To Atheists out there.....?

Question

I realize that you in no way believe in a "Higer Power" ie God, Buddah, Allah or whatever. What do you make of the human need for spirituality. Do you think that everyone is just looking for a crutch to lean on, or do you think that the emotional/mental gap in humans need for spirituality is people looking for fullfillment but just looking in the wrong place? That we should realize the world has came to be from evolution and that we should just learn to realize that we are animals just like everything else on the planet. Through out time humans have searched for a deeper understanding of life and some how have always come to belive that there is some sort of Higher Power. Is this a world wide coincedence? Your thoughts please?


Serious answers only please. I

thanks for your opinions. On a side note I am not trying to bash or demine anyones beliefs just try to understand them

Answer 1

Hey, this is the first time I've disagreed with devilsadvocate (though it may be because I didn't see those other questions). I think this is a pretty good question, and I thank you for the respectful tone. It's really rare for a question that begins "To Atheists out there...?" to not wind up being just another ignorant arrogant whiny rant against nonbelievers.

There is a tendency for us to try to figure out what it is about spirituality that is good for us - that is, how does being spiritual benefit people? I think that's the wrong way to think about it. We should be wondering what it is about spirituality that benefits religious belief systems. After all, what we're trying to explain is why there are religious belief systems - why do they persist?

It seems clear that a belief system persists to the extent that it attracts new believers to replace those who die or who stop believing. It is also good for a belief system to make it difficult for people to stop believing.

True beliefs about observable parts of the world around us tend to take care of themselves - we don't believe that crows are green because crows aren't green. A belief that crows are green simply isn't going to last long.

Beliefs in gods and the supernatural are immune to this kind of verification/falsification, for reasons that should be obvious. That means that they are more free to evolve in directions guided by considerations of how well they attract and retain believers, freed from being undermined by observable reality. That enables them to persist and adapt to the environment (in this case, the nature of human brains). They've done so very successfully, clearly demonstrating the power of evolution (ironic, isn't it? ).

In short, supernatural/spiritual beliefs can evolve because they're not tied to observable reality. Evolution works quite well. Hence we have spiritualist belief systems everywhere.

Answer 2

I don't think you can generalise here. Some people are looking for a crutch, and others are only after the spiritual comfort. As a matter of fact, some unbelievers look for a crutch in other things, too.

As for the other part of your question (is it a coincidence that people have always believed there is a higher power?) I don't think it is. I just think that it's psychologically logical. If you can't understand the world with your human reason, you'll think the answer lies above our capacity. And that's partly true, too. Only that it doesn't necessarily have to envolve a SUPERIOR conscious and intentionally acting being. Nothing so far makes us dismiss the idea that things have come to be like this by chance. Think that the universe is immense (if not infinite). It is not so hard to think that ONE of the millions and millions of worlds in the universe was apt for human life.

Think of it like this. If there are roughly 3500 million men and 3500 million women in the world, and each man and each woman has in themselves millions of sperms or ova, each one capable of combining to form a human being, how many billion or trillion human beings could there have been in the world ever since the first man and the first woman? I mean, if every single combination of a sperm and an ovum can produce a person, what were the chances that YOU of all people were going to be born? You could think it's a miracle!

But another way to put it is that you are looking at it from your subjective viewpoint. Billions of other possible people were not born. So, of all the possible people, only we were born. We're the statistically possible human beings. And the earth is the statistically possible planet apt for human, animal and vegetal life.

Answer 3

Well I'm not an atheist, but I would say you're probably on target with what they think or believe. I don't think they believe it's any kind of world wide coincedence, but maybe more like a human need to feel like some higher power is steering the boat, instead of accepting the frightening reality that all there is is chaos out there, and the best you can do is to survive it. They believe organized religion is a system of control and conformity.

But also realize that there are a lot of non-atheists who believe in evolution. (myself included) So don't lump those two concepts together.

Answer 4

I don't believe there is one single answer. You list a whole bunch of possible reasons for human spirituality in your question and I think to an extent, all of them are valid. But I think you missed one, and it's the most important one: Habit (or peer pressure).

All of your reasons are active: they suggest that the human in question has considered the issue and come to some kind of conclusion which leads them to religion or spirituality.

But to be honest, I think the vast majority of people are passive. They're religious, but not spiritual, and they're that way simply because everyone around them is, and because they were raised that way. Their family, community, friends etc. They've never really *thought* about God, meanings, fulfillment... they're just following the herd.

Although I am a militant atheist, I have a lot of time for people who have arrived at their spiritual destination through a process of rational active consideration. It is hard to be contemptuous of the genuinely sincere, no matter how much you may think they are misguided. But the sheep... ah, that biblical analogy... they're the real reason why so many people are turning against religion. How can you take someone seriously when it's obvious that they've swallowed a fantasy and never given it a moment's critical thought?

Answer 5

Ok.
This is my current theory.

