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

[Balaco]

Yeah, I'm far more interested in the questions Balaco is asking and how he's using his answers. I hope he keeps coming back.

I agree. The original topic is often more interesting than the topics that later derail the discussion but it's interesting how it happens with every thread. Human nature I guess.

Things for OP to consider

The historical evidence for Jesus is shaky at best.

Many religions have a story very similar to that of Jesus' about their prophet.

There is no objective, quantifiable evidence for any gods or supernatural beings. I know that, and depending on the atheist or theist perspective, the response to that would be that it's a test of faith (which I've seen conflicting views about), or simply that God isn't real.

There really isn't even any evidence for anything supernatural. ^

The Bible is a bronze age collection of stories that are historically inaccurate and it contains many contradictions and logical fallacies. I've been looking into that and need to see how theist justifications hold up logically.

If one religion is true why are there so many religions? Earlier religions seem to have spawned to try to provide an answer to "supernatural" things that were actually natural but had a lack of evidence. Which is why they're easily disregarded. 

Christianity seems to have so many different branches due to a mix of miscommunicated information and differing interpretations. Yet it's still relevant today, as it manages to adapt and provides justifications for supernatural events that "technically" can't be fully disproven (regardless of they're actually rational justifications). 

I definitely can see how all this can work against religion.

Why doesn't your god heal amputees? From my understanding, it's seen as a test to help them grow stronger in a sense. If God isn't real, that also explains why they don't get healed, so I guess the "right" answer depends on whether God is actually real.

Why does evil exist? A consequence of free will, or because there is no God. Again, the answer to that depends on whether God is real.

Why did you become a Christian? I was raised in the faith, and never questioned it until now (which I realize is common among theists).

What drew you to the specific denomination of Christianity that you belong to? ^

If you were born in Syria, would you have become a Muslim? By the logic of the above two, probably. Which is another reason why I feel like I need to actually question my faith rather than blindly accepting what I was born into.

Islam, Christianity and Judaism are all Abrahamic religions and all three religions regard the first five books of the Old Testament, or the Torah, as a holy book.

Realize that there may be no good reason that we can give you for becoming an atheist, but rather understand that it may just be a matter of you being more honest with yourself about what you think, feel and believe.

Before I even read this post, I decided to type up atheist points that seem valid, to keep them in mind, and was going to post them here and on the Catholic Forums. A lot of my responses to this post actually align with my notes, but I'll just leave them unedited for the most part...

• seems like there's an atheistic explanation for anything theistic 
  
• Pack's videos for example have AronRa apparently refuting every single point...with what seems to be valid logic
  

• while God "can't" be disproven, could that be because the religion justifies it (possibly irrationally) in way so that God "technically" "can't" be disproven?
  
• theistic arguments might ignore/unreasonably stretch facts to defend God
  
• miracles for example may have logical, natural explanations.......but theists might put them in a perspective that "technically" "can't" be disproven by involving God
  
• Bible contradictions might also be an example.....may be legitimate contradictions that prove the Bible is unreliable........or there really could be a valid theist explanation
  

• God/religion could be a manifestation of our minds/personalities
  
• we might feel good when we feel like we've pleased God, bad when we feel like we've offended him........because our minds have formed the idea/image of him 
  
• faith can be so strong and widespread because of how we're conditioned to it from birth.............so hard to let go because of the risk of God being real and atheists being wrong ("The fool says in their heart there is no God.") (definitely can connect to this myself)
  
• many people don't even question their faith due to their conditioning (again, this applies to me) and continue to justify it without looking at potentially valid atheistic points
  
• (EDIT) which supports why religion is so geographical
  
• faith may grow in complexity due to justifications (rational or irrational) to stop people from denying the faith
  
• many religions seemed to have started out in ancient times to serve as an explanation for things that weren't understood (sickness, natural disasters)
  
• scientists are predominantly atheist possibly because they find the answers to those things that weren't understood