Where do athiests believe they will go when they die?

Question

I believe that there is a heaven. The thought of spending eternity not existing sounds scary to me. If I were an athiest I would be sh***ing myself at the prospect. I would rather believe in God and hope there is a heaven, then be an athiest and have nothing to look forward to. Life is short, but the afterlife is eternal.

WHY THE THUMBS DOWN ? I think its a good question.

Answer 1

I dunno, eternity in heaven sounds like it would get boring after the first million years.

Answer 2

As people have said, you'll be dead so why would it be scary when you won't be aware of anything?

I really do not understand this "have nothing to look forward to" attitude. What about the next second, tomorrow, next year?? Are you seriously going to waste your life (which presumably you acknowledge to be real) for the possibility there's something later on? Well, that's the way it sounds to me!

And as for life is short, well it's only short if at the end of it you think sh*t - all those things I've never done! Quite frankly I've had a great one, thanks, and if I knew it would end tomorrow I'd regret not seeing my daughter grow up some more but I'd count myself luck for the experiences I have had and just face it with dignity.

So I'm going to just stop existing and you're going to live for eternity. And do what? Quite frankly I think many people in their 80s are just plain bored (maybe that goes for many in their 20s too!) and ready to go. I think the idea of living for ever is terrible!

So thank you for your concern. But the thought of spending eternity existing sounds scary to me. If I were a believer I would be sh***ing myself at the prospect!

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Answer 3

I don't know why you are getting the thumbs-down as I think this is one of the most interesting questions that has been posted for some time, not to mention the fascinating debate that it has thrown up.

I am myself more of a naturalistic pantheist rather than an out-and-out aethiest but only because I find spiritual qualities in nature all around me and in certain people. I presume that when I die I will be subsumed back into the universe in some way as nothing ceases to exist entirely - everything can be recycled again and again.

In this way, it can be said that there is eternal life.

Answer 4

Pascal's wager:

"If god exists, it's infinitely better to believe, since you get heaven instead of hell for eternity. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter since you're dead anyway. So overall it's better to believe"

This is, of course, false.

Some of the problems with the argument:

* The implied assumption that god may exist (with a 50% probability, no less!)

* The assumption that there is an afterlife with a heaven and hell

* The assumption that the god cares about belief in him/her above all else

* The assumption that if you believe in a god, it will definitely be the same god that actually exists.

* The assumption that you lose nothing if it's false. You have lost a great deal, from time praying to a nonexistent entity (somebody mentioned just today praying several hours a day!!!) to morality (your god may ask you to hurt other people) and much more besides.

* The assumption that people can believe in something simply because it benefits them. Would you believe goblins exist for twenty bucks? Why not?

* The assumption that any god won't see through the "believing just to get into heaven" ploy.

For more:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/wager.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html

Answer 5

How was it during the thousands of years that you didn't exist before you were born? If you don't recollect it then you won't have lived for eternity. Eternity has no beginning and no end.

Some would say that your attitude cheapens life because you place less value on it. 80 to 90 years is nothing if you live forever. After the first billion years in heaven your earthly life will mean nothing. I would rather place a higher value on the here and now. It gives everyone else more worth in my ethics.

Answer 6

atheism is not a rigid set of beliefs. It is an absence in the belief in a God. so all atheists may each have different ideas about what happens at death for them and of course may each be right or wrong.
There can be a belief in an afterlife without a belief in God.
Some atheists may beleive that they go to a kind of non-god heaven after their body dies. maybe they think that they line up to get born again. maybe they become spirit creatures that are free to roam as they imagine. Maybe they become what we think are angels but kust life on the next plane of existence.
Chrstians do not have a monopoly on heaven. The ancient chinese thought that peoples soulds go to a heaven and watch over us and they worship their ancestors. japanese a little bit the same. They do not focus on a "GOD" that runs things or created them.
It is very conceited to think that only people who believe in the old male god with the white beard that sits on a cloud will have any afterlife or go to a heaven.

