Is it hypocritical that atheists need meaning in their lives?

Question

Atheists are always bragging about how they can do it alone and religion is just a crutch. If they don't need to feel that they are just a bunch of molecules that are no more important than a worm, then why do they still need relationships, accomplishments, and modern conveniences, instead of just going off to live in the woods like a monk. And if they don't care that they're just going to be forgotten after they die, why would they need memorials and to have buildings named after them, as if they're actually going to know about it after they're gone. Doesn't Darwinism and evolution say that we're just survival machines, and that things like love or meaning are just a product of fear of the unknown and meaninglessness of life. It's not that atheists don't need any meaning in their lives, they just don't want a god that makes them feel guilty about pleasures like having sex before marriage or watching pornography.

Answer 1

humans are what they are. Darwinism never said that humans are just dumb animals - that's your interpretation.

You remind me of a very nice lady who once told me that it was awful that I didn't believe in God, right after I told her I didn't believe in going to church. I never said that - it was her jump to that conclusion.

Well, it's your jump to the conclusion that people who don't believe in your god don't want or have meaning in their lives.

Answer 2

"Atheists are always bragging about how they can do it alone and religion is just a crutch. If they don't need to feel that they are just a bunch of molecules that are no more important than a worm, then why do they still need relationships, accomplishments, and modern conveniences, instead of just going off to live in the woods like a monk. "

Wow, way to strawman an argument. We say we don't need to follow a higher power, not that we can always just do it alone.

"And if they don't care that they're just going to be forgotten after they die, why would they need memorials and to have buildings named after them, as if they're actually going to know about it after they're gone."

Ego

" Doesn't Darwinism and evolution say that we're just survival machines, and that things like love or meaning are just a product of fear of the unknown and meaninglessness of life."

No. No. and no. Moron.

" It's not that atheists don't need any meaning in their lives, they just don't want a god that makes them feel guilty about pleasures like having sex before marriage or watching pornography."

Again. Wrong. Atheists don't need a god in their life because god doesn't exist, and it's stupid to follow something that has no logical evidence towards it.

Answer 3

First off you use generalizations to say all Atheists brag about the religious crutch that is wrong. If anything it is the opposite with religious people cramming " the Word" down our throats.

I have no empty space or look for more meaning to anything other than what affects my life and the way that I choose to live it.

Feeling guilty is a religious idea not a Darwin theory. Darwin at his most basic concept is survival of the fittest which means to spread the seed of the strongest species to as many others as you can. The idea of marriage and monogamy is a church born idea. Marriage was in the beginning used to create ties between rival families or to get more land.

If you believe in a higher power or God then all the more power to you but just because I choose not to believe what you do makes no less nor no more.

In ancient times there were many gods and they lasted alot longer than Christ has. Some Egyptian gods are still practiced today as well as Chinese and Japanese gods

Also one last thing where does it say in the bible that porno is bad. In the bible is shows how to treat slaves and sex with family members and a god that was vengeful eye for an eye but later it is turn the other cheek so which is it turn the other cheek while killing your enemy

Answer 4

My friend,

The reason you are asking this question is because it seems you do not have an understaning for atheism, nor does it seem you have a clear understaning for Darwin and Nihilism.

I suspect the people you know as atheists (the persons you accuse of "bragging ") don't really understand the true concept of atheism either.

Atheism has to do with the absence of theism, that is- the belief of gods. Atheism doesn't speak to any specific god, as most people would believe Atheism is the antithesis for Christianity. Simply, Atheists do not believe that a higher power controls their destiny, their fate.

This has nothing to do with materialism, and it has nothing to do with having emotions or sentiments. If a person is a true atheist, they are just as capable of love and compassion as someone who subscribes to a religion. The difference is that an atheist doesn't love or obey because it's mandated by a God, they love and obey because they're human.

You are also confusing Nihilishm with Darwinism.

Darwinism deals with the idea that a species changes, or evolves through genes inherited from the strongest members of a species, "survival of the fittest".

