Questions for atheist. Please read. :)?

1. I became an atheist because I realized prayer doesn't work. After that, I started doing research and found out the Bible isn't really reliable at all. Then I did more research, and I thought about God more and more. Eventually, I decided that God either doesn't exist or doesn't care. I went with the former. That is the long story short.

2. No. I don't believe anybody has a soul, so it isn't just "gone." It never existed in the first place. Our thoughts and personalities are dictated by our brains, not some supernatural "soul."

3. I find some religious people ignorant, yes. But I also find people in general to be quite ignorant, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof.

4. I think prayer wastes time. Prayer has no real result, and when people pray for the victims of disaster, I think it is a hollow gesture and a waste of time. If they really wanted to help, they would donate or go help the people themselves. Prayer doesn't do anything.

5. "Everyone knows that all of those animals couldn't fit on the arc." Some people actually *do* believe that every single animal fit on the arc. I do not take the stories of the Bible seriously at all, but other people do, so I know the stories because that allows me to be able to address those people who actually believe the Bible is 100% literally true.

6. Ah yes, you blame the devil for everything bad. Well, God is omnipotent, no? So he could stop the devil, no? If God is omnipotent, then it logically follows that he must be held accountable for everything that happens. Besides, in the Bible, God killed far more people than Satan (look it up if you don't believe me).

7. There is no proof for ghosts. We have some fuzzy videos, some photoshopped pictures, and a lot of people's stories. People's stories, however, are nothing more than just that -- stories.

8. You are presenting Pascal's wager. If God is real, then he did a poor job of revealing himself to me and saving me. If God is omnipotent and truly does want me to go to heaven, he could very easily guide me toward him. When I was a Christian, I prayed daily for God to strengthen my faith and bring me to him. I even prayed to him to violate my free will if that was what it took. And guess what? Now I'm an atheist. God did nothing. So if the God of Christianity is real, then he must want me to be an atheist. As for you, what if you die and find out that Allah is the true God? Or Krishna? Or Zeus? Pascal's wager fails to take into account all of the thousands and thousands of gods that have been invented by man. What are the chances that your one God is right and all those other thousands and thousands are wrong?

Anyway, I took no offense from your question, and I hope you took no offense from my answer. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy talking to Christians about God when it is a mutually respectful environment. I would love to continue talking about this if you want to. You seem nice enough, and I actually had to delete a good chunk of my answer because I went over the character limit.

1) Always had doubt, but mainly just ignored it, until I couldn't ignore it anymore. I cannot say that it wasn't because of tragedy because there were several deaths that occurred while I was in high school (although none of any direct family members or friends--just people that I knew at school). However, considering I didn't accept my atheism until much later (in my early 20s), I don't know that this had an effect. I will say that death as a Christian was far scarier than death as an atheist.

2) yes, their dead, they suffer no longer (also they never experience joy).

3) I don't think religion is "ignorant" per se. Mainly I find religion to be intellectually dishonest. Basically, most religious people are just as normal as every other atheist, except when you mention God they throw up a brick wall where all of a sudden all logic and reasoning goes out the window.

4) Yes and no. Yes it's a waste because it's fake, but if believing in Santa Claus makes your Christmas better, then why not? Now, there are many reasons for why not, but that's not what you asked.

5) Most Christians' main defense is the Bible. Yet you here just admitted that the Bible is ridiculous--I agree, it's ridiculous so it's no proof of anything. Why is it God's word when he says, a man who denies god is a fool but it's not God's word when he says that all animals got on an ark that was smaller than the Titanic??

6) If god is all powerful, then he should be more powerful than the devil. The devil is only allowed to do what God allows, so anything the devil does is directly allowed/sanctioned by God (if he exists, which he doesn't).

7) They have TV series dedicated to ghosts and yet no one has ever produced any convincing evidence. So I don't know where you get the idea that there is a lot of evidence? There is none.

8) Then either he's a bastard and I never had any hope to begin with or he doesn't care if you believe in him or not.

1. Obviously I was born atheist, but I became Christian because of grandparents. De-converted a couple of years ago after seriously re reading through the bible and thinking things out.

2. I don't believe in the soul, so when people die, they die- become non existent.

3. Some are. It's also up to the individual.

4. Mostly because praying isn't going to do anything, I'd rather if I was dying, that I'd receive an operation than a prayer.

5. If some of them are meant to be taken as just stories, what if the actual God in the bible is also one too? Why stop at just a few of them?

