Atheism

I have had a few people curious about why I am an atheist. Some are nice about it, some snarky. Either way, most reasons people THINK I became an atheist are wrong. Nothing bad happened that made me lose my faith, I am not angry or rebelling. I am not following a trend. My reasons are simple. First, sound reasoning. The bible is contradictory. It was written by dozens of different men in many different languages over many different decades. No one agrees on translation and most professionals believe that most of it is allegory. Second, look further back into other religions. Almost all of the Christian religion is based on another religion when it does not copy it outright. It adapts itself into pagan rituals that already exist and then tries to claim them for it's own. (IE christmas) Religion is region based and every religion swears theirs is right. Being born into a region predetermines what religion you are going to be. Next, religion is harmful. Religion is the number one cause of death in the WORLD. For those who say it is peaceful and based on good, all I can think of are acts of terrorism in 'gods' name. And no, I do not mean the muslim religion, I mean all religions. Christianity had the crusades, burning witches and the inquisitions among a hundred other things, not to mention modern day hate and terrorism based on a few bible verses. Rights are with-held because 'the bible' says so. Next, I reason out why a religion was created in the first place. Religion not only controls people, it is a racket. Give us part of all of your wages because god wants it. Who is really dense enough to buy into that? Do people think 10% of their life income will buy their way into heaven?? Religion is tax exempt and making money hand over fist. Oh, but they help the poor! Sure, right after they build their super churches and pay for a few hookers or buy off the families of the boys the priests are molesting. Then comes the charge 'but how do you have any morals if you don't have god as a moral compass?' Hello. Is god the only thing keeping you from going on a killing spree and eating baby brains for lunch? My moral compass comes from wanting to be a good person. I don't have the threat of hell or the promise of heaven, I am good without god. If those things are the only thing keeping you in check, are you really a good person? The answer is a resounding NO. 'But what do you have to live for if you don't have god?' I have plenty to live for personally. Life is what you make it, and I wake up with a smile and a positive attitude and genuine hope to fill my kids, friends and families life with happiness. you can look at life and see everything that is wrong, and your life will suck, or you can wake up and think of every good thing you have around you and you can be happy. It's not about material things, or a pretend deity, it's about YOU. Prayer is my next gripe. 'I will pray for you'.  No thanks. Two hands put into action do more than 100 hands folded in prayer. Prayer does nothing. God did not heal that sick person, the DOCTOR did. Science did. God did not make that athlete score a touchdown, practice and genetics did that. You don't see an average Joe who has never held a football in his life walk onto a field and become a pro because he received a gift from god. You see athletes who have practiced and played and kept themselves in ideal shape. People don't magically heal from terminal disease because of divine intervention, science did that, a part of their chemical make-up. Bad things happen because 'god has his reasons'. Screw that. According to the bible, 'god' has always been sadistic and prideful and egotistical. 'I will create you with free will, but I already know how you will behave, so I will punish you forever for it'. Who creates a race that they know beforehand they are going to torture forever? Who creates a race and then kills almost every man woman and child on it? Who demands to be worshipped constantly under penalty of death and torture and then calls them self 'loving and forgiving'. And another thing. 'jesus died for your sins'. What? What does that even mean? That makes zero sense. All that serves is to give man an eternal sense of guilt and feeling like he owes 'jesus' something. So lets get this straight. this 'god' impregnated a woman while she was sleeping (RAPE), inserted himself into her, called himself 'jesus' while also existing as god. Died for mans sins and resurrected himself in a few days to head off to heaven. There's a sacrifice. Is it really a sacrifice if you die and re-spawn? I mean, it's not like you had to stay dead or anything. That's like dying for a friend in a video game. But not really. Because he 'died for our sins', which doesn't really mean anything. I mean, that wouldn't work anywhere else would it? I go into the car dealership, 'No, see, I don't have to pay off my loan because look, my brother here cut off his fingers, see? He cut them off for my car loan, so yeah, we're good, right?' What? In what world does that make sense? Yet millions of christians spout that off like a talisman, a rote answer they were brainwashed into giving (right after they drop a paycheck into the collection plate)
So you ask why I am an atheist. Common sense. Thinking for myself. Not being a complete brain-dead sheep.