Why I Am An Atheist

I’ve decided to make this a separate page that people can refer to before commenting on posts that they may find offensive. This is an atheist site, my opinions are from an atheist point of view so it is inevitable that some people will find most of these views offensive. If anything I say offends you and you wish to make a point you are more than welcome to do so by leaving a comment, or you can move on and make a note not to come back here again. I will not censor comments; everyone is entitled to their point of view, everyone has the right to be critical of ideas and has the right to say so.

Before I go onto explain why I am an atheist, I’d just like to dispel some common myths about what atheism is.

Myth: Atheism is a religion.

An atheist is someone who does not believe in the existence of gods. Atheists are not an organised group. We don’t belong to an atheist church, there is no set doctrine that we follow. There are people such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens (to name a few) who speak out against religion. it doesn’t mean that all atheists agree with everything they say – we do not see them as “prophets” of atheism, nor do we cite their writings as “gospel”.

Myth: Atheists are immoral.

This is one of the most annoying comments I get. I do not need to believe in a god to be a good, moral person. Humanity has the capacity for great good and great evil, it amazes me that people are so quick to credit imaginary beings ( god or satan) for the greatness or wickedness of humankind, it’s just a convenient way for them to abdicate their responsibility.

Myth: Atheists are responsible for hundreds and thousands of deaths throughout history.

This is another oft repeated myth, usually Nazism and Communism are cited in this argument. This is absolute nonsense, you cannot confuse political ideology with atheism. While it is true that some political dictators may have been atheists, many were not. Hitler was a catholic, although he may not have been a practising catholic, his speeches and writings often made reference to god. Stalin’s purges were politically motivated; and the Roman emperors who persecuted the christians believed in a pantheon of gods. No, if any one thing is to blame for most of the horror visited on humanity, it is religion, all religions.

Myth: What if you’re wrong and there is a god in heaven.

If a real heaven did exist, and for some reason a god chose who went there and who didn’t, and if that god is a good and noble being, I would like to think that he would judge me for my value as a human being, and not for my belief in him. If that god was omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; I would say, “You should have known.”

Myth: Don’t you care what happens to you after you die?

No, I’ll be dead, gone, I’ll cease to exist. From observing other organisms – and like it or not, that’s exactly what we are – my body will rot and decompose to nothing. I do not need to be comforted by fairy tales of a happy afterlife or the possibility of returning in another lifetime to “learn” lessons in order to achieve enlightenment. I live my life knowing how extraordinarily lucky I am to have been born, and that there is only one chance – here and now.

There are many reasons why I became an atheist. The most obvious one is that there is no evidence. There is simply no more evidence for Jehovah than there is for Mithra, Isis or Zeus. Christians find no reason to believe that any of these gods exist, so they do not believe in them. For the same reason, I do not believe in Jehovah, or any of the other gods I mentioned. God himself is more than welcome to share an honest conversation with me. Until he does, I have no reason to trust that anyone is a reliable spokesman for any god. Another reason is the role that women play in religion. When confronted by the argument that women are treated as second class or as objects with no real opinion, most religions will tell you that women are treated as equals and are revered, yeah, right – that’s why we see so many women priests, bishops, popes, rabbis, mullahs, etc. Surely a caring, loving and tolerant god would recognise that all humans are equal and treat them as such. I cannot follow any church that actively works to hide crimes committed by it’s priests and who, when caught, refuses to prosecute or eject the guilty.  I cannot follow any church leader who doesn’t practise what he preaches. I most certainly cannot follow any religion that actively tries to stop the teaching of proven science facts in favour of nonsensical, unproven, biblical stories. I cannot follow a religion that bans people from it’s churches based on a person’s sexuality, race, or gender.

As I’ve said more than once on this blog; atheists don’t just wake up one day and decide to be atheists. Most of us have ended up here after searching through the various religions after a long time. From my personal experience I have found that my questions were never satisfactorily answered. Telling me that “god said so” or “it says so in the bible” is not an answer; telling me that I don’t have enough faith, is not an answer either.

Instead I choose to follow a path of critical thinking, reasoning, and science. I do not claim that science has all the answers, it doesn’t – the difference is that science continues to search for answers, even when previously held theories are proven wrong.

This blog is not only about religion and atheism, I have many other interests and will post my opinions about them too. I strive to back up my statements with research and I encourage you to follow any links I use in my posts.