How does an Atheist view life?

Question

I am a Catholic, and I can't help but wonder. Atheists think that this is it. There is no more to life than what we see. After death there is nothing. So how do you explain things like values and morals? If there is no greater force setting the rules, then isn't anything right? Shouldn't you do anything you can to claw your way up there? If that's how it is then Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein and people like them were right. I think that would be unbelievably depressing, and I just can't imagine what my life would be like without my faith. I'd be insane. My life isn't particularly hard, but It would be without the knowledge that there's Someone up there who loves me and is watching over me, ready to forgive my sins and welcome me home.

In no way, shape or form am I trying to say that if there were no God I would be immoral. According to Christians there are two types of repentance-perfect sorrow and imperfect sorrow. Perfect sorrow means to be repentant because you are sorry because you disobeyed God. Imperfect sorrow is repentance because of fear of the consequences. You mentioned that God committed genocide in the Bible. You must remember that He gave us all we have; he has right to take it away. It is also true that Catholics sin, but they are only human. Maybe Hitler and Stalin were Catholic, but they certainly didn't value Christian morals. One last thing-there is no need to resort to infantile insults to get your point across. As far as I can tell I have been perfectly reasonable. I ask the same of you.

All you Atheists have probably know this, but ever heard of Pascal? His reasoning is this: If there is a God, and you believe in him, then after you die you go to heaven. If there is no God, then you cease to exist. So basically, being religious is a win/lose situation. If you are an Atheist, and there is a God you die and go to hell. If there is no God you cease to exist. That's definitely a lose/lose situation. Also, it's a proven fact that religious people are happier on Earth. So basically there is no reason to be an atheist. It's totally pointless. Why wouldn't you be religious?
And how do you explain miracles? They do happen, and are still.
One last thing...I'm looking for an Atheist's views on life and death, not anti-Bush lies. Even if you do believe them, they are even more out of place here then the insults, and I would appreciate if they were not said.

Answer 1

Morals and values are independant of a religious belief. Hitler was a Catholic and look what he did, same with Stalin.

My wife is an atheist and feels that it is all up to her to make a difference in her life

Answer 2

Until quite recently I was Catholic and held the same views you held. When it dawned on me that there wasn't a God, then it dawned on me that none of the things you mention are actually a problem. Turn this around...of our great American athiests (note some were deists who were anti-Christian and believed a power turned the universe on and left) such as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln (who was actually an atheist not a deist and wrote an anti-Christian book that he wouldn't disavow even when running for the Presidency), Albert Einstein and most of our scientists or Mark Twain and quite a number of our author and playwrite base which were very immoral? Generally, if you look at immoral writers and leaders they tend to be Christian, such as George Bush.

Psychological research on morality and ethics has shown it is both religion and culture independent. Specific issues exist from culture to culture (suicide is honorable in some cultures and banned in others) but generally religion doesn't impact morality except to frame the discussion. It appears that morals and ethics are biologically determined or a combination of biology and early childhood development.

There is a force setting the rules, natural laws. Evolution is just a part of the natural laws. If you look at our behaviors from a game theoretic perspective, morality drops out and all of this is really just what you would expect from a herding animal such as homo sapiens sapiens.

The universe does not love you. It cannot as it is just a collection of things. There is insufficient evidence of a god for anyone to remain Christian. I deeply love the Catholic Church as it does much that is good in the world and is an extraordinary community. Nonetheless, I believe the apostles were mistaken. They imposed an interpretation upon events that I do not think was warranted. If Jesus had lived today, we would have sent teams of scientists to investigate the events. What we got instead were three to eight decade old memories of a formed community that was being held together by the common preaching of a group of people. Most members of the community were illiterate, few who could read had read much, and we do not even have any intact copies of these works before about 350 AD and we know from the damaged partial copies that they had been altered by then. There are 400,000 variant passages in the New Testament and no translator knows which ones are actually the early edition verses.

