I was wondering the other day, why are atheists atheist? Why don't they believe in God? I'm looking for some answers. I want reasons for their "non-beliefs" and how they came to be who they are. I don't want an explanation on evolution, I don't want a debate, and I don't want criticism. Just answers.
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Don't swear.
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Don't criticize.
Don't give short, three word answers.
Please keep the size so that it doesn't take up the entire discussion board.

Thanks,

Maximillian

Why are Christians Christian?

They are introduced to an idea and choose to believe it.

A. The don't believe in god (the un-logic reason)
B. Dont want to spend time on anything religious(time you could use for more usefull stuff)(the "lazy" reason)
C. a mix of both A and B (in my case)

My personal answer is because I got plenty of arguments against religions, but no arguments against atheism

Also, I am allowing this post here for now, another mod might disagree with me but in my opinion you did assign debate specific rules so I consider it organized Ofcourse any other mod can change the location at will.

Atheists are Atheists in a lot of cases, becuase they want PROOF that there is a God out there. I am a very devoit Christian, but a lot of my atheist friends always say the same thing "show me proof"

Maximillian have been in allot of discussions with ducky, and looks like he want another one =P

and I'm Christian, but not the most active one, and one that also ask for answers and want proof, it's kinda more easy to see why people are atheist then why people are christian from my point of view, but i'm still a christian

Top 10 reasons to be an athiest:

10. You hate your parents, and your parents are Christian.
9. Hypocrites who tell you how to live annoy you, so you prefer to tell everyone how to think.
8. You believe in materialism. (If you can't sense it, it doesn't exist)
7. You learn about all sorts of religions, you therefore assume all must be false, since 2 of them are mutually exclusive.
6. Nobody taught you the Deistic Method.
5. You just don't feel it.
4. You believe that a paradox means it is false.
3. Your favorite authoritative figure told you it's a good idea.
2. You think being an Atheist means you are an independent thinker.
1. It's trendy

I'm a Christian, but don't mock other peoples beliefs and try to be funny about it. I've never once seen an atheist that was an "atheist" cuz it was trendy. If they were, they aren't a real atheist.

Its usually the materialistic thing. If you cannot see it or feel it, it doesnt exist.

While I was just trying to be humorous, all of my points were points made by Atheists on the internet which explain why they are atheists.

However, the reason I'm responding is this strange notion you have that being an atheists isn't trendy and that people don't identify as atheists because of this trend.

http://trendblog.tk/

This here is a time line arranged history of the use of the word Atheist in literature and articles related to specific times.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie ... q=&aqi=g10

As you can see, there is a sharp increase after the year 2001, which is when the "New Atheist" became coined and became trendy.

Compare this time line with the term Deism, which first became trendy in the 1700s as a way to distinguish from people who believed in god and spirituality, but not organized religion and then again, when it became trendy as an opposite to the New Atheists.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie ... g-s1g1g-s1

then as a control I typed in "god"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie ... aqi=g-p3g7

Yes but people who say they are Atheists just to be cool around their friends are not really Athiests. I know a lot of people that say they are Atheist yet ive seen them praying when they thought no1 was around. I even saw one at church. It's odd. People who say they are atheist and brag about it around their friends, are usually posers.