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Is Atheism the Easier Position?
- Thread starter Nakosis
- Start date
Nope, im an atheist because i don't believe gods exists. I have often been attacked for holding that position. As have atheist for thousands of years.
From many theists perspective, being a theist is harder because it requires research and study into holy texts (if your brand of theism has such things) to determine what that deity wants from you and the holiest of ways to achieve that goal.
From many atheists view, atheism is harder because you can't offload moral responsibility onto a deity. You must determine what is helpful and harmful based on the measurable consequences of behavior on individuals and society, not merely what someone else told you is correct, man or deity. And you must accept that you're are mutable, impermanent, and cosmically insignificant, with nobody to make your life easier except you and your fellow man.
But I'm not an atheist for either of those reasons. I'm an atheist because gods never seemed credible to me. Pretending to be theistic to serve theism's ideas of social responsolidity would be too much like lip service.
From many atheists view, atheism is harder because you can't offload moral responsibility onto a deity. You must determine what is helpful and harmful based on the measurable consequences of behavior on individuals and society, not merely what someone else told you is correct, man or deity. And you must accept that you're are mutable, impermanent, and cosmically insignificant, with nobody to make your life easier except you and your fellow man.
But I'm not an atheist for either of those reasons. I'm an atheist because gods never seemed credible to me. Pretending to be theistic to serve theism's ideas of social responsolidity would be too much like lip service.
Colt
Well-Known Member
On a religious Forum Atheism will get one a lot of attention.
So, in some cases, the atheist is just seeking attention?
Ok, but why hang out on the religious forum?
I'm a theist and that applies to me. There's plenty of atheists that doesn't apply to (the 1st and 3rd statements), as well.
ecco
Veteran Member
That's a really loaded question. Why do you imply that someone's atheism is due to a desire to attack other's beliefs?
I became an atheist around age ten when, following a couple of sessions in Sunday school, I realized that the concept of a god was just as real as Superman and The Shadow.
I never challenged the religious beliefs of anyone for many years.
There are some nice people here. I like to chat, and have been known to learn from some of those people. It's a well run forum that beats the food fights of many other forums.
Oh, an a good argument now and then is good fun
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A lot of religiously inclined people feel like irreligious shouldn't be on religious forums. But frankly, religion rains on the irreligious and religious alike. It's impacted their world enough that of course they have opinions and discussions on it.
That said I do find arguing about evolution with young earth creationists, who are a minority and shrinking, to be extra extra boring. But hey, to each their own.
Ceteris paribus, easier positions are to be preferred. For, why make things unnecessarily difficult?
ciao
- viole
Magical Wand
Active Member
Well, I don't think so. The atheist has a very heavy duty -- if he is rational -- to make his worldview coherent and defend it from intellectual attacks. There are many arguments out there against the atheistic worldview and mountains of books by naturalists (e.g., Graham Oppy, Howard Sobel, John Mackie) dealing with these arguments. And the atheist must be aware of these debates in order to have a robust worldview.
So, even though the atheist doesn't postulate any additional being, he must defend its denial of such beings. And this requires hard work.
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Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
No. I just don't believe deities exist. Jehovah, Vishnu, Thor, whatever. I don't even think of beliefs, religion, and ideologies off RF.
If I did believe in deities, I'd feel no desire to debate about it. I'd actually find it quite rude and depreciating the deities I would follow (depending on the type of deity I follow and if its a being or not in its own right).
Probably 80% (a quasi-idiom meaning more than half) of atheists if not more actually don't care what others believe and have other things to do besides think about other people's belief systems.
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Altfish
Veteran Member
No, I'm an atheist because...
I tried to defend the ideology but couldn't.
I tried to logically justify a god but couldn't
I failed to prove to my satisfaction that there was a god..
I am an atheist and it allows me to question the beliefs of others and I'm very happy to defend beliefs which I lack?
I don't see either alternative as easier. There are uniformed atheists who don't believe in gods but have not done the research about various views about gods. I was one such.
There are of course theists who are the same - they just believe.
Then there are atheists and theists who have thought deeply about the matter and examined various claims and perspectives and reached a decision.
There are of course theists who are the same - they just believe.
Then there are atheists and theists who have thought deeply about the matter and examined various claims and perspectives and reached a decision.
I'm not an atheist. I think atheism rather than easier or harder is simply a different position. It could be easy or difficult given the situation. Some atheists have struggled to justify their position, and some have not.
epronovost
Well-Known Member
I'm not an atheist to win brownie points during internet debates. I'm an atheist because I don't believe in nor worship any deity. It is, of course, a hell of a lot easier to say "I'm not so sure about all of this" than believing some dude in Palestine walked on water and died for everybody's sake then come back from dead only to basically die again, but you will only get the reward after you die and you can't come back to prove to everybody that the reward is awesome for example.
PureX
Veteran Member
Good luck getting one to admit to that, however!Well, I don't think so. The atheist has a very heavy duty -- if he is rational -- to make his worldview coherent and defend it from intellectual attacks. There are many arguments out there against the atheistic worldview and mountains of books by naturalists (e.g., Graham Oppy, Howard Sobel, John Mackie) dealing with these arguments. And the atheist must be aware of these debates in order to have a robust worldview.
So, even though the atheist doesn't postulate any additional being, it has to defend its denial of such beings. And this requires hard work.
Easiness is not relevant, for me at least, since my lack of belief (mostly) just appears from an assessment of the major religious beliefs and the likelihood of any god so depicted actually existing - the ones that have such a belief. I also don't seem to require anything that a religious belief might provide, especially if I didn't have a firm conviction in such - which I certainly don't have, given my lack of trust in religious texts. The same mostly applies to spirituality in its various forms.
So whatever position I have just comes from this. I don't feel a need to attack any religion apart from where I feel any such belief harms others or has a damaging effect on society. I feel as obliged to defend any view towards religion as any other, which mostly isn't there as a priority, given my age and lack of interest in doing so. I know that many will hardly change their views so it is a bit pointless debating.
Erebus
Well-Known Member
I'm not quite sure if your focus with this thread is on the easiness of debates or the easiness of life in general. If it's the latter then being an atheist could make life much harder, depending on where you live.
If we're talking about debate, being an atheist doesn't preclude you from having opinions, ideologies or beliefs relating to gods and religion. Some examples:
What qualities do you think something needs to have in order to be classed as a deity?
What makes a given argument unconvincing to you?
Do you think theism and/or religion has been more of a positive or negative influence on the world?
Do you believe theism is stupid?
Do you belong to a religion yourself? If so, why that religion rather than another?
If you believe in an afterlife, why do you believe in it?
What do you believe would constitute acceptable evidence for the existence of a deity?
All of these are things that an atheist could try to defend during a debate. I'd say that some of these are more challenging to defend than certain forms of theism.
You could perhaps take the easy route and just respond to every argument with, "Nope, I don't believe it" and provide no further commentary. At that point though, you're not really having a debate in the first place.
I suppose it's theoretically possible that somebody might be an atheist for that reason but I've never encountered it myself.