Why do you not believe in god(s)?

[Ortac]

First of all, I wish to stress that this is in no way intended to compete with, undermine or be disrespectful to the other thread Why do you believe in god(s)?, but reading through it has made me genuinely curious to know the thought processes of people who do not believe as well as of those who do. So if you do not believe in a god or gods, why not?

[King Al]

Because if God is benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient, why is the world so f***ed up? Unless he hates us now. I just don't see how he can. I'm all for science, God only fills the gaps.

[Anthracite_Impreza]

Cos... there's no reason to?

[Guest]

I just don't believe in them, it's that simple. I've never had anything spark a belief in me. When I was a child I was sent to do activities in a church (child stuff, make flowers out of paper etc and they read a "child bible" to us), I didn't understand that they actually believed in the stories they told us until I was 6 years old. So yeah, since that realization I've known that I don't believe in it.

I just don't.

[JAKQ7111]

I just don't believe in them, it's that simple. I've never had anything spark a belief in me. When I was a child I was sent to do activities in a church (child stuff, make flowers out of paper etc and they read a "child bible" to us), I didn't understand that they actually believed in the stories they told us until I was 6 years old. So yeah, since that realization I've known that I don't believe in it.

I just don't.

Agreed, only sub "church" for "temple/synagogue". The very concept of a higher power just never made sense to me, even as a child. I find religion and spirituality incredibly fascinating, and am open to the idea of phenomena that have yet to be explained by science, but I am curious and skeptical by nature, so I don't really know what I believe and what I don't half the time.

[Luftschlosseule]

I believe in the existence of a higher truth. No human will every be able to see oder know all of it, so it may include a god or more than one. But I see no evidence for the existence of an entity, just evidence of people believing in entities.
Also, I grew up reading about different cultures and belief-systems and it never occured to me that I should be a believer, and now it would seem to me, personally, as picking a most interesting imagined person. Maybe some day I will believe in an entity.

My mother tried to raise me as a catholic christian, but her belief is more a "I believe because what would the neighbors say if I didn't?", so that had to fail.

[FlaafyTaffy]

For me it just doesn't make any sense, at least not in the way that religions explain it. I have no other real reasons other than it just doesn't work for me.

[Alan Degas]

I just don't. I used to, at a younger age, but as I got older I just sorta lost the ability to make believe.

[Lord Jade Cross]

Because the deities that so many people talk about seem awfully human to be anything superior to humans. On one hand, you are taught that gods are benevolent, merciful and protective and on the other hand, they demand absolute and unwavering devotion and loyalty under the threat of death, damnation, etc.

The saying "the more I study religion, the more convinced I become that man has never worshipped anyone but himself" always rings true.

[Gloomy]

Same reason I don't believe in magic, unicorns, karma, etc. Gods haven't been scientifically proven to exist. I'm skeptical of most things supernatural since by definition supernatural means "attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature".

[Skycaptain]

If there really was a god an anomaly to genetics like me would never have been born

[Calligraphette_Coe]

Because someone's god is often used as a sword to vanquish the innocent. And every time they do that, they do violence to the concept of a benevolent god. The universe has just enough indifference to be malevolent without giving people an excuse to add even more.

[Yatogami]

This guy says it well.

[Skycaptain]

In ancient times I can understand the concept of deities. Science wasn't as advanced as it is now, and people wanted an explanation for natural phenomena. The idea that gods control the seasons, tides, plagues etc would make a lot of sense to people in days of yore. Nowadays more advanced scientific research provides explanations for such events. Maybe I'll turn into wormfood one day and be proven wrong, but prior to that I live by these words I wrote in 1990

" Living in heaven, living in hell

No-ones come back from either to tell

Which one is better, which one is worse

Live life to the full, immortality is just a curse "

[ChillaKilla]

Doesn't logically compute for me

So many ethical dilemmas

Put off by extremist followers

Personal conflict with doctrine

I could probably think of a few more but that's what I got right now.

[Raina.]

I've never felt drawn to a higher power in the form of a god. Never seen any reason to. The world's too fucked for that.

Nor have I ever believed any of that bible bullshit I've been fed. It's just horror stories, man. And not the ones I've enjoyed reading growing up.

I believe in spirits, and in nature, and I believe mankind is utterly destroying all of it.

[Amedot]

there's no reason, no "why" for why I don't have faith. I simply don't have it. You either do or don't, you can't control it, and well... I am just one of those people who doesn't have faith.

[Tanzanite]

My parents never really gave me a reason to. We did Baptist things, but they never really told me why we did them. In fact, at one point, they just gave me a religious story book and basically said "read this." I didn't even know that other religions existed until I saw a webpage talking about Wicca when I was 9. So I eventually researched other religions, but they didn't seem to completely describe how I am. Then I saw Atheism, and it described me perfectly. I eventually figured that since people can have a good chance at having a good life no matter what religion they had, I didn't have to choose any of them. I was and still am a science nerd anyway, so some things in the stories I read didn't make sense even back then.

[daveb]

Deities just make no logical sense to me. I've yet to hear of any objective empirical evidence of their existence. That's pretty much it.

This and what a few others said. God/s just don't make any sense to me and don't really give any answers and raise more questions.

