What do Athiests Think Happens After Death?

Question

They do not believe that they'll ever see their loved ones again? That is so scary! My boyfriend was killed when I was 21 and he was 24 and it totally wrecked me. The thought of seeing him again is sometimes the only thing that got me through.

Peter- I really liked your answer the few athiests I have spoken to are usually very nasty and insulting about people that DO believe in God, and I did not get that from you. Maybe they are stronger than I am, I need to believe in something.

Answer 1

If you're an Atheist (like me), that's probably what you believe. I didn't become an Atheist to feel safe & secure, I just realized I didn't believe in any higher power. I would have to pretend to believe in an afterlife.

I think life is a journey, and when it ends, it ends. It's up to us to make the most of it and treasure the memories of the ones we love.

If your religion makes sense to you, don't worry about what other people (like me) believe in (or don't believe). I can't prove there is no afterlife; I just don't think so.

Answer 2

It all depends if you think there is such a thing as a "soul". I personally think there isn't (I'm an atheist), so once you die, that's it. Your body decays and it's game over. Ask yourself what EVIDENCE you have that there is such a thing as a soul, other than that some ancient scripture says so. I can see why you find comfort in believing you may one day meet your boyfriend again. But the sooner you realise that this is an illusion, you can start to move on with your life. Sorry if I sound cruel, I don't have that intention. It's just my honest view.

Answer 3

I am NOT an Atheist, so I hope I get this right. They believe that this life is all we have and once the body dies, all thought and all consciousness dies with it and there is no afterlife.

HOWEVER do NOT let that disturb you, because science has even found that there is an underlying current of consciousness that runs through our world (and beyond). Of course our physical body dies, but our consciousness lives on, maybe we get a new body, a different sort of body, that looks completely different than the human body, maybe we are just a consciousness afterwords, we will find out. What someone else thinks or believes should not concern you, they don't determine how you believe.

Answer 4

I am atheist. I think the appropriate answer would be that an atheist admits they dont know what happens, however it would seem totaly consistent with nature that when you die you are not concious. As to wether there is an 'afterlife' of some sorts, or 'reincarnation' of some type, or born again in an other universe, I have no idea. I dont know. I am certain that common beliefs of the afterlife are not true, because they are mainly told by people in this life,and are largely logically inconsistent. They dont know but they say they do. I dont know so I say I dont know.
Christians claim knowledge of the afterlife, but they have as much evidence for that as they do for the existence of Invisible unicorns.
I am sorry for your loss.
I am atheist.... but hey maybe 'God' is one also.
Thats my opinion anyway.

Answer 5

Death is final. One's consciousness is like a candle's flame in the wind. It is gone forever. You believe that is scary. Well, I think it is much more scary to believe that one will continue forever in some unpleasant place. Christians see two hells. The one called heaven is so bleak and grim that I am indeed glad it doesn't exist. I think I'd prefer what they call hell. At least I could have pleasure. The Moslem heaven gives a man 72 houris for his sexual pleasure. That beats the grim Christian heaven. Hindus believe in reincarnation. All of these religious beliefs about afterlives are tales invented to appeal to people who cannot accept that death is final. Priests collect money for telling people such tales of fantasy.

Answer 6

even non-athiests can attain an understanding that life specifically as we know it (people, places, faces) is something that comes to pass, just as this whole planet shall someday pass. The energy that is life never dies, it just changes. Did you not exist 1,000 years ago? If you did, then you know nothing of it, and 1,000 years from now you will know nothing of today... that concept doesn't scare me. And if you did not exist 1,000 years ago, suffice it to say you will not exist 1,000 years from now, but if you have already experienced non-existence for an infinite time period, you can handle it again.

Losing a loved one is very sad, and if faith is what you need to go on, then hold on to your faith. Some people can accept that life is a passing thing and be at peace with that, even when loved ones are involved. Every joyous moment and experience in life is gone and will never happen again, but we do not mourn the death of each moment in time as it passes us. Nor should we mourn each person as they pass... like time, you simply enjoy it while it is here and look back fondly upon it when it is just a memory.

My last job was managing elderly housing, and it's interesting because, in their world, death is so intrinsic to their lives. Almost every month, there was news of someone new dying. As young people, we sometimes become so distant from death that the concept becomes inconceivable. I would often become somewhat attached to some of the tenants in the elderly complex, and there was never long before I'd receive more bad news, and many times I was the one to discover the body because I'd often be asked to "check in on someone" when their mail started piling up. To me, that made death more of a tangible part of life because it was happening right in front of my eyes, and all of us were forced to develop some way of coming to peace with that. Strangely, I didn't find that too many of the elderly believed in heaven and so forth, even the very religious ones. When they witness how the mind and body and spirit decay together, they become more aware of how physical life is, and how physical a personality is. When a soul goes to heaven, are they as a clueless baby, or as senile as they were on their deathbed? Or are you the person you were when you were a wild and crazy young adult, or a self-centered greedy middle-ager, or as you were in your healthy wealthy and wise "golden" years? Do fallen trees live on eternally as fresh young saplings in some parallel universe?

Being a human is difficult because we have the intelligence to understand death, but not the wisdom to come to grips with it. And many agnostics and athiests such as myself view this conflict as the core source of religion- something to ease the inquisitive human mind regarding concepts that are too painful or unknowable to cope with.

Answer 7

Athiests do not believe anything happens after death. Death is the end of life.
After death is nothing. No thoughts, no memories, no dreams, no Heaven, no Hell, no family, no anything. Much like stepping on ant, he simply disappears.

In response to you mentioning that this idea is scary, then perhaps you should explore your spirituality.

Answer 8

Personally I don't think anything 'happens' after you die. You die, the energy contained within your body returns to the earth to feed and nourish the worms and bugs, and the soil and the rest of the living move on. Why is it that christians feel that they must have an afterlife? Are they that afraid of death? Seems to me that belief in an afterlife is merely a weak attempt at immortality and directly a result of a deep fear of death.

Answer 9

When you find another loved one, you may not need that theory anymore. If you do see him again one day, you will have become a much different person, and you may not have much in common anymore. Like when a soldier goes to war for 5 years, and neither of you is the same when he comes back.

Answer 10

I think nothing happens. The "afterlife" has been around in some way/shape/form for many years because people fear death, it is a way for them to feel better about the only certainty about life.

Hell, I'm just glad I was the lucky sperm out of the millions and I'm enjoying life.