atheists why is it when you 1st become atheists?

Question

this isnt for all, but the ones that say they felt empty or scared, there is no God in your eyes so why feel those kind of emotions when you decide to leave the faith of God? i heard it several times. what could you be afraid of if God doesnt exsist? why feel empty if He dont exsist?

im serious look through here. i just answered one of those questions.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvIaadDP9RInPhNlVPaU_TDsy6IX?qid=20070721123524AAWMF72&show=7#profile-info-1WYN0SM8aa

i put the link but this isnt the first one i came across, there has been a few in the past too.

thank you for the mean remarks but your brothers and sisters in atheisim do say that their empty and scared. i have witness quit a few of them. im not debating if God exsist, im asking bout the emotions if He doesnt exsist

let me say the emotions since He doesnt exsist. i dont like the mean stuff that is being said bout me cause of my belief but im not gonna do the same back. i will say though for everyone that put me down you have no right to say anything bout you being put down since this is whats being done now. if im dumb, using a crutch or whatever so be it, cause how you are free and enjoy life, i am free and enjoy life.

Answer 1

I think your question is legitimate, seeing the link. But it's really hard to answer this for someone else. Perhaps they're scared of death? Perhaps they feel lost in the vastness of the universe? Death and the insignificance of humanity are things which are just denied in many religions (eternal life, world created for us), so I imagine people have to deal with those things when they lose their religion. I never connected those things as I never really believed in God but that's a possibility.

Answer 2

I have often heard this talk about the great emptiness from Christians. I have never actually felt it.
When I feel an emptiness inside it usually means that I have not eaten anything that day and it is time for something yummy in my tummy.
Fears are only about real things, like finding enough money to pay my bills.
I certainly do not regret, fear or feel unsatisfied because of not believing in God(s). In fact I feel quite the opposite.
Life is good and the world is what it is.
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Read your link and I had answered that question before. I think what the answer below says covers part of it. I think that part of the thing is also that Church provides a social structure and an identity mechanism. In fact I think that is the major reason most of the religious types choose to be believers. In the USA especially, they have no community to identify with except through things like their various religious sects. If you are looking for a social club then religious groups provide that, so does AA.
If you are looking at *Atheism* to fill that social need then you are likely to be disappointed. The atheists are not a cohesive group, but there are groups of atheists focused on creating social change that might fit the bill.
You might like to join one of them if it is fear of being alone that is preventing you from freeing yourself from your cult.

Answer 3

If they say they feel empty and scared then they are the ones probably going from belief to belief, trying to find the one that is "right" for them, perhaps due to something traumatic having happened recently, these people would feel "empty" and "scared" until having got over what had happened to them, possibly through counseling, meaning the reason behind their emotions is not due to their belief.

Answer 4

I was brought up to believe in God, but when I decided there was no conclusive proof of a God I felt neither empty nor scared, just content. I wouldn't I'm a total atheist yet but more atheist than believer.

Answer 5

The great appeal to rejecting God is the freedom from authority that it brings. No one to look over your shoulder and judge what you are doing. You can be the master of your own fate and the captain of your own soul. I've heard the freedom described as similar to what college students felt as they first left home to go to college, e.g. party and beer tonight.

Yes, they also feel empty without God but that's the tradeoff.

Answer 6

It was a slow process,I didn't wake up one day and say I am now an atheist,so there was no feeling of emptiness or of being scared.I don't know but that is probably true for the vast majority that grew away.

Answer 7

I've never heard the "empty and scared"story except in the Christian "urban myths" about the "used to be atheist but felt empty and scared so came back to Jesus"claptrap that Christians continually perpetuate

Answer 8

Maybe they realized for the first time in their life that everyone they knew had been feeding them false information, and that no one was 'on their side' anymore. For many people that can be a very frightening thought, which is exactly why so many people refuse to abandon their outdated beliefs.

Answer 9

I can't relate to what you describe at all in my own experience, I felt great once the penny dropped ( once the realisation hit me) that there really was no valid reason to have belief in a God.

Answer 10

Scared? We don't even believe in the supernatural, what is there to be scared of? There's no emptiness here. In fact, there's only unsatiable thirst for knowledge.