There is a school of thought called Social Darwinism which relates the survival of the fittest theory toward mankind, and doing whatever it takes to ensure your survival. It should be noted that the differences between Darwinsm and Social Darwinism are:

1) Darwin did not develop "Social Darwinsm. It was a term devised by Robert Hofstadter to describe ideas put forth by Thomas Malthus and Herbert Spencer.

2) Darwin's theory is based upon natural selection, not concious decisions, to create dominance and thus ensure survival.

Nihilism is the thought which submits that "nothing matters", and that there is no true meaning to life.

Think before you speak, and you may answer your own questions!

As for searching for meaning in one's life- there is a difference between searching for the meaning of life and finding something meaningful to do with your life.

Atheists do not ask a god for the answers to either of those questions, Darwinists don't waste their time thinking about it (nature will take its course) and Nihilists don't care.

Pornography and guilt don't have anything to do with any of them- guilt is more a device of the Chrisitian and Catholic philosophy; it's what motivates people to confessional and it's what the 10 Commandments are based upon.

Hope that clears it up.

Answer 5

No, not in any way whatsoever. You're just hijacking the meaning of live on behalf of the Christian religion. I'm an atheist, and I have feelings, too. I want to accomplish things in my life and make the world a better place. I want people to remember me and think I was a good person.

Science tells us a lot of things, for instance physics tells us I'm a 75 kg block of semi-solid matter exterting a pressure of almost 750 Newtons on the surface of the earth. Not very useful information outside physics. Same goes for evolution; great for telling us how we got here, lousy at telling us what to do.

Finally, if I wasn't supposed to have sex before marriage, I want a better argument than "God says so".

Answer 6

I want to do something positive in this world, i dont know if im going to be forgotten after i die and quite frankly i dont care. i would not be able to do much living in the woods or without using the technology that is available.
Emotions are a part of being human. People who are friendly probably had an easier time surviving than people who were always picking fights. You say we dont want to feel guilty about sex or porn, but we also dont have someone to turn to in bad times. theists start to pray that things will go better, but atheists actually do something to make things better. Why does christianity teach that sex is wrong and dirty and evil, yet you have to save it for the person you love?

Answer 7

Wow.

Your statement comes across as incredibly ignorant. It's looks like you are not asking it to gain insight, but that you are merely trying to spread your ideas that atheists are hypocritics and sinners.

You are incorrect. I'm an atheist and I strive for meaning in my life. However, I assign the meaning, not a fictitious god created by greedy or delusional men.

I personally would like to help humanity survive longer and acquire more knowledge. That is the meaning I strive for in my life.

As to memorials, it's nice to have things named after you... it can be comforting to think that people will miss you after you die and that you are loved by your fellow man.

It is not because I want to commit sins that I do not believe in a god. I lack belief in a god because there is no evidence for it. There is a huge difference there.

Answer 8

I'm really curious to see if anyone finds logic in that.

Shouldn't this be turned around? Why wouldn't I want the modern convenience that SCIENCE has provided.

Go live with nothing but "god" just like the monks DO.

My life has meaning. I'm not willing to trade it for fairy tales.

Answer 9

Because despite being no more important than a worm, relationships make you feel good, accomplishments gain you acknowledgement and rewards, and modern convienences are... well convienent. Atheist doesn't mean asetic.

Why have memorials? Because we don't believe in a god to live on forerver, so we live in edifices of stone and brick with our name plasterered on them.

You making the mistake of attaching god to meaning in life, they are not one in the same. You can have meaning without having a god to worship, atheist just believe their meaning spawns from themselves, and not from some overreaching fanciful creation.

Yes, life is ultimately without greater meaning than what we give it, but it doesn't mean were all masochists who like to suffer.

Answer 10

I need no meaning in my life. I just do. I don't brag religion is a crutch. An Atheist living like a monk? Do you know what you typed? I need nothing named after me. You need to do your homework.

Answer 11

I spend the time that you spend judging others and reading fiction helping the human race and teaching my children that this is their life and to live it for today. I love deeply and will leave this world a better place hopefully. As for feeling guilty, I feel no such thing for having sex with someone I love or seeing a naked body.