I am an atheist.... Why?....

I have heard over and over again Theist's saying that atheists don't believe in god because they don't want to answer to him on judgment day. That we don't want to own up for our supposed sins.

I am not a perfect man, no one is. But one thing i can assure you is that I live my life with pure adherence to my values. My Morality has nothing to do with religion, but is influenced by common sense, love, respect. I live to do everything in my power to continually become the man I strive to be. A man that is kind, caring and knowledgeable. Through Inner Strength and pure resolve i have over come life's many difficulties. I have bowed to the stresses of life but I will never break. Adversity and conflict is just a part of the process of growing and maturing.

I have been thinking a lot about where I stand lately mentally, and intellectually (I know some of you thought I was going to say spiritually). First let me address that last statement about spirituality. This is the definition according to Merriam Websters college edition,

Spirituality
1 : something that in ecclesiastical law belongs to the church or to a cleric as such
2 : sensitivity or attachment to religious values
3 : the quality or state of being spiritual

I see being spiritual as a psychological state. It is a state of mind and not a reality. I have no use for it because it answers no questions and is simply a divisive state of mind. I hold nothing against people who use spirituality for there own individual needs, but I do feel it is self deception whether for good, or bad. And as a tool, none more is as affective for control, than an organized religion.

Throughout my life i have been surrounded by religion in one form or another, as many many other people have. And while growing up one of my most enduring personality traits has been my inability to just accept something without first understanding. And as hard as some people have tried to make me believe in the bible and its"teachings", the more i grew convinced that something was very wrong with the whole picture. And as i learned more and more about history, science, psychology, and human behavior the more i became convinced that religion is just a very complex and old form of control and manipulation.