Any Downside to Atheism?

[Jeremiah]

What exactly does an atheist tell a dying child? Your dying, it's a natural process, your little body will rot, and feed the worms, and you will never exist again... But your mother and I still love you for now and will enjoy your memory after your gone.
PS We will never pray for you, because we don't believe that will help you in the least. In the eternal scheme of things you might as well never have existed, but we still love you...

At least we aren't molesting the live ones. Nor are we strapping bombs to our chest, flying planes into buildings, burning people alive, crucifying people, etc, etc, etc....

 

[musamasoud]

Have you ever been an atheist?

absolutely, I will not lie and say that I have never been sad or depressed in my entire life.

 

[musamasoud]

So...it's like we don't get any ecstasy?

I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but I actually agree 100% with you!

 

[mr.guy]

absolutely, I will not lie and say that I have never been sad or depressed in my entire life.

Oh...so atheism is a clinical condition?

 

[Vile Atheist]

absolutely, I will not lie and say that I have never been sad or depressed in my entire life.

Great, so if you actually have been an atheist, you're entitled to your opinion because you actually know what it is like. People have different experiences and obviously I - like the other atheists on this forum - have had more favourable experiences.

If you meant atheism = depression and you've been depressed and therefore you've been atheist (or some other sort of illogic), I suggest you read up on logical fallacies because that was a whopper.

 

[musamasoud]

Oh...so atheism is a clinical condition?

i dont know... but ever notice that when everything is going really well everyone loves to thank the holy G-d... but when everything goes wrong, whats the first thing out of everyones mouth:

*****! (our creation is meaningless waste, there is no G-d)

****! (our love is meaningless reflex, there is no G-d)

damnit! (G-d, where are you? please come take me out of hell and send this thing in my place)

please excuse my language, but I would believe in atheism if instead of a vagina, women had two ********.

 

[musamasoud]

Great, so if you actually have been an atheist, you're entitled to your opinion because you actually know what it is like. People have different experiences and obviously I - like the other atheists on this forum - have had more favourable experiences.

If you meant atheism = depression and you've been depressed and therefore you've been atheist (or some other sort of illogic), I suggest you read up on logical fallacies because that was a whopper.

what kind of favorable experiences can you share?

to be honest, i have always viewed atheism as a phenomenon that results from parents being too forceful with religion and causing children to rebel against them. are those rebellious feelings the favorable experiences you mean?

 

[dogsgod]

what kind of favorable experiences can you share?

to be honest, i have always viewed atheism as a phenomenon that results from parents being too forceful with religion and causing children to rebel against them. are those rebellious feelings the favorable experiences you mean?

So, religion causes atheism.

 

[musamasoud]

So, religion causes atheism.

yes, I agree. for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. religion = dogma/blind faith and atheism = rejection of faith.

atheism can also take a form of religion where it becomes the blind faith that no supreme being exists, a truly hypocritical position.

 

[Vile Atheist]

what kind of favorable experiences can you share?

to be honest, i have always viewed atheism as a phenomenon that results from parents being too forceful with religion and causing children to rebel against them. are those rebellious feelings the favorable experiences you mean?

When I became atheist, I felt intellectually free to pursue whatever thought I wished. I could question what I was being told and I could discover answer to them using science. With religion, I was already told what the answer was without justification. For years I had struggled with the question: "Where did everything come from?" and I reasoned to myself that God does not answer that question. At least the Abrahamic God. And even if some God model DID answer that question, there is no evidence for it.

I finally became united with a group that shares my views and isn't afraid to criticize and question and I've felt more at home with being an atheist than ever being a theist.

As for the question of forceful parents, my parents were moderate Catholics. They didn't really put a LOT of pressure on me to be religious, but they expected that I believed in God. Religiously, I rarely felt any pressure from them.

 

[Vile Atheist]

yes, I agree. for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. religion = dogma/blind faith and atheism = rejection of faith.

atheism can also take a form of religion where it becomes the blind faith that no supreme being exists, a truly hypocritical position.

I agree with this. But atheism is more a rejection of theism than the flat-out declaration that nothing supernatural exists. To do that would be to make a positive claim and positive claims require proof. The default atheistic position is a skeptical one. It does not make such positive claims. Some atheists, however, up the ante and make that claim.

 

[dogsgod]

yes, I agree. for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. religion = dogma/blind faith and atheism = rejection of faith.

atheism can also take a form of religion where it becomes the blind faith that no supreme being exists, a truly hypocritical position.

