I want a world where people are free to hold whatever beliefs they want to about anything. I don't want to be part of any system that thinks it can control what you think. I also want a world where people will respect what other people think, even if that view is difficult to understand.
I don't discuss this topic very much in person as it usually doesn't go anywhere and it gets very personal very quickly. Anyway, on with the topic...
I am an atheist, but that just says I don't believe in God, what do I believe in?
Humanism is the closest thing to a "religion for atheists" that I've found, and it works for me! It says:
this life is the only life we have, that the universe is a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side, and that we can live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity
Some NAQ (never asked questions):
God seems like something humans would invent.
- all the gods I've heard about cannot be subject to any proof - by their very definition
- god seems to care about the little details of my individual life, like who I sleep with, why would god care about such detail, sounds like something humans would care about
- religions have had to adapt to various scientific discoveries over time (like what?), if the word came from god, why would it need correcting?
- the god that people find is heavily affected by where they are born and the cultural background they are born into
- it works as a great way to get people to live their lives in certain ways (for good or bad)
It also fits that humans would accept such a thing:
- we are desperate for something that gives us purpose, we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves
- our minds are not rational by default and are prone to fantasy
- we are easily influenced by others
- we always want an explanation for everything that is unexplained, there is a lot of unexplained stuff still
When I compare the plausibility of humans creating god versus god actually existing, I'm afraid god does not win.
I don't believe you can prove god exists or not, the definition of god prevents this. My lack of belief in god is therefore a faith.
No. Science is not a religion. It is a methodology of learning about things we can observe (or something like this). If there is a god that is unobservable, science will never find it.
If god exists, god made the rules of science too, the rules could be such that god is observable when you get to a certain depth of observation, but we haven't found one yet.
Humanism is the closest thing to a religion for me.