People often misunderstand what Atheism really is.  I have noticed when having discussions with religious people, they often try to place atheism in the same realm as their religion.  Or they think it is somehow a religion.  It is important you understand what Atheism really is.

First off, Atheism is not a religion.  Although it may seem that way in many cases, it is not.  There are some very distinct differences between Atheism and Religion.  Let’s take a look at the basic definitions of the two words first.

I will use the definitions from Dictionary.com

Religion

1.a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.
6. something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.
7. religions, Archaic . religious rites.
8. Archaic . strict faithfulness; devotion: a religion to one’s vow.
1. the doctrine or belief that there is no god.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Atheism 

1. the doctrine or belief that there is no god.

2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Just by looking at the first defnitions of the two words you can see that religion is the belief in a God and atheism is just the opposite.  Atheism is simply a word used to describe your disbelief in a God or Gods.  Let’s take a look at it a little different way.

Let’s say that you have two people.  They are friends who are about the same age.  They both live on earth, just as we all are now.  They are victims to nature and their senses tell them just how the world around them is.  But, neither of these people have any concept of what religion or atheism is.  Their minds are just left to wonder about how or why they are alive.  Now let’s say that you tell one of the people a story.  You tell them the classic story of the Christian God. 

You tell them that God is the reason they are alive and he is the master of the whole universe.  You tell them that this God also loves them and requires the person to worship the God or else the person will go to a bad place when they die.  You also tell them that they can feel the presence of this God if they pray to him.  If they look deep into their heart and accept him, they will feel him.  Let’s also pretend that the person likes the story and they believe it.  So they run off and tell the other person about the story.

So let’s stop right there.  Do you see what you have now.  You have two people who started off living in the same existence, with the same rules, but now you have one of them that thinks that they know the truth of existence because of a story they were told.  So let’s say now the person tells their friend the story but they don’t believe it.   That person is now an Atheist.  Do you see where this is going?

So when a person rejects your religion or belief in God, they are simply being naturally rational and logical.  There is no reason to believe in something that has no good evidence to support it.  I know that my little story is not the best example in the world, but you get the basic point.  Now back to present day.

Atheism is a not religion.  It is simply the rejection of a God.  It does not explain how or why we got here, it simply is the belief that there is no God.  Now I noticed some people say that they can’t really prove the existence of God, they just have faith that he exists.  They also try to turn it around and say that an Atheist is having “faith” that there is no God.  But think about this. 

You know as well as I do, that the world exists around us. We both can test this claim very easily and have mountains of evidence to see that there is obviously a physical world outside of us that exists.  We also know it was there before us and will probably be there long after we die.  We know this because there is a very large amount of evidence to suggest this.  So faith is really not an issue here.  We don’t believe in a giant birthday cake floating around the moon, do we?  Well, we could have faith that there is, but we wouldn’t be taken very serious, now would we?  So why not apply this same reasoning with God?

Now I know some people say they can feel the presence of God in their hearts, and some claim the God actually talks to them.  We know we have imaginations and there seems to be no limit on what we can imagine.  We know we can feel all sorts of feelings and can be very happy about many things too.  So how come this God never reveals himself beyond that point?  How come there has never been believable evidence of this God proving it’s existence on a physical level?  It is quite clear that this is nothing more than “wishful thinking”.  People often mold the lines together with wishful thinking and what actually exists.

It is important to understand the difference.  So if you are a religious person and you are reading this, I hope I helped you have a better understanding of what Atheism is.  This way when you get into religious discussions you can leave the misconceptions at the door and have a much more meaningful conversation.

People say, “Karma is a bitch!”.

They say that because when someone does something wrong to someone else then eventually that will come back around to bite them back.  If you commit a negative action against someone then chances are they will not forget it and if the act is bad enough they may just want to get revenge.  Or they may tell someone else about what you did and that can cause a chain reaction of negative events against you.

The same goes for positive things.  If you help someone out.  They usually will not forget it and they may tell someone else about the good thing that you did.  This could also lead to a chain reaction of good things for you.  The more drastic the event, the more drastic the result.

Well, it is time for Karma to return all those good things I did for other people in the past.  Some people turn to God.  Not me, I am turning to Karma.  Come on Karma, I could really use your help right about now.

The Early Years

When I was a really young child, probably around 5-6 years old, I remember briefly going to bible study.  I have some vague memories of being afraid because there were so many things they told us about that God did not want us to do.  It is hard to remember any more details because I was so young.  I mainly remember more of how I felt.

As a teenager I used to do chores for my neighbor.  They were very heavy believers and they truly lived their lives to serve God per the bible.  They were the most faithful people I have ever met and they inspired me to go to church with them.  The church they were going to was one housed with some heavy religious folks.  Their faith was strong and they even spoke in tongues.  I tried really hard to get into it and believe like they believed but it just couldn’t happen.

They told me I needed to really open my heart and God would enter my heart.  I got to the point where I was literally begging for God to show me something that would make me finally believe, but it never happened.  They told me that I had to have faith.  That was the part I struggled with.  They wanted me to believe in something that had no physical evidence to support its existence.

Some people have no problem with this it seems.  They are basically willing to bet that God exists instead of actually proving it.  I think differently and I am not afraid to express my thoughts.  I was always afraid to speak out about how I felt because of the fear that I would go to hell.  When the fear of hell is taught to you at a young age it is hard to shake it later on because, what if it IS true?

Nowadays

Now at this point in my life and after a lot of struggle, debating, and learning; I finally feel content in saying that I don’t think the bible is the truth.  As far as God goes, I do feel there may be some entity beyond our comprehension but it should be studied until we have overwhelming evidence of its existence.

I realize now that we don’t have all the answers.  We are constantly searching for them and it is a slow paced process.  I don’t worry that I won’t find the answer before I die.  I noticed a lot of people have much insecurity and they are afraid to speak out on how they think.  I think it is because most people are not educated and they only know what they know and they are happy with that.

I was surrounded by mostly religious people for my young years and in my teen years I learned of new people with different thoughts regarding religion.

• George Carlin(R.I.P My friend)
• Andrew Perry
• Jello Biafra
• Sam Harris

These people and others have showed me a new and more intelligent way of thinking. Their words seemed to make a lot more sense to me.  Regardless, I would still listen to both sides and come to my own conclusion.

The Bottom Line

Religion is a tough subject to discuss with people who believe differently than you do.  I think the biggest reason is because you are basically trying to tell them that all their life they have been told untrue things.  They couldn’t possibly think that someone would do that to them.  People get comfortable a belief that makes a little sense to them and never think to challenge it. 

I am not like that.  I have learned to question authority and challenge people to think for themselves instead of just going along with something that someone else told them.  So this is where I stand when it comes to religion.  I am not iron clad in my beliefs because I think that as new things are discovered it could change the way we think and what we know. 

Feel free to comment on this article, but try to keep it from becoming an unintelligent religion bashing contest.  Thanks for reading.