I know that atheist don't believe in God...but what do they believe in?

Question

So apart in believing in the power man kind. Do any atheist have any spiritual connection to anything. I don't spiritual in a religious sense, but just a connection to something isn't concrete like facts.

Answer 1

Be aware that the vast majority of atheists rarely if ever ponder even their own atheism: we simply don't care! Religion is something that some people believe in, and they are welcome to their beliefs. We don't go along with their claims; for the most part, neither do we go about antagonizing theists about their beliefs. We are widely seen as doing just that (antagonizing theists) only because those are virtually the only atheists you will ever recognize as atheists. The majority of us -- well, you would be surprised, shocked, to learn just who the atheists are in your life!

One aspect of this discussion that is tough to understand is the fact that for theists, their theism generally makes up a substantial part of their lives. For some, their theism is almost all-encompassing. Sometimes you will find theists who do not care much about their theism, although when the topic comes up they will raise both fists in order to defend their theism! However, most theists do more than simply give lip-service to theism.

(Here's an interesting twist that not very many people have considered: I can make an excellent case that it's atheists who give lip-service to theism, not theists. The reason they do this is so they might avoid the ravages of antiatheist bigotry! If theists would cease their almost universal disdain toward atheists, they could empty their pews of virtually all the hypocrites! We would not feel the need to pretend in order to get along, to keep our stations in society, to keep our jobs, our families, our freedom, our lives, our dignity.)



God-Claims? What's a God?

We consider gods to be the objects of any claims that supernatural beings exist, which include angels, ancestors, saints, and so forth. All such alleged beings were thought to be gods at one time or another, and were promoted or demoted as various fluctuations in world view affected entire classes. One very important series of fluctuations along these lines were the various instances of the onset of monotheism, when the various polytheistic deities had to be demoted to (for example) Christian saints, when Christianity overtook Roman culture and religion.

Answer 2

Atheists don't beleive in a deity and don't believe in an after life.

The mind is simply the state of billions of neurons in the brain and nervous system, in other words, the mind is mechanical.

In a computer, a program, whilst operating, exists as a collection of switch settings and we know it as software. So apart from the physical identity of a person (or other animal)the non-physical part of a person is the software running in the hardware of the brain.

You die when those switches get in a state whereby your body is no longer able to function properly because of disease or injury. There is nothing of your non physical self that survives, it was just a pattern of switch settings.

The proof that the mind is physical is obvious, if it wasn't physical, you couldn't move a muscle, and if it wasn't physical, it wouldn't be affected by "mind altering" drugs or alcohol and you wouldn't need to sleep.

Some day soon, if it hasn't happened already, a computer system (hardware and software - just like we animals are) will be developed with the ability to match or exceed human intelligence (in a lot of cases, computers have done that already!). It won't have gone through millions of years of evolution and will carry less phsychological baggage than humans, like the absurdity of belief in a deity, and so will be much smarter. You wouldn't be able to detect that it was not human if you were talking to it on the net or on the phone, but like you, if its brain and memory got damaged too badly, it would die, and like you, it would have no so called "soul" of "spirit|" to live on. However, if it had been backed up, its "mind" could be transferred to another computer!

Anyway, what's fun in going to heaven? Sitting round some bearded guy, playing the harp and singing hymns? Forget it! If heaven has fast cars, cool movies and great pizzas, what's the point in going, we have all that good stuff already!

Jesus: "I am the son of god!"
Bloke: "Really. What god is that then?"
Jesus: "He lives up in the sky and controls everything."
Bloke: "What, even all the bits of dust?"
Jesus: "Er..yes, even all the bits of dust."
Bloke: "Well I have always worshipped the Sun, we even named a day after it, and that day will still be named after the Sun in thousands of years time."
Jesus: "My father is the only god."
Bloke: "Really. So what's that f**king great shiney thing up in the sky that I have been praying to all these years?"
Jesus: "Er....pass"

Answer 3

While I don't believe in an all-powerful creator or interventionist deity, I do believe there is a purpose to life, but something too vast and complex for our little brains to grasp, even if something or somebody were able articulate it to us.

Life itself is astonishing, particularly when you consider the vastness of non-life out there, and the wondrous configuration of circumstances that allows it to flourish on this lonly wee planet. I think that's worth celebrating with the hope - if not belief - that life has value in itself. I believe our instincts tell us this, and while it's easy to dismiss those as mechanisms simply encoded into us to aid survival or procreation, it's just as easy to dismiss any intellectual rationale of the negative, mainly because such a viewpoint is a belief in itself, and that few of those who espouse it conduct their lives in a manner that articulates such a belief (unless they happen to be psychopathic). So I think life is valuable and from that I deduce there is purpose, however incomprehensible to me, and that ultimately that will be worthwhile for humanity or the planet or the cosmos (preferably all three).

