What we believe and why we believe in something, is the divergence point between atheists and theists. Atheists think theists believing things to easily, believe in something base on their religions sometime. Rather than a rational analysis. Theists think atheists ignore the importance of something on purpose and are thus unjustifiably skeptical. Even some theists say that atheists realized there is a god, and have evidences proving a god. But they ignore this knowledge. They believe in the opposite way of god, and that’s why some of them are being tortured in pain or some other ways. I believe people has own choose of things and matters, religion is only an accessory. What make we become a better person is our own choose, but people blame on religion. So, what is religion?
Under the surface of this dispute is the fundamental argument about the nature of faith is and what causes it. A better understanding of a person how he or she achieve the faith tells whether atheists are overly skeptical, or theists are overly credulous.
It can also help both It can also help both atheists and theist better frame their arguments in their attempt to reach each other.
I believe that faith is not something we choose. Most of us grown up in a religious family, but most of our parents or family numbers don’t talk religion in front of us. They won’t force us or strongly recommended to participate in any spiritual/religious activity or belief. They don’t tell us or order us to be atheists; They don’t take us to church or read our vast religious literature; They don’t tell us there is a god; They don’t tell us that there is no god. We learned morality while we are growing up, and now we still leaning and seeing things we never seen before. So we were born as a blank. The growing process lets us more aware of religious choices, and it seems that we have more attitudes toward atheism than anything else. I don’t think raising children without religious values is more valuable than raising children with religious values, but of course the development is worth studying.
Most people choose the path with less hinder or the easiest way in their lifetimes. Sometimes even they let the society or their parents to make decisions for them. Therefore, people less and less over time, which is the easiest way to remiss Ontological anxiety, to eliminate the vast number of choices. I believe there are many of Christian became Christian during their childhood, because they found out it is the easiest way to makes their life simple, since all family members are Christians. In contrast, children with parents who do not provide them with the least explicit resistance must deal with the ontological anxiety as individuals. They are forced to make many decisions; thus, they have a better understanding of their chooses. Most of those children are atheism once they grown up.
Once a person become mature enough, he or she will have a better understanding of every things or matters appear in their life and will comprehend what he or she needs and wondering whether the choices one made were truly his or her own. That’s what we call “religious freedom”.
People needs to understand what the freedom is. Sadly, due to my researches, religious freedom is on the decrease in most of the world. In North America and Western Europe, we are moving away from pluralism that supports pluralism and towards secularism that deviates from religious beliefs and lacks religion. Non-religious values of religion are not freedom, but a world view that is considered neutral but not neutral. In the Middle East and parts of Asia, some groups have tried to make Islam their national religion. For example, I read a meeting record of a global gathering of Baptist leaders and heard stories of radical Islamic groups forcing conversion in Nigeria. Most Muslims do not advocate this, but some extremist groups do, sometimes even with guns. In some countries where history is orthodox or Catholic, evangelicals oppose history or national churches, if officially recognized religions should be adhered to by everyone.
So, what I really want to say is, there are chooses you can make to become an atheist or a theist, and there are advantages and disadvantages. But it is all you choose, don’t make other people think for you, think for yourself. On the contrary, sincerity is not the same as kindness, it won’t make you a good person even if you are a Christian, because you decide what will you become like. You make decisions to commit a crime or to help other people with their life. Therefore, we need to value the freedom that allows us to seek to persuade one another of the efficacy and truth of our beliefs. But we need to learn not to force or impose faith. Instead, we need to cultivate space for dialogue and exploration so that people can discover what is the truth or the god. If someone disagrees with me, I will try to convince them, and they will try to convince me. But we will do so as free people, able to make free choices, and who acknowledge the dignity and freedom of people who make different choices.
