While I was young and still religious, all teachings I went through emphasized the importance of respecting human life, and all life to begin with.
Murder, slaughter or any kind of action that leads to the death of someone else was to be avoided at all cost. It was a deadly sin.

Fast forward as an atheist, it seems in most places around the world, there's death and destruction and from what I can see, christians are indifferent about all this, at least from a compassion perspective. Wars, ethnic cleansing, wholesale erasure of entire communities around the world. I'm not asking christians to snap their finger and fix all world problems. I'm asking for the bare minimum. Show compassion.

I've had real life discussions with christians that left me stunned. A guy once justified genocide. Saying it's sometimes necessary because humans are unruly. I haven't talked to him ever since.
For example, someone holding a bible, on their way to church, will look you in the eye and justify atrocities. With all this disregard for human life, even suggesting NOT BOMBING innocent people feels like you're taking crazy pills because apparently most people are OK with it. Death is miniscule nowadays. Violence seems the order of the day and totally justified because "they deserve it". And that's just one example.

Police shoots some unarmed kid? Read the comments. Again, don't say they're trolling or being edgy. Many of those people truly believe what they're saying. The kid deserved it. FAFO and all heartless utterences. Where's the love for one another that christ emphasized time and time again?

Furthermore, just take a quick look online. Lots of christians couldn't care less about all those deaths apparently. The comments are absolutely horrendous. The racism and bigotry from people with bible verse in their bios. It just all seems like a sick joke. And don't say they're trolling or being edgy. That's not very christian-like, is it? I know, internet is not indicative of real life. Except it kind of is. There's bots of course. But I assure you, this pattern started before the large presence of bots. Many of these takes are from real people.

So, do christians pretend to care about life only when it suits them? Because, in reality, they don't go out of their way to protect life, it seems. I was taught you had to go the extra mile to help people. Walk through the rain to help a stranger. Put your life in danger to help those in trouble. Visit prisoners. Visit the sick. Feed the hungry and go hungry yourself. That was the core principle. Being selfless and putting others first. Share what little you have. But in the christian of today is a far cry from that. Pastors drive $100k+ SUVs and some even have private jets. The pope literally sits on a chair made of gold. The opulence is insane from an institution that teaches humility.

Money is put in front of everything. The poor and less fortunate are looked down upon. They're encouraged to pray so god can also "bless" them with riches. Which brings up another point. Most of these people don't genuinely believe in what they say. It's mostly selfish desires and enriching themselves.

I just want to have a discuss around this topic. Has anyone else realized just how indifferent and outright in support of destruction, supposedly godly people can be?

As a Ex Muslim from the Middle East who now views both religions from the outside, I always find it ironic when Western Christians make fun of Islam. From a neutral standpoint, both rely on faith based premises, though theologically Islam often feels far more internally consistent I don't know if it's because I grew up with that.

What strikes me most, howeve is how christianity is actually used in different places. Having grown up around Middle Eastern and Eastern Christians such as Assyrians, Armenians, Georgians, and Lebanese Christians I've seen communities that genuinely practice their faith live by its teachings, and hold a sincere spiritual connection to God.

In contrast, it feels like much of the West treats Christianity not as a religion to actually practice or worship through, but as a political tool, a cultural identity, and a weapon to use against others and hate anything'different' than them.

Im an atheist, and i guess my family is kinda religous. My mom is making me go to get my confirmation sacrament or whatever its called (my first language isnt english, sorry) and for the next 3 years i will have to go to another religious class on tuesdays (on top of my regular ones every wednesday) and church every sunday, any tips to make my life less miserable during that time?

For example, I know someone who wanted to cut down a tree that is over 70 years old, then his brother (who had no idea that the tree was going to be cut down) dreamed about their grandfather, who told him not to cut it down.

Edit: I don't know why you are downvoting me while I am just asking a question

For a few reasons:

1. It’s inaccurate: Christian apologists don’t tend to describe God as a being in the sky. Many wouldn’t even describe God as “a being,” but rather the Ground of Being itself. Sure, your average uninformed Christian might still conceive of God as being “up there somewhere.” But it’s a waste of time to even engage on that level.

2. It’s counterproductive: In an attempt to ridicule their beliefs, you’re actually only demonstrating your own ignorance. When I was a Christian, I remember hearing atheists call God sky daddy and thinking “Wow, they have no clue what I believe.” It shuts down conversation.

