For me, it’s not about wondering or pondering over our origins; why are we here? How did the world come to be? Just about everything that can’t be explained: It came from God. The refuge for the person with no answer and no argument.

Make no mistake: I grew up in the church. From the time I was knee-high to a duck, I was taken to church every Sunday. I was in the choir, I volunteered in the church and particpated in church programs for Easter, Christmas and so on.

Even at the age of six, I knew I didn’t believe what I was learning in Sunday school or hearing during the service. I remember one day when I was about seven and my grandmother took me with her to the church and we were making lunch and one of my grandmother’s friends came out to help. They talked for awhile and then the friend asked me about the Bible and Jesus and I started to answer in the expected way, then I thought about it. I told her I didn’t really believe all of that God stuff and my grandmother was beside herself.

I was ordered to get a page of the Bible everyday and I was to attend every church service. I did this for several months and my grandmother asked me about Jesus and the Bible and I told her I still didn’t believe it and then I was required to memorize and quote Scripture and I spent my Sundays in the church kitchen while the minister preached at me for hours on end.

By the time I was 14, I told my grandmother, “No more,” and she demanded I choose. I chose to leave the church and she had the minister excommunicate me and was angry I didn’t care.

My dating life was never an issue. While I’ve never dated an atheist myself, I’ve dated men of several faiths and all of them believed in God. Dating is actually not as difficult as one might think for an atheist; as long as two people who care about each other don’t proselytize to each other or tell the other their beliefs are wrong, it can actually work and become the beginning of a beautiful relationship. It’s when they try to get you to join them for Bible study or church that the problems arise. I have ended relationships with men who demanded that I believe in God–like it really works like that–or he would leave. I told him to go; my beliefs are as important to me as his were to him.

Some people won’t date an atheist because it’s something foreign to them, because they’ve been told all their lives they have to believe in God and they would suffer the consequences if they ever “questioned God or the Bible.” Many times my siblings were punished for questioning something, but I always pushed the envelope. Be open to something new. Question it if you have doubts.

There is no such thing as right or wrong beliefs. What’s right for one may not be for another, but beliefs are very personal and relative. Even Christians don’t believe in the same things and interpret the Bible the same way as other Christians. IMO most people who believe in God are hypocrites because while they preach the Bible, they don’t practice it. They don’t want to know what would Jesus do so they can do it, they want to know so they can tell others to do it.

Atheists are people. I have been shunned and cut off from my family because of my beliefs and dumped by men because of it, but it never fails; these Christians and believers always end up having to turn to atheist me for help and they don’t turn in vain.

People are just people. I’ve given my atheist blood to save the life of many God-fearing people who made it clear they didn’t want the blood of an atheist, I’ve donated bone marrow to a man who damned me to hell for being atheist and I even donated blood to a man who dumped me for not believing and then later he needed surgery and not one of his God-fearing family members would give him blood so he could live, so he came to me.

We are all people regardless of what we believe. I’m cerrtain that no one would refuse an organ for a transplant or money if they were broke or a job just because it came from an atheist. Believe me when I tell you, most people don’t. I see it and do it everyday.

While I will date an atheist since I am one, I will not date a devout, overly religious person and I will not date God-haters; they are the absolute worst. People on extreme ends of the spectrum would just drive me nuts.

When the Pharisees asked Jesus what were the greatest commandments he replied:

1. Love God with all your heat, mind & sold
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

@Paulette-BAJAN-gal
I am not sure where you get the notion that Christians don’t believe in Dinosaurs or Evolution, or that humans lacked culture prior to Jesus cause obviously that’s not true. And if anyone made those kinds of statements were gravely misinformed.

But I’m genuinely curious about your worldview. What do you think about this universe? About the nature of man? How it all started? How we got here? I’d be interested in hearing your paradigmatic worldview.

To put a false God before your real flesh and blood fellowmen is detrimental…it has ruined this world.The degradation of the female via religious order has set us back years in terms of progress and evolution.

I don’t care where the religion started and what color the people were…poison is poison.It creates a cult mentally that stifles individual thought and the natural order of life.But I don’t expect believers to understand anything other than what’s written in the holy book…God told you to believe only in him….before Jesus Christ there was nothing…no people…no culture…no evolution…no dinosaurs…nothing.

1. How do you form a union when one person beleives that marriage is a sacred covenant between themselves, their partner, and God, and the other belives it’s a civil union solidified only by ceremony and law?

2. How do you raise children and give them guidance on spirituality (and these wiill arise)? because “letting children find their own way” often equates to withdrawing any type of spiritual instruction, which I am not sure is best for the next generation.

Second off, calling people of faith who have very firm belifs insecure because they disagree with your worldview is quite boorish. It’s funny how people who disagree with a certain viewpiont are labled intolerant. No, no – don’t get it twisted, we just don’t agree. The fact that you are an ath. does not in one bit make me question my faith in Jesus. Period.

