im an atheist

[berniecuddles]

hi all, i am an atheist i do not believe in god have never read the bible and have never wanted to go into a church in my life( iam nearly 50).i am sick an tired of people trying to force religion on me, also the amount of people that have been at war over religion and have died is one thing i will never get my head round as long as i live.

[kick3m0n]

to bernie and patc - I'm an atheist and like jno, have never had religion forced in me. Not by the press, or anyone else. Of course religion is in the news on a daily basis, du'uh, that's because religion has a massive affect on people all around the globe, and the news often reflects this. To say it's forced on you is like saying they force the weather forecasts on you......not really true is it? The information is there, and you do with it what you will.

And Pat........chickens don't pray to Allah, you're correct. But that's not because they don't believe - it's because they don't have the capacity to know whether or not to believe.

Also, just because you say that there's no god or afterlife, that doesn't mean you are correct (so no point saying it clearly so there's no misunderstanding!) That is YOUR belief, but those JWs are perfectly entitled to believe what THEY want. It's just as valid as your POV.

Your post is awfully mixed up anyway, as you go on to mention "true religion" that comes from within (????) Oh my goodness, STOP forcing your religion on me, will you! (ha ha ha ha ha)

[gessoo]

Am I right in thinking that true Christians have a duty, by virtue of their faith, to try to convert others to Christianity? I have no religious faith myself.

[gessoo]

None of us will ever know the truth, Pat, at least not in the foreseeable future, so you are being just as bad as religious people who claim their beliefs are right, by stating that there is no God, etc.

[Space]

I had religion forced on me plenty of times.

First when I was a kid, of course. I was sent to a catholic school where they teach their beliefs as if they were truths.
" 1+1 = 2 " was taught to me at the same level as the beliefs that I now find completely absurd.
They basically take advantage of the fact that kids believe anything they are told.
As they grow up, the kids don't question those beliefs because it seems to them that "everybody believes it". It's some kind of social pressure in the kind of community where I grew up.
"everybody believes it" is also the first reason an unprepared believer tells you when you ask why he believes. I think it's the one and only reason for 95% of them.

Also, working in London, I often hear preachers with a megaphone preaching at people outside tube stations. There was one in Oxford circus who was quite famous locally ( and extremely annoying ). Now someone else took his place and I hear more and more preachers in various places around London.

[allen63b]

Anyone who thinks that religion has never been forced upon them should ask themselves this question.

Do you celebrate xmas or easter ? That is just the tip of the iceberg, the whole of our modern society is religion based!

You may not realise it but religion plays a part in everyones life whether you like it or not!

[rampart]

First of all, why did you post a statement rather than a question? This is AnswerBank, not PostYourOpinionBank.

Second, your argument is not logical. There have been wars raged over many other reasons besides religion. There will continue to be war as long as there are humans.

Third, you obviously did not study religion sufficiently, or you would be a believer. Know your subject before you bash it.

[gessoo]

Rampart, I can understand your statement, but there are people who have studied religion in great depth and still do not believe. I am not a believer. I was until I was old enough to start questionning. It is only at the ripe old age of ...... that I now feel I can say I definitely do not believe in a god.

[kick3m0n]

but if I chose to celebrate christmas or easter then that's up to me. No one is forcing it on me, far from it. My Christmas celebrations are utterly devoid of any religious content, but I still enjoy it as a holiday time, and a time of peace and loving for family and friends. I don't give two hoots if it started off as a folk festival, a celebration of the birth of Jesus, or a special day to commemorate the first giraffe being born, it's become a happy time in my life for the reasons I want it to be, not what any religious group tells me. Religion plays no part in my life, or in my thoughts (until I come across a post like this) and I know with some certainty that anyone who has tried to force it on me has failed miserably in their task.

[searchme]

bernie m'boy-you and others of your ilk are on a hiding to nothing.

I'm a Christian-if I'm wrong,die, and God doesn't exist,then I won't know any thing about it will I? If I'm right( and I earnestly believe that I am) then I'm in like Flynn.

You, on the other hand, are an atheist,-If you're right ,die,you won't know anything about it.If you're wrong,you'll have some serious explaining to do.

At this moment I'm praying very hard that God inflicts you with a severe dose of genital warts-just to teach you a lesson!! No hard feelings.

God Bless.

[searchme]

... and may a buffalo in heat find you in his time of need.

[patc7641]

Thanks kick3m0n but I think you need to get a better grasp of the english language here before replying. Forced, in this instance, is something exerting an undue influence, in this case religion. As you admit yourself, it is in the news daily, is this forcing an influence? My point about true religion was something that would have a better value if we devoted ourself to it. Do you think that religion only means Christianity, Islam etc?

