Atheist's, what got you to your atheism?

stirk

Burner
Problem is, religion tries to make everyone do their thing...follow their rules...abide by their beliefs....

That 'religion is like a penis' meme sums it up.
Not to mention tell outlandish stories.

I knew it was all a crock of shit before I was 10. The crazy stories were so stupid and as a kid not realizing they were perhaps metaphors just didn't believe any of it.

40 pigs drowning themselves I think was a story that stuck with me as bullshit and that was it.

Noah's arc was just icing on the cake.

Walking on water and feeding a crowd with a few little fish, comon, I was a kid wanting superhero shit and that's all you got?

They need to reinvent all the stories into a marvel like superhero universe. Give jebus laser beam eyes or something, smite down the disbelievers with a Thor hammer.
 

moorey

call me Mia
I love God sending bears to kill the kids that teased Elijah for being bald. Kids can be cruel.
 

moorey

call me Mia
So many awesome stories I've never heard!

Please collate!!
Jebus, there's too many, google it. Along with the list of strict rules no Christian follows, like no tats, no cutting hair (particularly into bowl cuts), no mixing cloth, no planting 2 grains in one field, eating ham sandwiches, remarriage after divorce.....
 

stirk

Burner
Jebus, there's too many, google it. Along with the list of strict rules no Christian follows, like no tats, no cutting hair (particularly into bowl cuts), no mixing cloth, no planting 2 grains in one field, eating ham sandwiches, remarriage after divorce.....
Suppose I should read the Bible for shits and giggles then.

Is there a chapter on flagellation?
 

moorey

call me Mia
Suppose I should read the Bible for shits and giggles then.
Every conscious atheist I know, knows the bible a lot better than the average Christian. Many ex-Christians have said that what turned them into atheists...was actually reading the bible.

I've tried to read it, frankly it's hideously boring in huge sections, with the begats, and the minutia of pointless details (arc of the covenant for example). Have listened to recordings and podcasts of people reading and commenting on the bible. I find it a more palatable way to digest it.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Every conscious atheist I know, knows the bible a lot better than the average Christian. Many ex-Christians have said that what turned them into atheists...was actually reading the bible.
Yeah, I can attest to that. Sermons generally take a small section of text from the bible and then ad-lib to make it relevant to the current epoch. It's only once you start reading it yourself that you uncover all the messed up stuff in there. A lot of self-censoring goes on, starting with Sunday School and kids versions of the bible.
I remember someone did a tally of all the people God killed, vs all the people the Devil killed in the bible, and it was horrific… but don't worry, most people will say, that genocide didn't really happen, it was just a metaphor, or some other cherry-picking.
 

DJninja

Likes Bikes and Dirt
What makes people interpret the bible nagatively or positively? I think the context of when the bible was created is very important to interpretation.
 

Spiny Norman

Likes Bikes
What makes people interpret the bible nagatively or positively? I think the context of when the bible was created is very important to interpretation.
Absolutely correct. For anyone who wants to explore that avenue I can thoroughly recommend anything by Bart Ehrman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman

He writes as an historian, not a theologian. I've always been interested in Christianity, because I could never see how anyone could believe such utter nonsense. Yes, I'm one who read the Bible and confirmed my lack of belief. Reading Ehrman's stuff shed a new light on the Bible. It actually made sense. Not in a religious sense, an historical sense.

Suppose I should read the Bible for shits and giggles then.
Try this:-

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/
 

madstace

Likes Dirt
Every conscious atheist I know, knows the bible a lot better than the average Christian. Many ex-Christians have said that what turned them into atheists...was actually reading the bible.
Reminds me of this video:

[video=youtube;E3rGev6OZ3w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3rGev6OZ3w[/video]
 

Lazmo

Old and hopeless
Agnosticism isn't believing it's unknowable either way. Agnosticism is all about proof. Even Dawkins refers to himself technicially as agnostic because he cannot without doubt prove there is no god. Like everything in life nothing is black and white, everything is on a scale. Dawkins puts himself 9.99 out 10 with 10 being an athiest and 1 a thiest. Not that I think much of the bloke but he has a point.

I think Athiest are sticking their necks out as much as thiest. The new age self righteous athiests claiming to have all the answers are just as obnoxious as the god botherers..
I am right at the end scale of agnosticism about an 8 or 9. I don't claim to have the absolute answers, if the bullocks christian stories are scientifically proven without doubt, then I'm there. In turn, once it's proven beyond doubt there is no sky faries i'm there. It's not about a foot in each camp.. far from it. It's about what we know for certain. In recent history the scienitifc proof is heavily at the Athiest end of the scale.. That's why I reckon it's the most logical position to take. That's how my brain works anyway, each to their own..
+1

Fantastic description.

I started off a Dog fearing Altar Boy.

But I read the the bible cover to cover during 5 years of super boring RI at catholic high school, and the first testament pretty much made me Strongly Agnostic.

Since then I've got into Astro physics a bit and getting a handle (ish) on gravity has convinced me, that Gravity is all that is required to make everything in the multiverses.

But I could be wrong
 
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Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Another thing that strengthed my views was when we were looking for a primary school for my our kids.
The local catholic schools have all the flash facilities so they are high up on the shopping list. But after the first open day, I wondered to myself where the fuck do they get the time to teach all this religious bullocks?? The state teaching curriculum is packed tight, what are they NOT teaching to fit all the RE in??
Also at this school you had to deal with the priest first, then the principal. Fuck that..
Secular state primary school won hands down!
 

slippy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
A lot of you are judging the validity of a religion or the existence of God by the acts of other humans (e.g. "I saw the hypocrisy..." or "Cardinal Pell won't say sorry"). That's a bit like saying I don't subscribe to the Road Traffic Act because I saw a cop run a red light. Sure, the acts are hypocritical and sometimes despicable, but that doesn't negate the overriding principle.

Similarly, some of you are judging Christianity by the acts of the Catholic church. There are multitudes of Catholic beliefs that directly contradict the bible, so I don't think it's reasonable to hold Catholicism up as the perfect example of Christianity.

If there is some sort of supreme entity (the thing we call God/Allah/Jehovah/etc) then the last thing I'm going to use as a yardstick for his existence is the behaviour of some other flawed human, whether he's a Pope, Grand Mufti or a beggar in the street.
 
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