When I was about 15, I began to really question my Episcopalian beliefs. At first I was scared, thinking I'd be punished (perhaps for eternity) for even having doubts. I pushed the questions away, but they drifted back often, lingering longer each time. When no lightning bolts came, I decided it was ok to think about these things. Of course a few questions turned into a lot of questions. Such as:
"Why are we here?"
"Where did God come from?"
"If He already knows our fate, what's the point of us being on Earth?"
"If He wanted to forgive our sins, why was it necessary to sacrifice His son? He's all powerful; He could've just forgiven us."
There's plenty more, but you get the idea. And so, I thought, researched, thought some more, and never really came up with satisfying answers.
At 18 I went through with Confirmation largely because that's what was expected of me. At the time I still agreed with most of what the church said, though I still had lots of unanswered questions. Eventually, I decided to base my beliefs on my own experiences rather than what I was told to believe.
Problems with Religion
I researched the history of religion, and as a general trend, the earliest forms began with animism, then polytheism, then monotheism. Animism, it seems, was a way to explain natural events before we had the scientific method, tools, and time to study such events. Over time, however, science has provided logical, natural explanations, replacing the "God did it" answer. The recession of mythical explanations is referred to as the God of the Gaps and was an important realization for me. If one is using God to explain natural processes, history shows that this is a setup for failure.
I went through various phases of fringe religions like transcendentalism and pantheism in my attempts to reconcile scientific explanations with how God could be behind the inner workings of the Universe. I still find pantheism and deism plausible, but it only adds unnecessary complications.
I also came to understand that the concept of Hell is illogical. Assuming God is just, there is no single crime or series of crimes one can commit in a finite life on Earth to deserve an eternity of torment. So do we all go to Heaven? What about Hitler? If Hitler accepted Jesus a moment before he died would he get in? Some Christians say yes, others say no. What about an atheist who devotes his life to charitable causes? Again, a lot of people are split.
And then there's other religions. Thousands of them throughout history, some with highly contradictory views. They can't all be right. Suppose one in particular is correct. Is everyone else damned? I sure hope not. So, if there is a god, does he really care what we believe? It doesn't look like it. I don't think a supreme being would be so narcissistic. I think if God were as obvious as religious people claim, there would only be one religion, and it would be completely compatible with science. But then, it wouldn't require faith. So why is God hiding?
It would be far too easy to look at my life and say that "I've been blessed", as I often hear people say about their own lives. That seems, to me, incredibly short sighted. Why am I "blessed" while others suffer? What about those that don't have it so great? What about the innocent children all around the world - starved, raped, molested, abused, murdered? This is referred to as the Problem of Evil.
There are a lot of holes in all religious stories, which I won't go into here, but most people tend to ignore these or simply claim that we can't understand God's ways and cease to ask questions. When scrutinized with logic, however, these details fall apart. One can instead focus on the big picture, but to me, the big picture loses meaning without a solid foundation.
Science vs Faith
Science and organized religion employ two different methods of thinking about the world - one based on logic, the other on faith. Some people reconcile this with a form of cognitive dissonance, but objectively the two are incompatible. Science will never rule out the possibility of a god, but it's looking increasingly likely that the concept of a god isn't necessary to explain our existence. Of course, one can argue that God is outside of our reality; therefore, the rules of logic don't apply. But then, by definition, there is no evidence for anything outside of our reality, and so it's all left to mere speculation. And that brings us to the root of the issue.
Faith. Believing without seeing, or believing without evidence is, by definition, illogical. And there is no evidence. There are many reasons to believe in God, but scientific evidence and logic are not among them. And so I ask, why follow one particular religion? Because your parents and grandparents did? Because of your geographical location and time of your existence in history? I hope others have better answers than those, but that seems to be more than just a general trend. In fact it's generally referred to as indoctrination. (No offense or accusation implied.)
A lack of belief doesn't really need a label; nevertheless, there are several: agnostic, atheist, secular humanist, non-believer, etc. I tend to not use atheist as it still has a negative connotation, but really, I see little difference in these definitions. If you must pick one, I prefer secular humanist, as it's probably the most accurate. I'd like to make it clear that I don't reject the concept of a deity, I just see no evidence or reason to believe in one. If a time comes when such evidence (scientific or otherwise) presents itself, I'll gladly change my views.
Concerns about Non-believers
Morality. It's a common misconception that morality stems from religion. Most people cherry-pick morals from religious texts and ignore the ones they don't like. One doesn't need a religious book to tell them right from wrong. Nor do they need the threat of Hell to stop them from committing crimes. Altruism is evolutionary and found in many species. The Golden Rule is also universal, not tied to any one religion. There's also people who commit crimes despite being religious and sometimes even in the name of religion. There's really no significant correlation between morality and religion.
Death. This is a tough one and is probably what keeps a lot of people religious. But neuroscientists are diligently working on the mystery of consciousness, and it's almost certainly the product of a functioning brain. There was a time before I was born that I didn't exist, and it's a reasonable assumption that after I die I'll cease to exist. Accepting this finality of death was admittedly difficult. Some may find this depressing, but on the other hand, I find it empowering. If this life is all I've got, I'll do my best to live it the best I can and help others to do the same. Realizing my full control of my life's trajectory is quite liberating. Don't bide your time waiting for things to get better in an afterlife, go out and do something about it!
Say that there is an afterlife. Would God really give us the ability to think logically, scientifically, and then punish us for doing so? I doubt it. Like I said, the threat of Hell is illogical and really falls short once you step outside the belief system.
One doesn't need science to see the logical fallacies of organized religion, but it does help. The attraction to science is that it doesn't claim to have all the answers, but scientists devote their lives to the search. It's turning out that the true nature of reality is far more fascinating than any creationism story. Maybe it'll turn out that science can't answer all the questions, but it's much better to try and fail than not try at all.
That's quite a heavy post, so here's something to lighten the mood.
An Engineer Accidentally goes to Hell instead of Heaven.
An Engineer dies and goes to hell. He's hot and miserable, so he decides to take action. The A/C has been busted for a long time, so he fixes it. Things cool down quickly.
The moving walkway motor jammed, so he unjams it. People can get from place to place more easily.
The TV was grainy and unclear, so he fixes the connection to the Satellite dish and now they get hundreds of high def channels.
One day, God decides to look down on Hell to see how his grand design is working out and notices that everyone is happy and enjoying umbrella drinks. He asks the Devil what's going on?
The Devil replies, "Things are great down here since you sent us that engineer."
"What?? An engineer? I didn't send you one of those, that must have been a mistake. Send him back up right this minute."
The Devil responds, "No way! We are going to keep our engineer. We like this guy."
God demands, "If you don't send him to me immediately, I'll sue!"
The Devil laughs. "Where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/funny-jokes/17/An-Engineer-accidentally-goes-to-Hell-instead-of-Heaven#aq3FEaOcmc6D39sm.99
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