Why may people not believe in God?

Answer 1

Opinions from our Contributors:

Opinion

I am an atheist so I can explain, for me at least. Not only do I see the lack of evidence of existence, I can give evidence of non-existence. For example, the fact there is no evidence is evidence itself. Also, my knowledge of astronomy supports my feelings towards this, it would take hours to explain all exact reasons and to teach of how, I encourage you look up if you don't know. Stars created all we are from fusion, the universe is made from the Big Bang theory. Two things are unexplainable: where matter came from, and how living organisms started. I think that people jump to the conclusion of God because it is, at this moment, unexplainable.

Opinion

I believe that that people deny God on the basis of convenience; if there is no God than there is no such thing as truth or as moral laws. A person's denial of God allows them to do whatever they want. I also believe people don't want to be accountable for what they do.

Opinion

Most non-believers are non-believers because they believe that the evidence most strongly supports a view that God does not exist. This has nothing to do with mocking God, in fact atheists seem to be more tolerant of Christians than many Christians are of atheists. As for me, I studied the Bible carefully, reading much of it several times, and find in it much to prove the non-existence of God. The following is not in itself proof, but I refer you to Ecclesiastes 9:5: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." If the Bible is literally true and Ecclesiastes is a legitimate book of the Bible, this should be a troubling statement for believers.

Opinion

No verifiable and replicable proofs. "Absence of Evidence is Evidence of Absence." However, your wordings (believe) is correct. "Beliefs" only requires faith. Facts require proofs.

Opinion

The reason why some people don't believe in God is mainly because of all the inconsistencies and falsehoods perceived in religious scriptures. Some religious leaders have used their dogma to oppress, victimize and terrorize those who refuse to subscribe to their particular brand of religion. Jesus and John the Baptist were classic victims of tyrannical bigotry from greedy selfish religious charlatans. Religion seems to have had more to do with human selfishness and greed than with righteousness, piety, compassion and spirituality. Certain apparently evil, vicious, and greedy individuals enjoy success and prosperity from the exploitation of the weak. But some individuals are fooled with false promises of a paradise called Heaven, which can only be accessed after death.

Opinion

Because they believe that it is rational to live their lives normally and without "supernatural" interference. Many people use "rational" as the reason for not believing.

Opinion

A creator god doesn't exist. I'm as certain of that as I'm as certain that any unfalsifiable concepts (like unicorns, elves, Santa, other gods, and centaurs) do not exist. Just because it cannot be disproven that a creator god exists (which is a logical fallacy of proving a negative), doesn't mean that God exists by default. It's the same way with unicorns. Just because I can't prove they don't exist doesn't mean they do. And it's not because atheists "don't want" God to exist, it isn't an ego thing, and it isn't a "hoped-for" thing. It's an empirical thing. It's accepting reality and refusing to substitute the hoped-for for the actual. Faith is willful ignorance. That's all it is. It's belief without evidence, even without reason. People don't believe in a god because there is none. It's like being in philosophy class and you're asked to write a 5-page proof on "Prove that chair doesn't exist." Peers are going on and on for 5 pages, when really, the only answer is "What chair?"

Opinion

If someone is raised in a household where God is never discussed or mentioned, it can be very hard to suddenly accept a new way of thinking, no matter who you are. Also, Religion is based on Faith, which is not a material object. You can't see it, touch it, measure it, hear it or feel it. For people who are used to the term "seeing is believing" meaning they must physically see things to believe they exist, faith can be quite a hard concept to understand!

Opinion

To answer the question of why people do not believe in God, first you must define which God? Vishnu, Mithras, Jupiter, Thor, Ra, Quetzalcoatl etc. It is a safe assumption that most people do not believe in one of the Gods mentioned above. Each one of those Gods had or have many that believe in them, their stories or mythology. They believe so with their hearts and minds, and they just know they are correct. Many do not believe in one set of stories, but believe in their own 'God's' mythology. We believe what society wants us to believe and what we are introduced to. This is seen in India, where most people believe in Vishnu but not Thor, Zeus or Yahweh. In the West, most people are the opposite, they believe in Yahweh or Jesus Christ as their God and not Vishnu, and the other religions are thought to be wrong.

Opinion

The belief in God means you have to believe in the supernatural. Atheists specifically do not believe in the supernatural so they therefore do not believe in any God. Agnostics believe it is impossible to prove that there is a God (there is no scientific evidence of any God, let alone one particular God) but they also know it's difficult to say there isn't a God since there is likely unprovable, so they just say it's unknowable.

Opinion

They cite the lack of any evidence. They think evidence has to support the theory that God exists.

Opinion

There are many reasons depending on the individual, of course. First and foremost, many people do not need a belief in gods to be good. They take responsibility for themselves and direct their own lives. They know that god-stories grew from the first attempts by humans to answer questions that we now know the answers to. We are all born atheists. Religious belief is a learned behavior. In order to believe in gods a person must have an unquestioning belief in something as being true in the complete absence of proof. Many people simply do not think that way. They reject a dependence on faith in anything for which we have no proof. They lead ethical lives based on natural, inborn moral standards.

