes will die with me? I do, that is what I choose to see. I am ok with that.

Religion has been an excuse to be really mean to people. Look what is happening in Iraq, religion is what drives the suicide bomber. Religion is what fueled the 'Great' cursades in Europe. Priest molest boys, arn't they supposed to be holy and doing the work of God? Is that the work of god?

Too many aweful things happen in this world, to innocent people, for me to believe there is someone looking out for us.

Many people say that everything happens for a reason and there is the hand of god in all things. That bad things always have a good side or god would not have made them happen. But, I point out cases where young girls are kidnapped, molested, tortures, humiliated and murdered, to be thrown out of a car to the side of the road, naked and very dead. The parents of these girls are devistated and there have been times when they have commited suicide themselves. Why? What does that do for god? Seems he would have to be sadistic to let those things go on.

I see the world as it is, a place where life took hold and evolved into us.

It is kinda funny how some people get very angry at me when I express my views on these things. As if I am insulting them by not believing as they do. Many say they have pity on me. I don't want that pity. I actually pity them, but I do not tell them as such, mostly anyway.

I feel everyone is entitled to believe as they see fit. People who believe in a god, and those who do not.

I pose the question to all who will answer. Why do people who do believe get angry at those who don't? And why do people who do not believe seem more open to others views and ideas?

Religion is a very touchy subject for most and it is not my intention to insult anyone for their beliefs. I seek information and the enlightenment of others.

Peace, love and hope to all.

[Paolo]

I pose the question to all who will answer. Why do people who do believe get angry at those who don't? And why do people who do not believe seem more open to others views and ideas?

Because the former group suffers from fully treatable hysteria and delusions, while the latter does not.

[Rambler56 (imported)]

You speak truth, Paolo.

[truly committed (imported)]

that isnt truth let me think about this,im too lazy to reply now! Its way to easy to slag religion off, but man made religon not God. I get angry with God aswell, but if there is no God but man, then hopefully a nuclear war takes place and man is destroyed forever , for it is a beast that needs to be put to rest.

so soon for this..

[Blaise (imported)]

Excellent observations and commentary. Thanks for posting this thread.

[A-1 (imported)]

It is funny how most religious people I talk to cannot understand why I am not religious and even pity me for my lack of belief in a god of any sort. Yet, I am able to see why they are religious. Safety and security.

To me, and I say these things only to express how I feel, not to cut down anyone for their beliefs. To me religious seems safe. Who would want to live with the knowledge that once I die i will simply cease to be, that all that is me, all my feeling wants and hopes will die with me? I do, that is what I choose to see. I am ok with that.

Religion has been an excuse to be really mean to people. Look what is happening in Iraq, religion is what drives the suicide bomber. Religion is what fueled the 'Great' cursades in Europe. Priest molest boys, arn't they supposed to be holy and doing the work of God? Is that the work of god?

Too many aweful things happen in this world, to innocent people, for me to believe there is someone looking out for us.

Many people say that everything happens for a reason and there is the hand of god in all things. That bad things always have a good side or god would not have made them happen. But, I point out cases where young girls are kidnapped, molested, tortures, humiliated and murdered, to be thrown out of a car to the side of the road, naked and very dead. The parents of these girls are devistated and there have been times when they have commited suicide themselves. Why? What does that do for god? Seems he would have to be sadistic to let those things go on.

I see the world as it is, a place where life took hold and evolved into us.

It is kinda funny how some people get very angry at me when I express my views on these things. As if I am insulting them by not believing as they do. Many say they have pity on me. I don't want that pity. I actually pity them, but I do not tell them as such, mostly anyway.

I feel everyone is entitled to believe as they see fit. People who believe in a god, and those who do not.

I pose the question to all who will answer. Why do people who do believe get angry at those who don't? And why do people who do not believe seem more open to others views and ideas?

Religion is a very touchy subject for most and it is not my intention to insult anyone for their beliefs. I seek information and the enlightenment of others.

Peace, love and hope to all.

Sigh!

Look. There is no difference between denying God and attrbuting to God the works of mankind.

It is just two sides of the same coin. That coin is called disbelief.

If God bothers you them maybe the term "Higher Power" might not be so disgusting.

God is no more responsible for the works of mankind than your parents are if you kill someone.

Sure, you can blame it on them, me, somebody, even God, but the guilty ones run free, trying to re-create the world in their own image.

Acceptance of what we cannot change while believing that everthing can be better is more acceptable than fighting constantly...

Or perhaps you believe in what is going on in Iraq...

