I too am not from any religion. I am still totally puzzled how anyone can believe such things. Its all fables and as time goes on we continue to prove humans has been here only a couple million years and only a couple thousand years as a thinking feeling human. It must be all about brainwashing and fear of dieing that pushes people to believing such nonsense. The sad thing… Most suffering and persicution and murder are directly related to the various organized religions. True from tbe begining of man.

My point is not to tell anyone that their choice is stupid. I don’t personally have faith. Faith is required to believe in the things that you can’t see.

I do however see much value in religion. There is value in aspiring to be better, reflecion on one’s self, a sense of community and knowing that everyone follows the same basic set of rules.

I completely disagree with your statement about violence completely. I think that it is an ignorant understanding of statistics and the underlying issues behind most conflict. I do agree that there are people who will use religion as an excuse for violence but they are thankfully few and far between on a planet with 6 1/2 billion people.

I don’t hear most religious leaders screaming to kill others and I have read both the Bible and the Koran (albeit not recently but my understanding is that they don’t change much). Of course, one could pull out individual lines out of context and make them both out to espouse violence when then do not. They are generally rules for a society to live by told through stories.

I do not fault anyone for studying and reflecting on these topics. It is just not for me.

MY point was simply that I wish that atheism did not come off sounding like a bad word in our society. I do not have faith that we were poofed into existence by a supreme being and although the concept of heaven is comforting, I don’t find that enough of a reason to believe it. That said, I am facinated by the study of humanity and by introspection. I enjoy good debate and open minds.

I am just tired of getting strange looks when I say that I am an athiest to people I am speaking to.

I’ve learned not to take offence. Some people just refuse to believe that I really don’t believe in God, they convince themselves that I’m just being difficult or something but underneath I MUST believe because … well because otherwise I’m being nice and giving to charity without expectation of going to heaven. I mean, what kind of a freak would be a good person if there isn’t a reward from God? ;o)