why be an atheist?

Question

This isn't meant to offend anyone. I am a christian and feel that being a christian changes my life. How does being an atheist change your life, and why would you want to be one especially if you were coming towards the end of your life?

ok the question might need clarifying: I do think that you can choose, why is it that leading scientists heavily involved in this matter can be both theistic and atheistic, does it depend on which evidence you look at? I'd also like to say that by no means am I afraid of death, and that had almost nothing to do with my decision to become a christian.

It seems that many people think that religion is the cause of evil, a complete misinterpretation based on the fears of terrorist attacks. Any muslim would tell you that they do not condone terrorism and I feel sorry for those who have chosen to not follow a religion based on this argument. Another point that I had thought might have been true, and seems to have been confirmed a little is that perhaps atheists don't actually understand what it is to be a christian, judging by some points, saying that we are fearful or death and our god etc, which is completely wrong in my opinion as a christian. Thanks for your opinons was very interesting and I have learnt a lot, god bless you all, even if you don't believe in him!

Ahh, I was waiting for someone to bring up Richard Dawking's points about good people doing good things, evil people doing evil things, but for good people to do evil things it takes religion. WRONG. It takes an evil person to brainwash them, these terrorist attacks arn't in the name of Islam, the terrorists just think that they are because they have been brainwashed. Anyways, religion turns evil people into good people and that is an absolute fact.

Answer 1

Hi Chris:

For me it wasn't really a matter of choice. I was overwhelmed by the evidence that my religious beliefs were based in outright falsehood at worst and baseless assertion at best. The notion of believing something on mere say so, or because of unquantifiable feelings as opposed to proof is just being gullible, and yet religions make gullibility a spiritual virtue.

But I can tell you what has changed in my life as a result. The many hours a week I was serving the church now go into making a difference in my community. And the money I once gave to build churches and pay staff now pays for treatment of children with cerebral palsy, and after school programs, and safe homes for battered women and kids and a college education for an orphan. The hours I spent studying myths and fantasy and debating over minutiae of religious dogma and notions of apocalypse and the God's will now go into relationships and making a difference. And not screening my friends based on religion has sure enriched my life.

My growth, joy and maturity were stunted by Christianity. In other words, all the time, treasure and thought I put into a lie and a fraud is now put into enjoying life and enjoying people and trying to make something of this life and this world because there won't be another. I no longer have to struggle with the concept of a god of torture who demands flattery and who gives eternal agony for temporal errors. I no longer have to struggle with a god whose ego is more fragile than my own, who is jealous, vengeful, petty and whose best offer to his children is an eternity of kissing his butt and telling him how pretty he is.

But at its essence, I left the church because the claims were either provably false or unprovable, and the notion of a god that gives us a brain and tells us not to use it, a god who embodies some of our own worst traits, just made no sense. Any one can change their life with any religion. Moslems and Jews and Buddhists would all say their religion changed their lives. But for me, religion had to be more than a lifestyle that changed how I felt and what I did. It also had to be objectively true and it simply is not.

Answer 2

Well, one thing about being an atheist is that it focusses your mind on the fact that you only get one life so you best make good use of it. That could be seeking sensual pleasures, raising a family, righting the various injustices in the world, discovering new scientific wonders and so on, depending on your own motivations.

Another thing about being an atheist is that you don't have the various problems of trying to bend some rules written hundreds or even thousands of years ago in a primitive society to fit living in a modern (post-)industrial world. I've known plenty of people who have real problems recomciling their christianity with modern life, which isn't surprising really when you think about it.

Assuming I have a few decades left in my ticker then I guess it will be a bit tough when I hit my seventies or whatever, knowing that there is nothing waiting for me after death. However, judging by the way old people slow down and sleep in the afternoons etc I don't suppose it will be such a big deal to me then. I'll just enjoy simple pleasures like listening to the radio, feeling the sun on my face, having a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake and so on.

Still if being a christian does it for you then good luck.

Answer 3

It inspires me to continuously seek the truth, no matter how comfortable or uncomfortable it makes me. Being an atheist reminds me that I am completely free -- and that makes me completely responsible. When I mess up, there's not some guy in the sky who's gonna clean up my mess... that's my responsibility. On the flip side, when I do good, the credit is all mine.

I can't abdicate morality by just following a few written rules. I spend my life constantly considering the consequences of my actions, striving to create more good than bad, more pleasure than pain. When I inevitably come to the wrong conclusions at times, I have to deal with the guilt myself, but when I figure out the right things, that smile on my face is all mine.

I would rather approach death knowing the truth, even if it meant I was about to end and go into oblivion, than to taint myself with beliefs for which there are no proof or evidence, even if it made me 'feel good'.