Not to mention leprechauns, Thor, tooth fairies, Santa Claus, gremlins, unicorns, Loch Ness, Bigfoot, Tinker Bell, ghosts, etc.

 

[Amill]

I think skepticism plays just as much a role in someone's path towards atheism as rebellion from religion. How can rebellion really affect our beliefs anyways? You still must simply not be convinced that the claims are true, right? It's not as if we can choose what to believe and not believe, can we? It might appear to be rebellion, but it's really just a realization after more and more skepticism and doubt has seeped into a person's beliefs.

Quite a lot of atheists are born into non religious households or families that aren't actively religious too. So plenty of atheists weren't force fed religion as a child, I certainly wasn't. I was allowed to find my own path, which started as bland theism and eventually made it's way to deism and then to atheism. Absolutely no rebellion on my part. It was just pure skepticism for religious claims and the eventual inability to make assumptions about a Universe that is pretty damn crazy and unimaginable.

 

[musamasoud]

When I became atheist, I felt intellectually free to pursue whatever thought I wished. I could question what I was being told and I could discover answer to them using science. With religion, I was already told what the answer was without justification. For years I had struggled with the question: "Where did everything come from?" and I reasoned to myself that God does not answer that question. At least the Abrahamic God. And even if some God model DID answer that question, there is no evidence for it.

I finally became united with a group that shares my views and isn't afraid to criticize and question and I've felt more at home with being an atheist than ever being a theist.

As for the question of forceful parents, my parents were moderate Catholics. They didn't really put a LOT of pressure on me to be religious, but they expected that I believed in God. Religiously, I rarely felt any pressure from them.

Thanks for your response, I truly found it fascinating.

In the story, Abraham left his father and town and rejected the dogma he had grown up around his whole life. He wanted to be himself in his own place. He was known as "Abraham the Hebrew", because "Hebrew" means "to cross over". I believe this is his legacy, as he was the one who rejected the worship of idols. he was an idol smasher, which i believe is the first step in freeing your mind.

 

[musamasoud]

Not to mention leprechauns, Thor, tooth fairies, Santa Claus, gremlins, unicorns, Loch Ness, Bigfoot, Tinker Bell, ghosts, etc.

or Russell's teapot?

 

[musamasoud]

I think skepticism plays just as much a role in someone's path towards atheism as rebellion from religion. How can rebellion really affect our beliefs anyways? They still must simply not be convinced that the stories are true or have doubt in them. It might appear to be rebellion, but it's really just a realization after they've become more and more skeptical of the religious claims.

And quite a lot of atheists are born into non religious households as well, or households that don't practice their faith much. So plenty of atheists weren't force fed religion as a child, I certainly wasn't. I was allowed to find my own path, which started as bland theism and eventually made it's way to deism and then to atheism. Absolutely no rebellion on my part. It was just pure skepticism for religious claims and the eventual inability to make assumptions about a Universe that is pretty damn crazy and unimaginable.

I was thinking something like, "my dad says jesus saves and i hate my dad! i want to **** him off so jesus doesn't exist!"

but i agree, skepticism and rebellion kind of work together.

 

[Humanistheart]

I was thinking something like, "my dad says jesus saves and i hate my dad! i want to **** him off so jesus doesn't exist!"

but i agree, skepticism and rebellion kind of work together.

So you think individuals who believe in god or jesus willfully gambel the souls they believe they have to blaspheame against said god by claiming he doesn't exist just to **** their dad off?

 

[Autodidact]

I dunno... to me being an atheist is like going to an awesome trance/techno dance party and wearing a giant sound-proof helmet and then trying to dance. so yeah, it that sense you kind of are missing out.

Well being a theist is like doing a chicken imitation in a royal ballroom accompanied by an all-ukulele band.

 

[Autodidact]

I dunno... to me being an atheist is like going to an awesome trance/techno dance party and wearing a giant sound-proof helmet and then trying to dance. so yeah, it that sense you kind of are missing out.

On the other hand, if there really isn't any music playing, the theist looks kind of silly.

 

[Autodidact]

Thanks for your response, I truly found it fascinating.

In the story, Abraham left his father and town and rejected the dogma he had grown up around his whole life. He wanted to be himself in his own place. He was known as "Abraham the Hebrew", because "Hebrew" means "to cross over". I believe this is his legacy, as he was the one who rejected the worship of idols. he was an idol smasher, which i believe is the first step in freeing your mind.

Now just take this one step further...