Christians: What would you like to ask an atheist?

I wish you luck and believe that you will do just fine. Most christians have not studied their religion as much as you probably have. They are sheep. They just do what they are told. You don't really need to study christianity in depth to realize that it is a crock. Tear 'em up.

In reference to your response: OK hotshot, be a one boy army. You are denying me of my opinion. You are also interpreting my opinion incorrectly. I did not say "you're dumb." Nor did I say "you're emotionally blind." You seem to have illusions of grandeur. You're not all that. In reading your wisdom, I'm actually not all that impressed and I don't think you're being any more constructive than anyone else. You might want to consider curbing your arrogance. You might also want to read a book called, "God is Not Great." Atheists have a right to be outraged by all of the religious atrocities that have and still are being perpetuated in the name of some pie in the sky god. Who are you, with your limited knowledge of religion and science to play Ann Landers on R&S? You're unqualified.

A Single Q – You stated, “I would honor your obviously very constructive reply with a brilliant answer…” I wish you weren’t so sensitive that you would cop out just because I write words that apparently evoke an emotional response from you. I would really rather read a brilliant answer, and if you were capable of providing one, I think you would have done so. You say you read “God is Not Great.” How can you be so passive about the fact that “religion poisons everything?” You take the phrase “tear ‘em up” literally. I don’t know where you’re from, but, in America those are merely words of encouragement. I was lending you support. But, you decided to get defensive and make me an adversary. Fine. I learn more from adversaries than friends anyway. I also enjoy a good argument. You try to demean my education by saying I resemble some two-faced Italian deity. Perhaps having two faces is useful for looking at topics from different viewpoints. I have studied religions enough to argue with any theist regarding their views on any of the major ones. And, yes, I did say, “You don't really need to study christianity in depth to realize that it is a crock” That does not mean I didn’t. I was raised catholic. I know more about that one vile religion than any other. I also know enough about the others to make educated statements. One does not need to know the bible, Koran, torah, or any other religious book in depth to realize that they all are lacking truth, believability, tolerance and consistency. If I read enough of a book to discover just how shallow it really is, I value my time too much to bother memorizing the rest of it. Once I have decided a book is a sick joke, I waste no more time studying it. I had to learn about most of them in order to get the degree I have, but, that was enough to allow me to realize that they are a true waste of time. I found philosophy, math, and physics much more interesting and thought provoking subjects, so I concentrated on them. You can show off your knowledge of Latin with a phrase like, “contradictio in terminus,” but, you if you think my statement about not needing to study Christianity in depth makes this an appropriate context in which to use it, I disagree for the aforementioned reasons. I have a lot more respect for someone with a well rounded education in several subjects than a person who can quote verses from any of the religious books. All that requires is a good memory. Understanding theories like relativity, gravity, and evolution are much more challenging and interesting. Anyway, I’m giving you a star (big deal) because you made me think, and allowed me to give more than my usual short and sarcastic reply. I honestly wish you the best in your educational pursuits. For what it’s worth, you seem very intelligent for a sixteen year old. I hope you don’t find my response immoral. Also, I don’t know what your academic interests are, but, I would not spend too much time trying to know everything about religion. Science, mathematics, and physics are much more interesting, challenging, and useful, for me anyway.

My fellow Christians ignorance annoys me often. Things like "You will burn in hell" sadden me and make me want to tell them that before they act as a soldier to God they need to learn to use their weapons or else they will shoot their friends in the back.

It is in my nature to research everything that I believe so I know what I believe and why, and after reading countless books (with arguments on either side, that something that most christens stay clear of and only read books on how to argue, but not why), court cases, interviews etc. etc. etc. I have decided that there are logical, convincing and altogether sufficient arguments for both sides on every subject.

Ultimately it all boils down to whom you believe.

I originally chose Christianity because it gave me peace. Like patriotism it gave me something to live, fight and die for (without the side effects of having to trust everything idiotic puppets (with bad speech problems) say.)

I have found more reasons for being a Christian as I have been a part of the religion. Some of them you can't appreciate unless you really love God. (I laugh how so many people who grew up catholic think they know so much about Christianity. No. All they saw where traditions that (to them) had no reason.

A sheep I am, and proud of it, instead of preying on creatures weaker then me I am ready to die following Jesus.

now finally after that really long monologue

so my question is (I should note, its also the answer to the question. "What came first the chicken or the egg"(Evolution V Creation))

What do you want to believe?

You remind me of myself a little while ago, I do hope you come to the same conclusion.

To start with, I am not a "theist" so I don't have to ask anything. But I'll bet a dollar to a donut that somebody (perhaps more than one person) is going to ask you why YOU are an a-theist and I'd like to help ya field that one. I would ask that person back "why do YOU believe whatever it is you believe?" The chances a re that the only thing that person will be able to say is "because I believe there is a God, and I believe the Bible, and I believe everything I was ever taught about the whoooooole "shebang". Ask that person why he believes it without question, and he will say "It's all about faith" But that is hardly an answer because faith is simply believing in something that has absolutely no real shred of proof to back it up. That is why they call it "faith". That's the definition of the word. If you have the clear, unarguable, indisputable, unquestionable proof of something, faith is no longer in the equation.

People for the most part, end up believing in a particular thing that they had conditioned into their minds from babyhood... by parents, or whoever else raised them..... the family...... in school...... in church..... within the community..... and in the Society into which they were born and raised. It is not, in other words, the result of their OWN personal, serious consideration of the subject over a period of time, asking the hard questions, coming to conclusions, and then making absolutely their own judgement about it all.

