Why atheists don't believe in God?

There is a ton more I could say but if you consider the fact that the Epic of Gilgamesh is at least 500 years older than the bible and tells a similar story about a flood, you will begin to understand that there is nothing “holy” about the bible except the fact that humans, influenced by these ancient writers and their governments, belief it so. These people constructed their God, Yahweh, from the canaanite deities; especially Hadad. It’s not a coincidence that YHWH “appeared” on a mountain or that they followed a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. They just never knew what science would later understand this to be; a volcano.

Many atheists don’t devote time into understanding what the bible really is and therefore may lack one single definite motivation for disbelieving. However, the more you know the less of a reason you will have to believe. Because belief requires the absence of knowledge. The confusion within religion is that they confuse knowledge with belief because holy books can be studied as “information” rather than simply as testimonial accounts without verification.

The problem with this is the same as with those who claim to have seen UFOs. If you believe them without evidence, there’s nothing preventing that. However, you shouldn’t lose the fact that you are trusting them and giving them credibility they haven’t earned. One story of UFOs and aliens often builds upon other stories. People think they see similar shapes and similar beings. Why? Because these things do exist. But they exist in the MIND. That is where we first create anything. And everything we create doesn’t have to become a solid object. Many of our inventions remain as “ideas”. And ideas can be viral. This is religion.

I was infected by Christianity from a young age. However, debate and study (they go hand in hand) helped me learn enough to see through religion. I still value spirituality and the forces of nature. However, the corruption caused by the pursuit of power made science and religion separate. And because religion, without science, is still very corrupt, those who feel that corruption often choose to be more “spiritual”. (An example of current corrupt is the collection of tithes- the national tax of ancient Israel-not a thing that should ever be collected by a religious institution but they teach that they have this right even though the bible never gives it)

1 Like

Yeah, floods are exceeding rare so there could be just that one.

However, living at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers I’m not sure that’s really the right way to look at this.

1 Like

Well the way I look at it, is that the Noah flood myth is falsifiable, and is falsified by the global geological record, which demonstrates unequivocally that no global flood has occurred, let alone several ft above the peak of mt Everest.

Invoking magic does not make this myth any more compelling, as this only represents the bias of a closed mind.

3 Likes

One of the best people on Youtube who challenges Biblical Creationism and–especially–the flood myth is Gutsick Gibbon (“Erika”).

She has a Ph.D in primatology and is an expert in human evolution.

She gives specific numbers, and explains where these numbers came from. She also points out that the Earth’s natural radiation prohibits a young Earth scenario, because of several reasons that she describes in detail.

Although I find her presentations to be rather long-winded and slightly tedious, she is still worth watching as she supports all of her claims in a very scholarly manner. Please see below:

1 Like

Ah, yes, I concur. I just discovered her myself, and have viewed a few of her interesting (but admittedly rather long) videos. She is thorough, but you really need to allocate the time for it. I usually play her videos at playback speed 1.5(*).

(*) I do this with most videos where people speak too slowly for me to endure. Erika “needs” a speedup of 50%, while the real slow-talkers can benefit from a 100% speedup (playback speed 2.0).

1 Like

My disbelief goes very deep. I heard Christians discussing fairy tales in the waiting room where I work and I just cringed at the stupidity of it all. Their mythology is so unrealistic it staggers me as of why or how they could believe in such a deluded fantasy. They might as well have been discussing Dungeons & Dragons. That’s how silly it sounds to me.

2 Likes

If I could do it without getting in trouble with the law, I would deliberately breed rattlesnakes in wholesale numbers and release them on my property.

I don’t like chemical pesticides, and rats, mice, squirrels, and armadillos all carry nasty diseases in my area. Armadillos actually carry leprosy, rats carry leptospirosis, a version of typhoid, and many other diseases. Mice carry hanta virus, which has about a 20% mortality rate even with the best of care.

Rodents are pretty intelligent, and they vacate an area when they sense that there are predators.

By contrast, there are probably about 25 species of rattlesnakes in the continental U.S., 3 species of coral snakes (which are elapids, like cobras, mambas, and almost all of Australia’s venomous snakes), about 3 closely related species of copperheads, and about 4 species of water moccasins . . . yet we only have about 3 - 5 deaths from venomous snakes every year with about 290 million people.

By contrast, rodents (especially rats) destroy about 30% of the world’s grain supply, hundreds of thousands of people die every year from diseases spread by rodents, and rodents often cause house fires when they chew through electrical wiring.

Your professor from the 70s was quite enlightened, and doing what was best for everyone . . . even if he was being patriarchal and playing God just a bit.

Please see below for details about leprosy and armadillos in Florida:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://epi.ufl.edu/2023/10/16/leprosy-in-florida-medical-experts-monitoring-unusual-new-cases-of-hansens-disease/&ved=2ahUKEwjw8tep7KOKAxW7mYQIHftnCxQQFnoECBIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2WMXKVlsnZ9kCbLfldsBxC

To be fair, not one person was ever bitten by an Adder in that area, that I know of. I have a healthy respect for snakes, and you’re right of course, when one species of predator is removed or their numbers reduced significantly, it means the ecological balance is upset, and other species that form their natural prey can multiply. It is a lesson we have learned to our cost many times.

There is a cracking film called “The Biggest Little Farm” I think it is still on Netflix, about a farm set up by letting nature balance itself as much as is possible. Pests were kept down by introducing natural predators, I thoroughly recommend the film.

1 Like

Thank you very much.

It sounds like a film that would interest me, so I’ll watch it when I have time.

1 Like

There is an unimaginatively named sequel, called The Biggest Little Farm: The Return, but title aside it is also awesome.

1 Like

Apropos the thread title, I know we have all pretty much answered this, but I liked Tim Minchin’s answer, and though I can’t show you the wry smile. but paraphrasing from memory when answering this question he said:

“Obviously the reason I don’t believe in god, is because I have not seen evidence sufficient to allay my doubts.”

Well quite…

2 Likes

Whilst I absolutely believe some things to be objectively true, these are based on sufficient objective evidence, unlike the belief a deity exists, which is never supported by any objective evidence.

It is simply not true that I have or use religious faith, since religious faith is defined as a strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. As an atheist I certainly neither have, nor have any use for, religious faith.

What specifically did you want to debate?

Indeed, in my case this is sufficient objective evidence. If that link is spamming, then I suggest you remove it, oh and welcome to AR.

2 Likes

Hi! Because you need concrete scientific evidence to prove a god exist.

1 Like

And religion and god fantasies are all one big fat waste of time. Growing up I saw most people wasting their life away on a religion. They wasted their money and their time to an imaginary figure that never said or did anything for them. The pastors would just feed off of these fantasies. The pastors or the ministers from the churches my parents took me to would say they talked to “god” and these people would just desperately eat it up.

3 Likes

Atheism is defined as not believing in God. The question seems very odd indeed. Why would I or any other atheist have to provide any reason for not believing in a God? It’s the other way round. Nobody has ever provided me with any compelling reason to believe any such thing as a god or gods have ever existed. Ergo, the non-existence of gods make me an atheist.

2 Likes