Most people who know me know that I am an atheist. However, that does not make me a bad person. A lot of people I have talked to think that being an atheist means you are a bad person and have no morals. I remember a few years ago I had a conversion with a couple of Jehovah Witnesses’s who told me, before they knew I was an atheist, that atheists are terrible people, comparing them to baby killers. They made this claim because they say that atheist have no moral compass to follow and are essentially evil. When they asked me my religion and I told them I was an atheist they would not believe me. They told me since I wasn’t a bad person I could not be an atheist.

Even though I am an atheist I don’t see anything wrong with people who are religious. If people need that in their life and it gives them a positive path to follow then who I am to say that it is wrong, it is just something I don’t believe in. There are many reasons why I am an atheist and one of the biggest is that I have seen religious people who are terrible and atheists who are the best people you will ever know. The problem I have is that it seems like people have to hide the fact they are an atheist it todays society, that being an American means you are a God-fearing man. Even though church and state are supposed to separate the word God is all over our American icons. When I was younger in school we even had to say “In God We Trust”. Those words are even written on our money. When we go to court we are told to place our right hand over the bible to swear our statements will be true. If church and state are supposed to separate then why is God so embedded in our culture. Why are we made to feel that we are not American if we don’t follow some type of religion.

Our country is supposed to welcome all religions, but it does not seem to welcome those who have no religion. Atheists are becoming more outspoken today than they have been in the past but it is still not widely accepted by people. During this past Presidential campaign the issue of Donald Trump’s religion was discussed. There were people who felt that in order to be President in this country they should believe in God. If church and state were truly separate then this issue would not be discussed at all. If we had freedom of religion that people would not be criticized for there beliefs, no matter what those beliefs are.

Just because I am an atheist does not mean that I against religion or people who believe in God. Just because I disagree with how much God is implemented in our society does not make me against it. I feel like that it is pushed on people, giving the impression that there is something wrong with the people who don’t believe. The fact that we have to place our right on the bible when being sworn in or taking oath shows how much power our government feels religion has. The fact that we see God and religion every where through out or society and our government is why people feel their is something wrong with atheism. It doesn’t matter what religion you are in, as long as you have one and believe in God.

The issue has started to become a major topic in our public school system. There has even been talk of having a class that teaches the Bible. The fact that our government is trying to implement these policy’s in our school is another example that shows how church and state are not separate. Every religion interprets the Bible in a different way and teaching the Bible to children should be left up to the parents and the church they choose to go to, not our public schools. Children should not be forced to say they believe in God or learn about him if they choose not to.

This still doesn’t mean I am against religion, I just don’t think it is something that should make people like they are forced to do. Religion has become a society norm, it is something that people feel like they have to be in order to be an American. How many times have we heard the statement “God fearing, gun toting, American”. This is the image that is portrayed of what a true American is like. Many of our policies and decisions are based around our religious beliefs.

Why I Became an Atheist

Many people who are religious don’t know the stories that are in the Bible or what it means to be religious. They just do it because that is what society tells them to do. I have been asked many times why I became an atheist and why I don’t believe in God. Once I started learning about religion and the Bible and realized that Christianity was founded based a bunch of lies made my decision much easier. The Bible was put together by men, only adding stories to the Bible they agreed with.

There are over 80 books to the Bible that were not added because they don’t follow the beliefs the church wanted the people to have. For the longest time the church would not allow the bible to be translated in any other language than Latin. They did this so the common people were unable to read the Bible and therefore could not interpret it for themselves. They were able to control how the stories of the Bible were told and interpreted and how people would understand them. Once the Bible began to be printed in different languages, including English, people began breaking away from the Catholic church and starting their own Christian denominations based on their own interpretations.

Many of the books that are not included in the Bible were done for a variety of reasons. Some were deemed to radical but others were done because of the stories they told. They didn’t align with the story they wanted to portray so they just didn’t include them. I have always heard the story about how Mary was a whore who kissed and washed the feet of Jesus. Many people don’t realize that it wasn’t Mary Magdalene in this story but a different Mary entirely. The belief that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married originated from the fact that the church changed this story to portray Mary that way. When I realized stories were changed or excluded I began to wonder how I can find any of it reliable.