I don't think it's possible to sustain life without some basis of belief, at least not for very long. Speaking as someone who has wrestled with the question since I was about 10 years old, I think it is part of the human make-up to believe in something in order to provide context - and the more nebulous idea, "meaning" - to our lives. Without some kind of belief basis I think it's probably too difficult for a thinking, emotional being to endure the inevitable trials of life. That way lies insanity or self-destruction or both.

I believe in evolution, though I do accept it is a belief, albeit one with pretty decent supporting evidence. I also believe that if we allow ourselves to evolve then there's a good possibility that at some undefined moment in the future our reality will suddenly shift and a big sign will come up saying:
"Well done! You are now on LEVEL 2..."

I think maybe something similar to that happened before, round about the time we mastered fire.

Answer 4

The last thing an atheist wants is to "believe" in anything. Truth is not about which artificial deity one chooses to grovel before (as Fundamentalist Believer's generally believe). An explicit atheist cares deeply about the quality of the "facts" they regard as being true. Scientific atheists know the universe behaves in ordered and mathematically predictable ways and that objective reality is external to the human mind. Only physical causes can effect the physical world. Ignorant theists imagine that their own perceptions actually are reality and, by extension, that their mental efforts (prayer) can actually alter the physical realm, which theists regard as mostly imaginary. Whether they know it or not, Believers embrace the philosophy of Solipsism, which atheists reject as self-delusion. Atheists reject the whole concept of "belief," and prefer verifiable factual knowledge.

Answer 5

I am an American living and working in China.

China has the largest population of Atheist in the world and I have asked many people what does an Atheist really believe in, almost 99% always say self.

When I asked them how did you get here, they will say things like Mother, or evolution, and I asked how did that happen, etc etc....they run out of ideas.

Basically, Darwinism does not explain the true fact of the matter as to, how different man died out thus leaving the weaker species to develop.

Finally, Atheist cannot explain the questions that has plagued man for over a thousand years, where did we come from, why are we he, what is our purpose, and how can I live my life successfully(not money).

But I know this, if I go all my life and believe in God and Bible die and it was all a fairy tale I have lost nothing, but if I go my life and don't believe, die and it was all true I have lost eternity in peace and harmony.

I don't wager with stakes that high.

Answer 6

I am not an Atheist yet, but, I'm coming close to it. I believe that you don't have to believe in a supposed God to live a good life, to do the right thing, and not harm your fellow man.

I do believe that religon has caused more harm then good. It's led believers to kill his/her fellow mankind with impunity, without a shred of guilt.

I also believe that the world would be a much better place if there were no religon because of the my god is better than your god belief systems.

I do believe that maybe one of these days, some religous nutcase is going to press that allmighty nuke button and kill us all.

Gee, maybe, if there is a god, maybe that SOB that pressed that button will go to Hell. Not sure about the rest of us though.

Answer 7

Atheism is not a belief of nothing. Atheists just don't believe in a god, and are willing to accept that they do not know everything, nor do they need to have an explanation for everything. They just don't attribute an act of God as an explanation for matters they cannot explain.

Some believe in the scientific method. Some do not. Some believe in love and live their life accordingly. Some do not. Some just live life and accept it as part of the natural order of the universe. Why must our lives have any meaning or purpose in the grand scheme of things? We just happen to exist as a part of the cosmic experience.

Many people find that troublesome and find no solace in that. I do.

Answer 8

Absolutely nothing. An Atheist should not be scared of death, because he believe that there is no after life. But when it come to the point, very few dying Atheists are not scared. I've not seen a person who is really an Atheist.

Answer 9

I guess questions like these are like this question to me (no offense, no pun, no sarcasm):

I know atheist don't believe that pigs fly. What do they believe in?

So, the point is, atheism or at least being agnostic is just saying pigs don't fly with the facts I know. It doesn't necessarily mean that there is an answer to the question as what I believe in, if the question comes in this particular context.

If that question wasn't sufficient...

I don't believe dragons existed and breathed fire. what else do i think breathed fire?

I don't believe most of what bible (or gita or quran) says is true. what do i think is a true book?

Answer 10

i was brought up a Methodist up to the age of 14.
i then started to question the christian faith on the basic tenant of is there a god.
i investigated my religion and others (getting an o and a level along the way).what i decided was that i did not believe in god but this did not mean as some people seem to think that my moral values disappeared over night.i still look for the best in people i still treat people as i wished to be treated and i do not prejudge people on grounds of religion ethnicity or sex.
do Christians treat me with the same respect,yes and no.at the end of the day they are human too.