[tjstill (imported)]

I know what you mean Jess. I have a similar outlook and it is amazing how my totaly apathetic atitude towards religion can cause other so much distress. I believe that there is good and bad but I fail to link it in any way to an omnipitent guide, I just dont feel the need. I agree with some of the ways espoused by religion as being `right` like not killing for example, but I do not feel the need to follow religion to hold to these right ways. They feel more inate rather than teachings. To what extent are moral and ethical values learnt? I just do not feel the need to introduce another level of complexity in something that feels basicaly simple. I worry about the inflexability and fundamentalism that parallels religion based beliefs. If I see or hear something that changes my belief in what is right and wrong then i am free to adapt my world view without the constraint of someone elses religious structure.

[Slammr (imported)]

I have no idea whether there's a god or higher power or not. If he exists -- whatever he is -- as an infinite power, he's beyond my comprehension. I would be just as arrogant to say he doesn't exist as are those who say that their version of god is the only possible god. God can't be the god of the Bible or the god of the Quran. He can't be such a pitiful creature as presented in either.

Any method one uses to make a connection with the infinite, is fine, whether it's Christianity or any other man made religion. Each of us needs a means, something that makes sense to our finite minds. I believe that we're all part of god. If he is infinite, how can it be otherwise? How can we be separate from him? It's only an illusion that we aren't.

"There is no good or evil, but what the mind of man makes it so." William Shakespeare said that. I can't find the exact quote, but that's close. There's no Satan to blame things on. If God is an infinite being, one can't separate him from anything. He has to be everything, good and evil, both sides of the coin. Everything just IS. It's not good or evil.

[Bagoas (imported)]

That is a total non sequitur, A-1. Denying God makes it impossible to attribute ANYTHING to God. The works of man are the works of man, so are the disparate moral standards by which we judge them. Neither has anything to do with the existence of God.

The problem is with BELIEF as a substitute for knowledge or the willingness to admit ignorance. "Faith" is, all too often, self-deception and wishful thinking.

In effect, the believer says "I can't prove that this is true, but I WANT it to be true, therefore, I assert that it IS true. I BELIEVE that it is true." To me, this is intellectual dishonesty. The believer not only deceives himself, but attempts to foist the deception upon others.

I don't know whether there is a Supreme Being or not, intuitively plausible though this idea may be. I am damned well not going to say that a Supreme Being exists because I might WANT such a being to exist. I am honest enough to admit my ignorance. That is why I am an agnostic.

I cannot be an atheist because that requires too much faith. I can no more prove that a Supreme Being does NOT exist than I can prove that it does. I would have to say (which I refuse to do) that I BELIEVE that a Supreme Being does not exist.

If a Supreme Being does, exist, however, it need not be a personal God which involves itself in the day-to-day activities of every human being. Consider the cosmos. Look at the Hubble Telescope pictures. Consider the scale of the visible universe.

Suppose, as a working hypothesis, that the remarkable "coincidence" that each of the fundamental physical constants has EXACTLY the value it must, in order for that universe to exist, though each of them might have had ANY value and that the physical parameters of the "Big Bang" were just such as to give rise to that universe, though there is no reason why they should have, is NO coincidence, but the manifestation of the will of a Supreme Being.

How important to that Being do you suppose are the quotidian affairs of an individual human being on one small planet of one mediocre star out uncounted billions of others ? Are John Doe's doings even as important to THAT Being as are those of an ant to the said John Doe ? "What fool these mortals be !" and what incredible egotists.

[Rambler56 (imported)]

I have read much about the religions of the past, one which are long dead. And I see they existed before many of today's religions. How could they have been true then but not now? I see a small blue-green planet with it's insignificant inhabitants, floating through space, governed, mostly, by the laws of physics, though they kinda break down at the quantum level. I see a line through time, leading to today, where the more we insignificant ants try to find the truth in things, the more there is to not understand. I see that nearly all the things people have had faith in, in the past and now, can be disproved by science. The world is flat, the sun is a god and we must pray and give homage to it or it will not rise tomorrow. All religions seem to contridict one-another, in fundimental ways, leading me to the fact that none of them can be true to any great extent. Book written thousands of years ago by people who did not understand the universe and man's place in it. How can any of it be true? It seems these book were written by people who needed to find wonderous things in that which they could not understand. religion seems like brain-washing to me. It is taught to the young and they are told they will go to hell, or where-ever, if the don't believe. That they have to believe and not question. But isn't that what man does best? Ask questions and try to find the answers. Religion and god seems the dreams of fools to me. And that is only my opinion and the way I see it. Everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want, whatever helps them sleep at night. And god is that answer for many people. It gives meaning to an otherwise meaningly existance. People are afraid of death and the unknown. It is safe to think god has your back, but it seems foolish as well, to me. So much of what it true has to be disregarded and so many of the things that are wrong with most religions have to be ignored.

These are simply the way I feel. Unlike many religious people, I do not press my beliefs onto other or say they are wrong, because they don't believe as I do. But, I write openly and will continue to do so. For, it is I who I truely write for, but I love to share.

Peace, hope and love. Jesse