Introduction to atheism
What is an atheist?
An atheist is someone who does not believe that any gods exist. This absence of belief in a god or gods usually comes about by deliberate choice, due to the lack of evidence presented by religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
There are varying degrees of atheism; a weak atheist, and a strong atheist.
Just lacking belief in Gods is often referred to as a "weak atheist" position; whereas believing that gods do not (or cannot) exist is known as "strong atheism."
Why don't atheists believe in god, the bible says he exists?
Simply put; there is no evidence what-so-ever to support or suggest his, or any other gods existence.
Christians find no reason to believe in Zeus; so they do not believe in him. For this very reason, I choose not to believe in one, or all gods.
You wouldn't believe someone if they told you a magical marshmellow god exists without backing up their claims with facts and evidence? So why should someone believe that a man in the sky created the earth when you have no evidence other than "a book of fables and myths says so"?
God is more than welcome to present himself to me and tell me he exists, but until he does so, I have no reason to trust that anyone is a spokesperson for him.
What do you mean, no evidence?!
Take the Christian bible for example; there is no true evidence to suggest any of it's content is true. Yet there is plenty of evidence to suggest it is untrue.
Take carbon dating for example - Carbon dating is a scientific method often used to discover the age of fossils; proving that the earth has been around for much, much longer than the 6,000 years that creationists deem it to be as a result of certain biblical texts.
So as an atheist, you don't believe in heaven?
No, I do not believe there is a heaven, or a hell. Or any other paradise that many of the other religions preach about for that matter.
Doesn't this make you sad and depressed?
It's quite the opposite.
It's a common, ridiculous misconception and idiotic accusation that an atheist must be sad because he or she has no faith in a religion. The truth is, i've never been happier. It's opened my eyes up to the fact that I am lucky to be alive, and both value and appreciate my life so much more, knowing I only have one chance at it - and that I must make it count.
What's more, it demonstrates how misable some theists lives must be under the surface of their faith; and that if you took that faith away from them, they would consider their life to be worthless and depressing.
What if you're wrong?
There are hundres of gods and goddesses recorded throughout history; who's to say that IF a god exists, it's the Christian god, and not one of the other hundreds of recorded gods? (many of whom are mutually exclusive and contradictory). Would you not then be punished for believing in the wrong god? Hell, I may even get a pardon for my nobility, critical thinking, and for being kind and caring for reasons other than the personal gain of access into the christian heaven.
So is atheism considered a religion?
No, atheism is not a religion; we discuss this in more depth over on the is atheism a religion page.