If Jesus lived today, we wouldn't kill him like the people of the time did, but he would be reduced to a best selling author of self-help books.

I do agree, at first, it is much easier to be Catholic and stay Catholic than be Catholic and become atheist, but it is profoundly freeing. So much of Catholic thought is profound morality in the first place, that it would be correct whether it was taught with Jesus or without him. Some things do disappear though if he isn't a god, but just a Jewish fanatic that either misunderstood his role or was misunderstood by those around him. It is largely fortunate for the world Jesus existed and more importantly he serves as challenge to any competing moral system. He sets a high minimum bar.

Answer 3

Some atheists would say that their morals they do out of kindness rather than fear of God and that makes them better. Personally I don't have a problem being an amoral atheist, I'd be a right evil bastard if it wasn't for the guilty concious my parents instilled, and the fear of retribution. I don't care that nothing will happen to me when I die, after all I'll be dead so it will be neutral. Maybe atheists have more incentive to enjoy life. I believe in my own experiences of pleasure, pain, guilt whatever, so I enjoy being alive and doing what feels good. There may not be someone up there who loves me, but I have people down here like my parents who can do all the things you've mentioned God does for you and more. Plus I feel satisfied that I can exist in the real world without the need of a fantasy to get me through.

Answer 4

There is a greater force setting the rules, and that force is society. Society dictates morality, and morality changes with society. For example, a couple hundred years ago, it was perfectly acceptable to own slaves in this country. It was legal, and most didn't have a problem with it. I might add that the bible was used repeatedly to defend the practice. Our society has changed, and now that practice is seen as abhorrent.

As an atheist, I try to treat people the way that I would want to be treaated, because I personally think that's right. I don't need a reward at the end of my life in order to do the right thing, kindness is it's own reward. My reward is the good feeling I get from doing the right thing, and I don't have to wait until I die to get it, it's immediate. I also do not need the threat of hell to deter me from committing crimes. If I did commit a crime, there is a system of punishment in place here on earth to deal with me.

I might add, if you breakdown of the US prison population by religious belief, atheists make up less than 1% of all the people in US prisons, christians make up the majority at about 65%, and the rest of the various religious denominations filling in the remainder. Since atheists make up much more than 1% of the overall US population (more like around 5-7%), it would seem that religious belief leads to lawlesness more than atheism would. Really, it makes sense, what would it matter if you committed any crime you felt like committing, all you need to do is ask for forgiveness from god, and you're A-OK.

You say that life would be too hard for you without the knowledge that someone was watching over you and loved you. If you really think about it, your belief is your equivilent to a child's security blanket. It makes you feel safe, though it provides no real protection from anything. You're just as succeptable to the dangers of life as anyone else

Life is hard for most people. Everyone has problems, and the only difference is how we deal with them. You deal with your problems by praying to god, an entity that you cannot see, feel or touch. I rely on myself, and my family and friends to help me through. These are real people, who can hold me, console me and help me in very real and tangible ways. I have found in my 30 years here on earth that I have never needed more than them. I couldn't fathom what a god could do for me that I don't already have.

Answer 5

The first misconception is the idea that religion somehow addresses questions of morality, even that it is the only means to address questions of morality. Even superficially, religious absolutism does not address questions of morality at all.
For one thing, religion is based on faith, which is antithetical to truth. Another problem is that divine creation makes morality contingent by definition, which means that a hypothetical god could decide tomorrow that, for instance, murder is good. Indeed, there are many instances of the God of the Bible committing genocide, not to mention endorsing it.

Another major problem is that no two sects of Christianity can agree on what the Bible orders them to do. The Bible contradicts itself even on major structural issues, such as whether we should retaliate to evil (Deut 19:21, Matt 5:38), and whether we should put other people's values above ours (Lev 19:181, Cor 10:24).


