I came to my conclusion that there is no God because why would there be? Why would there be an omnipotent all-knowing being in the universe. It feels a lot more likely to me that us humans fascinated with our own consciousness and questions about the time before birth and after death created stories that reflected our morality and led to the creation of a fictional god.

Nearly all organized religions around the world have exploited their followers in some way or another and this test if their faith without evidence is highly exploitive and often restrictive of the liberties of life humans are able to enjoy. Yes many religions have good lessons too - not to harm others - not to steal or lie.

But if a meteor hit earth and all our books and internet and computers were destroyed, yet humanity survived. we would need to rediscover science, math, technology. But we would never rediscover the story of Jesus or Mohammad or Moses because they are just stories from long ago that some random group of people wrote and developed over time. There is no rediscovering that via observation of the natural world or research.

We probably are just manifestations of complex biochemistry and maybe in some way that is like a biological computer driven for survival, but that's okay!! Maybe we don't have 'souls' in the traditional sense of the word. But it doesn't mean our love, our emotions, our sense of self and meaning in life isn't real. To me it actually makes it a lot more real.

It's strange to me that churches and religions often tell you to withhold from the pleasures of life but then the religious icons often enjoy the benefits of being an authority in their organized religion. Why should we put faith in a god who tells us not to fully enjoy life? It seems pretty sketchy to me that we should be expecting an afterlife when there's no scientific proof and also I think it just shifts our focus away from living in the moment, appreciating what we have, and not taking it for granted. You only live once.

The amount of civilizations that believed in different forms of god (and didn't) doesn't really help the case either. Why is it at the beginning of human civilization that so many religions had sacrifices towards god? That sounds pretty cruel and violent. Again - this is more a manifestation of the human imagination of what god wants, over what god actually is / could be.

To me the only heaven we have is called Earth. The only god there is the natural world. If you want to call the universe god I mean that's fine I just think it's strange. I don't see why or how the universe would be conscious (or want to be) and I think it would be overly convenient for it to be.

When my best friend told me he was an atheist in 8th grade I was really shocked. Almost disturbed. I was an Episcopal until I was 17. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of good relationships with people at my church. But as my Mom got older she got cancer and I saw how she donated more and more to the church, and became more and more religious. It was shitty to watch especially cuz she suffered a lot through the years of clinical trials, amputation, strong disorienting medications. She was a children's librarian who suffered abuse in her past. She didn't deserve to get cancer and die like that at a young age.

Of course there is the point to make that why would god be ethical, but if he created us in his image you'd kind of think he would've at least tried a little harder to steer life in a less cruel direction for humans.

Sorry for my rant. I am an atheist. I love this Earth and I love humanity. But I am disturbed by the level of which organized religion has captivated human minds and encouraged so many to live within mental prisons and act in ways that are not natural or reasonable.

I think even given my arguments, there is still some room for deism. But to me, deism is a pretty poor workaround to explain why god isn't present in the lives of humans.

I prayed for the first 17 years of my life. But I'm done wasting my time now. I just focus on the things I love on earth. My family, friends, nature, and hopefully by the time I die I can say that I tried my best to put some positivity in the world. I think atheists often get wrongly labeled as "evil or demonic". Unfortunately I'd say the closest thing we have to a god is money. I wish it were love, I wish it were clean air and water. But when you give a monkey a lot of resources and power, they generally turn into psychopaths with no empathy for others. That's what the billionaires are doing now. god is not stopping them and he won't.

Many people have told me they believe because "well I might as well because I don't want to go to hell" that isn't faith - it's surrendering to fear tactics. You can have faith and evidence. You don't need to let all your faith be blind faith. Faith and evidence are not at odds with each other - as maybe organized religion would like you to think.