In researching the history of Christianity I also learned how much power the church had since it began. The church was more powerful than most kings and nations and many times a nation would need to console with the church when making decisions. The knights Templar was a military order from 1119-1312 that fought for Christianity and the Catholic Church. At it’s height, the Knights Templar had more money and power than any other nation. I never understood why the Church had so much power and money when it was supposed to be about people’s faith and belief in God. The more I learned about the church and its history the more it looked like it was nothing but an organization wanting power and control.

I am person who feels that seeing is believing and won’t truly believe something unless there is proof. I am mainly talking about Christianity because it is the religion I know the most about but the fact that many of the stories cannot be proven is true about most religions. Many of the stories that are true are exaggerated to fit their beliefs and the story they want to tell. People have been trying to prove the stories of the Bible since its inception but have failed to do so. Some of the most common stories of the Bible, such as Noah’s Ark, can be proven to ever have happened. I can’t base my entire belief system and life off of something that can be proven true and, to me, seems highly unlikely to have ever happened.

People have asked me how I explain the universe and life if I don’t believe in God. The answer is, I don’t know. I have no idea how this planet began or how life was created but just because I don’t know and can’t explain it doesn’t mean I am going to follow a religion I don’t believe is the answer either. However, how the Bible explains the creation of the universe and life is another reason I became an atheist. The story of Genesis, even as I child, is a story I never understood. According to the Bible God created the universe, including Adam and Eve, in 7 days. However, we also know for a fact that life existed on this planet before humans did and that this planet is much older than what the Bible depicts it as. This is a question that nobody can seem to answer and seems like a big contradiction to overlook.

We know that dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, way before the time of humans. We also know that humans have evolved over time based on some of the earliest skeletons that have been found. Charles Darwin was the first person to present this theory but since it doesn’t coincide with the story of religion we are trying to stop people, including children, from learning about it. States have been debating whether or not the Darwinism theory should be taught in school. Whether the theory is right or wrong is still a theory and part of our history so why would we try and stop it from being taught in our schools, just because it contradicts religion.

Even though these are my beliefs it doesn’t mean I am against people who do believe. If it fulfills there life and leads them to live a good life than who am I to say that it is wrong. The problem I have is when it is pushed on people and we start making our decisions based on our religious beliefs. This is a subject that should be a private matter and our beliefs should be taught to us in our own homes. I believe that church and state should truly be separate and it has never been separate.

We follow the laws of man that we have created to be able to live in society together. When we break these laws we are forced to suffer the consequences that our society has implemented. Just because I am an atheist doesn’t mean I don’t have a moral compass. Most people are good and want to do good and do what they can to live a happy, successful life. Our religious beliefs don’t change that and we all have to follow the same laws. Nobody can say why people feel the way they feel or do the actions they do, but making up an answer is not an answer.

These are a few of my main issues but there are more. This is a topic that I would need to write a book about to explain my entire feelings, which I eventually plan on doing. My choice to be an atheist is something that has affected my life, not only because of the way society perceives people that are atheist but from my own family as well. Many people don’t understand why I am an atheist and how I can possibly not believe in God. Even though the contradictions show there is more evidence that God doesn’t exist than he does people still find it hard not to believe there is a God. The best way I have tried to explain it is that the story of God and the Bible is no different than the story of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

There are many things in this world that can’t be explained and nobody knows how the universe was started and life was formed. Maybe one day we will have those answers but I have accepted the fact that I don’t know and probably never will. A major concept of religion that I think give people comfort is knowing there is a heaven we will go to when we die. I don’t believe there is a heaven or hell, that this is our life we have to live and we need to make the best of it. My belief is that death is like going to sleep without a dream, we don’t even know that we ever existed. It my not give people the best comfort to know that there is nothing after death but it is the best explanation I have and whether or not it is true I have no idea, but it is what I believe.

Atheism is becoming more common in today’s society. Ancient times religions was so prominent because people din’t know any better. They still thought the world was flat. Our society has gained more understanding of how the universe works and have gained more intelligence. There is still a lot more that we need to understand, We know hardly a fraction of what is out there in the universe or how large it actually is. To say that we are the only life out there is too much of an improbability for me to believe. The universe is too big and I believe there has to be other life out there.

As more people become Atheists we need to learn to be more accepting of them as a society. We have to stop forcing religion on people and making people ashamed if they don’t believe in God. This should not be a topic that the government interferes with and we need to become a country where church and state are separate. As we grow as a society and learn more our beliefs are going to change. Everyday we discover new things about the world, our history, and the universe. These discoveries are going to change our knowledge and how we feel about certain topics and we need to start accepting these changes.