Mathematician
Reason, and reason again
During my first period class [Journalism] a conversation emerged about Global Warming, which in some way or another evolved into a debate of Christian morality. Being removed from the discussion, I turned around and listened in on the freshmen voice their opinions. Eventually the topic came to me, in which I responded in the negative by saying I don't believe in God so any questions involving assumed beliefs would be pointless.
The class suddenly fell quiet.
In my experience most teenagers down here have not met an open atheist before. We're a pretty diverse Texas community: Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and some Muslims. But it's assumed that a person believes in something to the degree of God.
I don't.
Although everyone in the class who didn't know me before this year was taken back [most students enrolled in Journalism I are freshmen. The teacher, whom I've known for the past two years, is the only person who really had insight into what I believed before this instance], most returned to their own arguements. However, a few made a joke out of it, inciting the all too common "you're going to hell," "that's dumb," or my personal favorite, "Say hello to Ghandi."
I'll assume for now that most of the comments were done jokingly; of course there probably is some credibility in what they say, but for the most part it seemed like a bunch of knee-jerk responses. I handled the situation in the best way I could, by responding with some calm and collective answers.
The one subjection which drew the most focus from these students was the concept of death. They just couldn't understand the idea of an atheist not living in fear of death. I informed the puzzled freshmen that atheism does not necessarily mean disbelief in an afterlife, and although I belief in the established dead-is-dead philosophy, I am in some sense very spiritual. As I expected, most still couldn't grasp the idea of nothing after death.
Which brings me to the point of this thread.
For those brothers and sisters who do belief in an afterlife, could you stomach the idea of nothing after death?
I'm convinced social conditions have convinced many people to fear non-existance, when in some ways we can all embrace the notion [note, I am not saying you SHOULD].
The class suddenly fell quiet.
In my experience most teenagers down here have not met an open atheist before. We're a pretty diverse Texas community: Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and some Muslims. But it's assumed that a person believes in something to the degree of God.
I don't.
Although everyone in the class who didn't know me before this year was taken back [most students enrolled in Journalism I are freshmen. The teacher, whom I've known for the past two years, is the only person who really had insight into what I believed before this instance], most returned to their own arguements. However, a few made a joke out of it, inciting the all too common "you're going to hell," "that's dumb," or my personal favorite, "Say hello to Ghandi."
I'll assume for now that most of the comments were done jokingly; of course there probably is some credibility in what they say, but for the most part it seemed like a bunch of knee-jerk responses. I handled the situation in the best way I could, by responding with some calm and collective answers.
The one subjection which drew the most focus from these students was the concept of death. They just couldn't understand the idea of an atheist not living in fear of death. I informed the puzzled freshmen that atheism does not necessarily mean disbelief in an afterlife, and although I belief in the established dead-is-dead philosophy, I am in some sense very spiritual. As I expected, most still couldn't grasp the idea of nothing after death.
Which brings me to the point of this thread.
For those brothers and sisters who do belief in an afterlife, could you stomach the idea of nothing after death?
I'm convinced social conditions have convinced many people to fear non-existance, when in some ways we can all embrace the notion [note, I am not saying you SHOULD].