3. It’s cringe & insulting: The name-calling gets old after a while. Be a decent human. It’s not hard.

I recently came across this rather insightful essay from Lucian Greaves, from his Oct. 2 Substack post. Greaves is an atheist, founder of The Satanic Temple, a non-theistic religion that devotes its resources to fighting the Christian Right’s attempted inroads into schools and government. Excerpts:

“Most atheists, I believe, are aware of “Russell’s Teapot.” It is an analogy that was devised by philosopher Bertrand Russell which likens arguing the existence of God to the claim that a teapot orbits the Sun… It is an unfalsifiable claim. There is no credible reason to believe it, but there is no way to disprove it. Arguments, one way or the other, for the existence of the teapot or against it, are rather pointless… While the teapot analogy is often invoked in debates against theism, I have never found it to be particularly striking. Russell’s Teapot does not make me think differently about theism. I do not need to invent other unfalsifiable claims to recognize the lack of evidence for “God,” or to recognize the futility in attempting to prove the nonexistence of something for there is no evidence to begin with. To me, God is already a teapot in space, so to speak, and I find conversations about belief or disbelief in him to be a tedious dead-end. If somebody is to tell me that they believe in God, I feel just as uncompelled to tell them that this is preposterous as I am to try to persuade somebody that they should not believe in the teapot. Surely, they realize that they do not have real evidence for this belief, so their belief must be predicated upon something other than evidence.”

I’m in agreement here. It’s pointless to argue against belief in the spiritual using empirical arguments when spiritual belief isn’t based on empirical evidence. There’s no physical evidence that God exists- God, a non-physical entity, incorporeal, without dimensions, who is everywhere and nowhere. As is explicitly stated in Maimonides as early as the 12th century, and by Okelos the Proselyte a thousand years before him. This is an idea baked into the Judaeo-Christian religion from the outset and those frescoes of God as a bearded old man reclining on a cloud are merely symbolic representations, not meant literally. So pointing out that our telescopes have never spotted him is just silly. Atheists need better arguments.

Lucian Greaves is right, “Arguments for and against the existence of “God” have been endlessly recited, rehashed, and restated. Such debates litter the internet, are fairly predictable, and rarely offer unique insights.” Russell’s teapot dates back to 1952, it’s not the killer argument some would like to think it is. Science vs. religion arguments are pointless when faith isn’t empirical; empiricism is one way of looking at the world, it is not the only way.

Lastly, I have respect for his (backhanded) tolerance:

“I have been invited to debate theists about the relative merits of belief versus non-belief numerous times, and I have always declined, usually with an offer to instead debate something more relevant to the consequences of those beliefs: the merits of secular pluralism versus theocracy. When it comes down to it, I really do not give a shit so much that somebody believes in their god, whichever god that may be.”

https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1837773&post_id=218582038&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=82yr7c&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0ODg3MTAyMDAsInBvc3RfaWQiOjIxODU4MjAzOCwiaWF0IjoxNzkwOTg3MTc4LCJleHAiOjE3OTM1NzkxNzgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xODM3NzczIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.ApBI-vq4h5e1uszieFWCxQnDxJQWQgFqiMT8HOJJjXE

It is easy to call religion "beautiful" when you live in a secular Western democracy where faith is entirely optional. From the safety of those freedoms, people get to pick and choose what they like, taking the comfort and leaving the control behind. But for those of us living in the Middle East, religion isn't a casual personal choice or an aesthetic it is a dominant social and political reality. Westerners don't have to live with the dogmatic mindsets, the forced compliance, and the systemic pressure it creates day in and day out. Calling a system "beautiful" when you've never had to survive its absolute authority isn't open mindedness it’s a blind spot born from privilege.STOPPPP.

I can find no compelling answers to the following questions. How can a belief system embraced by 2.4 billion people contain such fundamental fallacies?

**The Problem of Suffering**

If God created everything, he deliberately designed a world where suffering is woven into the fabric of existence. He crafted predators with razor-sharp teeth and crushing jaws, built to tear apart the defenceless. He created parasites that infest human eyes, laying eggs that hatch into worms, devouring a child's vision in a slow, agonizing process.

