Explain atheism

[robvalue]

Hey there, welcome

To me, atheism is simply a reaction to reality as I perceive it. It's not an assessment of the idea of religion or anything like that, it's a scientific evaluation of the claims being made about "God". My personal biggest problem here is that I generally have no clue what people even mean by "God". People can rarely define it to me, and even when they do, everyone has a different idea. So one entity meeting all these criteria at once is problematic anyway. Atheism is just a description of a state of mind. It's not a choice, or a club. It's someone who doesn't believe God claims. Whether they describe themselves as such, or whether they are honest about it, is a different matter. You don't necessarily have to also believe there is no God; you can simply be undecided, such as someone who doesn't know if the defendant is guilty or innocent and is awaiting further evidence.

Religion is a different matter. You can join a religion even if you're an atheist, although you'd probably not admit to being one. Personally I have no need for religion, and I find the whole thing very creepy. I am not looking for things to worship, nor am I looking for any kind of dogmatic teachings. I'm quite happy living my life how I see fit. I figure that if there is a "God", and he's a reasonable sort, he'll approve of me striving to be the best person I can be, and he wouldn't penalise me for not kissing his ass. If however he is the kind of being that would demand worship, then he's not worthy of it. I wouldn't trust such an egotistical being to keep to its word, even if I did bow to its whimsies. I find the whole idea of worship bizarre. I would get nothing out of it, and I can't possibly see what a "God" could get out of it either.

So atheism is simply a description of my state of mind regarding assessment of God claims (they are mostly incoherent rubbish, or else they define things we couldn't possibly have any information about) while my rejection of religion is a conscious choice. Even if I became a theist, who believed God claims were "true", I'd carry on just as I do now without any religion. I'd happily have a sensible relationship with "God", should it decide to communicate with me. People frothing at the mouth, while pointing at trees and waving about old books of primitive rubbish is not what I consider God "communicating" with me.