Atheists, tell me, a Roman Catholic: why should I become an atheist?

[Opoponax]

OpoponaxThere is always the possibility of just accepting your faith and rolling with it.

Does it make you happy, or at least contribute to the happiness in your life? Dies it give you a sense of peace? Satisfaction? Does it fulfill a sense of wonder in you?

If it does indeed do those things, then, well, there's no reason to leave it.

If you respect the rights of others to believe differently, and you're probably already doing that anyway,  then maybe don't worry about this atheism stuff.

For me personally, I'll briefly echo what some others have said. I like knowing things. learning without impediments, and being able to get as close to what's true as is possible. And for better or worse, God just doesn't fit in. I consider a creator to be possible, sure; but I'd put the odds at about 0.0000000000000000000001%. And that's not worth believing in. Also, if there is a Creator, I give it a hell of a lot more credit than its believers do. I refuse to believe that an entity who could create an entire universe would be so concerned about what we do with our genitals, and then be willing to torture us forever because of it. It really is absurd if you think about it for a minute.

That's it, really. It's about deciding whether you care more about what is true, or what feels good. I see religion as similar to alcohol in that regard. You go through life slightly out of tune from reality, but with a warm feeling.

I'm too much of an analyst to be able to settle for what feels good.

I agree.

For people who give up their faith, there's often a period of anger that can last from a few years to a lifetime. They feel betrayed. Its like a close relative offering to invest your life savings, taking it for himself, and then unapologetically never giving it back. And most people can't ever make nice with that relative again because that lingering feeling of betrayal never leaves. It would be so nice if things could be the way they were before the betrayal, but it's just not possible anymore. And so you have to deal with the reality that you've been lied to and stolen from and move on from it, so that it never happens again... or something like that.

As to the alcohol analogy, it's kind of like being drunk, but never suffering any negative consequences from it. And, perversely enough, the more severe of a drunk one is, the more admired by his fellow drunks he becomes.

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For the poon.

Are you referring to atheism? 

I must profoundly disagree. Atheism is, for them most part, a cock-fest. And that's fine if one likes cock; not so much if one digs poon.