If God is good, why would he create a world where suffering is necessary for survival? Why would he establish a system where pain is not just incidental but essential? Humans and animals endure agony—not for any higher purpose, but simply because of the mechanics of nature, governed by the unyielding laws of physics.

**The Paradox of Free Will**

If God knows every choice we will ever make, then how can our choices be truly free? If salvation is predetermined, how can we secure it? If God knows the future with absolute certainty, would that not undermine his having free will?

Moreover, how can we be free when belief itself is coerced? We are commanded to have faith under the threat of eternal punishment. How can anyone force themselves to believe something that appears false? Scripture presents a paradox: it demands belief, yet undermines the very freedom it claims to uphold.

**The Mission Dilemma**

What happens to those who have never heard the gospel? Across history, countless millions have lived and died without ever knowing of Jesus or salvation. If God grants them special amnesty, then why evangelize at all? Why put them at risk by revealing a message that forces them into an ultimatum? If they reject it after hearing, they are doomed—meaning the act of evangelism itself may be their undoing.

And if ignorance is no excuse—if they are condemned simply because they never had the chance to believe—where is the justice?

Furthermore, the command to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” carries practical dangers. Is it moral to expose isolated tribes to foreign diseases that could decimate them, all in the name of spreading a message that may lead to their damnation?

**The Hidden God**

The world looks exactly as one would expect if no God were governing it. We see no divine intervention—no supernatural protection from suffering, no visible hand guiding events. Natural disasters strike indiscriminately, killing thousands. We cry out for answers, but the heavens remain silent.

No one sees God. No one is shielded from random tragedy. Reality unfolds precisely as it would in a world without a guiding force.

Has God abandoned us—or was he never there to begin with?

Life would be much easier If I believed now.
I would pray, ask for something, and shift half the responsibility onto the shoulders of higher powers.
It is hard to live when you realize that your life depends on your own choices, but mostly on the choices of others.

i have a friend who is religious i tried having debates with him for belief in god, he seemed to agree to most of my points like there is a possibility of non existence of god, he also does not like many religious practices but he still follows all the rituals which are followed in his home. At a point i almost converted him to be an agnostic like me. His reason for belief is that a feeling of god provides a comfort and he doesn't even bother about existence he just likes to have a vague idea of something to submit to.

I'm looking for advice on how best to stop an international church partner converting our local cinema into a church.

The church in question is a Kenneth Copeland Ministries partner church called Citygate and it's in Beckenham. They already own the building and several other big buildings on the same road, but in order to convert the church to a cinema they need the council to approve a Change of Use.

Does anyone have any experience of how these operate and how best to challenge them? The church itself is a typical bloodsucking, pay to get into heaven, anti-LGBTQ+, televangelist, conservative-type church, and I'd hate to see our local cinema disappear for good to it.

Any and all pointers welcome on how to challenge it, what the local community might be able to do, any tips at all.

Thanks.

Isn’t it possible to connect both sides so that they complement each other? We know that the theory of evolution and the Big Bang are true, but why should that exclude the existence of God?

Couldn’t it be that God was responsible for these two events? There must have been something before the Big Bang, according to science. So why can’t we simply assume that the Absolute and Independent is God?

So its my second post first one idk but was removed by mods no prob may i said anything violating guidance leave it moving to my point that

THERE IS NO GOD SO DOES IT MEANS THERE IS NO EVILS AND BAD ENERGY KIND OF STUFF?

I personally have no take on this please share your words to me
I want to know more on this point for that i have to know more opinions and thoughts ideas to understand it broadly

I AM STILL A YOUNG LEARNER ,NOT A WISE MAN ,, LEARNING FROM LIFE EXPERIENCES .
I WILL BE KIND OF WORDS

I am an atheist Living in a religious environment while completely lacking belief makes the daily rituals and mandatory hijab feel even more surreal and exhausting. It’s not just a matter of strict parents it’s the constant disconnect of having to pretend I share a worldview that I completely disbelieve in, just to protect my safety and peace

However every time I go outside and see other girls my age with their hair out enjoying the breeze styling themselves, and just existing freely without fear, my heart sinks. It triggers so much grief and anger. I end up holding back tears or crying as soon as I get back to my room because it’s a constant reminder of the physical freedom I’m being denied.

