Atheists, do you WANT to be right?

Question

I just read a question that sort of put a spin on the Pascal's wager: Who would lose more if they were proven wrong, the religious person or the atheist. Obviously the answer, by an infinite margin, is the religious person.

So my question to atheists...I can appreciate your skepticism, but many of you act as if you delight in "proving" your position... Who in their right mind would WANT to be right in that belief???

Answer 1

The irony is, of course, nothing will ever be 'proven' either way.

I embrace what I know to be true. I am alive, here, now.

I have the will to do as I choose in the life I am leading here and now.

I have chosen to make the very best of this life that I know I am leading here and now.

I choose to be good, honest, caring, empathetic, sincere, generous, and true to my word. I do not need the threat of eternal hellfire and damnation to reach these conclusive choices.

What happens in the 'next life' is irrelevant to me. I just don't beleive the fairlyland in the clouds exists. This has no bearing on how I choose to lead my life...the one I know exists here and now.

Maybe some people need a religion to threaten them into being good people. Maybe at some time in past history before there were laws and police and such, religion was a good way to keep people in line. Maybe at times when borders weren't existant it was a good way to find people of common mind. Maybe before science, religion was a good way to explain the unexplainable. Maybe when people really missed their dead relatives, or were mourning the loss of their dead children, religion offered comfort to them, believing that their loved ones were now free of pain and living in joyous comfort.

But, things are different today.

I, for one, choose to be a good person...and I simply don't need a religion to tell me this is how I should act. When I die, just like the millions of other vertebrates with spines, ribcages, hearts, and brains that die every day, I will simply be gone.

I know that the good deeds I've done and the positive things I've been able to acheive will live on. That's as immortal as I need to be. Knowing my rotting corpse will return to the earth is actually a kind of comfort, too. Other things will grow from my death, and I can keep on giving a little even after my time here is done.

But, until then, I know I have this life to live, right here, right now.

Answer 2

"Bless you for trying, Beta. You'll get nowhere in this room. Ask them again on their deathbeds. That's when reality hits them."

Yes, because the ones who practice religion have soooo much more insight than those that either don't practice religion or don't believe in God. Where some have to wait until their deathbed, you are the lucky one that has the genius of being able to figure things out early.

If I'm right, cool. If I'm not, oh well.

I think that religionists often times take any form of dissent as taking delight in proving people wrong.

Why are questions from athiests about religion always offensive to the religionists. However, religionists often times can't possibly see how offensive their questions and/or statements are.

Answer 3

I choose to believe because I truly believe it is right. So I guess I don't understand your question. I prefer to share the information I have, which I believe is true and fact, with others here in hopes of opening eyes and minds. I was raised in religion and the more I read about my religion, the more I turned away (for more reasons than I can possibly get into here).

Therefore, in my right mind, I do want to be right in my belief. I believe in being good and doing right because it's the right thing to do. Period. And I don't need the bible to tell me that.

Answer 4

I'll admit it. I just like being right. I like to be right about anything really. I get a good feeling by coming out of a debate victorious. I delight at poking holes in peoples' logic and showing the superiority of my own. Why am I this way? Perhaps it is because I grew up in household where children were to be seen and not heard and "because I said so" was my mother's favorite explanation. I've got some issues, but who doesn't?

Answer 5

Who in their right mind would WANT to believe that dinner does not magically appear in their oven at 5:57 PM every evening, or that women actually care what happens during sex? Many men believed that in the first half of the 20th Century. It's not about winning an argument, it's about being realistic.

Answer 6

I'm neutral-it really does just boil down to a lack of evidence that I feel precludes a belief in God. If ultimately I'm proved wrong so what-I disbelieved for all the right reasons.

Answer 7

That is hard to answer. There was a time in my life that I definitely wanted to be wrong. But I am very sure that I am right now. And what I see is a bunch of people running around with these grand delusions and I actually find it hard to imagine how.

Answer 8

Yes, I do want to be right. I have no desire to live forever in body or spirit. But I disagree that the religious person has the most to loose. If they are wrong, they will never know it. If I'm wrong, your vengeful god could decide I should burn for eternity for being a good and kind person, who just didn't believe in him.

Answer 9

All the wanting in the world does not make you right or wrong. I don't know an atheist who would refuse an eternity in heaven if such an idea could be demonstrated to be true. Atheist I know are not immoral libertines, they have no reason to not want to believe in God.

Answer 10

I want to be right in every belief. Which is why I study a subject critically, and test every hypothesis in it with the most strict rigor. Only hypotheses which withstand such tests are worth considering, and no religious hypothesis can withstand any test whatever. Which is why I don't do religion.