Answer 7

It depends on what kind of atheist you talk to... remember, atheism isn't a religion, it's simply what someone calls themselves when they don't believe there is a god.

Personally, and i can vouch for certain others, many of us understand that when you die, that is the end. It will be exactly like it was before you were born. You don't "go" anywhere when you die. Your body may be moved around here on earth, but your personality , ego, and the rest simply cease to exist.

"I would rather believe in God and hope there is a heaven, then be an atheist and have nothing to look forward to."

Just because it makes you feel good doesn't mean it's true, just remember that. You obviously are only using religion to hide from your fear of death.

Answer 8

The thing with atheism is not believing in things that can't be proven. Therefore atheists don't believe in a God, a heaven or a hell, an after-life or that they will go anywhere when they die - they just believe they will die. As a result atheists probably tend to try to enjoy living more than those people who seem to spend their time worshipping mythical deities and talking to themselves (or "praying" as it is referred to).
Atheists don't have any problem with other people believing whatever makes them feel better or happy or whatever they need to believe for their own peace of mind ... they would simply rather not have those people trying to persuade them that they should believe the same things for no good logical or scientific reason.
There are so many religions - who is to say which, if any, of them is right ... and if one of them is right won't all the others be annoyed! I don't know who said it and I am probably misquoting, but "think for a moment and understand why you dismiss other peoples' Gods - now you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Answer 9

V.good Q! previously which you will desire to think of who you're on the 2d in first place. i'm an agnostic and that i think of that i'm a sequence of chemical components arranged in a scientific trend(which developed over billions of years) aided by potential of reactions happening between those chemical components. The memory I even have is resembling the single we've on desktops with a diverse mechanism of storage and retrieval. The ideas I even have are like classes and softwares on a desktops returned with a diverse mechanism of working and executing those classes. So what happens if a working laptop or workstation is torn aside into products? It ends up in a junk of remember. The memory & classes which replaced into no longer something yet an association of atoms and molecules to propose something has replaced to a differnet association which doesnot propose something. however the atoms are nonetheless there purely with random(or diverse) association. So might the case be with my after dying. all the subject i'm composed of may be dismanteled, decayed which may be no longer something yet a diverse association of atoms of which some might go in worms some in earth, some might proceed to be as bones and a few might evaporate to air.so easy because it gets.

Answer 10

Much as it would be cool to go to a place where women either wore no clothes or very little... Nice fantasy.

The lights simply go out like falling asleep or anesthetic and no dreams...


Just like other animals.

Why would you want an eternal afterlife where you would not be with your loved one as she married someone else, where sex is a sin as is most other fun things, where its all about sugging up to some ego bound ruler...

Boring or what?


You die, you go nowhere, brain just shuts down... grow up

Your meat, it rots, you become fertilizer...

Accept it and try and have a good life.


Ps santa and the tooth fairy dont exist either.



Actually getting to go to Roman/greek gods parties like Aphodite and Venus (love and sex gods) along with the easter hare, with thor and odin the viking gods providing the heavy metal music band and Pan playing jokes, whilst naughty Eros will be shooting people with his love bow so everyone starts making out with everyone... That would be more fun.


Then you nasty Jesus god would come and spoil the party as not approving...

If a god follower why not go for something like that?

Answer 11

Dust to Dust -- Ashes to Ashes for the Physical Body ----- the Soul -- an Unknown Fact - But why all the Arguments and Condemnation by the so called "Believers" -- the Religious "Know All,s" The "You will Burn in Hell" Brigade --- Everyone should be Allowed to believe as they Wish ??? -- I find the very word "Atheist" Offensive But beloved by the Overbearing , Dictatorial ,Ever Critical Religious Nuts --- Free Speech - Freedom of Thought ?? Never appears in their Agenda "Do it My Way or No Way " === Bollocks