Atheism and Faith

[Manoah]

I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

 

[syo]

I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I always thought that religious people fear the dead won't ressurect, and atheists hope the dead will ressurect.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

As far as my faith goes, even though I'm new to some of the ideas, I'm secure enough to acknowledge that I think atheists are an important part of the world, and that their opinions well matter even in religious discussions. I think they have a part to play in other people's spiritual journeys even if, at times, it's a small part.

 

[ChristineM]

I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

Atheism : disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

Nothing more, nothing less. No faith involved, just a 100% lack of evidence. Plus. I believe ;-) some evidence to indicate no gods exist.

If you have other ideas you believe to be atheist then i would challenge them.

 

[Revoltingest]

I always thought that religious people fear the dead won't ressurect, and atheists hope the dead will ressurect.

I have faith that the dead will remain so.
But it's based upon inductive reasoning from overwhelming evidence.

Still, it's compelling to think about how to face the zombie apocalypse.
The TV shows get the technological challenges all wrong.

 

[ChristineM]

As far as my faith goes, even though I'm new to some of the ideas, I'm secure enough to acknowledge that I think atheists are an important part of the world, and that their opinions well matter even in religious discussions. I think they have a part to play in other people's spiritual journeys even if, at times, it's a small part.

I agree but will add, even if its i questioning part

 

[ChristineM]

I always thought that religious people fear the dead won't ressurect, and atheists hope the dead will ressurect.

Nope.

 

[LuisDantas]

I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

Fairly good for an opening post. Congratulations.

For the time being, I will just point out that faith has various forms and meanings.

Not all of them involve a deity-concept in any way. Those that do not are fully or mostly compatible with atheism, and tend to have a lot of practical value.

On the other hand, certainty about the existence of a deity of some kind is not IMO advisable even for sincere theists.

 

[LuisDantas]

I always thought that religious people fear the dead won't ressurect, and atheists hope the dead will ressurect.

Speaking for myself, no, I do not either hope nor fear for a return of the dead.

Except in fiction. I am very fond of the genre.

But for religious beliefs? No, I don't think that it is healthy for religion to have any such beliefs. Afterlife is not an advisable concept.

 

[syo]

Speaking for myself, no, I do not either hope nor fear for a return of the dead.

Except in fiction. I am very fond of the genre.

But for religious beliefs? No, I don't think that it is healthy for religion to have any such beliefs. Afterlife is not an advisable concept.

And how do atheists cope with death?

 

[PureX]

I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

The solution, I think, is simple, if not easy for a lot of people.

The solution is to accept the profound depth of our 'unknowing' as an inevitable and inescapable aspect of the human condition. There is much we do not, cannot, and never will know about the 'truth of existence'. And without that knowledge, we will be left asking the 'big questions', indefinitely.

However, in this ignorance there is hope. Because in this ignorance there is the blessing of a great many possibilities. And we humans may not possess much knowledge, but we certainly do possess great imagination. And with that imagination we can create and explore many possible resolutions to those big questions that we can never validly answer. It is in our inability to verify or invalidate an imagined possibility that we gain the ability not only to hope for the best, but to live accordingly. And this is what we call "faith at work". Faith is not pretending that we know the answers to those big unanswerable questions. That would just be dishonest pretense. Faith is accepting our unknowing, and choosing to hope for the best we can imagine in the face of it. And choosing to live in accordance with that hope, to see if it manifests.

It's not about what one chooses to pretend to be "the truth" of things. It's about choosing to hope for the best that we can imagine, and then living accordingly, even as we have no proof or knowledge that it will manifest.

That's faith in action.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

But for religious beliefs? No, I don't think that it is healthy for religion to have any such beliefs. Afterlife is not an advisable concept.

In my opinion it is far better to be concerned about ones legacy than ones disposition.

 

[LuisDantas]

And how do atheists cope with death?

I take it that you mean to ask how we deal with the emotional impact of knowing that everyone dies?

I think that we have a significant advantage over believers in an afterlife. We do not inflict unnecessary uncertainties on ourselves, nor do we expect others to.

