I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and every single time I cannot justify why I would believe in god. does anyone else feel the same way?

clearly there is no evidence that god exists. why do people want to be fanatic about their beliefs?

You might not have seen hardships in your life. When things go so bad, there comes a time for you to just give up for the sake of peace. You will need somebody who can bring you back to life & that will be god. My .02€ of thoughts.

 I'm an athiest, but I had go through a lot of reseach, logical reasonings, and lots of readings before I was confirmed of my lack of belief in god(s).
Please read the following books as they'll provide you with more insights to your questions than anyone here in sajha
The God Delusion: Richard Dawkins
The Portable Atheist: Christopher Hitchens
The Believing Brain: Michael Shermer

Hope that helps

Am sharing my learnings. If it makes sense to you good and if not as well good, hope you will find your sense.

My learning:

Why? I draw analogy from our history books that was spoon-fed to us about the glorious history of our kings and how they "only" worked for the interest of our country. Similarly, religion (in my case hinduism, and some part of buddhism) was indoctrinated in us at a young age. If they had taught comparative religions, we'd not only understand religions better but also learn to draw our own conclusions than following them blindly. It is very hard to get rid of something that has been instilled on us.

Btw, The God Delusion is absolutely enlightening! 

@jwaaii
Its great to know that you've thought critically and come to you own "definition" of god. I respect your learning, but totally disagree with it on following accounts:
"God is not a belief"
Well for something to be "not a belief", there has to be evidence backing it up, and so far no one has come up with an evidence for god.

"God is an experience"
Your point disagrees with the ever-lasting notion of god, unless if you are talking about an ever-lasting experience. Moreover, experience is a very complex neuro-chemical chain of reactions and electro-chemical firings on the nervous system.

"Just as energy is not a belief but an experience"
Energy in NOT an experience, its a scientific concept which is measurable and testable. 

"Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but can change its forms" is a scientific theory which has been established by years of experiments and hardcore rational analysis of observations. Nothing as such can be said about god. 

man ko kuro: You have the right to disagree with my learning. And I don't see why my ego needs to defend my learning. As for sure we have travelled different paths of life. I agree to disagree as well.

 

http://literature.awgp.org/englishbook/SpiritualityReligion/spectrum_of_knowledge.58

If u r talking about the tangible or substantial existence of god as fascinatingly briefed in holy doctrine, then I don’t but if u r talking about the god in terms of altruism, empathy, fidelity that everyone has in their very corner of soul, then I do. Some people r very successful to explore it within themselves n some people r notoriously successful to kill it which was there since the genesis of their life. Personally I don’t feel like I have to go thru all those doctrine to understand that goodness unless I make another documentary. This simple meaning as cited by our great poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota is more than enough to find my god within myself. I am very enlightened by his simple meaning of god so never happened to fall back on those holy doctrines to search for its existence, neither compelled to go to temple to see it. With that being said, I have utmost respect for those who visit those holy shrine with pure heart n true sense of belief.  For me, god is that good feeling we have which impedes us from being sidetracked from moral ground n gives eternal strengths in the odd time to offset it. As a simple example, I grew up hearing; u must not steal because god is watching on u. That simply meant to culture a manner not to harm other. To answer your questions, believe in goodness not in real god. My definition of god is goodliness which is embedded somewhere subtly in human characters. we just have to explore it n reflect it in the action. So find it within u.

कुन मन्दिरमा जान्छौ यात्री, कुन मन्दिरमा जाने हो?
कुन सामग्री पुजा गर्ने, साथ कसोरी लाने हो?
मानिसहरूको काँध चढी, कुन देवपुरीमा जाने हो?

P.S. pheri bro haru lai lecture deko chahi hoina hai. That’s how I live n think, truly personal  

हाडहरूका सुन्दर खम्बा, मांसपिण्डका दिवार !
मस्तिष्कको यो सुनको छाना, इन्द्रियहरूका द्वार !
नसा-नदीका तरल तर, मन्दिर आफू अपार !
कुन मन्दिरमा जान्छौ यात्री, कुन मन्दिरको द्वार ?

मनको सुन्दर सिंहासनमा, जगदिश्वरको राज !
चेतनाको यो ज्योति हिरण्यमय, उसको शिरको ताज !
शरिरको यो सुन्दर मन्दिर, विश्वक्षेत्रको माझ।

भित्र छ ईश्वर बाहिर आँखा, खोजी हिड्छौ कुन पुर?
ईश्वर बस्तछ गहिराइमा, सतह बहन्छौ कति दुर?
खोजी गर्छौ हृदय लगाऊ, बत्ति बाली तेज प्रचुर ?