Answer 4

Hey some atheists believe there is a higer power believe it or not . It is only selfish theism that makes you think that they are godless immoral beings because so many so called religious folk fit the descriptions of bad behavior. Without theism=No set dogmatic theory. Therefore you might shun theocracy yet believe in divinity. Dogmatic Christians especially like to control people so they put false information out there. They are some of the most intolerant perhaps even idiotic people you could ever meet.
Obvious hypocrites and materialistic and fools like anyone other liar. Very doshonest....I could go on and wont. However they want you to believe that everyone is for or against. I think 99.99999% of them to the infinite value are absolutely and completely worthless. Those were years of my life I will never get back sadly. Buddhism is sort of atheistic if you think about. It focuses on good living not fearful or joyful pretension in worshipping a woeful GOD>

Answer 5

No offense taken. Being an atheist hasn't changed my life because I've never actually believed in god, not even when I was a member of the Catholic church.

It's not something that I "want" to be, exactly. It's simply what I am.

As for the end of my life, that could happen tomorrow, couldn't it? -- and unless I see some genuine evidence of the existence of god between now and tomorrow, then I won't be changing my mind. Death will come to me as it does to every living thing, and that will be that. This thought does not trouble me.

Answer 6

Atheism is not so much a choice as the default position when you reject all the nonsense of religion. My life didn't change, because all my adult life I have been an atheist. It isn't a question of 'wanting' to be one, as if you were choosing to join a faith. It is just the acceptance of truth and reality.
Religion is the root of all evil, and it is naive to say otherwise. The latest round of terrorist atrocities are merely the latest expression of the inevitable violence engenderd by theistic belief. Read the bible, it is full of massacre, rape, torture - all encouraged and endorsed, if not commanded, by the 'loving' god whose word it supposedly is.
Richard Dawkins hit the nail precisely when he said 'Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but to get good people to do bad things takes religion.'

Answer 7

Firstly, I am a humanist. All humanists are atheists, but not all atheists are humanists, please be aware of this distinction.

Please do not be offended by my answer. I do not wish to offend, but you did ask my point of view, so here goes.

To be honest, I am not religious because it is not logical for me. There is no actual evidence to support the idea that God existed. Many of the things that are explained in the Bible have now been explained by Science.

My biggest problem with religion is that it causes wars, as it creates another difference between groups of people (middle east conflict and IRA/protestants for example).

At the end of our lives humanists draw support and love from the people around them and the knowledge that they have lived a good life.

Answer 8

let me start by saying that a christian friend of mine told her husband she didn't know if she could be friends with an atheist, and he told her - cassandra is the most christian friend you have - she's the only one of your friends who acts like christ taught.

to be a christian, you have to believe that god loved us, but locked us out of heaven. then, he missed us so much he wanted us back. but, for some reason, even though he is all powerful, he can't let us back in.

rules are rules and his hands are tied - by him. what to do? taking inspiration from zeus, god impregnates an earth maiden (zeus regularly created saviors of mankind this way, btw) and creates the most amazing person to walk the planet. to further his plans, god then incites everyone to murder his son so we can slide back into heaven on his blood...


if that isn't a sick and crazy enough story for you, this all knowing, all powerful, all loving god will let you be born even though he knows you'll choose the path to hell.

i'm an 'atheist' because i'm just too sensible to believe such nonsense. thankfully, my father gave me a clue when I was very young that I should avoid being brainwashed.

i'm an atheist because i don't decide what i believe based on fear - as your last sentence suggests you do. what if you've chosen the wrong religion just cause you don't want to go to hell?

The christian/jewish bible is a lovely mishmash of geneology, social rules, ancestory myths, and explanatory myths. That's all. Many of the myths in the bible show up in other culture's myths. Taken for what it is - it's wonderful. As a guide to life or a message from God it's pretty lousy. Read genesis 34 and get a clue as to what I mean. Or, read about how the sons of Giants married daughters of men (also genesis.)

Answer 9

http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/overview.html

Since this question comes up here at least 10 times a day, why don't you do your own research?

People have many reasons for being atheists....it is essentially the most natural state of man. We are born atheists, and we only become aware of the concept of god from our parents.

You, a christian, are an atheist to all other religious beliefs, I just believe in one less god than you do.

I realize believing in a god and an afterlife gives people comfort from the harsh reality that we all die someday, but I would rather face that day honestly, than by tricking myself into believing in some fictitious sky fairy.

Answer 10

You know, it's kind of ridiculous to refer to atheism as if it is something that one would or could 'choose'. It is simply a matter of there being absolutely no compelling evidence that a rational person would find sufficient to justify internalizing the certainty that the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present supernatural creator and supervisor of the universe is a 'true' proposition. It is just as ridiculous an idea as internalizing a certainty of the existence of such entities as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Superman or the Bogeyman.

Wishful, magical thinking, willful ignorance and prescribed dogmatic delusions are not acceptable substitutes for rationality and knowledge.