I lack a belief in God, as has been described by religions, so I am an atheist. I don't assert, 'there is no God.' Rather, I find that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the existence of this God. As an atheist, I remain open to new evidence which, as Carl Sagan noted, would need to be 'extraordinary.' But I feel no need to search for such evidence which, as most know, could easily be provided by any Deity who desired to be found. My atheism was a natural step from my agnosticism. After all, if there were something we could in no way hope to have knowledge of, why would anyone form a belief in it? The two terms are generally interchangeable ... just two sides of the same coin.

For the same reason I don't believe in vampires, werewolves, trolls, fairies or unicorns, there's no proof. If they existed, someone would have seen one by now.

I merely use logic and facts, this way it is not a debate within my head. And then when one states there is a god, we must ask who the god is they speak of.

No evidence. None. Nada. Zero. And it's silly.

I can't see any place in the universe where a deity would have anything to do. I also don't see any way for some life form to become a deity, or any way for something outside the universe to affect anything inside (and no evidence that anything ever did). There being no gaps for a god to fit into, I have to conclude that there never was one.

Also, I don't think it's a coincidence that so many religions were invented at about the same point in history where people started getting into hallucinogenic drugs. Mix the ability to speak with people tripping on mushrooms, etc. and religions seem to be the inevitable result.

Well, I'm of the mind that the Universe/Multiverse is just way, WAY too complex to be encompassed by silly ideas like "Big JuJu in the sky." It's all so ENORMOUS and my part in it seems microscopic. But on the other hand, I find it easy to consider the possibility that all reality as I experience it, is the product of the singularity that is my own consciousness.

I don't think I've ever met an atheist who didn't go the evidence route in their decision. Usually it's the agnostics that feel there must be something, go on a belief that there is, just are accepting that there is no proof and that they have no right to push their belief that there is. Not always, clearly, as I do recognize there are agnostics that don't believe there is on, but there is no way to prove one way or the other.

Our trust in science is belief, too. There are beliefs not based on evidence or good reasoning,and then there are rational beliefs that are so based. One could argue that most of our knowledge is basically rational belief (as opposed to absolutely certain knowledge).

We can approx Keplar186-F which is 500light years away. More planets, galaxies etc keep revealing while the statistical chance of a deity goes down a billion a day e.g. 1 in a trillion, 1 in two trillion. Until the probability was shown against what seemed impossible we can now determine that 'ridiculous' probability does up while God, any god goes down.

I wrote a song called "weekend prayers" were I pray to a lesser god and all i ask for is to survive the weekend. I am broke but is Friday pay day at dawn. So I pray for a woman versed in the boheme and without any attachments. I also ask for redemption in the dance floor in the song. Since I am a non believer I can use the concept as I please without conscience. I am self taught and not prescribed by a writers philosophy to follow or guide me. Abandoning god a was natural progression to me. The whole thing disappeared in front of my eyes while in catholic school. Never to come back. It is just Freedom to me.

There either is or is not a god. If you believe there is you believe that you will be granted eternal life (assuming you pick the right church and good luck on that lottery). If you believe that there isnt. Then you can just get on with your life. If you refuse to make that call you have lost. Let me put it this way. About 22 years ago I visited Jerusalem. A odd place for an atheist but I was there. Now for the most part it was peaceful (then) probably due to massive amounts of security. However all the different religions kept to themselves. Coptic, Catholic, Orthodox Greek, Russian. Muslim Shea, Sunni. All seemed to say the same thing "you are one of us or your not". Right in the middle was the dome of the rock where Muslims believe Abraham was going to sacrifice Issac. That was the tone of the place. From what I hear you are nobody in Chicago till youve had someone rubbed out. Well your nobody in Jerusalem till youve put a kid on an altar. God botherers talk of love but give us death. Hypothetically if god existed, then all those people that prayed to him might get an answer saying "don't kill or hurt people". I am not asking for a miracle, no parting of seas or burning bushes just "play nice"......silence, nothing, zilch. So even if and that`s a f*ckin big IF he does exist? what bloody use is he?
Worse than than that ask yourself this. Would those guys have flew into the twin towers on 9/11 if the concept of an afterlife did not exist.
I leave with one lasting memory of that trip. As we drove towards Caesarea, a road sign read "Armageddon welcomes careful drivers"

