Question for atheists (so that theists can read the answers)?

Question

I keep reading on yahoo answers today from theists that they don't understand how one could be alive and be an atheist since their life wouldn't have any purpose.

In the interest of building a database of questions that have answers, my question to the atheist who doesn't believe in God is what is your purpose in life? Agnostics should also answer since they don't believe in God.

So the intent here is that those who are theists and who wonder "how does an atheist live without a purpose in life" can read this question and its answers and find out.

Answer 1

To enjoy my life, cause the least amount of pain and suffering to everyone else in the world, and to have as much hot sex with as many beautiful women as humanly possible.

Answer 2

I am considered an agnostic, the reason being is that I accept the fact that I do NOT know all the answers to life, including how the world was created, if humans have an afterlife, whatever. The point I believe is, why exactly does it matter how the world is created, and why should people worry what happens when we die? Weather we knew or not, it wouldn't change anything at all, we would go on living life, as we did before.

Now to answer your question, I believe the purpose in ones life, is to actually find purpose in ones life, that's it, do whatever the **** makes you happy, and what you think is right. If you want to fornicate, then by god tap that ***. Anyway, I wont be considered agnostic soon, as I am creating my own religion derived from Computer Programming logic...imagine a religion that instead of telling people the secrets to life, that could very well be false, it would give them the tools they need to go out, get off their *** and find out for themselves.

Until next time. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.

Answer 3

That is a great question, and in my mind an easy one as well. At one time in my life I was a God-fearing Christian but just reached a point where it didn't make sense to me any more. I was tired of being told "what" to think and listening to people say they were living only for the life after this one. I didn't buy it. I started doing a lot of research on all forms of religion, spirituality's as well as humanist theories and discovered what really matters is what we do right here, right now. I have joined a Unitarian church where I live and am really able to get involved with community as well as world issues.

I really believe we are all born perfect and our instinct to have a purpose in life already exists, but through our up bringing and surrounding environment we fine tune the process (good or bad). I have finally reached a point where I feel free and uninhibited by religion and it has opened my mind up to better serve humanity. No one can say with any certainty what happens next so we might as well make the most of this life. No purpose in life??? Don't buy it.

Answer 4

I used to be strongly atheistic, so here are the two sides as I see it.

If you are a random quirk of nature, then, there is no other logical intellectual conclusion except that life in general is meaningless.

I understand what you are saying. Just like an animal exists for the purpose to live, to survive, so can we. We can choose to have a goal and live the golden rule and take pride in it, as well as the opposite, of living without a goal and hedonistically or violently. Thus, life for an individual can have a contrived purpose, but, again, in the grand scheme of nature, life is meaningless, and the fact that people ought to strive to find and acheive their purpose in life has no justification.

On the other hand, if we are created beings, then, in the grand scheme of nature, our life has meaning and we are created for a purpose, since by definition, a creator creates for a reason. This is the only way, philosophically, to define a first principle basis for purpose in life for people. This also provide a fundementatal justification for the sanctity of human life, and liberty.

One point, in this discussion, a creator is an undefined God. When you try to define God, you create religion. All religion is faith based.

Answer 5

We can live, first of all, because we are biological beings, and are born into the world, just as are babies who grow up to be theists.

Our purpose? We learn to love and care about the same world theists live in. Some of us are doctors, nurses, health care workers, because caring for people who are ill is important to us. Some of us care for animals who need help. Others are engineers, scientists, computer geeks, homemakers, athletes...

Theists assume their 'purpose' doesn't happen until after their life on earth has ended. That has much to do with why they are so careless in the way that they treat this world, and the people in it.

Atheists assume that the way they live their life is all the purpose they need to have. They believe the world can have a bright future, so they work toward that goal. Squandering this life, and this world, for dreams of another, is an inconceivable waste.

Answer 6

There's a park built on landfill a few miles from where I live. I've only been there a few times, but I'll never forget the sight of a lone thistle growing -- spindly and sickly, but growing -- in about one-eighth of an inch of gravelly dirt. That dirt had been laid down just weeks before and was barely settled, almost unmarked by human footprints. (In the older parts of the park, there's grass and aspens and huge colonies of seagulls and other birds. The fill was just dumped there; the plants and critters found it without any help.)

That thistle is not a meaningful thing in itself. The only lesson I take from it is: Life happens. Even under the most unlikely and least promising circumstances, life occurs. It's not driven by any purpose, nor even by instinct -- it just happens. And in a cosmos so big and so old, it's really not surprising that complex, intelligent life should have arisen. So here we are.

The only "meaning" or "purpose" in life is what we humans -- the only meaning-creating animals -- can put into it.

Answer 7

I have to say I don't understand why theists ask this, because it would seem to me that their purpose in life is to just get it over with so they can die and go to heaven. My purpose is to live my life here like it's the only one I've got, because I believe it is. My purpose is to love my family, do my work, try to make the lives of others just a bit better, if I can--because, again, I think this is all we've got. Let's make heaven on earth instead of treating this life as some sort of nuisance keeping people from their god.

Answer 8

I am agnostic. But my purpose in life is to live helping the betterment of man kind. Helping to improve the quality of life for all, so that we can move to a higher level of living in the future. If we work to stamp out the struggle of life, that would leave more time and energy to do great things and explore the universe in which we live. I would want to leave that kind of legacy behind not just for my children but for all of man kind. I work as a telecommunications engineer, and though I am one person, the things that I do help to improve the quality of life for my customers. I think that everyone should see life in this way, and know that what they do makes a difference, be it in direct contact with the world or in supporting those that make direct improvements in the world. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

Answer 9

My purpose in life is the same as anyone elses at its most fundamental level:

To live in the most comfortable and happy manner possible given the circumstances life deals me, interact amiably with my fellow man, offering my help when I have resources to help, and try to leave this world better than I found it.

I refuse to be pigeonholed into a broad category like 'atheist'...I personally feel there is a creator, but this Yahweh, Jehovah, God-of-Abraham-and-Moses, Allah, Tetragrammaton whatever fella is an absolute fabrication and hence a joke.

Answer 10

The same ultimate purpose that a practical Christian should have: The maximum possible happiness for the most people possible.

In other words, improve the lives of everyone in the world and life will be enjoyable for you. We don't need to be told we're all scum and are completely worthless without God dictating our lives point by point.

(BTW.. agnostic here).

Answer 11

A purpose? Most people go through life aimlessly, no purpose or direction. It wouldn't matter if you did or didn't believe in a god. I just happen not to believe. I guess you would say it's the same as everyone else, grow up, get married, have kids, collect lots of stuff and then get old.