RE: Atheists, tell me, a Roman Catholic: why should I become an atheist?
January 21, 2017 at 4:10 am
(November 22, 2016 at 6:44 pm)Balaco Wrote: Before I begin, I ask that you please avoid being hostile or anything. I'm a Roman Catholic, but I feel like many people of faith immediately jump to degrading atheists as people, rather than trying to understand their mindset. I'm heavily confused right now, and am asking both Catholic and atheist sites for their mindsets. Obviously, Catholics are going to defend Catholicism, while atheists are going to defend atheism. I ask that you please be civil about it, as this could be life-changing for me.
I've been questioning how to improve in my Roman Catholic faith lately...but this morning I came to the realization that I never really questioned my faith itself. I was lightly raised Catholic and recently took it upon myself to grow closer to God. Now, for probably the first time in my life, I feel like I'm genuinely considering atheism as a possibility.
From what I understand, atheists do not accept the possibility of a supernatural being, and restrict themselves to our "natural" human thinking. Previously I thought that atheists are simply conditioned by society to the point where they are unable to "rationally" believe in a supernatural being...God doesn't allow us universally undeniable proof of his existence as a test of faith. Now, though, I feel like it's impossible to tell whether that mindset is correct, or whether atheists are correct in their focusing on our natural human mindsets. I do feel like I've felt something while praying throughout the past.
The other night, for example, I was planning on praying for about fifteen minutes, but felt oddly calm and ended up taking about an hour. Now I feel like that could have just been because I was comfortable, and my mind was "making things up" as I was more convinced in my faith.
Atheists, why do you reject the idea of God, and why should I? I know that your answers will include "there's no evidence" and all that, but please try to explain.
Think back into history and imagine Martin Luther sitting in some Catholic pad. At that time everyone in the region was a Catholic. But one day Martin got a bug up his butt and said that he was fed up with the Catholic thing. So he shacked up with a nun and then started telling other Catholics that he, of all people, had experienced some sort of divine revelation that his new, untried, and unproven way of thinking was straight from God. And guess what? Instead of the local yokels whacking him upside the head and burning him at the stake they believed him!
So time passes and about half of Europe runs to the new cult and the cults spend years killing each other. Then the French Catholics started calling the Protestant heretics "atheists" as a curse word for them.
So today "atheists" reject both cults just like Martin Luther had originally rejected the Catholic cult that he had grown up in and even held a leadership role in.