6. I don't believe in a god, so I render that invalid. Or otherwise I'd make a comment and say that it isn't fair to give a god credit for good things, and blame the bad things on a devil/insert name of evil creature. The devil according to the bible doesn't actually do much compared to God too in terms of killing.

7. Some ghost stories can be scary. I don't exactly believe in ghosts per say, but they can scare me I admit. Well, I am an easily terrified person in that sense :P

8. The Christian god? Then I'd have a couple of questions for him...which I'd like to be answered. I'd also probably convert too, seeing as he'd probably stick me in hell for not worshipping him.

Also, I respectfully disagree that we need a god in our lives. I'm quite sure it's possible to find a reason for living apart from a god. I don't believe in religion, but I wouldn't describe my life as 'pathetic'.

Honest questions deserve honest answers. Here are mine:

1. I am an atheist because i haven't seen any evidence of any deity.

2. Yes, I do. We didn't exist for eons before we were born, and we cease to exist when we die.

3. No, I don't. I have several friends (believers and atheists) that are intelligent people.

4. I don't feel that it is. I just have no practical use for it.

5. I don't take any story from the bible seriously. It is all mythology.

6. I blame nothing on any deity, as I don't believe in them.

7. I have never seen any evidence of ghosts. There has never been a study that suggests they exist.

8. I hate to answer that with a question, but let's say there is. What if you believe in the wrong one?

And sorry but I did read further before answering. Our lives aren't pathetic, and we can be good without any god. I know I am and so are many, many others. And, again, true atheists don't blame something they don't believe in, and fear shouldn't be the only reason for belief. I respect your beliefs as well. It's nice to see a respectful question when so many (from both sides) can be mean-spirited.

1) I, as all humans, was born atheist. I was told to believe in god by my parents, like most, and when I was old enough to actually think about it, I became an atheist again.

2) There is no such thing as soul, only neurons telling you who you are and what you sense. You exist as much as you did before your parents were born.

3) I find it to be a psychological phenomenon. Not necessarily ignorant.

4) I do not feel it's a waste of time.

5) Because if the bible is wrong on one thing, why not another?

6) God created the devil, or he has the ability to remove him. God is responsible.

7) I don't see why ghosts couldn't exist, but I do not think that they do.

8) Then I guess I am going to hell even though I am not a bad person.

If the devil is just as strong as god, then why worship one over the other? They both can offer me the same thing.

1.After being subjected to Christians that believe Pokémon is evil and all other sorts of weird things, I started to realize just how ridiculous Christianity is.

2. I don't believe in the soul, but I don't view death as a bad thing. Nonexistence is peaceful.

3. For the most part, yes. Christians in general act ignorant.

4. I don't view it as a waste of time if it makes people happy, but I do think it causes a lot of problems.

5. Christians take them seriously, so it's only natural that we'll look at obvious flaws in logic.

6. I don't believe god exists, so I don't blame anything on him. But according to the bible, he sounds like a pretty bad guy.

7. I think ghosts are possible, but unlikely. Then again, though, I am technically an agnostic-Atheist.

8. Then I'd be wrong. Any decent god wouldn't send me to a pit of fire for not believing in him without any proof.

1. I never believed in god. Nothing in my upbringing including exposure to religion has ever led me to believe in a diety.

2. I don't believe in a soul. I believe my identity is contained within the electrical activity inside my brain. When that activity stops so do I.

3. I find religion rigid and uncompromising. It ignores demonstrable truths in favour of unproven or in some cases thouroughly refuted ideas. Yes I guess that's ignorance.

4. Religion is a waste of time and resources because there has never been a single shred of verifiable evidence for the existance of any deity. It's the most violent, and expensive game of lets pretend ever. Religion as done more harm in the world than any other institution ever.

5. I don't take bible stories seriously. They're ridiculous. The problem is believers do take them seriously. Religion has demonstrated repeatedly throughout history that it is dangerous. I take that seriously.

6. Athiests don't believe in god, We don't believe in Satan either. Or Zeus, Shiva, Vishnu, or Vecna. We tend to say God but what we're really referring to is the believers who act in name of their god(s).

7. You can think there's plenty of proof for ghosts all you want. If there was you'd think one person or another would have collected the Randi reward for proof of the supernatural. Maybe you need to re-assess your standard of proof.

8. Which god? You're flirting with Pascals wager here. It's as flawed an argument as has ever been presented.

I don't need an invisible sky wizard to give my life meaning. I can do that myself. I have a family and friends and a life. You clearly do not understand what atheism is, otherwise you wouldn't say we blame god. I know this is hard to get your head around but ATHEISTS DO NOT BELIEVE GOD EXISTS. We don't blame him for anything, he's imaginary. Followers are on the other hand responsible for a great many evils.

