Religion is a like a virus.

Religion hijacks the mind like a virus hijacks the body. Both a virus and religion's goal is to reproduce itself.

Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion."

You can't have a "personal relationship" with imaginary entities, unless you have schizophrenia, or have dropped some pretty good acid! But if you could, I imagine it would be like getting repeatedly sodomized/lobotimized by the Demons of your own creation!

A personal relationship with God/Jesus is the same as having a personal relationship with Humpty-Dumpty -- it takes place entirely in one's imagination. It's like a child playing with an imaginary friend. that they insist is real.

Why ?. It seems that more than a few people on this site although calling themselves atheists are obsessed by religion

A false safety net? The illusion of safety and protection, which isn't real, and could cause real danger if one thinks that belief in God/Jesus is the only hope, since it prevents one from trying to solve problems on their own?

When I was a child I was told that God was "omniscient" and I was so impressed! Surely God would know what was going on in my house and save me and my siblings. But no. Either God didn't care, didn't think abuse was worth intervening for or wasn't really there. Got me questioning the whole biblical story, since it really didn't make sense to me anyway.

After asking the nuns several questions during catechism, which they couldn't answer for me satisfactorily, I began disbelieving what they were saying altogether. That put me in a category of an infidel and I wasn't made to go to catechism or church any more.

If God was real, he was so far away from me, out of my reach, and what language did God speak anyway? Oh yeah, "omniscient" so he knows all, or does he... Things didn't add up from what I was told.

If God was real, couldn't he have intervened in my life and helped my brothers and me or somehow proven himself to me? If God doesn't intervene or care, then why pray to him and lavish him with praise and worship?

So, now my relationship with God/Jesus is as a nemesis. He/They get all the credit for things that either just happen naturally, or that have been figured out and solved by human ingenuity, compassion, perseverance, courage and so many wonderful human attributes.

As a Humanist, believing in human values and reasoning, this God of the past which so many people continue to believe in, is like "fake news" that keeps jumping in to take away from the real message and true reality.

It's pretending really hard that your moral compass is someone else.

And that 'someone else' can grant personal favors if you do certain things "Just right".

But you never do things 'just right' because the game is rigged. Apparently. lol

So happy to be Atheist!

Umm, you know this is a site literally named agnostic.com, right?

David, you have an oxymoron here. <<<personal relationship with God/Jesus really>>> How can a personal relationship with Jesus be real?

It is akin to the personal relationship you could form from believing that something that does not exist becomes real in your mind, and you then wallow in this non existent being, and sing crawling songs about him to piss in his pocket, give him at least 10% of your income, get down on your knees and worship this
egotistical fairy tale ghost, and waste the rest of your life in a fantasy dream world.

I have a personal relationship with Geoffrey, my teddy bear. I talk to him, he communicates with me (in his own way). I take him with me, most of the time and he brings me joy.

Of course I can also see Geoffrey! He's not invisible!!

A personal relationship with God is simply a fantasy -- like Jimmy Stewart's relationship with the fantasy bunny "Harvey." It enables true believers to feel personal support and security that is simply false.

I don't have one. I have a personal relationship with myself. I'm not saying I'm a god but I'm saying to know one's self is the key.

I would comparebit to having a personal relationship with an imaginary unexisting friend that some children have but eventually abandon when they realuze it ain't real and it ain't there for you at all.

The same as having a relationship with a tin of Altoids only the Altoids are better.

I don't have relationships with imaginary creatures -- except of course my unicorn.

A personal relationship with God is like having an imaginary friend whom you expect to do all the stuff in your life, you don't want to do, or can't do yourself.

Call by nickname paingod for the lovely times

Like many have said, I find it hard to believe that an imaginary thing is "personal". That said, I could see some residual good coming out of a belief like that. I could see someone gain in confidence or belief in self because some imaginary friend spurs you on. Unfortunately, from my perspective, this sometimes turns into a kind of megalomania or something like that.

i've never had a relationship with an imaginary thing. when i was a kid i remember other kids (maybe one or two) that had an imaginary friend. i never got it. BUT i have been thinking about how a religious person may not want to be with an atheist because it may jeopardize their personal relationship with god. i've just been thinking how ridiculous it is to have a more important relationship with 'god' as opposed to having one with an actual person. i think maybe they get that tingly feeling when thinking about god. like thinking of jumping off a cliff gives me that tingly feeling. i can think of shit and get a tingly feeling. i'm betting that feeling is what a lot of ppl confuse with feeling god's presence... which is only a mind thing. i digress

I've never had a relationship with any God or religion because I wasn't raised to. By the time I was forced by my grade school to go to church, I already had serious doubts about all religion.

A bad LSD trip!!???

Please explain how someone has a personal relationship with a nonmaterial object or being they cannot see or touch, and that they only "hear" within their mind. I believe I may have a more personal relationship with the chair I sit in since I can see it, can touch it, and can hear it when I sit down on it. It is a comfortable chair that attractive given the decor of the room it sits in.

My veiw of the personal relationship with God is influenced by reports of Nicholas Epley's research reported in Discover magazine.
[blogs.discovermagazine.com]

No such relationship, pure imagination, & wishful thinking.

Let's establish something here. First, all the attributes given to the Big Guy in the Sky and his Kid came from the minds of the folks writing the books and the ideas in the NT are not new. They originated long before writing came on the scene. Then, when folks learned how to record their ideas, they started putting together stories that bubbled up through the OT to the NT. So, whatever we find in the books has already been adjusted, massaged, and juggled for a few hundred years (maybe even a few thousand).

Now we have all these stories defining the character of the Heavenly Honcho and later his bastard son that came from the minds of men. Naturally, everything we discover about these characters is strangely familiar to us. Somehow this seems magical to us. The folks who were scribbling these ideas down said something on the order of, "Hey, this mystical man of ours has to have super powers, ya know?"

Anyway, all this tinkering around and imagining and puffing up made it so that no one could even begin to relate to these bigger than life, more perfect than perfect critters who can wipe us all out on a whim and have a couple of times. Now we're supposed to have a 'real' personal relationship with them? First they rely on scaring us to death and now they want us to be all lovey dovey.

A lot of messing with the statements in the holy books has transpired to get to that one. In the old days, say back about 70 or 80 years ago and before there was no talk about warm fuzzy relationships. There was a lot of fire and brimstone and spare the rod, spoil the child going on, but cozy relationships were of the world stuff. The most they had managed to do was avoid the stoning stuff. This love and serve is all new from the apologists who have been doing their thing with the writings to suit softer folk.

I'm sorry, what was your question again?

Here is the video that I ended up making, I hope you folks like it!