Why I am an atheist – Radek Szyroki

[cleanhippie]

The world as explained by science is so beautiful it makes me weep. Literally. When I think about these tiny jiggling particles that constitute everything, when I gaze into the sky and see the vastness of the Cosmos, when I sit in my chair, smoke a pipe and consider life on Earth and try to wrap my head around the unimaginably complex processes that allowed me to form as a human being and now ponder life itself, when I try to imagine and appreciate how much we have accomplished, when I see the shrouded realm of what we do not yet know my eyes brim with tears of emotion, my heart leaps with expectation and wonder. I am so grateful that I am privileged enough to live in times of great scientific understanding and in social circumstances that exposed me to all this information. It is marvellous. It is profound.

When I hear anyone proposing an invisible being whose existence denies the weight of all the things I hold dearest, I feel like I have been slapped in the face. Any concept of god steals away the world’s beauty and wonder and mints it into a mere cog in some strange machinery. It is outrageous to me and most offensive. It beslimes the greatness of human discovery and I will have none of it.

There are also moral reasons for my disbelief. I have a firm conviction that only the morality that emerges from a deep intrinsic need to do good is worthwhile. The opposed, religious morality of punishment and reward I find unwholesome, dishonest and infantile. I do not consider people who behave acceptably because they fear eternal punishment moral. They are petty and cowardly at best. I believe in humankind, I believe that a vast majority of us have enough sense to be decent human beings without some whiplash constantly ringing in our ears.

--snip--

Mine was the long road to atheism. I was always driven by curiosity and a desperate craving for truth. As a young man I thought I found my answers in religion but I became quickly disillusioned when I understood that religion only poses more questions and gives no sensible answers in return. I tried many things, many belief systems, many philosophical approaches and I found that all the answers are improbably simple. I just have to rely on the facts, without fairy tales, false hopes and wishful thinking. And if I could not find hard facts to answer my questions, I became courageous enough to accept that I did not know. Not knowing is not particularly worse than knowing, if you have your reason in place and solid grounding — it just propels you to ask questions and try to find out, it kindles a desire to know everything there is to know. And my greatest wish is that we eventually do.

Radek Szyroki
Poland

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/10/10/why-i-am-an-atheist-radek-szyroki/

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These essays are great! PZ will be posting many, many more.

[RKP5637]

1. Excellent!!! "There are also moral reasons for my disbelief. I have a firm conviction that

only the morality that emerges from a deep intrinsic need to do good is worthwhile. The opposed, religious morality of punishment and reward I find unwholesome, dishonest and infantile. I do not consider people who behave acceptably because they fear eternal punishment moral. They are petty and cowardly at best. I believe in humankind, I believe that a vast majority of us have enough sense to be decent human beings without some whiplash constantly ringing in our ears."

[MineralMan]

2. Thanks for posting these accounts from other people.

It's very interesting to see the paths and reasoning that brought people to their disbelief in supernatural entities. I imagine there's a different story for every atheist on the planet. And thanks to PZ for posting them on the blog.

I hope you'll just ignore those who object to these stories.

[cleanhippie]

3. Those who would object to these stories are hypocritical bigots.

Hopefully, there are none of those types here at DU.

[humblebum]

6. So, if a religious person gives a testimony for their belief, you ridicule

and denounce it. But if an atheist gives a testimony such as that here, and it is critiqued, you call the critics "hypocritical bigots." You need to do some soul searching, hippie.

[cleanhippie]

7. So, if you just make some shit up and claim that I said it, thats ok?

I'm not sure jesus approves of that kind of thing. Perhaps some soul searching is in order.

[humblebum]

10. Seems to work for you quite nicely. The same drivel over and over

begins to look like the truth, if one is not on the ball.

[cleanhippie]

11. I'm rubber, you're glue. What you say bounces off of me and sticks to you!

What the fuck, dude. This is what your argument has been reduced to.


It really saddens me to watch this happening.

[humblebum]

17. Just as I expected. Same drivel over and over. nt

[cleanhippie]

18. For someone who claims they are of an advanced age, you sure do act like a child an awful lot.

[humblebum]

19. Lowering oneself to a certain level is not always easy. nt

[cleanhippie]

20. Well then you are to be commended, as you make it look very easy.

[MellowOne]

4. I have seem this happen

Many people become disillusioned with Christianity because they are expecting God to make everything in their lives rosy and when hardships come they blame God.

When one believes in a God they cannot prove or see, God rewards them for their faith. That's why the life after this one is so wonderful.

[MikeH]

8. In other words you believe God rewards those who happen to make the right guess

[MellowOne]

9. I don't feel I made the right "guess"

This isn't a game of chance, you either believe it or you don't, no guess work involved.

[cleanhippie]

13. No one said it was a game of chance, they said you made a guess.

Excellent misdirection, though.

[MellowOne]

14. MikeH did

If you're guessing at the possiblity then it's like playing Russian Rulet. I'm saying believing in God can't be reduced to a game of chance. You either embrace it or dismiss it. Period.

[cleanhippie]

15. Maybe the word "chance" just is not showing on my screen?

Because from what I see, nowhere does anyone claim "chance".

But you seem to missing his point....

which is, by guess (or chance?) you CHOSE to believe in YOUR god, not one of the 5000+ OTHER gods. What makes the god YOU have chosen the right choice, that is not the same exact reason one might make for THEIR god?

[MikeH]

16. I consider believing in a God one cannot prove or see to be not different from guessing

[cleanhippie]

12. Ok, terrific!

[Odin2005]

5. My attitude is absolutely IDENTICAL! K&R!