The lack of evidence and God of the Gaps.
Hundreds of years ago, people held gods responsible for everything they didn't understand, like lightening or floods. With increasing scientific enquiry and results, these gaps in our knowledge of the world are disappearing. It is possible to view the world with a purely naturalistic point of view and explain it without resorting to a supernatural deity. If God was so willing to present himself to a primitive society 2000 years ago, then why won't he do so today, when we can accurately record it?
There is absolutely no evidence for a divine being, thus my disbelief.
"Supernatural claims require supernatural evidence".
An elaboration:
Too many to choose from.
There are thousands of man made religions and gods to choose from. Each with their own set of gods and beliefs. All of the religions have followers that claim to have religious experiences that prove that theirs is "the one true religion". They can't all be right.
The majority even go to the extent of saying that unbelievers are condemned for eternity in Hell (or the equivalent). Statistically speaking, that means everyone on the planet is going to Hell, bar the lucky few that so happened to believe in the "right" religion.
Some even have hundreds of denominations within a particular religion - for example, Christianity has over (approximately) 38,000 separate denominations - all with different interpretations and laws. Which one is right?
If you were born in India, is it not likely that you would be a Hindu?
If you grew up in Saudi Arabia, would you not be Islamic?
If you grew up in ______, is it likely that you would be _____?
The answer to those questions is yes. This is because of religious indoctrination as a child - you are most likely an adherent of your religion because of your parents and location. Generally speaking, your religious view isn't up to you. Babies are atheists, not Christians.
Too good to be true.
The concept of an afterlife and an all loving God is a nice thought. I, for one, would love the idea of an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God watching over me, guiding me and reserving a special place in heaven for me.
Religion appeals to human selfishness. It agrees with every ones opinion that they are special, unique and individual beings who are not comparable to any other human, not even to mention other animals.
Everyone is afraid of death. This is basically because of a survival mechanism embedded within all sane animals. You have to be afraid of death in order to have the will to survive. The afterlife is a reassuring concept generated by humans as a response to this innate and instinctual fear.
Hence, the creation of religion can easily be explained due to our abstract imagination and wishful thinking.
All loving or malevolent? A contradictory fairytale.
Why did God create a Hell to torture someone for eternity for something they did in their life? Why did he create humans with the potential for such awful crimes? How does being cynical and not following the masses deserve eternal punishment? Why would someone who lived a selfish (but not immoral) life, but believes in God because of his upbringing get a spot in heaven, but someone who lived their life helping others and doing good, get banished to Hell for simply not believing? Why does a supposed omniscient, omnipotent and loving God allow natural disasters to happen, diseases, starvation etc.? Why do so many prayers go unanswered? Why would an almighty being be so eager for the attention of mere human beings anyway?
God is a contradiction.
If he is truly omniscient and benevolent, he can choose no path other than whichever is the "most moral" or causes the most good, hence God has no free will.
If is he truly benevolent, he would not have created an imperfect universe full of suffering and evil. These obviously exist, so either God does not exist or he is not the all loving being that most major religions profess to.
If he is truly omniscient, he knows everything about you and what you will do before humanity even existed. Hence, your life is predetermined and you have no real free will.
God explains nothing.
God is not an alternate explanation. It explains nothing. It doesn't answer how he created the universe or even how God was created in the first place. Religion discourages anything contrary to preconceived dogmatic beliefs and the only "solution" that it offers is a demanding, unfounded assertion that "God did it!".
In fact, God only complicates things. When people are confronted with problems, they unknowingly use a technique called "Occams Razor" which asserts that "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity." Simply stated, this means the solution with the least assumptions is more likely. God is a pretty big assumption. Rather than explain using naturalistic means (which is all humans are capable of), we must assume that God either created himself or is infinite, and then created the universe. This does not fit in with science and requires a huge leap (with many religions along the way) to reach this preconceived "conclusion".
One should start with a completely blank canvas and work your way from there without resorting to a supernatural or unexplainable being, which is often contradictory. Religion has a tendancy to start with a conclusion (God), and pick and choose anything that supports it whilst ignoring the contrary evidence.
God does nothing but add zero to the equation.
The Bible.
The Bible was written by primitive men over 2000 years ago (over many years). It contains hundreds of self contradictions, inconsistencies and unfulfilled prophecies. It condones slavery, rape and murder. For example, it orders Christians to kill homosexuals, adulterers, witches, nonbelievers, women who are not virgins before married and anyone who works on the sabbath day. Sadly, there are many more. Why would such brutal acts be included, not to mind being justified and ordered, in the "Holy Book"? My answer is that it was written 2000 years ago by primitive and violent men trying to establish order through fear.
The Bible was written, sorted and edited by fallible, violent and primitive men over thousands of years.
Where are the miracles?
Jesus promised to answer our prayers countless times. Why are there no unexplained medical miracles? There are lucky coincidences, but no miracles. Assuming those select few incidences were actually miracles - then how did an all loving God help such an extremely small minority, but completely reject the vast majority of people?
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Unicorns, Zeus and The Flying Spaghetti Monster
I bet you just cast off those three things without a second thought. Why? Many people believed in Unicorns and Zeus, in fact - thousands of people once believed in Zeus, and probably for the same reason as to why you believe in your particular god(s).
There is just as much of a lack of evidence for those three claims than those made by Christians or Hindus. I can claim that a fairy follows me around all day and tells me secret things and guides me. He created the world from fairy dust and hair clips. However, you can never see him or ever prove his existence because he is outside of your human understanding. Disprove him. Is there any difference between the reasons you cited for his non existence and between your particular belief?
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