Atheists, what do you think of freedom?

Question

I mean if there isn't a God how can anyone be free? We're born into our little situation, we get conditioned and then we die; is that your opinion? Please don't be offended.

Interesting responses. Yes I see how it would make sense that you can see leaving a religion as escaping from a controlling presence, but as a Christian I belive that anyone who doesn't accept God is imprisoned, enslaved to sin.

Answer 1

Well. Anyone who has voluntarily left Catholicism and other conservative faiths will no doubt cite lack of freedom to make individual choices as one of their chief reasons for seeking a different path. I was no exception. In my personal experience, there was no pleasure in being told that I would have to remain celibate until marriage, even if for some reason I chose never to marry. I didn’t see the point of having the church decide the circumstances under which I could have sex, whether it be as a single or married person. I thought it both absurd and intrusive that a church had the arrogance to tell me I should never use certain kinds of birth control to prevent pregnancy. Or that I couldn’t indulge in certain sexual acts that avoided pregnancy altogether.

Since I valued my freedom more than observing the arbitrary and cruel rules of Catholicism, secularism was by far the better choice.

Answer 2

How can you believe in freedom if you're a Christian? God is omniscient, right? That means God knows everything that has ever happened, that is happening now, and that ever will happen. Which means that from before you were even born, God already knew everything you would do in your entire life. You therefore have to do what God knows, otherwise God wouldn't really know it, which would mean God wasn't really omniscient, which is one of the key definitions of God in the western world. So either God is real and you have no freedom to choose how you live your life, or you deny God's existence. This is what Sartre said at least. There may be ways to get around it, but it's a good argument.

As for freedom if there were no God, the examples you gave (like being conditioned and dying) don't seem to have much to do with freedom. Sounds like you are talking about something else. Maybe the conditioning takes away freedom depending on how it is done, but how does the existence of God change the existence of conditioning (or any hinderences to liberty)? Heck, church is just another form of conditioning! The way people can be free without God is by living the way they wish--how is God needed for that? I don't need to believe in God to choose how I want to live. I've had far more Christians than atheists try to tell me how to live my life, so really it seems like religious people are the ones who are hindering freedom.

Answer 3

As an Athiest I dont feel enslaved to anything. I am not trying to impress anyone with my behaviour so that I may be rewarded when I die (although that is not to say I dont try to be a good person)
The things that you consider sinful I consider part of normal life (sex before marriage, the odd alcoholic drink etc)
I feel I am free to do as I please within the law of the land because I dont believe I am being watched over by some omnipitent being who will utimately judge me.
To me, it is you who is enslaved to what basically amounts to a fairytale by the brainwashing you have recieved at some point in your life.
You pretty much nailed it. We are born into our situation. We try to make the most of what we have. We try to better ourselves to give ourselves a better quality of life than we might otherwise have had and so we might have some legacy to pass on to our children. And then we die.
Pretty simple

Answer 4

The issue of freedom is a tricky one. Perplexing for both atheists and theists.

If you are an atheist who thinks we are just a sophisticated machine, then do we really have free will or are we just programed to do what we do?

If you are a theist and believe in an all knowing and all powerful God, then surely God must know everything that you are going to do before you do it. Which means your future is predetermined so how can you say you have free will.

Kind of a problem no matter what your theological point of view is.

Answer 5

How can you be free if there is a god? How can you be free if there is someone there who can see your every action, your every mistake, your every bleedin' thought, who will judge you and condemn you for it unless you happen to choose the correct religion? Is that freedom?

I think atheism is the only way to freedom. I don't have to live by laws proscribed in a 2000+ year old book. I don't have to live with the fear that I might think about that girl over there being naked then getting hit by a car and then going to hell for eternity, just because I made one little slip-up.

Answer 6

I will agree that the concept of free will is not exactly fitting, because from moments after our births, everything we do is colored by the reactions and training of those around us, and most influential in our lives. So while we think we're making independent choices, we've really been conditioned to make those choices.

But I don't see that having a god or no god is going to change that conditioning or make us any freer than we already are - if you are conditioned to be a bad person, no god is going to be able to change it.

In fact, one of the parts of our conditioning IS thinking that we have free will - viscious cycle, isn't it?

Oh and no offense taken - it was a good question, after all. I'm never offended by genuine curiousity.

Answer 7

The point is, as an atheist I utterly reject the concept of sin. The whole idea is part of the apparatus invented by theists to keep believers shackled to the necessity of God.

Christianity invented both the disease (sin) and the cure (God). Without religion, there's no need to believe in either.

Answer 8

How are you free with a god? Existing to serve another presence is in no way what I consider freedom. And you are not free to act under monotheistic religions as acting independently from those religions results in eternal punishment. True freedom comes from answering only to yourself, living for good because you want to do good. Not because you will be rewarded with eternity. That is my thinking on the subject. Also, it is not as if we should not care for others or the future, just realize that the good we do will continue on to help the future world. I have a huge problem with monotheistic religions claiming that humanity is the only important species and as such do most of my good for the animal world.

In response to your response: I can see how you would associate sin as a form of shackling, but i believe it is the entire idea of sin that in fact is restrictive. Many "sins" do no harm to anyone and in my opinion are therefore not bad at all. It is idea of sin that I find restrictive... it is as if you have been given a set of rules that hinder your decision making abilities without necessary justification, just because someone decided it was bad. I don't subscribe to blind authority, if something is not harmful, it is not wrong.

Answer 9

Freedum is not living by any book of rules and experiancing my own reality! Since childhood I heard about how to be good and all but never really got it 100%. when i stoppt beliveing inb god i started learning from my own life. since i do'nt belive in god i belive that whatever goes wrong in my life is my fault i take full responsibility for my actions. I would say i have become a better human being since i became an atheist, i think 10 times before doing wrong fearing that it will come back to me!

Answer 10

The whole plot of the bible hinges on god meddling, intervening, and "having plans" for people - without any regard for their personal preferences. Your argument appears moot and poorly thought-through.

And yeah - you're born onto a tiny speck of rock floating in the vast, uncomprehending vacuum of space. A short time later, you die. The bit inbetween is yours to use. That's called freedom.