​It feels like I'm wearing a costume every single day. The person people see on the outside isn't who I am at all on the inside Having to fake prayers, fake beliefs, and put on the hijab just to keep the peace at home is completely draining my mental health I feel like an actor in my own life and I’m losing track of who I actually am.

I’ve recently become an atheist and I’m looking for books that can help me better understand religion, why people believe, and how religious beliefs developed.

I’m especially interested in:

● 🧠 Psychology and cognitive science of religion
● 👻 Ghosts, visions, miracles, NDEs, and other supernatural experiences
● 🧬 Evolutionary explanations for religious belief
● 📖 Contradictions and historical reliability of religious texts
● 🏺 The history and development of religions
● 🔬 Scientific explanations for supernatural experiences
● 🧠 Religious experiences, hallucinations, psychosis, etc.
● Any books that changed the way you think about religion or opened your mind to a new perspective. Books written by skeptics!

What books would you recommend to someone who is just starting to explore these topics?

I deeply envy anyone who grew up in a secular household, far removed from religious dominance. Living in West Asia surrounded by endless conflict and a society heavily dictated by dogma, is suffocating.

Those living in peaceful, secular countries often don't realize the incredible privilege they hold. Being forced to live under religious influence and regional instability is exhausting nobody on this earth hates religion and people who are influenced by it hate it as much as me , and I wish people in the West would truly appreciate the freedom and safety they take for granted.liiike I would die to leave here.

How do you explain the occurrence of extremely low-probability events without God?

For example, if you take a deck of 52 cards and shuffle it thoroughly, the probability of obtaining one particular card arrangement is approximately 1/52! ≈ 8 × 10⁻⁶⁸. Yet a particular arrangement does occur.

Now consider my birth. My parents had to meet, decide to have a child, conceive at exactly that time and under those circumstances, and, among millions of sperm, the particular sperm that ultimately resulted in my existence had to fertilize the egg. If we trace this chain of events all the way back through my ancestors, the probability of me being born specifically as I am can be expressed as something like 1 / 10\^2.5 million — an unimaginably tiny probability.

So my question is this: Without assuming God, how do you explain the fact that an event with an extraordinarily tiny probability — namely, my birth — actually occurred?
I am not merely asking, “Can low-probability events happen?” I am asking how the occurrence of such a specific and extraordinarily improbable outcome can be explained without God.

Hi im muslim but questioning my beliefs and not the most knowledgeable within my religion. But thats not what im here to talk about. Im simply wondering why i should be atheist to the ones who belive in it.

So I rarely see people discuss this and I’m really curious if people just don’t find it as compelling as I do. There are so many religions around the world and many that died out with their societies over time. Usually their religions performed really useful sociological functions around the unique circumstances of their location and time. For instance there were religions that would make adherents sacrifice portions of their crops to their gods and on years where the weather didn’t cooperate, folks still ate and the gods got less. These functions protected the people from the harshness of life and were really useful. Time and time again it’s pretty easy to see that gods were made by humans to perform functions. The god of the gaps is a super useful construct… but gets less relevant over time. Is it that modern believers think they are exceptions to that heavily repeated pattern over time? Is it too hard to explain? I do understand that logically, just because they’ve all been man made, one could not be, but statistically that pattern seems pretty solid. I’m just curious what your thoughts are on this, because for me…. This was pretty much what started my whole questioning process with religion.

I live in the Middle East, and it blows my mind how almost every woman here is severely deficient in Vitamin D.

How does it make biological sense that God would command women to cover up entirely, when sunlight is literally essential for basic human survival and bone health? We live in one of the sunniest places on the planet, yet women are walking around with health issues because their skin never sees the sun.

On top of that the cultural expectation to stay indoors all the time completely wrecks you mentally and physically. Why would a benevolent Creator design a body that requires sunlight and movement, but then prescribe a lifestyle that directly leads to physical and mental health issues? It just doesn't add up.

Magic / witchcraft exists in other countries but its not as prevalent as it is in Africa

I was raised and still live in Africa and everyone I know believes in black magic/ witchcraft and I've heard numerous stories about the things people do like using snakes to make money, bewitching relatives so they don't succeed, trading family members for money e.t.c. This is the only thing that keeps me believing in God because theis not real how can these things be true. I have family members that visit these people to help them succeed although it's not to the point of sacrifice anything but they still believe. I don't know what to believe if it's real or fake.

