I have a question for Atheist? What is the harm in believing?

Question

Christain, like myself get laughed at because of our belief in God, but I want to know what is the harm in believing? If you as Atheist are wrong about there being a God, what then? On the other hand if Christian are wrong, what is the harm? Believing in God is not a punshiment , BUT not believing in God WILL be a horrible punishment.

Cneron - I am not persecuting anyone or their beliefs. I am not here to bash anyone only to ask a question for understanding.
BTW when I said we are laughed at, don't get me wrong, I don't lose sleep over it, I was just stating a fact. We are mocked for our belief, and many of us are wrongfully accussed of forcing it onto others. Simply put, I was only trying to understand from an atheists point where, and what the harm is in being a Christian.

Undir- although I fully disagree that living for God is waisitng my life here on Earth, I do appreciate you giving me an asnwer to my question. Thank you.

Answer 1

Look up "Pascal's Wager".

Now... the brains of rational people work in a way that is significantly different from that of a religious person... it has to do with the nature of 'belief'.

A rational person might say "I believe in the Big Bang." A religious person might say "I believe in creation, as described in Genesis." But these statements are not even remotely similar, with respect to what is meant by the word 'believe'.

For the rational person, the statement of 'belief' in the Big Bang means that they understand that the concept provides a scientifically and mathematically consistent explanation, congruent with the evidence, which accounts for the evolution of the universe from a fraction of a second after the initiating event, up until the present. When the 'inflationary model' came to the fore, rational people said "Well, good... that clears up a few questions and makes things even more coherent." NOBODY threw up their arms and wailed "Oh, no... oh, no... ain't so... ain't so... the Big Bang is the inerrant truth... not this ridiculous, atheistic 'inflationary' model."

See... when we say "I believe in the Big Bang", we don't really mean the same thing as the religious person means when he says "I believe in creation, as described in Genesis," or "I believe in God." Our 'belief' in the Big Bang (or anything else) isn't really a 'belief'... it is more properly a 'paradigm'... a useful way of looking at something, or thinking about something. If additional information is uncovered that adds to the conceptual model, that is a good thing... not a disaster. If part of the conceptual model is discovered to be incorrect, and must be tossed in the trash and replaced with something completely different... that is also a good thing... not the end of the world as we know it. And often, no matter how highly confident we may be of the accuracy or completeness of a particular paradigm, we may have reason to apply a DIFFERENT paradigm to the same thing, in an effort to tease out new insights; for example, we might want to contemplate the potential implications of a change to a theory from the perspective of the Tao Te Ching, the Gaia hypothesis, or ecological homeostasis. We KNOW that all theories are approximations... and that is OK. We KNOW that we don't have all the answers... and that is OK, too. There is nothing wrong with saying "We don't know... yet; but we're working on it."

But these modes of thinking, perceiving, contemplating and understanding are utterly alien to the 'religious' mind. For the religious mind, a 'belief' is not a paradigm... not a useful way of thinking about something... it is an internalized conviction that one knows the absolute 'truth' pertaining to some aspect of existence and/or fundamental reality. 'Beliefs' are one of the key interpretive component filters of the religious person's 'self-description'... a part of what DEFINES them as a person... the very thing that creates their world-view... an underpinning of their 'subjective reality'. Any challenge to one of these internalized 'beliefs' is perceived and interpreted as a vital threat... an attack upon the 'self-description'... and an assault upon their subjective reality.

And here is the key difference: When there is a change in one of the paradigms dealing with a scientific concept, or a new insight into the workings of the universe, to the 'rational' person it merely constitutes an interesting new piece of knowledge and understanding... a new insight. However, if that same new insight, or piece of information (a feature of the universe, for example) seems to threaten a tenet of Christianity, everybody goes to battle stations, goes into 'damage control' mode... for fear that the whole edifice will come crashing down. And, ultimately, it will.

So, when a fundie disparages evolution, for example, it really has nothing to do with a genuine, intellectual dispute regarding scientific details... they are generally scientifically illiterate, anyway. Any 'scientific' arguments that they present are inevitably not even understood... they are just lifted from the pre-packaged lies and misrepresentations that are found on dozens of 'Liars for Jesus' (LFJ) web sites, and parroted. They are in a battle. They are trying to sink science before science sinks them. They are desperate... and science is (mostly, and unfortunately) oblivious to the fact that they are even in a fight, and that somebody is trying to sink them. They are just blithely bopping along, doing what science does... figuring out how nature works.

No... none of this has anything to do with a mere disagreement pertaining to evidence and understanding. It has to do with minds that deal with fundamental issues in an entirely different way. It has to do with a flexible, open-minded, intellectually honest (willing to question and doubt one's own presumptions) curiosity about the universe, contending with a rigid, unyielding world-view that depends from a certainty that certain delusional faith-based (willful ignorance and magical, wishful thinking) 'beliefs' represent the absolute 'truth' of reality.

We might as well be talking to an alien species, from a distant planet.

When the religious enter a venue like this one, they are (generally) NOT seeking answers, or new information... these might cause them to QUESTION their beliefs, or might put their beliefs at risk. No... they are seeking VALIDATION... of their beliefs, and hence, of their self-description.

Answer 2

It always strikes me as humorous when I hear Christians speaking in persecuted tones. Atheists in America make up about 6% of the population. You guys are in the vast majority, so if you get laughed at a little bit I'm sure you can find a support group somewhere.

I won't answer your question directly because it has already been answered well enough, but let me ask you a question by way of illustration: do you think God performs a miracle every time you put a pot of water on the stove to boil, or do you think water simply boils as a result of physical properties of heat applied to water? How about starting your car---is that miraculous? Jet engines? Space shuttles? Of course not. belief in God all boils down to, and is justified by, the question of human existence. But if none other of the billions of events in daily experience needs a miracle to explain it, why do you assume that one thing does?