साथी यात्री बीच सडकमा, ईश्वर हिड्छ साथ
चुम्दछ ईश्वर काम सुनौला, गरिरहेका हात
छुन्छ तिलस्मी करले उसले, सेवकहरूको साथ ।

सडक किनार गाउँछ ईश्वर, चराहरूको तानामा
बोल्दछ ईश्वर मानिसहरूका, पिडा, दु:खको गानामा
दर्शन किन्तु कहिँ दिँदैन, चर्म-चछुले कानामा ।
कुन मन्दिरमा जान्छौ यात्री, कुन नव-देश बिरानामा?

फर्क फर्क हे ! जाऊ समाऊ, मानिसहरूको पाउ !
मलम लगाऊ आर्तहरूको, चहराइरहेको घाउ
मानिस भइ ईश्वरको त्यो, दिव्य मुहार हँसाऊ ।।

 I don't believe in any gods or goddess (or any kind of magic) either. Also, You cannot define your god into existence. If you define sun is god then obviously sun exists therefore god exists by your definition. This is nothing but playing with words. Sun is just sun. goodness in peoples heart is just goodness in their heart (which has evolutionary reason to exist). 

Religion is the biggest fraud that mankind has faced. There is no tangible evidence at all. It's just a blind belief.

I don't believe in any god figure. Religion is a cult whether it was created several thousand years ago and God is a figure that was cerated  to inflict fear in man so that they could align their ways for a civil life out of fear. Either way god and religion are man made fictious concept and the more I know about GOD and religion the less I believe.

let's hear John lennon's view on god. I have high regard for this man.  (Obviously I don;t think he is an expert in this matter). Just a fun song to hear. 


GOD by john Lenon
God is a concept, 
By which we can measure, 
Our pain, 
I'll say it again, 
God is a concept, 
By which we can measure, 
Our pain, 
I don't believe in magic, 
I don't believe in I-ching, 
I don't believe in bible, 
I don't believe in tarot, 
I don't believe in Hitler, 
I don't believe in Jesus, 
I don't believe in Kennedy, 
I don't believe in Buddha, 
I don't believe in mantra, 
I don't believe in Gita, 
I don't believe in yoga, 
I don't believe in kings, 
I don't believe in Elvis, 
I don't believe in Zimmerman, 
I don't believe in Beatles, 
I just believe in me, 
Yoko and me, 
And that's reality. 
The dream is over, 
What can I say? 
The dream is over, 
Yesterday, 
I was dreamweaver, 
But now I'm reborn, 
I was the walrus, 
But now I'm John, 
And so dear friends, 
You just have to carry on, 
The dream is over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biEHCdEEruk&feature=related

There are two types of men, those who are afraid to lose God, and those who are afraid that they might find Him…
--Blaise Pascal, philosopher and scientist

 man_ko_kura,

Damn, I am glad knowing that there is another sajhaite interested in M. Shermer. I love Dawkins, after all his the Darwin of our age. Did you read "Why Darwin Matters"? 

Also @patan, if you are interested to dig in deeper, you can check out Nietzsche's "The Antichrist". This is one of the most influencing book I've ever read. I was an atheist growing up but after reading this books (look specifically for the Christian conception of God), I actually started to appreciate Hinduism althought I scoffed at it growing up. I also went on from being a hardcore athiest to agnostic. It actually describes about the psychological aspect of religion. It is a difficult book to finish but you'll love it if you do. Good luck if you decide to read.......... 

Also my fav book by Dawkins is "The Selfish Gene". It is interesting though because the end conclusion is that we are just an embodiment of genes and the only purpose of our life is to seek attractive female and fornicate to spread our individual genes, and vice versa if you happen to be a female. It is very entertaining though.............

It seems like God is only remembered in bad times mostly. God is an entity created to provide hope for the masses, and the masses need him a lot.

There is no evidence of god. But belief in one can provide a troubled soul peace, motivation, purpose, etc. The belief can also lead one to kill. That does not mean people who do not believe in god are better. They can kill too. It is also true that a troubled soul can find peace, motivation without belief in god but the god medication is more popular. I don't hate people who believe in god. I only hate the extremists. I don't hate atheists. I only hate arrogant atheists. I'm comfortable with my belief system. It works for me.

Also try this website: thethinkingatheist.com/

 @impro_urnoob
I'm glad I found one too. :) I love Dr. Shermer in the way he backs up his arguments with findings of research in neuroscience. Recently I had the opportunity to have a brief chat with him during a book signing at a convention and was greatly impressed by his modesty.