goodreasonnews:

reasons-greetings:

Why I am no longer a believer in God:

Belief in something is or should be a compulsion based on evidence. Any held belief I think should be based on some sort of reason; we know what is reasonable through the scientific method. We use the scientific method and benefit from it everyday, subconsciously, and we literally employ it thousands of times a day, most of the time unaware of the internal process. 

The scientific method is the foundation of science, and with it we discover a rational and understandable world around us.

Make an observation: Billions of people claim belief in God. My parents make a statement of faith in God. Belief in God returns eternal rewards and bliss, while disbelief in God returns eternal separation from God and thus torment. According to the hundreds of people that surround me every day.

Define the question: Why is this happening? Not entirely sure. My original answer to this question though is simple - because God is real and has revealed himself to us through the Bible, like everyone around me is saying.

Form a hypothesis: God really did do everything in the Bible, and it is infallible. Evidence for God also exists, otherwise people would not believe in him.

Perform experiments: I research the arguments for God’s existence. I find that literally everything on earth is explainable by natural means. I discover the theory of evolution and the abounding evidence for it. I find logical inconsistencies and even contradictions in the Bible, therefore it cannot be infallible. I find scientific contradictions in the Bible as well, and historical inaccuracies. I discover abounding evidence for naturalistic explanations of reality, and none for the supernatural. After reading the responses to the philosophical arguments for God’s existence, I am also convinced that those tangents are not supported well and each of the arguments are weak, at best.

Analyze the data: Was my hypothesis right? No. It is not supported by the research results. There is not even room for faith, as faith itself falls under a logical inconsistency. (Why do you have faith? …  [any answer here] … Is that your reason for faith?) Faith itself is clearly a word that describes a psychological stubbornness. It is intellectually dishonest, and it chooses to believe what it wants to believe, no matter what scientific method is used on it. Faith can therefore be the source of irrational and dangerous activity even - such as terrorist attacks.

Conclusion: Experiments (research) shows that my hypothesis was wrong. A better hypothesis that matches the results is a view that looks at the world without believing in a supernatural cause behind it.

As new evidence may yet present itself though, and the scientific method by default is a flexible mechanism, I can not fully out rule the possibility of a God of some sort or another being out there. Perhaps a deistic God - but still no evidence to support this position either. 

Therefore, I am an agnostic atheist.

wow, great post.