I mean if you're a SERIOUS atheist, of the John Gray / Richard Dawkins school. If you've rid yourself of not only the belief in a deity, but of all the other hangovers of faith (the essential nobility of Man, the concept of the soul, eternal life, the myth of human progress, the anthropocentric view of the universe, etc) then does the awareness that you are essentially just a group of interdependent biological systems working together to propagate genetic material, and the knowledge that, when those systems stop functioning, your ability to experience consciousness and sensation will simply end, mean that you have no longer have anything to fear from the end of your life?
2007-03-13 07:02:10 · 20 answers · asked by Voight-Kampff 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
I don't believe atheists fear death any more than theists. As a freethinker, I certainly don't "fear" death -- I don't wanna die right at this particular moment, but when the time comes, so be it. Atheists don't fear judgment AFTER death, which is what most believers in heaven and hell fear or anticipate more than death itself.
Me, I'll just be worm food.
2007-03-13 07:08:39 · answer #1 · answered by Resident Heretic 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is a question better suited to religion or philosophy, than biology.
But having said that, I don't understand your reasoning. All of us fear death to some extent, because we're all organisms with a primal instinct for survival. So I'm going to do what I can to avoid death or dangerous situations. So it's natural to fear death. Am I afraid that I'm going to die and my consciousness will travel on and be judged by some big invisible man based of how well I followed one of the thousands of religions that were available to me? No. Am I afraid of dying with a few regrets, like not getting to do some of the things I've always wanted to do, or let the people I love know how I feel about them? Sure, there's some of that there. But that's all the more reason why I try to make the most of life now.
2007-03-13 07:10:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, of most of the people I know, the theists seem to fear death more than the atheists, but that's not absolute. Certainly being an atheist is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for not fearing death, and the same is true of theists.
2007-03-13 09:41:06 · answer #3 · answered by garik 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The fear of death is one of man's most primal fears. It has existed back millions of years to our ancestors.
It seems like you can wrap yourself around an idea, which you rather eloquently espoused, that when you die, you simply rejoin the earth and are recycled, initially you would feel relief. Like, I don't have to worry about hell or heaven anymore.
But at the same time all of these ideas, death, birth, life, etc., are simply your ego trying to make sense of this world. The thought that we go to heaven, hell, or in the ground, has nothing to do with what is going on at this moment. The only thing that exists is this moment.
So I think that the fear of death could be muted, maybe reasoned down to a dull roar, but I don't think that you can just "overcome" the fear of death through thought.
FP
2007-03-13 07:10:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Bloody hell, what a long drawn out question, do you find people disperse when you walk into your local bar??
To get back to your question, I am atheist, I have no fear of dying because I know that death is just like a dreamless sleep.
Religious folk are convinced they will be floating about on a cloud playing a harp, or shoving coal into a furnace , or whatever!!
There is no way I could ever convince them they are wrong, there is no way they could convince me I am wrong.
I will of course feel certain regrets about leaving friends and family, but your question was about fear, no I have no fear of death, I know what death is.
2007-03-13 07:23:37 · answer #5 · answered by budding author 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am a serious atheist.
I do not fear death - being dead is not the problem.
It's the pain associated with the process of dying that is!
e.g. one of my personal fears is i will reach my 50's, suffer a massive (but not fatal) myocardial infarction/heart attack, be resuscitated by doctors in A&E and enter into a vegetative state for the rest of my life due to sever brain damage (as a result of the heart attack).
Bring on 'living wills' and euthanasia.
2007-03-13 09:07:21 · answer #6 · answered by Antimonic 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why should I fear death?
Your proposition is completely correct. There is nothing after death to fear. I fear dying, in case it hurts, but death is the end. I will no more be aware of what happens when I'm dead than I was aware of what happened before I was born.
2007-03-13 08:16:17 · answer #7 · answered by marineboy63 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being afraid of death and being afraid of afterlife are two different things.
Atheists fear the same things about death that God-fearing Christians do...
Fear that you will suffer or it will hurt
Fear of leaving things un-done (like life goals, etc.)
Fear of the unknown
Fear of leaving family and loved ones behind (I know atheists feel that when they die, there will be no "feelings" of this sort to contend with, but as you are living you have to contend with them).
Being dead doesn't scare me...the act of actually dying does.
2007-03-13 07:09:35 · answer #8 · answered by Nasubi 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
NO . the fear of death or love of living has nothing to do with any beliefs or non beliefs that you have. humans are animals. Animals fear death although they have no knowledge of beliefs.
2007-03-13 07:08:11 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I don't fear death at all. It's dying that's got my nickers in a bunch.
2007-03-13 07:05:49 · answer #10 · answered by SomeGuy 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