To do any of that, they have been instructed, is against the belief system into which they have been indoctrinated because it goes against the all important thing you have to have FAITH.... blind acceptance. Don't question, don't ask, but believe, and trust.

However many people see it that way, it is not good enough for me. I was born with a very sharp working computer inside my noggin, and this enquiring mind refuses to blindly accept anything because somebody tells me that a Mysterious Invisible Superbeing whom nobody has ever seen, nobody has ever heard utter a word, and nobody even knows what it is, except that everybody calls it God, says I have to. I just don't feel inclined to take on trust, second hand orders from some sort of entity that doesn't seem to have the ability to step forward and give those instructions to me face to face.

"Believers" seem frequently to have the very strange idea that if a person doesn't believe in the existence of this mysterious being, then that person can't have any moral compass, or the ability to determine right from wrong. I learned all about that from my parents growing up. I learned about it through the Society in which I lived that has specific laws governing behaviour, which are reasonable, logical and obvious to anybody with a lick o'common sense. And because I have built into my brain structure the capability to figure certain things for myself which are strongly connected to my sense of personal well being and survival. Don't do bad things because you wouldn't want them done to YOU, and because you know within every fiber of your being that those things are WRONG.

All religions share one thing.... they operate through fear and threat. Fear of the terrifying wrath of this God-being who, if he gets mad enough at ya, can be one mean, nasty, spiteful, raging, viscious, vindictive, punitive, sadistic sonofaB. And the threat, that if you do not obey aaaalll this being's instructions to the letter, is going to allow you to be thrown into a fiery pit when you die, where you will scream and holler in excrutiating agony for all of Eternity.

NO I don't find that logical, rational or remotely believable, because I have thought it all through, for myself, and I do not accept blindly what others tell me when they themselves are only passing on what they had told to them, and so on and so on, back generation by generation into the misty distance of the past.

Concerning our universes structured principles and basic identities of materials.

Such as atoms, neutrons, and other particle components which in tangle our universe with chaotic sparks of fabrication, how do you explain their sequential given identities, which are so highly advanced that it seems irrational to just believe they came from no source of intelligence, or singularity that before this supposed beginning had no duration, or event before it, to bring it into existence. Let alone a singularity arsing from nowhere giving birth to trillions of different laws of physics, and quantum mechanics seems to be simply erroneous.

So how is it that "nothing" could bring about such diversity?

The future being mathematically impossible to predict, yet it substantially exists as a mathamatical reality???

Please explain your views related to the beginning.

Edit: I just read the girls underneath me, amazing! For now I have to remeber that God is word found in the Bible. And with that Bible, or even the Quran, there is only science and acceptence thereof.

why are you asking us to ask you questions when we're in a question forum of Christians already asking questions?

I thought Atheists prided themselves on being 'logical'?

EDIT: I never once referred this as a "Christian forum" i described it as a "forum that has Christians on it". Secondly, You seriously think everyone is gonna look back on this and take the time to care about what your answer is? Most of them have answered 30+ since then so they're not gonna go searching for a past answer just to see what your reply is, let alone read through all your answers, they'll just read theirs. It just happens to be the last one i answered so i thought i'd check it out. And another thing, people will only really take anything you say seriously if they constantly saw your answers.

Also, you coulda gotten points, not that it really matters.

Sides, if you took the time to go through the R&S you'll eventually come across most of these questions and you can just answer them there and by answering those everyone will read your answers.

Also, this is the first time i've seen anyone ask such a ridiculous question like this and i come here often enough.

One last thing, don't assume you have all the answers, you're just 16, like if you think you know something, you're wrong. You haven't even begun living in the real world.

Basic misunderstandings: 1) Atheists are not a unified group, they have no common agenda any more than those who do not believe in crystal healing. 2) Basic misunderstandings and misrepresentation of evolution. We did not evolve from monkeys, we arose from a shared ancestor of Great Apes. 3) Believing that the words of people on Yahoo Answers are representative of a group as a whole. In short, many easy trolling tactics.

Why don't you just hang around in the R&S section for a while, the questions to atheists will be posted anyway.

But when a religious person asks a question to an atheist, first many of them spell atheist wrong (otherwise they'll go to hell I suppose), second, they don't want to know what you're telling. They've got their truth already in their holy books.

Okay answer me this, is it right to kill an innocent person? yes or no , well perhaps you will say no it is wrong to kill an innocent person, I would like to know friend where do you get your sense of right and wrong from, parents , society , government, well where did they get the definition of right and wrong from, well you have to look at the history of law and the law was given to God by moses in the Old testament. If you try to exclude God from the equation of a definition of right and wrong you are down to what is called personal opinion in which you can say it is wrong but the next person can say it is right because it is there opinion, so who is right, well I think we all know in our hearts that it is wrong and it is because we have been given this sense of good and evil since the beginning of the bible when man sinned against god. apart from god is complete anarchy and madness there is no absolute and no definition for moral law apart from God , think about it friend.

Who has control of your last breath and heartbeat?

Do you? And if you do, can you live forever?

If you don't, then who does? Who created you - was it by chance - and does this life only count for something while you are here?

Just a few questions that always make me wonder how people don't believe in God as Creator and Father and lover of our souls for all eternity.

I've got an open question going already. It was, have you always been an atheist, or did you once believe and something happened to change your mind?