True non-believers know that moral behavior is an inherent part of the human condition and does not only spring from a belief in gods. There are good and bad believers, and good and bad non-believers. It is absurd to believe that moral behavior can only be derived from a belief in "God". There are a billion people on this planet who don't believe in "God" and who do not need any religious doctrine or clergy to tell them what not to do. Historically, organized religions have induced fear, hate, hostility, ignorance and prejudice for those outside the parameters of their teachings.

Opinion

I don't believe in god because there is no proof and there is much more evil in the world than good and if he was real he shouldn't allow that and why do I think that- BECAUSE I CAN.

Opinion

Because I wasn't brainwashed since childhood that there was only one thing I could believe.

Because it's not scientific, and has only one source that's thousands of years old.

Because I'm not just going to just take the easy way out and explain why things are the way they are with a fairytale about a guy in the sky.

Because I'm entitled to think what I want.

Opinion

In the words of Stephen Roberts: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Opinion

It's because :

1. There is no proof that god does exist. Your only source is thousands of years old and if there was god then he would keep proving his existence. God is supposed to be perfect, so he should be patient enough to take the time to prove himself.
2. There's so many bad things happening in the world right now. If god did exist he wouldn't have created darkness in people's hearts in the first place. If you believe that god made everything in the world then he created evil too. If god didn't create evil the angel wouldn't have craved power and in that sense, it's god's fault the devil exists. Besides, if god really did love us then why do so many bad things happen to people now? God would've stopped it if he did care about us.
3. Why is god a male? That's sexist. I mean, when you think about it he doesn't really need a gender.
4. If god does exist, then where did he come from? When you explain our existence, you still have to explain god's.

Opinion

Like everyone else above said, theres 0 proof. I'm sure if people had 100% concrete proof that he does exist, everyone would believe in god. But there is no such proof, the only arguments that are ever made for god really are the "faith", "you can't prove he doesn't exist", and "how do you think ________ was created?" arguments. None of these have any concrete evidence he does exist though, most arguments pro god are completely based on the absence of answers. I hopped this answers your question, sorry if the wording might be a little confusing. :)

Opinion

Its called rational thought.

A book saying "believe me" is not a good enough reason to give up the ability to think for yourself. And that is the entire basis for the belief in God. A book that was written by man, and translated and edited so many times that it is impossible to know what it originally said, tells you to believe in God with no proof of the existence of God other than the book.

You don't read a book that says the Easter Bunny is real and even though you've never seen the Easter Bunny and the likelihood that there is a giant rabbit distributing brightly colored eggs suddenly decide to believe in his existence. Why then would you read a book and immediately believe, without evidence outside the book, that God exists?

Answer 2

Opinion: people don't believe in God because of:

1) Peer influence. In high school, for example, the one or two religious believers in a class may be subject to ridicule.

2) Convenience; desires. No one wants "bothersome" rules, or limitations to their personal pleasure. (But we see how lack of self-discipline has led to epidemic obesity, drunkenness, divorce rates, violence etc.)

3) Lack of proper information. People have inaccurate notions about God. They've picked up tidbits, jokes, and "sound-bites," and on such solid authority they dismiss the entire topic.

4) Unfortunate experiences. Many have had personal hardships, or a harsh religious upbringing or education, and as a consequence may retain an unhappy feeling towards belief, without realizing that emotions and proofs are two different things.

5) Many think that science, and specifically Evolution, have proved that there is no God. They don't comprehend that even if Evolution was an unquestionable fact, it would not automatically follow that God isn't there. They also seem unaware that there are a significant number of highly-qualified scientists who do not believe in Evolution.

6) Intellectual laziness. Many people have simply never delved into the subject, to see if God's existence can be convincingly demonstrated.

7) Stereotyping. People call us "religious nuts," "Bible-thumpers," etc.; so the average layperson may get a negative feeling toward all belief, not realizing that he/she should first look into the existence of God in principle, before necessarily looking into religion.

See also the Related Links.

Link: More about Creation

Link: God's wisdom seen in His creations

Link: rchaeology and the Hebrew Bible

Answer 3

This is a complicated question and there is no one answer. There are many reasons why people don't believe in "God". The main reason is that belief in "God" is not universal. In fact, it is a stage in the passage from polytheism only in certain cultures that once worshiped many deities. The concept of an all powerful "God" is pure speculation, and for many never was a part of their culture. Many ancient cultures that once paid homage to many deities never embraced monotheism.

Modern Atheism is the lack of belief in deities and is embraced by people who came to that conclusion through rational thinking. Modern science has answered questions that seemed unanswerable to our earliest predecessors. Most non-believers have concluded that gods were created by people during the childhood of humanity because they couldn't accept the reality that we are alone in the universe and at the mercy of nature. They are able to accept with comfort that we are simply here, must do the best we can, must take responsibility for our own lives and there is no supernatural parent taking care of us if we follow the "rules".

Answer 4

It is condescending and self-contradictory to say that atheists do not believe in God because it is convenient not to do so. Surely there is an underlying necessity to believe in God in order to choose not to believe. Some claim the reason is intellectual laziness, but this is a weapon that can be used at least as effectively against those who believe in the God of their ancestors as against those who do not.

No, there are two good reasons people would not believe in God. One is that they have their own gods and believe in them just as fervently as Christians believe in their God. Another is that they believe there is no evidence that God even exists.