Does not believing in God make one a sinner?

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Does not believing in God make one a sinner?

As a person who doesn't believe in any god, I don't care...

Sin is a religious concept so if you're not religious you can't sin.

No. Humans are sinners whether they believe in God or not.

ruveyn

What ruveyn said. However, many fundamentalist Christians in particular would argue that not believing in God means you can't repent your sins, so are essentially damned.

Almost. If the religions that believe in sin, karma etc. are wrong then you can't sin (or receive bad karma or whatever). If they are right then you could still sin, you'd just be ignorant of it.

I'm not.

All the more reason not to bother with organised religion in the first place, n'cest-ce pas?

only if he does exist.

It's like this one man said...

Hey... wait a minute.

Have you ever lied? Have you ever wished you had something that someone else has? Have you ever wished anyone ill?
Have you ever been angry? Have you every wished you had something that you have not earned?

ruveyn

The word 'sin' usually has religious connotations, it isn't just a question of immorality or breaking human laws / conventions. As an atheist the question of sin is irrelevant to me; however, morality is not. A good example of the distinction is that Christianity says it is a sin to work on the day of the Sabbath; but I don't hold to that decree and don't consider it immoral to work whenever I want. It probably is a 'sin' not to believe in God; but it is not immoral. Sins are irrelevant to non-believers.

My husband and I were friends with this guy who thinks it would be easier to get into heaven (if it exists) for a mass murderer, with no respect for others, who believes in God than for a good person, who is kind, caring and has never done any harm to anyone or anything, but does not believe in God. His belief is that God sees the non-believing as a worse sin than the mass murder. Sounds pretty vindictive and childish of Him. After the evening he told us this, I don't think we arranged to meet up again.

It all depends on religion you choose

For Christians or Muslims person who don't believe in THEIR God is sinner
for Buddhists no - cause Buddha said "don't believe in Buddhas teachings, TRY if they will work for you, if not, just throw them away"
for people from shamanic religions... I don't know - cause they don't believe in "ghosts" or "Great Ancestors" - they KNOW that such beings exists, so for them it's not matter of "faith" but of "knowledge"

Sounds like bad information to me.

Yes, if you were a mass murderer but accept Christ's atonement, you'll go to heaven.

The thing is, though, that someone who accepts Christ is made a new person who ought to expect a dramatic change in outward behavior to reflect the new person on the inside. That doesn't mean a murderer can escape the earthly consequences of being brought to justice and possibly be put to death. But it ought to put an end to his destructive behavior and maybe even he'll come forth and confess his crimes.

Moreover, someone with violent tendencies can let God deal with his rage such that he turn away from committing a violent crime in the first place.

According to the Christian worldview, there is no such thing as a good person, so all people are born into a sinful nature that separates them from God. Without acknowledging that, confessing and turning away from sin, and without believing in Christ, there can be no remission of sins. A Christian should desire to do good deeds to glorify God. A non-believer can do all the good in the world, but ultimately the motives for doing good are self-seeking.