Atheists, humor me. This is probably on the drinking list, but I'm relatively new, so drink and answer, lol.

Question

I'm just wondering.. if there were some way to prove that a particular religion were right, would you be glad to know there would be an afterlife available to you, or would you still prefer to just die?

Do you think any of the religions encourage goodness, or are they all detrimental in your opinion?

If you could pick one of the religions and somehow make it the correct one (like I said, humor me here), which would you pick, and why?

Answer 1

*drink*

When I was younger, the knowledge of my mortality was a crushing thing, and I could certainly see the attraction of denial, but I couldn't make it work for me. As I get older, and there is less novelty and wonder in the world, the idea doesn't sound as bad.

Immortality sounds great in principle, but I bet after the first 700 trillion years, sh!t starts getting old.

Answer 2

I'm an atheist. When I say that I mean I don't believe in a higher power. I don't think religions are "right" and "wrong" because really all a religion is is somebody's ideas on life and how it should be lived. I have plenty of ideas that others agree or disagree with, but of course most of them can't be proven either "right" or "wrong".I just think everything that happens happens for a reason and that it will effect how we live after we die.

Of course some religions encourage goodness. All 'religions' probably do; it's just how humans, being idiotic, interpret them that make some of them detrimental. I believe in reincarnation, where you are reborn as something else. This is because I have always believed (from the time i was 7 years old) that I was a bird in a past life, and a tree that had grown to be really old and then was cut down, in another past life. So I stuck to those ideas...Atheism is different do most people. I don't think I'm just going to "die".

I'd pick Buddhism because they definitely have the right idea, trying to reach perfect intelligence and become one with the world.

Answer 3

Would I be glad to know there was an afterlife? It would depend on which one....some of them sound worse than just not existing but basically yes. I do not like the idea of just not existing too much, I just accept it as reality.

Your second question is complicated...I think some religions do encourage 'goodness' but all have been or can be corrupted and lead to 'bad' things. In truth as all seem like delusions to me they are all 'bad' in that they are keeping people from reality. I might exclude Buddhism from this mostly (though some Buddhists have a supernatural side) as the essense of Buddhism seems to be seeking the truth & it is perfectly possible to be a Buddhist without believing in a god or anything supernatural.

For your last question it would be Buddhism I think - though i am sure there are religions I do not know much about. Taosim seems reasonable too......or the Jains with their policy of not harming anything........

Let me know if you have any more questions & thank you for the respectful nature of your question.

Answer 4

I'm an atheist with a religion, so I can't be anti-religion! :)

If there were some physical proof of an afterlife, I'd probably have to know which one it was before being able to answer your question accurately. But I don't mind dying and being worm food. The "Circle of Life" thing works well for me.

I'm Pagan, so I know there are religions that are good. Christianity can be good. A religion is just a collection of followers, any of them can be only as good or bad as the people in them.

Answer 5

Well I think it would depend.
Is this afterlife wonderful for all or are there certain conditions that one most follow rigorously in order to get in?

I'm not saying that atheists want a free ride with no morals so don't even think that.
But the conditions of lets say Christianity are way too rigid. Meaning you could do great things for humanity all your life and still not get into some wonderful heaven cause you don't "accept Jesus"

I think not all religions encourage goodness, and you proably dont want me to get started as to why. I think goodness can be done without religion.

The correct religion..how bout religiously practice humanism.

Answer 6

If a religion is proven to be right, I don't think anyone would want to go in against it. The main reason why people aren't religious is because it just is purely faith-based, not because they don't want it to be true.

I think most(if not all) religions encourage people to be kind and good towards your peers in theory. However since people can perfectly be good towards others without religion, it's hard to actually crediting a religion for being good when it could just be a result of the person itself. Think about it; do you not murder people because you think murder is wrong or because a religion told you so? I like to think it is the first and think that anyone who would chose the latter is not a good person at all.

Answer 7

If some one could prove to me that there is a god in a scientific way, i would examine the religion surrounding that god and determin if that god is worthy of our worship. If s/he is then I would gladly follow that religion and be guarentee eternal life.

I think most religions are detrimental to the human race, but not all. Most pagan religions are pretty good members of society.

I would probably have to pick one of the nature base (pagan) religions to make the right one.

Answer 8

If it were proven without a doubt I'd take solace in the fact there's more after death.

Yes, several are good religions. Buddhism, Paganism, many others. Just not your big ones that have spread themselves through violence and lies.

Buddhism. Big on peace, tolerance, self reflection and awakening. I think Buddhism teaches you how to be a better person and be more content with who you are.

Answer 9

i dont believe religion just encourages goodness--it constantly points out the bad and dwells on sins and how to redeem yourself..........i am not at all interested in an afterlife--maybe if i was i would be more religious--if i had proof there was one i would say cool but dont put all these rules on me as to how i can get a golden ticket--i dont feel i can live my life this way--waiting for just death

Answer 10

It may sound f*ed up to some but I would prefer to just die and cease existing than imagine that there would be some afterlife, whether it is punishment or even reward.

Answer 11

I guess it would depend on the religion and the afterlife

a lot of them seem be spending eternity in eternal mindless devotion to a particular diety - which doesn't sound great