by August Berkshire
My friend, you have asked me how I became an atheist. Here is my story.
I was raised as a Roman Catholic and was even an altar boy with my brother. In the small towns in which we were raised, everyone I met was also a Christian. When you're a child, you pretty much automatically believe what adults tell you. Why would they lie?
Indoctrination is a powerful force. There is a Jesuit anecdote that says, "Give me a child until he's seven and he's mine for life."
Religion actually helped me develop my imagination. I recall sitting in church wondering how Noah got all those animals on the ark, and how they survived for a year. Then I realized that a god could have easily miniaturized all the animals and put them in suspended animation! Later, I discovered that just because you can imagine a thing doesn't mean that it's true.
In tenth grade, I took a biology class and was taught evolution. It made so much sense! It explained things in a way creationism couldn't. I also realized that you could believe in a god, while still accepting the fact of evolution. You could believe that a god created and directed evolution. (This is known as "theistic evolution," and is what the Pope now accepts.) However, to me, evolution makes more sense without a god than with one.

by Keith Lodermeier

This essay considers two biblical tales each involving a paternally initiated oath to the Israelite god, YHWH. Both fathers unintentionally offer his child as a sacrifice, one for a fulfillment of the oath and the other for transgression. Both oaths arise from the misguided and unwise actions of the fathers. The first story is that of Jephtha, the bastard son of a prostitute who had been driven away by his legitimate brothers only to be recalled in order to lead an attack against their oppressor, the Ammonites, in a time of apostasy:

The second oath is that of Saul whose army is rescued by Jonathan, Saul’s son, after a near catastrophe in battle with the Philistines: “Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies.”²

Atheism – the lack of belief in gods – is based upon a lack of evidence for gods, lack of a reason to believe in gods, and difficulties and contradictions that some god ideas lead to. Nevertheless, atheism is a tentative state, subject to change if compelling theistic arguments are presented. Following are some of the arguments that atheists have considered, along with some of the reasons these arguments have been rejected.