If the OP doesn’t answer I will give it a try soon.
CDL
First, it’s just not true that an athiest can’t find good if he/she looks for it. Natural Law. But if you reject all things that go against what you’re trying to hide then you might even reject “good”. Good becomes what feels good for me, not others. I’ve worked for men that were on their 6th marriage… Were they athiest …no. My currentl boss says he’s not religious. I suspect that deep down he’s either egnostic or athiest. I beleive the inteligent love to act smarter than religion and even God. It’s part of the combat for success or being “better” than anyone else. Engineering school was extremely competative and frankly produces some of the worst personalities of people trying to “prove” they are better than anyone else. I see it everyday. I’m not interested.
And to answer the question “what did they do to you”. I went to the seminary. My spiritual director made an attempted pass on me while I was asleep. Long story short I ran. over time I bagan to doubt the existence of God. I toyed occasionally with wondering if God really existed to allow such carnage …havoc in the world. I joined the army and experiences some of the worst people you’ll ever come across. I nearly got court martialed over a lie. Thankfully, I was "squared away enough that a high ranking NCO admitted that he lies about confirming the appearance of a junior officer that lied about his whereabouts after I let the cat out the bag that I dropped him off and tried to talk him out of jumping the fence in the field to go see a girlfriend…he was married. The CSM told the commander what the 1st Sergeant admitted to and they let me off the hook and tried to redeem me. My reputation was tanted anyhow and I left the military with honors but with a very bad taste with knowledge how easy it is for men to abuse their power and authority. Interestingly, I experienced the same it seemed at the time to be the same in Catholicm and was the main reason I doubted the Catholic Church as being the one true Church. Long story short I cam back after a lot more education and simply stumbling into historical documents that pointed to either Catholic Church or Eastern Orthodox Church. I struggled with that and now have accepted that I’m Catholic but working on reconciling opposing positions on this issue.
During the times I nearly rejected God I became very depressed and believed strongly that I need to believe in God. First because I grew up in an abusive home, tossed around between parents, grandparents and step parents. I’ve seen the worst of people. My oldest brother got so close to the end of his rope that he commited suicide. My youngest who does not know God…tried at least twice and talked about it recentlfy. I talked him out of that thinking. He’s lost. It seems that life has no purpose without God and thus to talk people out of believing in a God is just simply cruel and selfish. So a proselytizing athiest would be top on my long list of “hits”. I’m not that crazy…just trying to make a point.
In the area I live in, athiests have started their own “church”. They sing, study and do similar things that Christians do at church for fellowship. It seems that they too need a god and have dubbed that God “Science”…teaching evolution etc as a mere accident that brought about their existence. How meaningless of a life can you get. Without God there is no real purpose in living. Sex is not that great. Travel is a pain and learning a waste of time… So why not just die and while I’m doing it I might as well do something good and get rid of the people that hurt me, my wife and my family over the years.
Have you seen the series “DEXTER”? This is the life of an athiest that just gets his kicks out of killing serial killers…as if that’s okay… This is where atheism leads us…programs that justify killing for “the common good” or just for fun. Look at the video games out there. Look at the children that are commiting suicide in our society. Look at the massive justification for allowing people to die in wars…Iraq War for example…Look at AbuGrave [spelling?]. Look how women are flocking to stipping, drugs and porn. Look at abortion…partial birth abortion??? How could anyone justify killing a child that is about to be born. Sure all abortion is wrong, but partial birth abortion is just sick. We joke in criticism of this that we think about aborting our children…they are walking now. Look how quick we are to put people under and away to make our lifes easier. Just putting “organ donor” on your drivers license could be lethal. Take it off by the way unless you don’t mind someone making a wrong decission whether you’re gonna make it or not.
The list is just endless. No, atheism is just another religion that serves only Satan. Be kind if you will, but it is the killing of God that has brought us to many of these problems.
, and when the consequences and bitterness comes in, just end it. Why do atheists have such a will to live? Is it their family, fear of suicide, money? Or does the thought of that never enter an average atheist’s mind?