Do people Choose to be Atheists? or is that just the default conclusion once the fairy tales are shown to be false? Reality Wins.

Why did you stop believing in Santa Claus? Santa and Jesus are of the same roots. When you find out or realize it's just a control story used to keep the masses in line, you just can no longer believe it.

Seems like there's only one group who goes around making it an issue here in the states. They try to preach love, but teach HATE and condemnation.

The reason I asked is because some people believe and then something happens, maybe a tragedy, that makes them lose their faith. Some people I went to high school with suddenly loss their faith because others badgered them and made them feel they were forced to believe. There is proof that Jesus existed but there have been many stores about him and whether he was the son of God or a mortal man who was a teacher. I don't think Santa Claus ever existed and certainly he was not believed to be a savior. I heard that Christmas is actually a pagan holiday and that Jesus was not borm in December as shepards, who saw the star, would not have been out in the fields with their flocks that time of the year. I don't think you need to go to church to be spiritual. I am not comfortable with some of the organized religions out there.

St. Nicholas, Chris Cringle, all human models for the children story

Jesus was modeled after Mithra and all the others. Not an original story.

The NT was reversed engineered from the OT.

There is no historical Jesus


* http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/jesus.html

* http://bit.ly/b4T198 same link, in case the above don't work or come out right

Yes, Spirituality ala Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, etc, need to superman

You don't see an intelligent design in the life here on Earth?

No more Intelligent than anywhere else in the universe. Regardless, it has nothing to do with what's written down in ancient books. There's a very BIG disconnect between one thing and the other.

people are people dudes

The better question is why would anyone expect me to believe in the supernatural?

I was born an Atheist, and 15 years of indoctrination didn't change that. I just never heard a convincing argument that didn't sound silly to me. All the arguments for religion, God, and spirituality, that I came across(mostly in church) could easily be substituted for "Santa Clause" or 'fairies".

Also, there is absolutely no historical evidence for the existence of Jesus (or any other spiritual phenomenon for that matter). In fact, we have more evidence for the existence of Big Foot than we have for Jesus. At least we have blurry photos and first hand accounts of big foot. All the evidence we have for Jesus is a few people who wrote about his supposed miracles, trek, and suffering, LONG after he was supposed to be dead (not first hand accounts).

It's important to understand that The Holy Bible is entirely a work of fiction - a collection of fables, if you will- and any relation to real historical event (battles, cities, etc.) should not be taken as proof that the entire book is real. If The Lord of The Rings trilogy took place in Chicago, it would not be evidence that Gandalf The Grey really walked among us, that there is a ring of power, or that orcs are out to get us. Similarly, the mention of real places such as Babylon is not evidence that a whale- I'm sorry, "a large fish"- housed Jonah for any given period of time.

(PS: I wonder what the rent is like on a large fish studio.)

Only a year late - I was raised a Christian and was sent to Sunday School every week. I was a member of the Boys Brigade and must confess I was very religious until I read a book. The book itself didn't make me stop believing but it did start me on a course of discovery that made me question what I'd always been told.

Steph is right - there is absolutely not one jot of evidence Jesus ever existed. If he did, then great. Fantastic becuase a lot of what he purportedly said is very enlightened. But the fairy tales that go along with his story simply cannot have happened. Not possible. DNA makes it that way I'm afraid.

Rent on a large fish studio is dreadful. I understand it smells a bit too.

and Time passes