I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who's a Christian the other day. He was interested in why I hold the position I hold (atheism) I couldn't really articulate very well the points I was trying to get across to him at the time so I told him I would write something up, being the keen writer that I am.

So, I'm looking for some a little help on things to write on for this essay of sorts. I was thinking I'll go through all the main reasons someone might have to believe in a God and write a little about why they don't convince me. Except I'm not entirely sure what those reasons are. I'm not planning to "convert" my friend or anything just help him understand a little better.


Thanks


Ryan

I would discuss some of the following:

Morality with and without God
Historical evidence
Vast # of religions
How something came from nothing
Miracles/personal stories from all over the world
How science can explain the world and faith cannot contradict science if it is to be believed (many religions do contradict science)

Thats a good start, a lot of those ideas were knocking around in my head.

"why I don't believe in god"

Of all the words in this heading; god is the easiest one to understand, the simplest to prove, the least useful and the most superfluous.

Therefore I see no reason to neither believe in god nor make this essay very long.

Sincerely,
t_d

I think you'll have an easier time explaining why you don't believe in Christianity. It's too easy for definitions to shift on you if you go for a general belief in god.

the hiddeness of god
the problem of evil
the way the world resembles nothing like one which you would reasonably suppose such a god would create
the great number of coincidences within religions that demonstrate they are manmade

"If God does exist, I request that he make this essay burst into flames spontaneously before I can give it to my friend to read.

I am sure that his devotees will claim that he does not want to be tested, but I have honestly searched for him and he has dishonestly hid himself from me (for example by giving us the Bible which directly contradicts empirical evidence eg Noah's Ark). This is not the action of the loving God described in the Bible.

If he truly cares in the way that his devotees claim, then he should be willing to reveal himself. If not, I will take the continued existence of this essay as evidence for his non-existence and will presume that, even if he does exist, God would prefer to remain hidden and unknown.

QED"

God is what most religions refer to infinity, creation .. (cant get with more name atm sorry) So it exists and it's within everyone. Now, if you ask why are you not christian :

False believes; 10's if not 100's of other religions; Proof that most of the things that couldn't be proved earlier are fake; An idealism based on fear and imo, any non brain washed person should not choose that path.

You need a lot more than speculation to prove that Christianity is the biggest conspiracy that ever took place in the world.

What good is it for you to write an essay on "why *I* don't believe in god" if you're going to write about what *other people* are telling you to write about?

Maybe you should start out by listing "the points you were trying to get across to him." After all, *these* are the actual reasons you don't believe in god, right? If someone here does a write-up about the problem of evil, but in a way you've never thought of it before, then that's not really a reason you don't believe in God.

Just be honest with yourself. Answer the question as best you can on your own, and engage the conversation with your friend.

Edit: What you are doing is the atheist parallel of someone who believe in Jesus, and when asked why he believes in Jesus, picks up Lee Strobel's book, reads it, and the tells his friend that these are the reasons why he believes in Jesus.

Good thing no one's trying to prove that, or even suggest it?

Was it a "conspiracy" when people used to believe the Earth was flat, or that Earth was the center of the universe, or yes, even that everything was spoken into being in an instant?

It's only a "conspiracy" if you actually know it's not true. While there are some priests who have lost their faith yet continue to preach, a cabal of one is hardly a conspiracy.

Are you trying to argue that all the other religions are conspiracies? Or only that yours is obviously and irrefutably true, with so much actual, hard evidence (of which I am presently unaware) that it would require a vast "conspiracy" to exist, were it not true?

Not asking anyone to write this for me, just help articulating some points. See first reply.

For reals?

If this list of strawmen is the best Atheist Outreach can come up with, I might just count them as reasons why I do believe in God.

huh?

Some atheists aren't agnostic so they are claiming that they know its not true. The priests you are talking about are more so con's rather than conspirators imo.

My reality tells me that Christianity is 100% truth. It tells me that Jesus is the only way to salvation, making all other religions false. I don't have "hard evidence" that you probably want because you haven't experienced my (or any Christian's) reality.

This is like saying I believe Obama wasn't born is the USA. It doesn't matter what you believe it matters what true. What is your evidence?

Yes, your absolutely right. My evidence has come from numerous personal experiences in my life. And I'm not talking about "i prayed to get an A on my test and I did". If anyone experienced my reality they would be crazy not to believe in Christianity.

What does any of that have to do with a conspiracy? Even if someone is asserting that they "know" there's no god in the same way you "know" there's a god (although the person you quoted only seems to be pointing out that there's lots of different religions, and they can't all be true)... what does this have to do with conspiracy. You brought it up, you asserted it, this is the point I am attempting to address.

Often, the inability to articulate a point is connected to a weak understanding of the point being made. That is to say that the reason you need help articulating yourself is likely because you don't actually have a good grasp of why it is you don't believe in God. It's just a hodge-podge of ideas that are bouncing around in your head. (From what I understand, this is the same effect that leads people to write crappy essays in school. They just have some vague ideas, but they have not really coalesced into a coherent position.)

At this point, it seems to me that the articulation is more about justifying the conclusion that you've already decided is true, not an exploration of whether the justification is actually sufficient (in your mind) to convince you that God does not exist.

I'd start by discussing the burden of proof. (Presumably you think it rests with the theist).

Then discuss what might constitute sufficient evidence (including a discussion on what you don't find sufficient).

That will presumably lead you to the conclusion that one should remain a skeptic.

If you are of the belief that there is actually no God (atheist has a variety of meanings here) you should probably outline what consequences you'd expect to see if one did exist, then observe that they don't. (presuming that's why you hold the strong atheist position).

I think you'd get bonus points if you went on to discuss the consequences of this lack of belief - how it relates to morality, finding purpose and meaning in life, facing death, overcoming adversity, etcetera

In your case, you would need to prove that it is not. Then if cristianity is not a conspiracy, is Islam one ?

As usual, the burden of proof is on those claiming a conspiracy. For example: "religion was invented as a manipulative hoax on the masses," which is a conspiracy theory.

This is different than simply disbelieving in religion.

Well, i don't think that it is to hard to understand that in different religions people act's differently and share different ideologies which can be applied to masses and generalized up to some point, Does this proof my theory ?

Well, it's obvious someone was inventing religions, we just can't prove which ones, or possibly all.

OP, an essay as to why you reject Christianity or any specific religion would be better than why I don't believe in the existence of a god. I reject all religions, but don't really know if I can reject the existence of some cosmic force as a god altogether. At least, I don't have enough evidence to outright reject the possibility. In that respect, I'm really more of am apatheist.

You've already lost to your friend if you couldn't tell him based on your own reasoning when he asked. Asking others for their reasoning to use as your own when you're no longer four years old isn't very compelling.

You'd be making it an essay on other people's opinions on why they don't believe. Your friend won't give much of a **** on that.