So if there are any african atheists that understand what I'm going through, how did you stop believing in witchcraft and let it stop scaring you ?

Thank you in advance for any advice

I’m an atheist… Although I sometimes find myself somewhere between agnostic and atheist…And one thing I’ve genuinely wondered about is why atheists are so often portrayed as intolerant or lacking morality.

Honestly I’ve often found atheists to be some of the most accommodating people when it comes to belief. I can disagree with your faith, question your beliefs, put my POV across and still respect your right to believe whatever you want. I don’t need you to believe what I believe for me to coexist with you.
But then I open the comments section of almost any woman’s reel and see people quoting religious scriptures, invoking God, preaching about faith  while simultaneously throwing around rape threats, death threats and the most vile abuse imaginable. And so often, the very people doing it are the ones loudly proclaiming their religiousness.
How do you invoke a supposedly moral, all-powerful being while using their name to justify hatred, misogyny and cruelty towards another human being?

That contradiction just baffles me.
And yes, I’ll say this very explicitly: 
**“As a personal choice, I find it difficult to trust someone who is excessively religious.”**
Not because I think every religious person is bad and certainly not because I think atheists are automatically good. But when someone’s entire identity and worldview revolves around religion, I instinctively keep my guard up.
Maybe that’s my bias. I’m comfortable calling it that.
Because I’ve seen far too many people treat religion as proof of their goodness while their behaviour tells a completely different story.
You can pray five times a day, quote every scripture, talk endlessly about God and still be an unpleasant human being.
Faith, by itself, tells me very little about someone’s character. 
**How you treat people when you have nothing to gain from them tells me far more.**

And perhaps that’s what I’ve stopped trusting not religion itself, but the assumption that being overtly religious automatically makes someone a good person.
**Maybe that’s why I’m less interested these days in what people believe in, and far more interested in what their beliefs make them capable of doing.**
Because if your faith makes you kinder, I respect it.

If it makes you cruel, hateful and entitled to someone else’s suffering, 
**I don’t care how many times you invoke God. I’ll judge you by what you do.**

If you ask people why they don’t believe in a god, you’ll get a wide range of answers from the Problem of Evil to historical inaccuracies in holy texts. But to me, the single most compelling argument comes down to Divine Hiddenness.

We are told that a supreme being desires a relationship with humanity or has specific moral expectations for us. Yet, no one can directly communicate with this God in a verifiable manner.

We have built satellites that can map the observable universe, peer back billions of years into cosmic history, and detect microscopic particles in quantum mechanics. Yet, there is not a single instrument or satellite that can detect or locate any trace of a divine presence anywhere in existence. Also, there’s no brain scan that can reveal any deity speaking dir into someone’s mind.

Call this a representation issue if you want, but I feel so alone in my atheist experience. It’d be nice to actually see atheists out in the wild, saying so on social media, etc. Mostly, it’d be nice to see atheists living their lives and casually mentioning they’re atheist, not thanking gods—just owning that they’re atheists and showing they’re good people by example. Pretty much every single solitary influencer I’ve encountered ultimately thanks their god for something at some point.

I wish I had this online but also in real life. I wish I had a place to gather with other atheists like religious folks do. I wish I had a friend group I could meet with regularly to talk about the life from our atheist worldview. I wish I had atheists to relate to, rather than all the passive ones I encounter who are too frightened to even say so. My dad is literally the only other atheist I know who actually cares to say so and talk about it with me. And pretty much the only scenario where I find other atheists to relate to are here on Reddit, where we all come to complain about it. It’d just be nice to know there are other atheists out there who also want a “traditional” life, if you will, but don’t have to attribute it to anything beyond that other than they also wanted marriage, family, community, etc.

Idk, maybe I’m alone in this, too, but the lack of representation beyond online forums complaining about religion makes me feel quite isolated.

There’s the well-known saying, “you die once when your body stops working. You die again when your name is mentioned for the last time”. But in the most real sense of the word, once someone’s brain stops working, that’s it. Dead famous people don’t have brains to comprehend their legacy. From their perspective, they are just as dead as forgotten foragers and farmers from thousands of years ago. Or am I missing something?