First think of infinity, and it is infinate and never ending.
That means that there are an infinate quantity of sub atomic particles within the space time continuum.
If there is an infinate quantity of sub atomic particles there has to be an infinate quantity of permutations of the said atoms.
If there is an infinate quantity of permutations ther has, by default, to be an infinate quantity of possibilities constructed out of those said atoms, (remember that infinity means infinity).
Now. All animals (including humans) have got a brain which is like a key if you will.
Due to the fact of infinity this permutation has had to happen.
If you think about it there has been no thought that has been thought that has not come true or can come true. In other words whatever our minds percieve, our enviroment supplies.
It is the same with lesser animals than humans. Their minds are limited so there enviroment is limited too. (but not to them).
What happens when the mind thinks an original thought, it actually is bringing into play other realities made out of the infinate permutations. The more people born, the greater the diversity and originality of thought and therefore a more diverse selection of realities and the more diverse our enviroment becomes.
What keeps us back are the redundant atoms within the brain (which i like to refer to as ¨the anchor¨.)
The human brain functions with pulses of energy.
When every atom within the mind becomes employed and productive, we will be living as pure enery and fluxing through the amalgum of infinate realities, the closer we come to being god.
The process is also stimulated by the transference of energy from one particle to another bu comtact.
If one atom touches another, then energy is exchanged and whether they are on the other side of the universe 100 billion years after transferring this energy they both have to know exactly what the other is doing.
This is a phillosophy that i have been developing for weeks and i cannot find a floor in it in any way so far. i hope that you can or it is a pretty tall order for mankind.

Answer 6

You're correct, there has always been this need for understanding. Personally, I think people have developed God as a way to cope with the pains brought by life. Sometimes life isn't easy, nor is it fair, so there is a human need to search for universal justice to cope with loss and hardship.

There are many reasons why people have turned to religion, though -- one of the biggest being our need to understand the way things work. Humans are a very inquisitve species by nature, and if we can't figure something out, we come up with possible theories and alternatives. I can see religion being no different.

The fact is, however, that just because these theories were formed for understanding, a need for justice, a need for truth, etc.. it still gives no evidence that those theories are correct.

Answer 7

Doesnt the idea of a higher power keep my people from being evil? Its scary but Ive had many people tell me that without god there is no reason to be good. I hope they never stop believing.
Gods were created for two reasons: 1. To control people and 2. To explain natural phenomena. Years ago the sun rising was attributed to gods. Rain was attributed to god. Now the only thing left to say god did it is the creation of the universe, but how long will it take science to explain this too?
Humans being spiritual is some peoples way of trying to explain the things they are curious about. Others would rather test their ideas but for some its good enough to say god did it.

Answer 8

I would say (I'm an agnostic, not an athiest) that it is a combination of our rational mind and the survival instinct that all creatures possess.

We think therefore we are, right. So it's natural that we try and contemplate where we've come from and where we're going to. Man has always tried to come to terms with life and creation, and the natural progression is to presume a creator. But when you look at it, the combination of light, heat, oxygen and water is pretty potent stuff. What if the mixture created life? Probably not, I agree.

As for the survival instinct part, we are all aware that we are going to die. Yet we're also aware of a part of us that isn't our body, namely our mind/spirit/soul. We fear death. We don't want life to be over, so we create a reality, better than this, where we live after we die. And what better way to manipulate people than to tell them about two places, one an eternal epiphany full of joy and singing and chocolate waterfalls, and the other a pit of fire and agony and Charlie Mansons.

To me, the will to live beyond this world, as an instinct, is the most compelling motivating factor behind the idea of eternal life and heaven.

Answer 9

I don't think it is a crutch at all, I think that the concept of god has been so much a part of society for the past 3 millennia that it is just part of reality.

I can only speak from my personal experiences.

I have been more successful both professionally and personally since I "took matters into my own hands" and began looking to myself instead of a "god". However, there are some people who need a god to help them through the tough times in their lives. If that is successful for them, great.

Humans have searched for a deeper understanding, when it is unknown the natural tendency is to say "someone" did this. However, once that concept has been given a religious basis (e.g. the sun revolves around the earth), it is often a difficult path to convince people that a scientific basis exists.

In my opinion, we're at a point now where many of the beliefs that have been tied to a religious basis (e.g. Creationism) are now falling into the realm of science. The effect is the backlash we see from some corners of the christian community.

Answer 10

There is a very good reason why people are so susceptible to having religions: We evolved to be religious.

Throughout most of our history as sentient beings, religion was a benefit because it kept people working together rather than fighting each other, and there was less of a detrimental effect because we had very little scientific knowledge. However, now it's the other way around: We have a much better idea of the effects of not working together, and much more scientific knowledge for religion to try to destroy, so religion is much less useful than it was 10000+ years ago. But our brains are evolved to be religious, and so we (at least, some of us) go on believing in God. So the human tendency for religion is neither a coincidence nor proof of God's existence.