Occam's Razor. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. The theistic answer involves a supreme being (That comes from where?) that looks us over all the time, who has a plan, while we have free will. That conveniently doesn't actually show up anymore. If you look at all that, and compare it to the idea that life evolved, you realize that life evolving is a more probable and simpler answer.

I am an atheist because i don't belief a god exist. Who came up with the concept anyways? I'm not agnostic because I also don't believe in dragons fairies, slender man, big foot or anything else that makes no sense. Are you an agnostic of those claims as well or do you not think about it? what about the claims you haven't heard yet? are you Agnostic towards claims you haven't heard?

Never seen one. Never heard from one. No evidence to support the existence thereof. World will be gone in 4.5 billion years...what happens to a so called god then?

I grew up in the Episcopal church with parents who nominally believed. We would have dinner table discussions about anything and everything but you had better be able to defend your position. It was also a gift that both of my parents admitted they were wrong which was huge when I grew up and saw how unusual that was. We were raised to read, to learn, to observe and to question. We were taught how to take care of ourselves in the bush and to take care of the bush.

With this background, religion and it's "Because I said so." type of background never really had a chance.

I like to think of agnosticism as a 'cowardly atheist.' Not as an insult but as you already realize, there really is no evidence for any of the nonsense that has been around for millenia. Do you say agnostic because of fear "what if they're right?" There is no other comprehensible reason I can think of to waste any more time being concerned with the whole idea.Certainly if such a deity existed it would- being so egotistical- be doing a speaking tour that would make Trump look humble!

the simple fact the supposed Deity has to be believed in is the answer in it self !

all that HAS to be believed IS false, if it can't be KNOWN, then it can't EXIST !

the correct definition of belief is the Act of Pretending that Pretending can be MORE then Pretending .

ALL Abrahamic Literalist Interpretations of the Writings they Call RELIGIONS are based on the FALSE concepts of

All that is Written is True\

That True Belief in God CREATES God !

this IS all 7 year old little girl magic " if we all sit in a circle and pretend REAL hard, it'll come true"

I can't categorically deny that a god (or gods) created the universe and seeded it with life. But when I see a child born with terminal leukaemia, that isn't 'working in mysterious ways', that's not existing, not caring, or no longer having influence.

I can see no evidence of god, just a few things that science can't adequately explain (which would be true of 'why the sun rises and sets' back in the day) that can conveniently be attributed to external intelligent influence. I see plenty of evidence that there is no benevolent god, and that in all probability, any creator that might have had influence long since abandoned this project and moved on to better things. For all intents and purposes, a god that no longer cares is no god at all. Hence, from a practical perspective, I believe there is no god.

The same reasoning that tells me that Santa Claus doesn't exist

Hemorrhoids at 3 in the morning.

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.

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.

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?

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...

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?

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.

The question is stupid. Are you?

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..

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.

It doesn't make sense that any deity exists. There is no way a made-up god could ever exist.

The Case Against God by George H. Smith

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

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?

I have no belief that a deity exists, thus this is a non question.
The onus of proof is on the person who holds that there is a deity.

The burden of proof falls on the person making the claim. Believing in nothing is not a belief, it's lack of such. A humorous explanation of that... collecting stamps is a hobby; not collecting stamps is not a hobby.

That is the starting point for the discussion (partly because proving that something doesn't exist is nearly impossible. Try to prove that there is not a unicorn somewhere in the world..)

Next comes the proposition that there is a deity. As typically presented, this is not a claim that can in any way be proven analytically. It's not a testable hypothesis, so science cannot be used. .

So, to summarize, atheists aren't sure their isn't a god out of belief or faith, they simply haven' been convinced by the argument presented by theists. That's why I don't believe in Loki, Chinnamasta, Pan, Ishtar, Cronus, Sheela Na Gigs, Baron Samedi, Dionysus, etc, etc, etc.

Google "violence in the name of god" and google "violence in the name of the scientific method". Get back to me.

There is no proof and until there is, it is totally silly and the biggest and most successful scam ever visited upon man.