Please remember, I'm no expert. Just some dude with thoughts like any other blowhard on the Internet. I will not debate specific religions as I have not read through the specific scriptures. The intention of this is to explain things that are difficult to describe through quick conversations.
Theists easily write off the validity of saying "I don't know," which is my response to "how did we get here?" and "what's the meaning of life?" I proudly state that I don't know, and neither do you. The theist answers to such questions are "God put us here," and "we exist to serve Him." These are not definitive answers. If an answer to a question is unknown or unclear, it's not valid to just apply any possible answer. I would ask "why do you assume it's this 'God' character, rather than something else? Maybe it's a Flying Spaghetti Monster." If your eyes are closed and someone asks you how many fingers they are holding up, the correct response is "I have no way of knowing that."
Often, in their explanations, theists also attempt to respond to what they assume non-theists are thinking. They often assume that a non-theist, such as myself, is thinking "I don't follow religion or believe in God because there is no scientific proof." They then make arguments such as "have you ever seen George Washington? Just because you've never seen something doesn't mean it never existed."
True. The only evidence we have of George Washington is in history books, documents, paintings, the dollar bill, museum artifacts, his home, and the existence of the American executive office. Maybe it's an extraordinary hoax. I guess I have to suspend that slight shred of disbelief. Do I find that easier than suspending my disbelief about some varying books written centuries/millennia ago (about a being in the sky who has a son who magically heals the sick, turns a little bit of food into a lot of food, walks on water, then gets brutally murdered by Romans so that God will agree to invite us to heaven [huh?], and an old dude who brings millions of animals onto a really big boat he built, and another man who talks to a burning tree, and another man who's told by a voice in the sky to kill his son only to hear "just kidding lol" right before the moment of truth)? Yeah. I do find it easier. A lot easier.
There are videos on YouTube in which theists, of varying religions, attempt to offer "proof" of the existence of God. They apply their own generalized and flawed logic to explain the creation of the universe. I've seen one video in which a man says that both the universe and time have to have a beginning, an end, and a cause for creation. "Right?" - he baits the other guest. And then the man says, "for me... that's irrefutable evidence there." No it isn't. It's easily refutable. I'm refuting it right now by saying it might be something other than God. "Right?" Just because someone uses the words "proof" or "evidence" does not mean they are giving either of them. They're being manipulative to those who are excited about agreeing with them. Also, there are plenty of in-depth, well elaborated studies about time and the size of the universe, outside the realm of what this one guy just tried thinking up.
I don't really care to label myself an atheist, despite all of this. Why bother labelling the things I don't believe? Why not call myself "anti-unicorn-ist" too? If I HAD to guess yes or no, I'd say there's PROBABLY not a magical dude in the sky, just like there PROBABLY aren't unicorns, but I guess either situation is possible. The universe just seems too chaotic and random and pointless (which may bum you out, but that doesn't make it unfeasible).
One's personal sense of religion is most often born from both family and tradition, save outlying cases of religious conversion. Religion is not based on inherent belief. If an orphaned boy was born from an Orthodox Jewish family, and then adopted by a Shiite Muslim family who indoctrinated him, he would most likely be Shiite Muslim. If that exact same child was adopted by an Episcopalian family, he would likely be Episcopalian. If he was raised by atheists, he would most likely be atheist. He wouldn't 'find the one true religion' even if he decided to search for his entire life, because that is an answer not given to anyone. All religion is based on guesses, which vary greatly. Millions of people can be wrong, because all the main religions have millions of followers.
My PROBLEM with these guesses is that they cause people to hate each other, affect personal freedoms, convince others of falsehoods, and sometimes commit mass murder. This is why I am not only non-religious, but somewhat aggressively non-religious. I see a lot of harm done in the name of something that, surprisingly, is based on a pretense of love. All based on "my guess has to be the right one, and you're a bad person for guessing differently."
Most importantly, don't ignore scientific evidence of theories such as evolution and the big bang. If you wish to apply God to these theories, that's your prerogative. Maybe there's a way that you can argue that God set these forces in motion. If you want to argue that they're "only theories," though, then I hope you have a REALLY good argument against the theory of gravity. You need to understand that the word 'theory' is completely different in the scientific realm than when we use it colloquially to describe when we have a hunch about something.
The earth is millions of years old. There were dinosaurs. There are fossils. You can see them at museums. I'm quite sure they aren't fake.
I like this video:
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