Atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other non-godders. Do you mind being a minority group?

Question

Most people feel the need to believe in a higher power, even if it is a living person. Why don't you feel this need and do you feel proud you are one of the few?

Answer 1

haha non-godders. never heard that one before, but it's funny.

I personally am not "proud" or feel weird that I am a minority because of what I don't believe in....to be honest...I never even think about God, religion,etc. because of the fact that well...I don't believe! Do you think of the the boogey man often? Of course not, because he doesn't exist for you.

It's hard to understand the mind of an atheist if you aren't one....just as it's hard for atheists to understand what believes think. We don't feel the need to believe in something that doesn't exist for us...if that makes sense. Back to the boogey man....if millions of people believed in him, would you?

Life is about being a good person....whether you believe or not does not matter.

Answer 2

I question your first assumption: that MOST people need to believe in a higher power. I personally don't know what the needs are of MOST people - and I'd be surprised if you did.

But if it were true, I would wonder WHY most people feel a need to believe in a higher power AND assign to it human traits.

Nature is a higher power - sometimes we personify natural processes (e.g. "mother nature" or "the sea was angry that day"), but we should always keep in mind that nature is not a person with conscious thought or foresight or future plans.

In fact, I think it is quite arrogant to think that any power higher than us would have human traits - and even more arrogant to think that this higher power created us in its own image.

Minority? Well, everyone is a minority in some way. There was a time when a minority of people in the world thought that the Earth was round and that it revolved around the Sun.

So, no, I don't mind at all.

Answer 3

I'm not sure we're as small a minority as you imply.

But no, it doesn't bother me. Consensus doesn't mean religious people have it right. There was a time everyone believed the Earth was flat. Did the sheer number of believers make those people right about that?

People feel the need for a higher power because they're afraid of death. That's never going to go away. But it doesn't mean religion is the answer.

Answer 4

Don't mind being a in a minority group as that group holds the same beliefs as I do..

I don't feel the need to believe in what I see as false.. To do so would be counterproductive and delusional..

I am proud that I am able to stand against opposition instead of allowing my beliefs to be walked on.. Whether my beliefs lay with the majority or the minority I am proud that I have the strength to defend my beliefs...

Answer 5

I know most people feel the need to believe--that's why religions exist in the first place. Just because people feel that need does not make what they believe true.
Even if I felt that need, I choose not to believe in something I know isn't there. I wish it were, but I don't like deluding myself. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman said it best when he said he didn't mind not knowing something, it didn't frighten him, and that he preferred not knowing to believing something that wasn't true.
I don't feel proud or not proud about this; it's just how I feel and how I think. I'm very used to being on the minority opinion side.

Answer 6

So you hold religion as a value because most other people do, too, eh? Glad to see that your insecurity isn't making decisions for you.

I'm after the truth, not delusion. While it's nice knowing that a few others are pursuing the same thing, I'd still be an Atheist if I were the only one in the world.

[Edit] According to the email you sent me, I presume too much about your beliefs. Fair enough; we don't know one another. So in this instance I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize for any offense I've caused you. I've answered many fundie questions worded just like yours, touting numerical superiority as proof of fact--which it is not. If I've jumped the gun (even though my answer stands, as this is the way I feel about my beliefs) then I am sorry.

Answer 7

I really don't care what everyone else thinks, I have my beliefs because they make sense to me. I would believe in god if I thought there were one, or if there was some really good proof, but there isn't. I think it's all make believe. As far as being in a "minority" group, that's the story of my life, I'm used to it. I'm proud of who I am and my beliefs. The majority is definitely not always right.

Answer 8

Personally, I think it's great that people have something like God to believe in and make them feel safe and comfortable, seriously, not trying to be sarcastic at all.

Personally though, I've always been a really logical person, and I just can't see something like God existing. Because of that, I think it'd be pointless to go against what I actually believe deep down.

Am I proud? Not sure actually. I'm fine with what I believe in, but I wouldn't go around pushing it in other people's faces.

Answer 9

I don't mind being in a minority group...believing in a higher power without question is just too much like brainwashing for me. I like to think logically and clearly for myself and not be told I'll burn in hell if I don't believe certain things.

Answer 10

Here in Germany roughly 37% of the population are atheists, not really a minority (compared to 30% catholics and 30% protestants).

Anyway, I don't feel a particular need to believe in anything. I normally believe in things when reasoning tells me they are real.