. So having dispelled these misconceptions, how can we find moral principles ? Moral principles exist because actions have consequences. This much is obvious. If we stop taking in nutrition, we will eventually lose energy and die. This is because we have a metabolism which keeps us alive : it is a biological fact. Other consequences are more psychological. If we are hostile to other people, they will tend to reject our presence.

Morality is therefore based on causal laws, scientific or otherwise, which regulate our actions. Moral principles exist because our decisions have different consequences, which can be anticipated.

Because of this, to deny moral principles is as irrational as denying gravity. The consequences of malnutrition or hostility is as obvious as the fact that things that go up come back down,.

Answer 6

If you were finally convinced today that no God or heaven exists, would you go out an kill someone, rape their child and steal their money? (I'm assuming you're not Bush)

Being a decent, caring, compasionate human being doesn't have anything to do with embracing a fictious character as your creator and another as your irrational savior. I say irrational because the concept that Jesus was tortured and murdered to save sinners from themselves has no logical or reasonable basis.

Furthermore, there exists no proof of God or Jesus as savior. The history of mankind explains that early man believed in gods only because they lacked the science to be able to comprehend the world around them. Gazing on in total confusion and bewilderment, early man thought the stars to be gods.

The stories of Jesus only began to surface some 70 years after his death. There exists no credible evidence of the existance or the supposed deeds of our savior during his time of saving humanity. That's quite an oversite for the great one.

It is also important to note that science has had religion on the run for 400 years now. The more science we learn, the more religion has to regroup. If their stories had been true in the first place, this would not be the case.

As the great H.L Mencken once asked, "Where is the graveyard of Dead Gods? What lingering mourner waters their mounds? There was a time when Jupiter was the king of the gods, and any man who doubted his puissance was ipso facto a barbarian and an ignoramus. But where in all the world is there a man who worships Jupiter today?"

Answer 7

Athiests have outgrown the "things are right and wrong because mommy and daddy say so" morality. That's why atheists are generally of stronger character and morality than are people in general. For example, notice Cara's response (below). If that strikes you as "well-grounded morality", your standards are FAR too low. I don't know a single atheist whose morals are that shoddy - she's basically saying "If I could get away with it, I'd do it".

Your problem seems to be that you assume that the only possible source of morality is a higher authority. Atheists believe that we are individually responsible for our own behaviors, and that "getting away with it" is no excuse. The morals do not come from us - they're independent of what people believe, so if (for example) everyone believed that lying was moral, it would still be immoral. But they don't come from some invisible super-parent either.

Answer 8

Consider people like Cara -- theists who only behave well because they think that is the only way to get their "reward". Who admit to themselves and others that fear of losing that reward (and instead getting infinite punishment) is the only thing that prevents them from behaving immorally. Do people like this really think that their Christ and/or God will be proud of them? If so, then I think they must have a very low opinion of their Christ!!

I am moral because I have a deep sense of empathy for others. It makes me sad when others are sad. I laugh when others laugh. I try to treat others the way I would want to be treated if I were in their shoes. Many Christians believe that since I think their God & Christ are mythical, that I will be punished for all eternity, even though I am a very moral person. I pity these Christians for having such a twisted view of life.

Answer 9

The answer should be an obvious one - those of us who choose to take our existence at face value see life in the same rational way. Namely, if you only have one lifetime then live best way you can and know that you can only really rely on yourself to make things happen. Not having easy answers to all those big questions does not depress me in the slightest - i like surprises!

Added to that, nobody tells me what to say/eat/drink/wear/f#k/do with my money etc etc which is a bit of a bonus!

Religious people are evil too you know!! In fact i think it's fair to say that very few conflicts are brought about without faith being part of the equation.

But we are all welcome to our opinion, right?

Answer 10

It is a shame that you would think values and morals cannot exist without a belief in the afterlife. Are humans so shallow that they cannot have morals or values without the carrot or stick that is involved with a belief in heaven and hell?

Contrary to your opinion, if life is limited, it is that much more valued. Atheists who understand this, value life more than christians who believe the majority of their existence is after death. Do you see this?