[Cimmerian]

For many reasons:

-My questions about religion and god/s were never answered to my satisfaction, even as a kid. (Why or how can I believe in something that can't be explained on even a theoretically believable level?)

-I can't believe in a being that would want to worshiped constantly, and any that would demand that are not worth believing in to me.

-Why would so many different kinds of people be created if only those who believe and act along one set of strict criteria are "correct" or the "chosen"? The superiority complex I hear in answers to that sound much too like humans who just want to feel special or superior, in my view. Besides, if you're truly selecting people for an afterlife what's the point in threatening them /having your believers threaten disbelievers; wouldn't you want a more natural, intellectual or spiritual selection without coercion for a "true" measure?

-Religion and "gods" seem like the best way to control a large population ever invented. I can believe in multiple individuals who aims to rule coming up with the idea of a god or prophet that only they and their select few can help other people understand as a way to gain power. People are always afraid of the unknown, someone who claims to understand the unknown is more likely to gain power.

[Luftschlosseule]

In ancient times I can understand the concept of deities. Science wasn't as advanced as it is now, and people wanted an explanation for natural phenomena. The idea that gods control the seasons, tides, plagues etc would make a lot of sense to people in days of yore. Nowadays more advanced scientific research provides explanations for such events.

That depends on what you mean with "ancient times". Most stuff modern people associate with the greeks was invented by the mesopotamians: They made the first star-charts and were able to predict the further star movements, solar and lunar eclipses. They knew a lot about human bodies and when this looks like this next will happen that - but nevertheless they said "I see this works like this and that works like that because a god made it so". Like people that say today, the big bang was induced by an entity.

Advanced mathematics are from ancient times, or nobody would have been able to built ziqqurati or pyramids.

Then came the greeks, who were better at formulating theorems, which is why we remember those.

You sound like you mean medieval times when due to war and plague the population shrank rapidly and loads of knowledge were lost. Those were crazy times.

I am only saying that knowledge doesn't mean you won't believe. Also, there were agnostics even before the pyramids were built.

[Telecaster68]

As Laplace told Napoleon: 'I had no need of that hypothesis'.

[Zerο]

Gonna need proof. "Faith" seems like a pretty asinine concept to me. If there is a God they're either 1) negligent/indifferent or 2) cruel. I can at least understand (1) in the way that we ourselves view bacteria, but neither options incentivizes me to worship them.

[fissiparity]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

[nanogretchen4]

Okay, in fairness, if I found out bacteria were worshipping me I'd be a little creeped out. I don't think it would sway me to spare the Lysol.

[fissiparity]

A religious person said to me science can explain the "how" but not the "why". The existence of the universe, nature and life doesn't necessarily require a why but obviously some humans still do.

[Finn.]

I don't have it in me to believe. I was raised to be a Protestant, my great grandfather was a pastor. My parents believe in "a" god and Jesus but aren't that convinced by the church as an institution. We stopped going (we only ever went for christmas anyways) when I was 14, after my confirmation. A bit after that I tried to find this sense of belief in me, someone gave me a guide, it was supposed to help with my depression and stuff. Well. And then at 18 Ieft church altogether.

I appreciate people praying for me. I am happy for people that can believe, it seems really comforting. But it's not me.

[Zerο]

I appreciate people praying for me.

Personally, I tend to be annoyed with the whole "praying for other people" thing. It always seems like a lazy way for people to pretend like they've done something - I don't know, maybe it's for their own ego. If they wanted to help, there a lot of actions that can translate into real world results instead.

[m4rble]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

I find this particular saying irritating because what qualifies as an "extraordinary claim" is entirely subjective and intuitive, yet the people making the claim often look down on intuition and subjectivity. This claim seems to demonstrate a lack of imagination and/or perspective.(the people making it might not necessarily lack these things)The basic spirit of the claim is true but there are much better(though perhaps not as catchy) ways of saying it.

[fissiparity]

I believe in God for the same reason I believe in my left arm. I can't prove it's there but I sure do feel like it is. I don't view religions as us vs. them, so to ask why I believe in one religion and not others is irrelevant. I don't have beliefs that fine-tuned enough to align perfectly with any religion, I just feel there's something there.

Your belief is subjectivity and intuition in a nutshell and quite meaningless to anyone but yourself.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

I find this particular saying irritating because what qualifies as an "extraordinary claim" is entirely subjective and intuitive, yet the people making the claim often look down on intuition and subjectivity. This claim seems to demonstrate a lack of imagination and/or perspective.(the people making it might not necessarily lack these things)The basic spirit of the claim is true but there are much better(though perhaps not as catchy) ways of saying it.

Okay if the existence of a supernatural creator isn't extraordinary then I suppose Fairies at the bottom of the garden, golden Unicorns and the Flying Spaghetti Monster are not extraordinary and so by that logic the burden of proof must be on those who don't believe in these magical beings!

"I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the same reason I believe in my bowl of Spaghetti. I can't prove it's there but I sure do feel like it is."

Well if you didn't like that quote about 'extraordinary claims' from the great Carl Sagan for being over intuitive and subjective try these ones by the great Richard Dawkins;

We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.

Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.

I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.