To sum up. There has never been any verifiable evidence of the existance of god. Not even a little bit, ever. Every religious text I've ever read is chock full of ridiculious. I have no use for religion, it's rules, or by and large it's practitioners. I wouldn't bother with it at all except it's adherents are eminently dangerous and need to be watched.

1. Around age 14, I started talking to my older brother, who explained things in terms of science rather than magic and theology, and I felt much more satisfied with his rational explanations of things, rather than my parents using "God" to explain everything.

2. Yes.

3. Yes.

4. Why? Because people devote their entire lives and all their time to worshiping and following the rules of a god that does not exist.

5. That's what atheists should ask Christians. :) We know it's ridiculous, but believers don't.

6. What are you talking about? We don't believe in God. We don't blame anything on something that doesn't exist. Are you a troll?

7. Ghosts aren't real.

8. He's not. End of story.

This question proves your ignorance. Atheists DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD. They do not blame anything on him. Do you blame your problems on Santa Claus? You can't just make up ridiculous things so that you feel your life has purpose. I feel my life does have purpose - to make myself and people I care about happy and to earn money and live a pleasant, successful life, helping the world as well. I don't need to make up fictional gods to make my life feel purposeful. Just because it is "awful" that nothing happens after death, does not mean you should pretend it's not true. You're denying reality, and making yourself seem very foolish. I have lost a child, and, even though it is very sad, I have never dreamed of lying to myself and pretending that he really is okay. You need to learn to face reality. You have simply proved why I think religion is so ignorant. You don't understand science of how the world works and don't want to face the reality of life, so you make up stories about gods and magic and pretend these things are real. Stop living in a fantasy land. Put the Bible down and pick up a science book.

1. I wasn't brainwashed by my parents, and my mother always loved how I was a smartie at science so I always felt motivated by the logic of things.

2. I believe they are at peace forever. Believing in heaven or something like that are just stories to ease the pain.

3. Yes I do.

4. I don't need a book to tell me what to do, or some pages to give me strength, I have friends and love myself, that's enough.

5. We don't religious people do and we find it astonishingly absurd for someone to believe it so blindly.

6. An atheist doesn't blame anything on anything else than odds and reality or negligence or carelessness you get the picture.

7. There are a lot of explanations to "ghost sights" most of them are brain made or made by moldy houses or stress or just pure superstition fear.

8. It isn't, I don't ever doubted it.

We all have a purpose in life, be happy, feel passion, care for each others and the ultimate thing, just plainly love without made up boundaries.

1. I became an atheist after I gave up Christianity. I was a Christian for about 16 years when I gave it up. I was too young and too close minded at the time to realize I was making the mistake of belief in something for no real reasons. I had nothing to justify my beliefs as true, so I gave them up.

2. There is nothing to support the idea that people have souls. When a person dies, their consciousness dies with them. That is reality after all. No matter how much I may want there to be an afterlife, it is simply not true. It doesn't matter how awful it is, we just have to deal with that fact.

3. Yes, I find it ignorant. If we all based our lives on what we have evidence for we would have no reason for believing in things for no good reason.

4. I think it is a waste of time because it is doing a lot of things for no good result. It is better that we live our lives in reality and enjoy what little time we have while we are alive.

5. When I was a Christian I took those stories seriously, because I was taught to think that the Bible was 100% true. Now I know that most if not all of them are just stories. If you say that about those about these stories why should you believe anything that the Bible says is true?

6.When I was a Christian I believed that it was the devil who caused bad things to happen and other times it was just because bad things happened. Now that I am an atheist I don't blame God for anything because I don't think he exists.

7. There is no proof of ghosts. I have looked and found nothing that constitutes as real proof. I am open to your evidence of this proof. Will you show me your evidence?

8. If God is real then he as a lot of explaining to do. Why does he hide from us? Why does reality deny his existence? I gave up on Christianity because I realized that good feelings and ignorant thoughts don't constitute as God. If God wants to have a relationship with me he is doing a poor job of it. The people I have real relationships with come and speak to me. They show that they care for me. They don't hide in the shadows and expect me to find them. They are plainly visible. Until God gives me a real reason to believe in him and his existence, I will just have to assume he does not exist just like anything else I don't have evidence for.

I have a purpose in life, and it is to the people of this world and what I can do for them. My life is not pathetic even without meaning because that means I can make my own meaning for life.