Atheism - Persuasive Essay

Athiesm - Persuasive Essay

I am an atheist, but only just as I was an agnostic for a long time. An agnostic likes the idea of a god, however feels that it can't be proved. but an atheist just doesn't believe, whilst a theist does. I am supposedly catholic, but I have never really been religious, as my parents never took me to church or forced me to pray. However I did go to a catholic school as my primary school where there was a mass every week and I even got my 1st holy communion done. It was only when I was asked about doing my confirmation that I questioned it all. Why? Why do we have to be accepted to god...again? Surely baptism was enough? But no, then you have Holy Communion. Even that's not enough you need to be confirmed. The cycle never ends.

When I was little I used to read the bible especially the Old Testament as it was very story like. Again I realised that it was a story. Noah's ark? Adam and eve? You have got to be kidding. The Old Testament is the Jewish holy book, in the bible and a large part of the Qu'ran. Yet it is just fairytales made up by the Hebrews to explain things they couldn't understand. For example Noah's ark. There was an ice age in the very early days of man. Most places where frozen over. The Hebrews could not understand how animals could survive the ice, so made up a story about Noah and his ark. Bringing two of each animal on the boat. However there are over 50 million types of animal, and if he was to create such an ark it would have to be the size of England.

After extensive research I found there are loads of contradictions in the bible, Qu'ran and Hindu scriptures "the Vedas". In the bible the classic example is Jesus saying in Matthew 5:22 "Whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire" but then in Matthew 23:17, he says "Ye fools and blind". In the Qu'ran and Vedas they both contradict themselves on matters such as who was the first believer, how humans where made, the correct way of worship and the like.

There are two reasons why the ancient people needed to have a god. Firstly because they couldn't explain things. Why did the sun come up? Where did it come from? Ancient Egyptians believed a huge scarab beetle pushed the sun into place each day, so they had to worship scarabs in case the beetle forgot to do his job. Why were we created, well because god wanted to create some people in the form of him. The second reason was for law and order. There were no police in the ancient times. Only high priests. People were warned not to do things wrong otherwise they would go to hell, or be reborn as a slug.

But we don't need either of these reasons anymore. Firstly we know why the sun comes up. We know how most things work. And we also have police to keep order. The only thing we don't know, or don't know that much on, is where we came from. The big bang. What caused it? Religion says that god made it, but I'm sure in the future we will be able to explain it scientifically.

What happens when we die? There are three theories. Firstly that we have Judgement, and we go either to heaven or hell. Secondly we reincarnate to a higher or lower form depending on our Karma. And finally that nothing happens. We just die. The first and second theories have major flaws. Where is heaven and hell? Supposedly above the sky but astronauts have been up there and there is nothing much but stars, planets and radiation. Reincarnation is slightly more feasible. You die, but your soul gets reborn, and again and again, until you have a perfect life and then you