What Causes Atheism?

That quote from "Free at Last/DC Talk" movie is also used in the intro of "What If I Stumble/Jesus Freak/DC Talk". It is a very powerful statement, with a lot of truth to it. Most Christian's don't even act like Christian's, they are too carried away with talking about what they belief and do, and forget to actually belief it and do it.

Romans 1:18-20 would see it differently. The reason that people are atheists is because they suppress the truth truth by their wickedness: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."

What is a Christian supposed to act like? Quite honestly, Christians are to act like people who have a gift. We're supposed to be beggars telling other beggars where we found some bread and nothing more, just beggars.

What turns people away from Christ are people who claim that Christians should somehow be different, that they are better, cleaner, holier, etc.. That is a lie and no one believes it. If Christ came to make us “good” people then he failed. On the contrary, Christ came to forgive us of our sins and to offer us freedom…not bondage to another set of rule.

Do you want to create fewer Atheists? Quit lying about your faith. Quit telling people that you are somehow better now than you were before. You aren’t better, you’re just forgiven.

well put. its important to remain humble.
only difference between you and nonchristians is that u had the fortune of running into your own salvation by the acts of faith of someone else, which of course can also be traced back to god putting that person or people there to save you.

in short... we should never claim any arrogant pride, because everything we've accomplished is because god set us on a head-on path with his glory.

besides, who wants to get yelled at by someone who declares their way supreme and says you are worthless unless you join up. Im pretty sure thats what Hitler tried.

One of my nonchristian friends called a person's attempts at that called "beating him with a bible" atleast im pretty sure he was speaking figuratively...

Good points all, but empirical knowledge of either the existence or nonexistence of a higher power is improvable by any presently known means. Belief in a Frank Capra movie father figure who looks down lovingly on all simultaneously seems silly to even the moderately faithful. Reading the Old Testament would show that this God of the Jews actually looks down on us murderously. But belief in a central generative force at the core of all is being bolstered daily by quantum physicists. This "generative force" apparently favors the strong as tigers usually live out their lives and deer usually end up inside tigers. We should satisfy ourselves that existence is stranger and more mystical than the fairy tales spun by Bronze Age brutes and that we truly are given 40 acres and a mule at birth. We could only hope that our parents don't indoctrinate us with the de-humanizing blindness of their forefathers.

Most people today, save for the most blushingly fundamentalist Christian, are agnostic to some degree at least. Agnosticism is the state of lacking mystical knowledge - which seems greatly more pious than claiming to "know" all about God. Your highly dogmatized neighbor might say you are going straight to hell for this, but then makes a statement like "THERE IS a God!!!" when he gets that raise he wanted. To these believers of Old Testament scripture you might remind, Moses on the mountain asks God who are you? God answers "I am that I am". Unequivocally stating in Judeo Christian holy text - "he" says you can't know!

Even though I am not atheist I feel that western religion is the greatest plague the world has ever suffered. It has been shamelessly twisted into a tool of conquest since the time of the Roman Empire. First the soldiers slaughtered all opposition, and then the missionaries arrived to finish the job from the inside out. To this day, the Holy Roman Empire rules the hearts and minds of affluent and impoverished communities worldwide - and the Pope is the Emperor.

I feel, like many, that the Old Testament is the leading cause of atheism. If it were not there the Jerry Fallwells of the day would have no codex to shove down the throats of the gullible. To know the details of this document is to realize that the Devil is not in the details - he is in the Vatican.

I believe in no Devil or Satan - but they do. And in their world they cower in his shadow. Christians are taught to worship out of fear. Satan has been made so powerful by Christian hysteria that they literally worship God to fend off the more powerful Devil. The duplicitous Christians, in reality, worship the devil and God is merely a protection amulet.

For those who cannot leave the unfathomable unfathomable, invent a more fun personal God. I'm a musician and my God will make me a rock star when I die. All the angels are 18 year old groupies and the archangels are the best roadies ever. My seven sacriments:
1. Be pretty
2. Sleep with pretty
3. Smoke pot moderately
4. Get a hit record
5. Evade income tax
6. Never get married
7. Return fan letters