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

[pocaracas]

I like my theory better.

Some time before the people in there thought of the god Yahweh, the god An (or Anu) was already around in Mesopotamic people's minds. An, the father god, King of the gods, supreme ruler.

The passage of this king-leader-father-god to a monotheist mindset unwittingly maintained the maleness of the character.
Believers also maintained the deference with which you feel you should address this king-leader-god.
To me, it makes no sense to kneel before an omniscient being. It also makes no sense that one would need to appease an all-loving entity with prayer and worship. It's as if believers are treating the ultimate good, loving, powerful entity as a petty human king.

But it does make sense, if you look at where the concept of this god comes from - An.

Huh, thanks for the wiki link. I've heard bits and pieces of ideas like this before, but I haven't researched too deeply into it. I'm going to read into this more now.

Do note the similarities with El: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(deity), the same El that features in Isra-El (Israel).
"For the Canaanites and the ancient Levantine region as a whole, Ēl or Il was the supreme god, the father of mankind and all creatures.[15] He also fathered many gods, most importantly Hadad, Yam, and Mot, each sharing similar attributes to the Greco-Roman gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades respectively.

As recorded on the clay tablets of Ugarit, El is the husband of the goddess Asherah."
[...]
"The theological position of the Tanakh is that the names Ēl and ’Ĕlōhîm, when used in the singular to mean the supreme god, refer to Yahweh, beside whom other gods are supposed to be either nonexistent or insignificant. "

Fascinating, huh?...