I am a 15 year old atheist: help!

[Minimalist]

I would really like to see how you are more rational and intelligent than religious people?

Well one way is that we do not believe in invisible sky-daddies. It gives us a big leg up on the rationality scale.

[solja247]

We're not.

There is no evidence to show a causal relationship between intellect religious beliefs. Although stupid people tend to be religious,not all religious people are stupid.

But your forgetting something.

The majority of people, on this planet, are religious, so of course religions are going to have more stupid people than a minority group that havent been around that long (atheism)

Although the very brightest people are often atheists, not all atheists are amongst the very brightest.

Really? Find that rather bold.

Charles Darwin (Agnostic)
Stephen Hawking (Agnostic)
Issac Newton (Christan)
Albert Einstein (Pantheist)
Antony Flew (Deist)

Just to name a few of the greatest modern men...

I have never seen any evidence that human beings a a species are capable of consistent rational thought or behaviour.Nor have I seen any evidence that proves our that reason and intellect are involved in the formation of our most powerful beliefs and attitudes. That may in part be why relatively few people allow anything as prosaic as evidence to change their beliefs or world view.

Of course we are not! We are emotional beings as well, our experiences greatly contribute to what we believe. However, they should not be down played at all, but exert your uniqueness and intrinsic ideas and views.

I must admit, adult converts to any religion bemuse me. I can only conclude they are damaged and emotionally needy human beings with a very modest IQ, such as say little Tommy Cruise and various other celebrity Scientologists.

You are not going to be respected with those ideas. you and other some atheists (and fundamentalists) have to under stand we dont know what the absolute truth is! So please dont make arrogant statements like Dawkins does at times, you may be wrong, I may be wrong, we will never know, not in this life time.
What do you think of Antony Flew then? just another silly adult?

I think you are a smart kid, but you need to be careful not to be smug and think you know better. I hope you do continue your pursuit for truth, but you should be objective and read books by prominent theists (NOT creationist propaganda)

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Well one way is that we do not believe in invisible sky-daddies. It gives us a big leg up on the rationality scale.

Maybe I am a bit slow, but I fail to see how this makes you more rational, as I dont believe in invisible sky-daddies.

[ABierman1986]

I remember when I was a kid there were aspects of religion that my parents really cared about, and aspects they didn't. I definitely had a problem with God for a long time, and both my parents certainly believed. I think it always troubles parents when their kids start questioning their upbringing, and that it takes some guts to do so, nice job : ) But what I found to be the most helpful was that I didn't need to be confrontational with them, I would always patiently explain what I thought when they asked, and listen when they told me; I mean they were definitely coming at me with good intentions.

I had to give up the idea of convincing them though, my personal opinion is that people have to come from theism on their own, so I just thought of it as discussion instead. I didn't want to have constant battles with my parents over that.

I think celebrating the holidays, forming traditions, spending time together were the parts of religion my family really wanted me to accept, and once I did that then the tension that rose from a difference in beliefs was minimized. That's just my approach to the topic with my family and people I'm close to, food for thought.

[leo-rcc]

You should just feel superior to him because you know the truth.

I was going to let that slide but it irked me too much. Just because you think you are right and most here including me will agree with you that you are provably correct doesn't give you the right to feel superior. The father may well be justified believing what he does, and your assertion of knowing the truth is not the same as knowing the truth.

[Autumnlicious]

You should just feel superior to him because you know the truth.

I was going to let that slide but it irked me too much. Just because you think you are right and most here including me will agree with you that you are provably correct doesn't give you the right to feel superior. The father may well be justified believing what he does, and your assertion of knowing the truth is not the same as knowing the truth.

In addition, we call it being full of oneself.

[everythingafter]

[quote='padraic' pid='85144' dateline='1281165666']

I must admit, adult converts to any religion bemuse me. I can only conclude they are damaged and emotionally needy human beings with a very modest IQ, such as say little Tommy Cruise and various other celebrity Scientologists.

Puzzles me too. I recently had a conversation with a 60-something Christian who used to be an agnostic. He says he became a Christian when he was like 40-something and attributes belief to helping him quit drugs and alcohol. I couldn't get him to precisely pinpoint why he believes. His best answer seems to be that it's just an accumulation of details from the Bible, ID, and the like. He also said life just didn't make sense without there being something else. That's the best most can do.

[DeistPaladin]

Sadly,no one will learn there is no heaven when they die; being dead is not an experience. That realisation has has always irritated me: IF I'm right,the believers will never know. IF I'm wrong, I WILL know pretty much immediately.

3rd Possibility: We're both wrong. After all, only one religion (at most) can be correct.

Maybe, like that South Park episode, it'll turn out that the Mormons were right (reference to all the religious people who were surprised to find themselves in Hell). Or the Muslims. Or the Hindus. Or...

That being the case, I'll be sitting in the lake of fire next to a fundamentalist Christian and I'll say to him, "I got to sleep in every Sunday and saved 10% of my income. How was your life?"

[The Omnissiunt One]

Really? Find that rather bold.

Charles Darwin (Agnostic)
Stephen Hawking (Agnostic)
Issac Newton (Christan)
Albert Einstein (Pantheist)
Antony Flew (Deist)

Just to name a few of the greatest modern men...

That seems to be a fairly arbitrary selection. Besides, Flew was an atheist for most of his life. Most of the best contemporary scientists and philosophers are atheist, or at least agnostic. Of those you listed, only three subscribed to belief in any supernatural power, and only one subscribed to the extra mumbo-jumbo of Christianity (by the way, he also believed that metal could be turned into gold). All in all, your case isn't especially strong.

[Thor]

I was raised Roman Catholic since birth and have believed in the teachings of the bible because I have been told it is the only way. My parents are always trying to push their Christian ideals on me and it bothers me a lot.

Of course your parents are pushing their religion on you. That's how religions work. They have to get their claws on you when you're young and haven't yet developed the ability to think critically. After all, what adult, not previously indoctrinated in this nonsense, is going to believe tales of a man who was born of a virgin, walked on water, healed the sick with a touch of his hand and rose up from the dead?

I try to have discussions with my father and debate with him but whenever I throw something at him(not literally) it's like it doesn't count.

Your father is convinced his position is right. I really doubt that anything you say will change his mind.

What do I do to get past the wall of irrational thought and convince them once and for all?

You stated your problem quite clearly when you mention "irrational thought". It is very difficult to argue rationally when your opponent thinks irrationally. You can point out things that don't make sense and they will respond with crap like "We can't know why God does the things he does", or "God has his reasons", or "Somehow, God did it", or "We can't judge God", or my personal favorite, "I just KNOW it!" (Yeah, they just KNOW things that are impossible to actually know.)

Are there any arguments I could use?

One of my favorites is to ask if "God" loves us. They will no doubt respond "Of course!". You then ask them if "God" created everything (They'll no doubt say yes). You then point out that if "God" created everything, that means he created bubonic plague, smallpox, polio, rabies, malaria, tetanus, botulism, poisonous mushrooms, etc, etc... You then ask how it is that a "loving" God would create things that harm and kill us. This is completely inconsistent and contradictory. But be prepared for one of the insipid answers I mentioned above. They may also throw out something like, "Those things are the work of Satan!" Of course, this opens up a can of worms for them because you can then ask how it is that "Satan" is more powerful than "God".

Good luck!