Why I Am An Atheist

Why I Am An Atheist

     Growing up as a child, I never really thought about religion that much. I guess as a kid I just respected other people’s beliefs and went on with my life. I wasn’t particularly someone who thought about the “deep” questions in life such as what the meaning of life is, or why I was born, or what direction the world is headed in. However, when I graduated high school, I suddenly felt a longing in my heart to want to understand the deeper things in life besides grades, going to the best universities, and being the best looking. So, I decided to go on the computer and do a little research and became a non-denominational Christian. 

     While I was a Christian, there was one ministry in particular that was very appealing to me called Joyce Meyer Ministries. It was headed by a woman, Joyce Meyer, who explained how God had helped her through innumerable times of grief, despair, and hopelessness. She was very convincing when she spoke and I often thought to myself that God must have sent her as some sort of prophet who would relay what pain means and can teach us in our lives. However, as I grew up and intellectually matured some more, a few things began to shake my belief in God. 

     First and foremost, for something to exist, one must be able to see it. That means, one must be able to see it with your eyes. In every religion, we don’t have a clear conception of what God really looks like. I always imagined during my time of belief that God was some old man in the sky somewhere hidden. As I became “smarter”, however, it was clear to me that God had to look like something. So, I realized that there probably was no God if he had no physical form. Every religion teaches us that God is some immortal spirit that can’t die, but I wonder to myself, what exactly is a spirit? It became more obvious to me there were logical problems in religion. 

     Another glaring problem in religion is that pastors and preachers, who are supposed to be role models for people to follow, lead contradictory lives to what they teach. They teach us to be humble, selfless, meek, and kind. When I look at what they earn and what they do for a living, it’s clear that they don’t value these qualities at all. For example, Joyce Meyer, the preacher who I was talking about in my previous two paragraphs, is extremely wealthy. In the Bible, however, it says that you can literally choose between God or money. So I wonder to myself, is it really fair that she leads such an opulent lifestyle that is completely against her own teaching, while many of her followers don’t earn much at all?

     The last problem I want to talk about with religion is that religion says that life has meaning. Growing up as a human being and existing, I understand that we as rational beings seek to find purpose and meaning in a seemingly cold universe. As a man who is in his twenties, I am fairly certain that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. Each day, I wake up, watch funny YouTube videos, eat, and sleep. That doesn’t sound like much meaning to me at all. It seems like the only meaning life has is to enjoy it and have fun. There doesn’t seem to be much meaning in life at all other than just existing and being content with what you have.

     If you are religious, I hope my essay made you wonder, is religion rational? Does life really have inherent value? What does God look like? Why are so many pastors and preachers so wealthy? When you have an answer to each of these questions, you’ll have a much better understanding of how you really feel about religion, life, and your own purpose, too. Being an atheist isn’t easy, but so is being religious. Thanks and have a great day!

Reviews

[mattavelli]

Hello, apoet525! :)
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have similar feelings. Growing up in Illinois, my neighbors were mostly Lutherans. I never had religion myself, but they'd tell me that one day Jesus would reach out to me and find a place in my heart; very pretty wordage, but it never happened. Go figure. Haha
I later learned that Christianity has nothing to offer me. The religion itself is a simple sales pitch, offering a cure for sin. Its absurd really, a fictitious cure for a fictitious ailment, but it works.
As an adult, I try to help the indoctrinated. I tell them that sin isn't real, they weren't born broken. I tell them that belief is not knowing; that worship is a disgusting behavior, a corruption of our pure feelings of wonder. Its hard to break through the fear firewall, but I feel people are worth it.
Look at our history and you will see numerous genocides sanctioned by the Christian church. They're not the good guys of history. Followers of Catholicism have been monetarily supporting pedophiles to the tune of billions of dollars; even castrating boys to improve their singing voices. When Europeans colonized Africa and the americas, the church sanctioned the death and enslavement. These are the bad guys of history.
My son, age 7, and I have a game. When we hear someone say the word Jesus, we say Jesus is yucky. We say it loud.