Instead, we just take into consideration that our time is limited, and therefore we should savor what we can realistically achieve and be grateful for the precious, irreplaceable moments.

Sometimes we are asked "what is the point" if there is no expectation of an infinite life of some sort. But there is no particular reason to expect or even want infinity.

Maybe both the expectation of an afterlife and the lack of such an expectation are things that we ultimately get used to? I don't really know. But I know that I am not even very well adjusted for the idea of an afterlife. It actually depresses me - or would, if I believed in that.

Also, I would venture to say that people's long term goals are influenced to a significant extent by their specific beliefs about an afterlife.

For skeptics, that is probably an advantage. We tend to pursue realistic, cautious approaches and to treat our resources as, well, real. We do not mix a lot of ultimately very speculative hopes and dreams into our planning for life. That leads to a lot less and more resolvable anxiety than I perceive in hardcore believers in an afterlife.

 

[LuisDantas]

In my opinion it is far better to be concerned about ones legacy than ones disposition.

What do you mean by disposition here?

If by legacy you mean what we know to be left to others when we pass away, then definitely. That is valuable and, hopefully, can be sublime and long lasting, albeit changeable as generations go by.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

What do you mean by disposition here?

By disposition I mean what, if anything, happens to me after death.

 

[LuisDantas]

By disposition I mean what, if anything, happens to me after death.

Oh, I completely agree.

 

[leov]

I have several half-baked thoughts on which I would enjoy seeing discussion and development.

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual. I wrote somewhere once that a least a part of me is atheist as I have moments when I want to believe only what I see (at times almost a temptation to be cold blooded) and as sometimes my healthy skepticism keeps me from being superstitious or hyper spiritual.

2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity. Like the blind men and the elephant, what each one is experiencing must be integrated to put the whole puzzle together, so perhaps it is with culture and knowledge. Even doubting Thomas had a role to play in the story of Jesus, and I assume other religions address the role of questioning and the need of faith not to be blind faith.

3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, as the the phantoms of imagination are separated from reasonable ethos and as legitimate intuition (arising from vast amounts of study and experience) is separated from gut feelings inspired by indigestion. I hope I do not go too far in saying that some atheists might love to be proved wrong, would love to see some legitimate reasons and evidence for faith.

I'll stop here as these are indeed half-baked thoughts.

I think many atheists refuse to know themselves.

 

[`mud]

Luis said;
"Sometimes we are asked "what is the point" if there is no expectation of an infinite life of some sort.
But there is no particular reason to expect or even want infinity. "

Ignorance is a dependence on one's faith in the existance of an eternal cognizance.
If memory is lost during the transistence phase, and cognizance is gone,
I agree, what good is infnity !

 

[Aupmanyav]

1. Doubt may be an indispensable part of faith within an individual.
2. Doubt may be an indispensable part of humanity.
3. Faith my also be an indispensable part of atheism, ..

1. Doubt arises when the faith is not built up on truth.
2. Yeah, it is a part of us. But it can be corrected by abandoning prejudices and accepting knowledge.
3. Faith should not be a part of atheism. Don't accept what is without evidence and accept that we have gaps in our knowledge.
(This does not make what we know as totally false, but what we know can always be refined)

 

[Polymath257]

And how do atheists cope with death?

Well, we start by acknowledging that we die. Our existence is finite and so are the existences of all of our friends, family, and loved ones.

But this is precisely what makes the time we have together so precious and special. We know it can be taken away at any instance *forever*.

I can't say how other atheists 'cope with death', but my approach is to live life: to love, to care, to learn, to teach, to share, to experience, to dance, etc, etc, etc.

Then, hopefully, when I am close to death, I can look back and say I have lived life well.

When loved ones die, I can celebrate their lives and what they have given to me and the world.

I think one of the central mistakes of those wanting 'eternal life' is thinking that only enduring things are worthy. I have found exactly the opposite: it is the fleeting things that are often the most valuable. It is the very fact of death that make this life so important and wonderful.

To live forever would both be torture after the first few trillion years and would negate the very aspect of life that makes it so special and worthwhile: that it ultimately ends.