Atheist - how do you think the modern fast growing atheism will effect to our society. its for good or bad?

Question

Religious People - how do you think the modern fast growing atheism will effect to our society, country and planet. its for good or 4 bad ?

Answer 1

The embrace of reason and inquiry can only have an enlightening effect on the world.

Answer 2

Atheist.

I think it will have a mixed effect, but net positive over time.

There are a small number of sociopaths out there that are being restrained by the fear of God. Without any god they will act on their desires.

Without god there to pick up the pieces I think a lot of people will become more environmentally aware, and act for themselves and their children.

Churches are incredibly ineffective charities. If people stop giving money to the church and give to to the Red Cross / UNICEF / Médecins Sans Frontières Suddenly a lot more will happen.

Without religion to blame for their actions a lot of wars will stop, or be stopped because the motives are clearer. (Power, greed, etc.)

Without their fix of religion a lot of people will be depressed and unhappy until they can find a 'purpose' in life for themselves. Suicide rates will initially rise, but with the prospect of death being the final word I suspect in the long run they will drop.


I would like to think that mankind would learn to see that we are one species on one planet and are all interconnected. We could then stop dropping 100s of billions of dollars into war and put it into humanitarian and scientific exploits that would get us off the planet and let us be one species in the solar system and then galaxy. But that just might be too optimistic.

Answer 3

I don't know that atheism is fast growing..maybe just more people are "coming out" so to speak. I think, as far as society goes, that it could be a good thing.

For one, people won't be defined by their religion, or lack thereof. And laws won't be made based on someone's religious beliefs (stem cell research, abortion, gay marriage) because the general public won't stand for it.

But, atheists are still in the vast minority and nothing will change that, so I don't think there is an affect on society at all.

Answer 4

I'm an atheist myself. Truthfully, the only thing that atheism negatively affects our moral society is the fact that without a God, every decision you make is your own and you have one else to blame or a higher being to rely on. This causes either lower self-esteem from failures but greater self-esteem from successes because you know you did it by yourself without the help of a higher being.

Answer 5

For the bad.. Regardless if there is a god or not.. and I am a christian, so I do believe there is.. It seems the lack of caring is growning.. Seems that the Atheist moment is a way to throw away morals.. No morals = pain and suffering... Even if you didn't believe in God... Look at the 10 commandments.. They are created to make your life a better life, with less pain and suffering. Today it seems everyone is screwing everyone.. Stealing and fighting... Taking what is not theirs.. A hand shake means nothing anymore.. No Honor.... Believe in God or not, but what about Honor and Morals? Who's going to teach that? Thats what religion tired to teach... Not that they are perfect, but they are from man.. right?

Answer 6

In the words of Nietzsche: I think he puts it really well...

"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?
All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment...
Behold, I teach you the overman. The overman is the meaning of the earth.Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go.
Once the sin against God was the greatest sin; but God died, and these sinners died with him. To sin against the earth is now the most dreadful thing, and to esteem the entrails of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth..."

-Nietzsche's Thus spoke Zarathustra, part I

Answer 7

Atheism will never get too big. People need to believe in God and an afterlife. It's a coping mechanism. Humans are the only species that knows they are going to die. The brain has trouble dealing with this fact and invents the afterlife to protect itself. Religion is just an organized way of dealing with death. It's always easier to believe something when you are surrounded by people who believe the same.

Answer 8

I'm atheist and I don't think having religion makes a person good or bad. Having moral and value for oneself makes a person good or bad. If you are religious you are good because you fear going to hell. If you are not religious you are good because you have value for yourself and others. Its the way people are raised that give them values, yes religion helps, but parents are more influential then a book. If parents raise their children with morals and value then society will be fine.

Answer 9

well, we need to be carefull about this as depicted by the reverent time traveller eric cartman.

See if we force our views on people, like christianity, then we will split into 3 factions at war with each other that will treat science and logic in a religious tone rather than what it is:

The search for truth.

Otherwise the UAA (united athiest alliance) and the UAL (united athiest league) and the AAA (allied athiest alliance- made up of the sea otters) will be at war.

Answer 10

It sounds like a good thing in theory, but it seems to not be having the desired effect. People are still making stupid decisions despite the change in religious beliefs.

Answer 11

It's a good thing.



While I'm sure there are other societal benefits to atheism, the biggest one is that we don't have to pay lip service to a falsehood to the degree we used to.

Also, to give an extreme example of the other end of the scale, you can always compare and contrast with Saudi Arabia.