Pascal's Wager

[Eilonnwy]

Actually an atheist is a person who rejects what theists accept as evidence of the existance of God.

I don't like the implication of that statement. Rejecting evidence implies we can see God exists but chose to ignore it. Rather based science that flies in the face of God and lack of convincing evidence from theists we come to the conclusion that he doesn't exist, ebcause the burden is on theists to prove and they fail in that. The nuance may not seem like much to you but it's important. The former implies we defy logic and that couldn't be farther from the truth. We embrace it.

Let me tell you, it's not easy to disbelieve something you're brought up to believe as a child. It may seem silly, especially to some atheists here, but I sometimes miss beleiving. Life was so much simpler then. I could believe someone was watching over me, that I would go to heaven. But just because those beliefs are comfortable doesn't mean I should hold them dear when I can't logically justify them. It took me a long time from when I began to doubt till finally accepting complete atheism. I say I was an atheist around 16...probably a weak atheist by then. I'm certainly a strong atheist now. The more I learn the more I disbelief.

I remember when I was young crying in bed praying to God to give me a friend. I was so alone because I was always sick and I was socially inept. I knew people and sometimes hung out with them, but I couldn't consider them friends. When I became an atheist I realized the most important thing I have ever come to learn. I control me, and the only one I have to blame for my lack of friends was me. Now I have TONS of friends and a few really close ones. This lesson helped me deal with my depression and suicidal tendencies as a teen, and my father's alcoholism when he relapsed a year ago.

But anyway, I kind of when on a tangent. The point I was making is Atheist is not an easy thing to suddenly decide, maybe for some people, but certainly not me. And I would suspect it wasn't easy for a lot of other people. If you try for just one minute and consider everything you believe about God is false, just entertain that idea. Then analyze how you feel about that. I'm sure you'd be upset. I was no less upset. But when I finally came to the conclusion I did...it was liberating.