Hello, everyone. I just wanted to introduce myself.

First, I consider myself an atheist for mixed reasons.

1. It's not necessarily because I refuse to believe the ridiculous idea that all of the universe was created by a bearded man in the clouds with the snap of his fingers within 7 days (I know, I know - that is WAY oversimplified in terms of the actual Genesis story. So please stop your complaining before you begin, you Theists). I suppose, it's because I refuse to believe that the existence of "God" is based solely on faith... Faith? Believing in an idea without having concrete and measurable evidence to support the concept? I can't accept that. Therefore, I suppose I really seek to understand what drives people to believe in higher beings such as God. It can't be mere "faith." I mean, I'm almost bewildered when I'm faced with someone will just blindly follow path of "faith" without a logical explanation.

2. I don't see how people, in 2012, can truly believe that religious texts were written for our generation. Understandably, the Bible as a piece of literature provides great moral guidance and forewarning to those of us who, regardless of beliefs, want to do well for others. "Don't kill other people," "Don't sleep with someone else's wife or husband," "Don't dishonor your family or your parents," "Don't say anything in vain, that you also don't mean" are all great tips for living a very respectful life. However, when it comes to subjects such as "don't eat clove-hooved animals," "don't sleep with the same gender," "don't wear garments made of two different materials," "don't all provide guidance for the people of that time. They do not apply to us today. Statements such as "don't sleep with the same gender" go hand-in-hand with not using contraception. Back then, it was even an "abomination" to use coitis interruptus as a method of contraception because the goal of the state was to reproduce. You cannot reproduce with the same gender, and therefore it is also an "abomination." That's just one example, IMHO.

3. Regardless of the inredible evidence to the contrary, God fearing men and women still think that their faith trumps or logically debunks what has been proven through  n'th number of years of scientific scrutiny. Easiest example: evolutionism vs young earth creationism. The only idea I can see that might support some weight in the young earth creation theory is that sedentarization began roughly around 12,000 BCE. Who knows? Maybe young earth creationist don't even know what they're talking about, and when they reference the bible that explains all of this, the bible is really refering to the onset of civilization. I'm not sure. Either way, it frustrates me how incredibly ridiculous some ideas are, and how incredibly stubborn New-Age Christians can be when presented with PROVEN facts.

I don't claim to have infinite amounts of knowledge toward either argument between Theism and Atheism. However, I did come here to find out. I don't think that I will ever become a Theist, but I do think and hope that I may come to understand and respect them more.