Chickens dont pray to Allah cos he doesnt exist.

I clearly stated there is no afterlife cos there isnt! Prove it, and dont give me that faith crap.

So to sum, yes people can have thier POV but dont let them force it on others ( see above paragraphs ).

Clear?

[searchme]

Ah but can you prove that there isn't an afterlife?

[Booldawg]

these people have obviously found happiness and contentment through religion - they only want you to share in that. On a day to day basis you're more likely to have a double glazing salesman forcing windows on you.

[Space]

It is petty and pathetic to adopt a religion just so that you can say "ha! I was right!" if there is an afterlife.

Also, it is dishonest to claim something just because it can't be proven wrong. It is not a valid reason to claim it. It's just talking complete nonsense in total impunity.

If there is an afterlife, I won't be afraid of explaining why I didn't believe it. Because I am honest. Unlike the petty believers who only believed because they couldn't be proven wrong.

Anyway, that isn't even believing, that is pretending to belive just so that you can have the last word.
It's a bet, not a belief. And it's assuming that god will be stupid enough to fall for it...

[Space]

I'd rather stand in front of god saying :
" I didn't believe in you because those people who represent you on earth are incoherent and not trustworthy, and neither them or you managed to prove your existence to me"

rather than

"I pretended to believe in you just so that I could have the last word on atheists. What do I win ?"

[Bohne]

I am not an atheist, but I must admit, that the question of religion comes up very rarely in everyday conversation.

So I suggest, you either change your friends to less religious orientated ones, or you stop bringing up the subject yourself, if it bothers you!

[swamp duck]

I am also am atheist and to be honest have never had religion forced upon me, even though some older members of my family have been and still are religious.

I personally think that if faith helps somebody, thats good. I suppose we all need something to believe in be it god or anything else. However I do have difficulty in hearing about people suffering or being killed because of 'god's will' as happens in war.

The other day 2 JW's knocked my door, I politely said I was not interested and they thanked me for opening the door and carried on down the street. Sometime later a man from SWALEC knocked the door and after I told him I was not interested, he was just plain rude to me and wouldn't go. What did that show?

[mibn2cweus]

I know with certainty that there is no 'God', no 'after-life' and no 'Hell�, although it seems a suitable place for those who have told me all my life that I deserve to go there when I die simply because I was born a human being and because I do not choose my beliefs based on the psychology of fear.

I arrived at my certainty through a painstaking process of carefully reasoned thought made necessary by my religious upbringing. When a child is �taught� that their every thought is the work of the �devil�, and that child, armed with such �wisdom�, must learn for himself a way to justify his right to breath one molecule of the air �God� made then something is most certainly terribly wrong with �God� period.

I have since learned that it is futile to try to influence someone to examine beliefs they hold in spite of any and all appeals to the reasoning they threw out the window with their first act of faith.
It is most unfortunate that so many fall victim to religious doctrine before they have learned to apply reason and understanding to determining the validity of their beliefs.

In spite of all this I respect the right we all must have to believe as we do because without this essential right our ability to learn right from wrong is in jeopardy. Learning is not achieved through the use of force or the crippling assault to reason posed by terror tactics and inducements of fear.

I have learned by virtue of my human ability to reason to value my freedom above my desire to shove the bull horn of some humanity despising crusader spouting moronic religious ideology on a street corner, down their throat.

Tolerance is but one of the many prices we have paid for the freedoms we enjoy and the peace that only well reasoned thought and thoroughly tempered actions can afford us.

[ccollins108]

I think the (rather vague) 'question' of whether or not religion is 'forced' upon us, depends upon how you view the question, or try to frame it in your own mind. For example, when I read (and I didn't see the interview with Parkinson) that Tony Blair will 'answer to God' for his choice to go to war with Iraq and continue to maintain troops in that country, with fatal consequences for many of the soldiers themselves and for innocent civilians, I DO feel that one person's religious views are being imposed on me, in a VERY concrete way... For example, imagine if he had said that he would answer to Father Christmas!! He's supposed to be a ****ing democratic politician.... it's us, he should be answering to, not the great Field Marshal in the sky... Anyway, need I go on...?

[mullein3]

I am not religiouse and i object to people knocking on doors trying to force their beliefs on you..as if you wanted to go to their church then you would find your own way..i also detest those people in towns and citys that keep preaching and trying to put leaflets in your hand..why cant they just keep their beliefs to themselves..religion is the root of all evil if people just believed in whatever ..without getting over passionate about what they believe then we would all get along a lot better..