@ da throne – many children are brought in a particular faith traditions, but every adult must make their own choice. Also, your comment really proves your real ignorance of the origins of Christianity. The first three Christian churches formed in the first century were started in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, which is Egpyt. Within the first century, the largest Christian congregations were found in Nubia (modern day sudan), and Aksum, (modern day Ethiopia). Christ acutally lived for four years in modern day Egypt and many of his Apostles were from African Nations. (Ex: Mark was born in Libya). So I am not sure where you have learned this revisionist history of Christianity but might not be a bad idea to take a trip to your local Africana Studies Department.

I find that opposites are beneficial for conversation and interaction. Your assertion that atheists and people of faith should not marry strikes me as somewhat extreme – as an atheist, I would have no problem having a relationship with someone who believed differently from myself. In my experience, the only ones who cannot tolerate a challenge to their belief system are those who are not secure in it, or those who dislike confronting contradictions in their worldview. I welcome challenges to my way of thinking, as having a fixed and unassailable paradigm tends to result in that paradigm drifting out of touch with reality – being wrong, in short.

I could run through the logical fallacies in your post and nitpick, but suffice to say that after evaluation and consideration I find your reasoning to be unconvincing. If you somehow came up with a logically coherent argument for theology, I’d be right there with you in a heartbeat – however, as you so concisely put it, proving the divine is a silly exercise at best.

Most people dont choose there religion it is giving to them if that isnt brainwashing I dont know what is. As a person of African decent christianity wasnt even my ancestors beliefs. It was force upon them by the slave owners as a form of control. FACT!

First off:
@da Throne – you stated that no one knows the truth, the’re only facts and opinions. But really? Aren’t facts, something that you know is true? This argument is nonsensical.

I am a devout Christian and it really pains me to see such anger against Christians and other people of faith. Some claim that we are brainwashed but in reality, that’s not the truth. Christians are people who decide to follow Christ. When I look around the world I see a beautiful universe. How beautiful are the mountains, and trees, and natural wonders. How beautiful the stars and planets are. And I look around and see all the order in the universe: how the tides go in and out. How the planets revolve around the sun, how the season change, how our ecosystems are interconnected. And I think it is really foolish to believe that all this happened by chance, by coincidence. In science we say the more complicated something is, the less likely it is to occur by chance. I mean, we have parts of the human body, we don’t even know what they do, but we know we can’t live without them. Faith is belief in something you can’t see. (Hebrews 11:1). That is whole point! For folks to say, “prove that God is exists,” it’s a silly exercise.

@paulette-BAJAN-gal your issue seems to be against organized religion and your argument that people can have a moral code devoid or a higher power is a nonplus. Where do your morals and standards come from where did you get your original set of morals from? Example: murder. Right or wrong?

I think this post clearly examples that atheist and people of faith should not intermarry. Two crackheads can live happily ever after, but opposites will probably end in divorce.

I respect another person’s opinion….don’t have to agree, but yes, respect it. I know personally I could not have a relationship with an anthiest.

First, how can two walk together, except they both agree???? God is too much in my life to play patty cake with the devil. We all believe in something or someone…no if’s, ands, or buts, about it. Even when one doesn’t believe, they’re believing not to believe.

You know we’re all here for a purpose, yes, God’s purpose for our lives, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, & when it’s time to punch that clock….it’s over.

Here’s the reality: Just because a person doesn’t believe an airplane is in the sky, doesn’t negate the fact that planes are in the sky everyday…
Just because a person chooses not to believe in God does not take away the fact that God exists!

He (God) gives us a free will….how loving is that??? He could force us to do this or that, but he doesn’t. He wants it to come from our heart/s to love him and believe. Yes, it is a walk of faith,
we can’t see him in the natural sense, but he sure enough is ALIVE and actually doing QUITE WELL!

It’s certainly not about only calling on him, when we are in trouble. Matter of fact, it’s not even about religion. It’s simply about having a relationship with him daily. Acknowledging him and his deity.

To those of you who are stuck in the middle….& not quite sure. If you simply ask him to prove himself to you, oh trust me, he will. He has no problems whatsovever! The greatest news with him is that, when you ask him to do something you can rest assure it’s done right with accuracy.

Yes, he is a peculiar God ( I suspect that’s why some find it hard to believe), it’s probably easier to think it’s a bunch of mumbo jumbo, it does defy all reason of our logic. But here’s the deal:

If you have a vacuum cleaner sitting in your living room and you know you need it to run…. you can look at that vacuum cleaner all day long. Your logic tells you it’s a vacuum cleaner, and you know what it’s used for, but only until you plug it in & turn on the switch, will you get the results you need from the vacuum cleaner.

My point is: God is omnipresent, meaning he has the capability of being everywhere simultaneously…whatever you need, ask him.

My friend, it’s very simple: Just as we have our parents, God is our Heavenly father. He has said in his word “if you ask me for a fish, why would i give you a serpent”? He loves each & every one of us…when we’re right, when we’re wrong, when we’re weak, when we’re strong.

I used the vacuum cleaner as an analogy, just to say it’s not his (God) fault if he’s given us the tools (Bible for one), to work with, and we don’t plug in. You get my drift. Peace!

That is one of the problems with religion or any other totalitarian belief system, you are to be excluded if you refuse to drink the Kool Aid.