lets stray way from the topic a little bit.
some diggin into history provides us with the knowledge to know that there is no god.
ill back that up, here we go...

mostof you wont remember, but a few years ago, like thousand to twothousand or so, there were other cultures than nowadays. the greek, the rome culture and the nordics...

now there were more sure, like the egypts and stuff...

but they all hade one thing in common, despite their way to live, dress or belive: they had multiple gods...

you surely have heard a few names. zeus, odin, thor, ares, anubis ect...

actually, the only religion that ever had ONE god were the jews... or were they?

research provides us with the answer, that the jews originated from other cultures and basically merged. they too had more gods, as based on the other cultures, and for easier understanding, they gave them a name that resembles them all: jehova. so basically, jehova is not THE god, but merely the term for "gods"...

so waht happened? ever played silent letter? the game where you whisper your neighbor somethign into the ear, he whispers it to someone else and so on until the end somethign completely different comes out? exactly that happened...

the GODS became GOD and sicne christianity is actually a cheap ripoff of the jewish religion, influenced by the norse culture something liek this had to happen...

so basically, christianity as well as other religions i wont talk about here or else i have to fear a fundamentalist attack in my hometown is nothing more than an error that came to happen over time. belive it or not, thats scientific fact...

the long version of why i dont belive in god

The only rational approch is agnosticism
Atheism and theism are emotional issues , in my opinion

Well I dont think anyone really answered Spike's question except for jcl and perhaps Spike himself a little bit, (I think Julz also answered correctly)though even Spike violated his own rule about not speaking about whether God exists.

The reason that this question is interesting to me is because it addresses the roots of our worldview, instead of the branches of that worldview.

What I mean is that everyone gets an opinion about beleiving in God somewhere in their lives and they get this opinion BEFORE they start to amass evidence which supports their opinion. Everyone has a bias. I have talked online at talk.origins to scientists who freely admit that they didnt believe in God long before they got the phd's and the knowledge they have gained specifically about evolution in their field. So that really rules out any sort of objectivity. I also know many people that dont know much about the theory of evolution at all yet they persistently believe that it is true. So facts and evidences dont determine our beliefs, they only strengthen them.

So I would not answer this question with something like "I believe in God because I see it in the fabric of creation" or "I believe in God because some higher justice HAS to account for all the atrocities of this world". I wouldnt say those reasons because they are evidences of my belief, they are not what caused the belief to begin with. I believed in God well before I started to think of actual reasons why I believe in God. The belief in God preceded my "reasons" for believing in God because God pre-cedes and super-cedes reason itself.

So my main answer to the question is "I really dont know why I believe." It is a primal belief, very close to the root of who I am. I have always believed in God, I cannot remember a time when I did not. It is a belief which I had as a child and (subsequently) I see no reason for denying it.

I did not "fabricate" my belief in order assuage fears of the unknown,or for something to "hold on" to. I did not know what church was or traditional religion was when I was a child..., the belief has just always been with me.

[all opinions expressed in this post are simply OPINIONS!]

There is no god... There was a jesus christ, and he WAS a son of a non-existent god. HE DIED FOR NOTHING, but pride and fame. and you all live in his shadow. it's pathetic. Your crutch called religeon that gives you strength because you can forget your problems and pray that a savior will help you, but he won't! If this method works for you, then please, go for it. But don't be disapointed when theres nobody there...

You will hear nothihg but the echoes of silence in your head, blasphemy burnging into your tongue, the will of god stamped into your heart, and find nothing but lies. Believe in me, I'm the one that loves you...