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Lorenzo Lorenz

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Why have people (Atheists) Chosen not to believe in God? Does this give freedom to live life without becoming answerable to anyone?

Many people are atheists because of the way they were brought up or educated, or because they have simply adopted the beliefs of the culture in which they grew up. So someone raised in Communist China is likely to have no belief in God because the education system and culture make being an atheist the natural thing to do.

"Other people are atheists because they just feel that atheism is right." It is on this premise that i am asking this question.

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    Verble Gherulous 20+

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    Jun 22 2012: There are many different reasons why people are atheists, as many reasons as there are people. Not being an atheist, myself, it would be presumptive of me to comment on the reasons. But from studying the majority of their arguments for atheism, or more specifically, their arguments against religion, one major theme has always presented itself: atheists are mainly antagonistic against religious beliefs and practices, especially those that procliam peace and yet commit murder,that proclaim community and yetcast people out, that procliam a soveriegn god, and then use that excuse to commit all kinds of atrocities.

    There are many other logical reasonings as well, but the hypocricy of the hyper religious is the most noticeable target of the ire of the atheist. And the blame must be put on the Christians primarily, in America andthe rest of the Western world, because throughout history to today, we as Christians have done a terrible terrible job of presenting the true message of salvation through Christ. When Christians finally begin to present themselves as true responsible messengers of peace, instead of hedonistic bubllies of the world, then and only then will atheists and others see that perhaps there is some truth to all this dogma we've been spewing for centuries.

    In my humble opinion.
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      Colleen Steen 500+

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      Jun 29 2012: Dear Verble,
      I LOVE your open mindedness, your open heart, and ability to express yourself with respect, honesty, compassion, empathy and kindness...no matter what the topic question or your personal beliefs are.

      I do not label myself, other than as a simple human being, exploring this life adventure, and I totally agree with what you have written in the comment above. I believe that when the majority of people walk their talk, we may have a world in which we can all live in peace and harmony.

      Thank you for being you, and sharing the beautiful gift with everyone you interact with:>)
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        Verble Gherulous 20+

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        Jun 30 2012: Thank you so much, Colleen, for these kind words. You wouldn't know this, but they come at just the right time, because I've been having kind of a bad week, but then, you always been on TED a great source of true kindness and light.

        But i would not be truly walking my walk if I didn't confess that any of those wonderful attributes comes not from me, but from the Christ whom I serve. I must give Him the credit for any goodness. And whenever I get snarky or testy, well, that's all me!

        Again though, thank you most kindly!
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          Colleen Steen 500+

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          Jun 30 2012: Dear Verble,
          Maybe I do, on some level "know" the right time!!! I saw your comment when you first wrote it, a week ago, and thought the exact same thing I expressed above. I kept seeing your comment as I scrolled through this thread on several occasions during the week to check out new comments. Every time I passed your comment, I thought..."no...not yet". Yesterday, I thought..."yes...now".

          I call it intuition or instinct. I believe there is a universal energy, or collective consciousness which allows us to "know" on many different levels when we are open to it. You choose to believe it is God driven, which I totally respect. Mostly, I respect that we can respect each other regardless (or because of?) some of our underlying beliefs?

          Thank YOU for your kind words Verble...always...all ways.

          I'm glad to listen to your "confession" Verble.......LOL:>)
          I love your communications my friend:>)
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      Obey No1kinobe 50+

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      Jul 1 2012: Hi Verble, the hypocrisy doesn't help if you try to know them by their fruits. But it does not disprove god. It just proves people can do bad stuff no matter what they preach, or they can believe stuff that teaches them things that are in part detrimental to human rights. Some of the bad stuff is actually just following the nasty parts of the dogma or scriptures. Parts of the scriptures themselves are often problematic if you value human rights.

      Hypocrisy is not the reason I don't believe in any gods or goddesses. When I really looked there just wasn't any evidence, backed up by other non supernatural explanations for the universe, earth, life, human behaviour and culture (including religion) and experience (including religious experience) making more sense.
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        Colleen Steen 500+

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        Jul 1 2012: This is very true Obey.....hypocrisy does not help the argument of those who call their god and religion loving, when the "preachers" are not behaving in a loving or respectful way. It simply serves to strengthen my beliefs (or lack of) regarding god and religion.

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