Because you believe this life is all there is, I am interested in your thoughts on Death. It would seem that the sakes would be so much higher for you guys. Could you answer the following?
Are there any causes you believe in strong enough to die for? If so what?
Secondly, would you be willing to like many religious martyrs to die rather than recant your beliefs?
2007-02-08 18:53:56 · 9 answers · asked by Brofo 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Well, answering the second first, if I'm an atheist, I really don't have beliefs to recant, do I? If someone were forcing me at gunpoint to proclaim their religion as the true one, I would see no loss in doing so to survive; it isn't as if I'm adhering to any god that would be offended by my lying about my beliefs to save my hide. Quite the contrary, I'd probably be doing more good by remaining alive to help and remain with my friends and family, and so I see no evil in it.
Conversely, however, there are causes I could die for willingly. Knowing that life is transitory and temporary, there is only a limitted timeframe in which to accomplish things. If I die in a manner that does tremendous good and helps to promote the safety, happiness, and well-being of others in some fashion, then I am getting a chance to do what I would have been trying to do in life anyway. So, goal reached! Now, if there were a way I could do such a thing and survive, that would be preferable, but if self-sacrifice is the best option, then I feel my temporary existence will have been well-spent. I would expire in happiness.
ADDED: Oh, but you asked for specific examples. I overlooked that. Well, I would definitely die for causes like my love for people beloved to me in my life, or the advancement of human happiness, enlightenment, and welfare in general.
2007-02-08 18:59:30 · answer #1 · answered by gomez_leovinus 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
For now, my cause is math education. I don't plan to die for it; I plan to give my life to it. To an atheist, that means giving everything to the cause.
When you say the stakes in death are higher for atheists, that's true and false. True in the sense that death is the End, so an atheist better do everything he wants before death. False in the sense that an atheist doesn't have to appease the right deity; death to an atheist is just death, whereas to some of the religious is it the transition from life to either a very happy place or a very sad place, either of which will make the entirety of life seem like the merest blink of an eye. That's big stakes; hope you dotted your i's and crossed your t's!
I have tried on occasion to recant my beliefs, in the sense that I have attended church, willfully hoping to see the Truth that was so obvious to the pious. In the end, it just wouldn't stick: all the fragments of truth I've heard in churches never added up to what *I* consider a coherent and True message.
As a math person, it pains me to admit what I just realized last week: logic has nothing to do with my atheist faith. In my gut, I just don't feel churchy. Years ago I asked God to help me change that, but in his wisdom he did not.
2007-02-09 03:19:00 · answer #2 · answered by Doc B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To say you would die for something is sort of stretching it a bit. But Yes I would say there are some loved ones I would die for. As for as dieing or deliberately sacrificing my life for a cause no. However there are many causes which I would be quite willing to risk my life for. I believe this is the same attitude of most people whether they are Atheists or Religious except Muslim. You know what them people do.
2007-02-09 11:22:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd die to save people I love.
I'm not at risk of offending a god, so I'd give lip service to the prefered religious belief of whoever had a gun to my head, figuratively or literally. It wouldn't change my thinking, but say what was necessary to stay alive.
2007-02-09 03:54:00 · answer #4 · answered by answer faerie, V.T., A. M. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are very few things I would die for. My wife and kids come to mind, but nothing else. I would renounce my beliefs rather die. I have no problem lying to terrorists.
2007-02-09 03:04:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Very interesting loaded question. Yes, this life is all there is. I fight for humankind's survival. I would gladly join a war effort if someone started a war against my country. I would die for my wife whom I love and want to live on. I invest in life, not in some fairytaled afterlife.
2007-02-09 02:58:54 · answer #6 · answered by David K 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
First Question: No there isn't.
Second Question: No.
Do you understand that Atheism is based upon the fact that there are no supernatural beings. Why would I want to sacrifice life?
I can actually understand the point that you're trying to prove. You're attempting to state that your beliefs are strong enough that you would actually die to prove them correct.
You're wrong.
2007-02-09 03:02:05 · answer #7 · answered by taa 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You only live a day but it's brilliant anyway.
2007-02-09 02:58:43 · answer #8 · answered by The Killer is Me 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I lie and live, I'm not going to let some crazy Christian kill me.
2007-02-09 02:57:32 · answer #9 · answered by lilith 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