VGC Atheists,Whats your reason?

[scottie]

Neither ignorant nor a hater.

The basic principle of science is that you do not accept something until there is proof, evidence, or some huge reason to believe it is true. We can also add Occam's razor - the simplest answer is preferable.

I have read the Christian origin story, and I have read papers about the big bang. I find the presence of cosmic microwave background radiation to be a sufficient indication that the big bang theory is correct (not necessarily perfect in every detail). That does not exclude the possibility that God caused the Big bang, but that adds nothing, and violates Occam's Razor.

I have also compared the Christian origin story to the works of leading biologists. I have read the origin of species, and a few papers such as this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller%E2%80%93Urey_experiment, and, whilst I really don't understand biology anywhere near as well as physics, I have found their arguments convincing. Evolution of short lived micro-organisms has been demonstrated to my satisfaction, and we have a pretty solid chain of links between us and monkeys. Again, God could have created the world such that this would happen, but Occam's Razor.

I also don't find the bible to be particularly useful as a moral guide. I don't feel the need to feel guilty because I am bisexual, I don't think we should murder witches, heathens, or any of the other stuff that is in the old testament.

So that's covered two of the three reasons that people throughout history have believed in religions - to explain what they couldn't understand, and as a way to get a consistent set of rules for a society. The third reason is the fear of the end - the knowledge that when you die, there will be nothing, just blackness. You will cease to exist. When I was younger, I felt that fear, I felt its paralysing grasp. As I aged, I came to a conclusion. If my existence is so fleeting, then I should make use of it - I should contribute something to the world, and I should enjoy myself. I could do neither of those if I spent my time in church, or feeling guilty about some imaginary and arbitrary transgression.