When a Christian asks why you don't believe in the God or the bible...

where do you even begin? I know that eventually the day will come when one of my relatives or family members figures out that something's up and asks me if I still believe. There are several reasons why I don't believe but of course you want to begin with the most compelling but I'm not sure exactly what part to begin with. My mind always goes to the old testament atrocities.

So what do you think? What would be the first argument you would pose in response to that question? And where would you go from there?

To paraphrase AronRa: I want to know the truth. If what you believe is the truth, then I want you to convince me. But unless you have demonstrable evidence to show that what you believe is true (in an objectively verifiable sense), then I have no reason to think what you believe is true. But don't be dishonest and tell me I need to believe without reason.Zeviander

Good one. I've never had anyone (outside this website) ask me why I'm an atheist, but I'd use that.

I can't accept that humanity originated from Adam and Eve circa 6000 years ago.Genetic_Code

And no one else should, in my opinion. Evolution is a proven fact, all atomic clocks point to the earth as 4-5billion years old, DNA structures, and the human genome being fully sequenced has told us how life forms, evolves, and where it all came from basically. Anyone saying otherwise is just not informed or not willing to learn. This fact alone makes religion dead to me.

"Because it's not real"

With that broad of a question, I usually point to the authorship of the Bible and how it was written (and largely edited) by unidentified writers over a period of 1000 years or so. Usually I put the authorship in question by saying Moses could not have been the sole author of the Torah when it describes his death in Deuteronomy. Then point to the discrepancies. One prime example I like: a passage says Noah brought two of each animal and then another says he brought seven of clean animals. I then say the historical accounts in the Bible are unfounded. I mainly like to use archaeological findings (or the lack thereof) to back that up, but in some odd encounters I've found people who will say something like the overwhelming lack of evidence for the Exodus does not disprove it. Which is true, but that is merely the pesky ole' problem with proving a negative (this is why Russell's Teapot feels all nice n' comfy in its orbit around the sun). If such an attitude persists, I just end the discussion since they're not willing to be intellectually honest.

This is much easier for me, since my friends and relatives are all Mormon. I must note however, that I hold strong admiration for Joesph Smith. Because I view him and L. Ron Hubbard as postmodern satirist who turned their artistic careers into a lifestyle.

I've got a similar grudging admiration for Smith and Hubbard, or for any of the modern "missionaries" that make shed-loads of money from their "evengelism".

My most simple and least offensive answer to the question of why don't you believe in Christianity is that it does not make any sense to me and the more research I put into that faith, the less sense it makes.

A few come to mind: I ask, "Does God have a plan and if so, does everything go according to that plan?" If the answer is "Yes," then I say, "Then prayer is pointless, going to church is useless, and your belief or disbelief doesn't matter. Also, that means that many great atrocities and awful things were created for his sick amusement. Things like the Holocaust, murder, rape, the Black Plague, AIDS, and child molestation are all products of God's 'plan.' "

Alternatively, if I feel like being nicer, I go the Dawkins route: "Why don't you believe in Allah? Or Odin? Or Rah? See, the way I see it, millions of people think that their religion is the one TRUE religion. There are hundreds of denominations. That just can't possibly be right. So either all of them are right or none of them are right. Logically speaking, the latter makes more sense."

Or as a quick retort, "I wasn't aware I needed to justify why I don't believe in things that I can't see, can't feel, and otherwise have no proof exist. Would you also like to know my stance on unicorns?"

I also enjoy mentioning that there's more proof for Bigfoot than God.

I'd say there's no evidence for it.

If they said 'well what about the bible?'

Then I'd say the bible is no more proof for god than Lord of the Rings is proof of hobbits.

So then what will they say, usually something like 'well then how was all this made?'

And I'd say I don't know. It's an unknown. I'd rather leave the option open as an unknown than fill it with god.

So then what would they say, well in one case of door to door religious people, they mentioned that if it wasn't god, then it must have all got started randomly, something as complicated as life got started randomly, what would I have to say about that?

And then I'd say that the chemistry of life is not governed by chance, but obviously by the laws of chemistry. And I'd say that I didn't know exactly how abiogenesis occured (no one does, yet), but I could explain why the theory of evolution / natural selection / artificial selection explained very well the diversity of life we have on earth.

Then they might say that life looks as though it had to be designed, usually humans given that we're dominating the planet.

So I'd be like Wisdom teeth? Blind spots in vision? Lumbar problems? The Appendix, a vestigeal organ? Birth is difficult - pretty dumb designer.

And so on and so on...

Hehe, I just remembered a really funny example by that guy from The Atheist Experience, I think 'Matt Dillahunty'. He had a caller saying abortion was wrong:

Matt, Caller

Does your god have a plan for every human living, has ever lived, will ever live?

Yes

Can anything happen that is outside of your god's plan?

No

Therefore, your god plans all abortions.

Eh uh duh duh daaaaaaaaah

I find Muslims much harder to discuss this with than Christians. Yeah - my experience here is probably markedly different than what I'd encounter State Side.

I feel very sorry for those in the thread who risk alienation by their friends/family for their atheism.

Easy : There is insufficient evidence to prove that he does.

This is usally followed up with said person providing "evidence" (this happens to me quite a bit now :S)

Them: How do you explain blahblahblah
Me: I can't but I'm not going to make something up as the answer. I will look for valid reasoning

Them: Bible
Me: It's an old book. There are loads of old books.

Them: This many people and this much time
Me: Counter with "the scientology" argument. Ask them what they think. They usually say they're a cult. There's very little difference between the two except for age and numbers so, again, what's the difference.

Anyway my answer was in line 1 but I'm over in the Aus roll call preaching atheism so I'm all fired up right now :)

Another good response would be "why don't you believe in the tooth fairy".

Seriously. She's in books. Billions of people hear about her. Blah blah blah. The only difference is that, at some point, most of us clue in or are told "of course not. That's just silly". 

Religion helps people deal with the hardships in life. It's very rare that these go away to a poiunt where you can say... you know what? Dad's not up in heaven... he's just dead. Sorry but we said that coz we thought it'd make you feel better. 

I simply say that their isn't any evidence and I won't blindly follow a god that I can't see or feel.

I think I could say that I don't believe for the same reasons that "they" do - in a "back at them" type of answer. This works for all faiths and not just Christian ones.

For example, a Christian would say the basis of their faith is the bible and I'd think that faith in such a flawed collection of accounts is hardly a basis for my faith. The same would be true of other established religions with their supporting dogmas.

If a Deist-type believer would have to give an answer, surely it would be something about a "feeling" they have for a master-creator, or some logic of theirs that would demonstrate their feelings were borne out. My "feelings" would be a reason why I don't believe in such Deisms and I would also use logic that discounts such possibilities.