There either is or is not a god. If you believe there is you believe that you will be granted eternal life (assuming you pick the right church and good luck on that lottery). If you believe that there isnt. Then you can just get on with your life. If you refuse to make that call you have lost. Let me put it this way. About 22 years ago I visited Jerusalem. A odd place for an atheist but I was there. Now for the most part it was peaceful (then) probably due to massive amounts of security. However all the different religions kept to themselves. Coptic, Catholic, Orthodox Greek, Russian. Muslim Shea, Sunni. All seemed to say the same thing "you are one of us or your not". Right in the middle was the dome of the rock where Muslims believe Abraham was going to sacrifice Issac. That was the tone of the place. From what I hear you are nobody in Chicago till youve had someone rubbed out. Well your nobody in Jerusalem till youve put a kid on an altar. God botherers talk of love but give us death. Hypothetically if god existed, then all those people that prayed to him might get an answer saying "don't kill or hurt people". I am not asking for a miracle, no parting of seas or burning bushes just "play nice"......silence, nothing, zilch. So even if and that`s a f*ckin big IF he does exist? what bloody use is he?
Worse than than that ask yourself this. Would those guys have flew into the twin towers on 9/11 if the concept of an afterlife did not exist.
I leave with one lasting memory of that trip. As we drove towards Caesarea, a road sign read "Armageddon welcomes careful drivers"

Knowing something of the History of stories that existed prior to the Bible that were then included with names changed but the story intact is one. Another thing is the ridiculous premise of so many things in the bible and other religius texts that one knows that in no way are certain things even plausible and then there is the evidence in both religious texts and archaelogical that point to possible alien intervention which seems far more logical to me than some omnipotent god.

I've never seen any shred of evidence to support the existence of any gods. So, logically, I have as much reason to believe in a god as I do to believe in unicorns or leprechauns or magic moon goblins. The better question is... why should I believe in a god?

The Case Against God by George H. Smith

"There are many motivations for explicit atheism, some rational some not."

Also, I'm honestly not even sure if "atheist" is the correct label for me, since I believe that our senses and ability to perceive and know reality are limited, and therefore there may indeed be many aspects of reality and existence that we actually do not and cannot know.

Atheism isn't based on beliefs, other than beliefs such as love is good, evil is bad; emotion and the approval or disapproval of those important to us tend to distort or warp our reasoning, and those sorts of things. That,combined with simple reasoning and logic. Also, most atheists aren't afraid to go against societal pressures, or to question authorities, I am an atheist because I am not afraid to question authorities and prevailing beliefs, and I am not deterred from thinking for myself by societal pressure or the disapproval of others (including family and friends). Some atheists tend more than others to try and suppress their emotions when they're thinking seriously, or when they're dealing with religious folk..

The question is stupid. Are you?

Because every human society in the world has created a god or gods to fulfill a human need for a god or gods. We are clumsy animals at the end of the day, and we demand answers to our daily problems even when they're not quite known.

When people make fantastical claims, the default position is disbelief until adequate evidence is shown. If someone told you they would deposit a million dollars in your bank account if you supplied your routing number, would you think "well I can't prove he's lying, so I guess I believe him" or would you disbelieve? Ok now let's say they tell you that a half man/half god lived thousands of years ago and died and came back to life, so if you believe it without any evidence he'll send you to a place that's like paradise, but only after you're dead. Now no one has ever seen this man, or the paradise like place, but if you really, really believe it, your dead self will go there and be happy ever after. Now just because there's no way in hell to prove it's a lie (convenient huh!) are you going to believe it?

I think that the universe is vast, and it is not unlikely that there is intelligent life (a.k.a. 'aliens' out there, and that thousands of years ago, those 'aliens' could have visited earth. The 'aliens' might have created the myths and legends which our ancestors transformed into religion. The various 'miracles' recorded in the bible and contemporary works - writing on walls, walking on water, virgin birth, turning water into wine, blind men seeing, crippled men walking, burning bushes, voices from nowhere, dead people coming alive again - could be replicated today (or soon) by any competent stunt-man, musician, surgeon or scientist. So I agree with you in a way, I think there were 'higher powers' as you say, but maybe they were not 'gods', visitors maybe...

Although one cannot prove a negative, I see absolutely NO evidence anywhere that a god exists. With the total absence of evidence why should any thinking person believe in gods?

The idea of the supernatural is a loss on all counts, but the wise person always gives a little wiggle room for the unknown. I am an atheist/evidentialist/rationalist and hold no beliefs beyond the mundane that humans use to navigate the world without cognitive overload. I don't believe in a deity and am willing to state that there is none, but not in an argument because then I am bound to the idea that the person making the assertion bears the burden of proof.

Atheism is NOT a belief, no matter how much one twists it, strains it, or rubs it, it remains a non belief. Simply ... I ... do ... not ... believe.

I would like to better understand how you have concluded that atheism is based on belief. One thought is that the word, "belief" is pretty loaded. I believe the scientists when they speak about space or physics or interesting discoveries. That doesn't mean I fully understand, and especially doesn't mean that I'm going to attempt to repeat their experiments.

Atheism is pretty simple. It's an understanding that there are no gods. It doesn't require belief of any kind.

Hemorrhoids at 3 in the morning.