Lastly, you---and others--- act as if atheism is some kind of choice to not believe in something, but it really isn't. Atheism is a natural conclusion to those of us who have looked around and found no evidence of a God, or need for miracles or magic to explain anything.

Answer 3

I'm an atheist. No need to write that with an A. I do not believe in Batman either, even though there would be little harm if I did. There is real potential harm in organised religion. It divides the human race into camps that will never agree on some very important things. Look at all the wars in the world, most of them have religious disputes at their origins. I believe in Reason and Science (with Capitals!). These told us humans that the earth was in fact not flat and that the sun does not circle the earth.

Answer 4

I don't think it's wrong to believe. Everyone should do what they themselves feel is right.

Before I continue I just want to make it clear that I do not mean to offend anyone, I will just try to explain what I think religious people have lost if there is no god.

If religious people are wrong they've wasted their life living for something that doesn't exist, followed and imposed on others rules (some of which make little sense, no offense) that were made up by other people thousands of years ago, caused harm to other people by failing to do what's right rather than what that imaginary creature was said to want from them and missed out on so many things that their religion didn't allow them to explore. Instead of exploring with a free mind and learning about the world, life and all the amazing things that exist and gaining understanding about them and really letting those things and experiences challenge and nourish their mind they've accepted to be spoonfed nonsense made up and passed on by other people. They've spent their life in fear for angering "the almighty" if they as much as question his existance or whether what they're being told is true.

I just think they are in some ways missing out on a lot and since I don't believe in an afterlife I think it's sad that they never get to experience so many things life has to offer. They're always waiting for something better that they're promised they'll get after death, while I really think the best is right in front of us.

I don't care if other people believe in god. If that's what makes them happy I'm ok with it as long as they don't harm others. But since I don't believe there is a god or such places as heaven and hell, I feel like they're wasting their time and energy (a life they get only once) on religion and could be using it for something better, like helping people in this life rather than "saving them" from a scary, imaginary afterlife. That's just the way I see it.

So to put it simple, if atheists are wrong they will have to take god's horrible punishment and if Christians (and other religious people) are wrong they have wasted the only life they got.

Now, if I'm the one who is wrong and there really is a god and heaven and hell, it's a risk I'm willing to take. If god will torture me for eternity for the sole reason that I did not believe in him despite me being a good person, then god isn't someone who I respect and am willing to listen to and obey. No way. I rather do the right thing, stand up to him and take the consequences, knowing I did what felt right to me.

Answer 5

"BUT not believing in God WILL be a horrible punishment."
This is the harm, not to believers, but to un believers.
the problem is christians take a statment like that and think that there will be harm brought to their children from unbelievers. So christians want laws changed so as to protect their religeous indoctorination. And laws have no business supporting peoples religeous views. Just the common good of ALL human beings should be supported.The christian laws are made to sound 'secular'.
eg
Would you like laws Forbidding the marriage of Christians?
no of course not. Homosexuals dont want that for christians either.
So the harm is done to the unbeliever NOT the believer.
Laws should be determined by reason, not theology or personal opinion.

Answer 6

There would be nothing wrong with it as long as if you could just stop enforcing it on us Atheist in our public schools and government.Do we really need In God We Trust on our money?Our children tot in school Creationism instead of Evaluation.Our medicine would advance more quickly if we could just stop ruining in to the wall of God's will.Or that's playing God.Do I really need to listen to your religious babel in a funeral. Lets just talk about the person in the coffin.This is a gathering for remembering them not Jesus.True history tels us the true birth of Jesus had to of taken place in June not December.Christmas is a winter solstice celebration.And Easter is a celebration of the coming of summer,not the death of Jesus.And stop telling us that we will burn in Hell.That was originally a Greek myth called Valhalla made up to make children behave.And Heaven was also a Greek reword if they were good.You want proof Man evolved from the same evaluation tree as Ape's.We shear the same blood groups.We suffer from the same diseases.Our genetic makeup is smiler Enif it could be possible to Cross bread with them.And just like a Mule the offspring would be sterile.

Answer 7

This is known as Pascal's Wager...offered as a rational argument to believe by mathematician Blaise Pascal in the 17th century. It is no more rational now than it was then.

Religious delusion has caused untold suffering, millions of deaths, and held back scientific and human progress for 1000's of years. However, we now have people who engage in magical thinking (prayer) and believe in sky pixies (god/allah/jehovah/krishna) controlling armies with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The human race can no longer afford the luxury of allowing some of its citizens these continued delusions, as they are detrimental to the health of the species, and we have no guarantee they will just kill each other off and leave the world for the rational.

Answer 8

I don't mind that other people are believers. I just resent it, when some of you try to convert me. Besides, it really annoys me when in the name of God, you're manipulated. That's the only risk I see in believing. You are more vulnerable to being manipulated. If you're okay with that, then go ahead. I am not going to stop you or laugh at you.

Answer 9

That's called "Pascal's Wager."

And atheists and agnostics hear 84,000 variations of that on forums like this one. I've never seen it convince any atheist or agnostic yet.

As a Pagan and former Christian, I contend that this life is all we really know, and I don't want to waste it living by piles and piles of rules-rules-rules for a Deity I don't believe in.

Answer 10

I'd rather stand by my convictions and face a hell I don't believe in than suck up to a God I'm not sure exists. Besides, if there is a god, and I do pretend to be Christian, I'm pretty sure he'd be able to tell. I think he'd like me to be myself.