Another Atheist Question.....?

Question

For any Atheists who wish to answer I actually have 3 questions:

First, what exactly do you believe-- do you think there is any higher power at all?
Secondly,where do you go when you die, if anywhere?
Thirdly, When did you become an Atheist?

I appreciate any answers, since I don't personally know any Atheists, except for a couple friends back in high school who never really answered my questions. Thanks!

Answer 1

i'm an agnostic, but get lumped in a lot...

i honestly can't decide. the only evidence i see for any higher power are the declarations of the faithful, so i follow those, but then i can't see whatever it is they are seeing. so i don't know; there doesn't appear to be.

i don't know that either. i can feel a self here inside me, but i don't know if that's what other people call their souls. i don't know if it could get around without my body... like if you took away the anchors a spider needs for its web. what use would the web be then? would it just float away? but i also don't worry about it much. there seems a lot to worry about in the world, so that is where i like to spend my thoughts. i'll cross that bridge when it seems right.

i have always been like this. i love to talk about religion and spirituality, so i wonder if i was raised in a church if i would be different. i wasn't, and my parents were science-y. so now, i look at all the faithful people and wonder if perhaps they are just putting me on ;)

that's as honestly as i can explain it. thank you for asking a question that seems to really want to be answered.

Answer 2

An atheist believes that there are no gods whatsoever (it doesn't hold for just the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim God). He/she believes that everything exists because of chemical reactions, etc. etc.

I used to believe I was an atheist, but it was only for half a year to a year (I've been on a sort of spiritual journey), so I didn't really have time to ask myself where people go when they die. Sorry. I guess, however, that if I still didn't believe in absolutely any higher existence (I'm dabbling in paganism, by the way), I would think that our souls became more part of the sensations that the earth provides, and didn't really travel anywhere, like the Christian Heaven. However, I can't speak for all atheists, because most of the time this is up to every person's view of things. One atheist may think that our souls become something, another may think our souls become part of another thing. It all depends on the person.

To answer your last question: Like I said, I'm not an atheist, but I was an atheist a few years ago. I pretty much decided that Christianity was not the religion for me, and I went from being fairly religious to not so at all. This began my "spirituality journey" as I would call it. It's called religious moratorium, in technical terms; a person isn't sure what they believe.

Sorry for the long entry. I hope this answers your questions. :)

Answer 3

Ok I will answer,
1 I don't believe in anything, if I did believe in a higher being i would be agnostic, some athiest choose that just in case.

2. You go into the earth and feed the worms that feed the birds and so on, everything on earth is recyclable

3. I became an athiest when I was a child and everytime I have been to a church it makes me know I am right, Churches are a scam, only after money, tax free money to boot. If you believe is such things that is great, but I am still looking in the bible for the dinosaurs, we have proof they were here, why not mention a little something about it.

Answer 4

Thank you for the nice, non scathing question. It is like a drink of water in the desert.

I am not sure what I believe,, I was brought up Mormon, which regardless of what people tell you is christian religion identical in many aspects to all others.

The stories of the bible never made sense to me, Jonah and the whale, the whole Noah flood thing,,
2 of EVERY land animal on the ENTIRE planet on 1 boat built by 1 family??? It seemed so cartoonish yet all the adults around me be lived it hook line and sinker.
I tried for a while to fit in but was NEVER happy I just could not accept such outlandish ideas when the (to me) utterly defied logic. So, I studied many religions and faiths. Eventually leading to the conclusion,,

for me Christianity or blind faith of any kind will not work, I now am very happy and enjoy a inner-peace I a cannot describe.

Answer 5

I believe that people are part of a greater consciousness. We make choices and live with consequences rather than being punished or rewarded by some omnipotent, omniscient being. We're all connected somehow but not necessarily through a "god" who directed creation. We are part of everything. I believe morals are important for peaceful co-existence and that this is more logical than terrifying people into being nice because they are afraid for their eternal fate..

You go back to the source. Whatever that is. If that means "nothing" then so be it.

I just always have been. Even when I was a child who attended church, religion seemed like a story to make people be nice to each other. I'm not the only one in my family to have leaned this way. (Current research actually backs up the theory that some component of atheism is in-born -- a questioning of the universal concept of god or something like that.)

Answer 6

I do not beleive in a higher power. I beleive in the power of the human mind, and beleive that this can answer many of the unknown answers such as coincidence, healing, psychic stuff, etc.
When you die, you go into the earth, and the worms eat your eyes. Not pretty, but reality. And nothing to fear either - from carbon to carbon. We are carbon based life forms...we are made of carbon and when we die, we turn back into carbon. Simple.
I became an atheist after being forced to go to parochial schools K-12 while living abroad. I asked the priests if Chinese people went to Hell because they didnt accept Jesus, and was told that they in fact do all go to hell. I figured 3Billion Chinese people cant be wrong, so the church must be. That was about 15 years ago. Funny thing is, ever since I stop beleiving, I feel more liberated, and I feel that my mind became more open, thus allowed me to better comprehend difficult concepts.

Answer 7

1. I have no reason to believe there is a higher power.

2. When you die you rot. Your mind dies with you, because your brain is dead. I have no reason to believe there is any such thing as a soul.

3. I began to doubt when I was about 13 or 14 and became a convinced as an atheist when I was around 16... I started thinking about the things I had been indoctrinated with, and questioning them in the light of science. It soon became clear that religion is full of logical holes and after exploring many religious viewpoints and philosophies I felt it had nothing to offer and gave the whole thing up.

Answer 8

well, i don't know if youd call me an atheist...im agnostic, maybe, depending on how you define agnostic. or just confused...either way, i can answer your questions, to a certain extent.

of course, there's different answers for different people, as for anything. you can never clump anyone into a group and think that everyone in that group believes in the same thing. but if you're a strict atheist, generally i think youd believe in science strictly (big bang, evolution, etc, etc) and that when you die, there is no longer a "you" to go anywhere.

i was raised without a religion, and i think many atheists are.

Answer 9

I'm atheist and I believe what can be proved, and follow the buddha dharma to an extent (which isn't spiritual at all and denies the existence of a soul any other permanent form of "self".)

I'm not sure where we go when we die, no one knows, although it seems like your cells and body functions stop functioning and you just cease to exist s a person, I'm toying with the idea of reincarnation in the bhuddist sense (kind of complicated and again involves no "soul" or anything similar.)

I became Atheist because there was no proof of any God and blind faith isn't for me, and evolution theory having a few wholes isn't enough to prove any religion for me, no one will ever perfectly explain life.

Answer 10

1. I believe in chemical chance and so forth.
2. When I die, my body stays in the ground, and I dream until my brain becomes inactive. Then, who knows?
3. I became an atheist at age 11.

Answer 11

1. I believe there is no God. There is no higher power at all.

2. You go nowhere when you die, death is final.

3. I didn't become an atheist overnight. My wife died when I was 28 years old, and as the years have passed it has become absolutely crystal clear to me that there is no God, no heaven, no hell etc... Religion is horse piss.