Why are westerners so attracted to atheism?

Question

I discussed the issue with some friends and, other than the usual cliched answers, they gave some explanations namely:


1. Because of a gambler's principle which says that the richer you are the more likely you are to gamble. Therefore, people in western countries are more willing to gamble away their eternity.

2. Another gambler's principle which says that a person would much rather win a million dollars in a casino than to work for it. Therefore westerners like to think that the universe and life started just by chance.

3. Because they live in highly organized and regulated societies and it results in a psychological phenomenon that could be referred to as "beast envy". Therefore they eagerly embrace theories like evolution which IMPLY that humans are merely animals.

I think these theories have some truth in them, but I'd like to hear other explanations. But please not vain ones like "because they are more educated". That obviously has nothing to do with it.

Thanks.

Answers like "cos they are more free" (in what way?) are simply restating the question.

The Soviet Union wasn't free. Yet it was mostly atheist. There are many other examples. That has nothing to do with it.

iamnothing_butlife, don't try to pull that one on me. Those RELIGIONS you mentioned are not atheist. Don't try to redefine atheism just to win an argument.

Everyone knows what the typical atheist believes. And it is not just 'nothing'. It is rather a 'nothingized' something.

future posthuman Arc…, I am sure you are an intelligent person and I appreciate your answer. But you obviously haven't understood those arguments you are responding to. You're simply making a knee-jerk criticism of them.

richiel101, said:

"they are unwilling to put down their good life to a higher being."

I would add: "no matter how evil or immoral it is."

epistemologyfan, You are basically saying exactly the same thing I asked you to keep. That stuff about "science" or "education". I repeat that has nothing to do with my question.

DrEvol, atheism is NOT a "consequence of thinking." Skeptism about SPECIFIC doctrines might be a consequence of thinking. But not atheism.

Very true, Nancy B.

Answer 1

I think the "mythos" and "logos" concepts explain this the best. These are two (ideally, complementary) ways of thinking, with "mythos" covering artistic / spiritual / meaningful thinking and "logos" covering practical / logical / intellectual thinking. In the west, logos has become so dominant over mythos that it has even started to take over religion (drop in to the Religion & Spirituality section if you don't believe me - you will see they keep arguing about whether or not there is logos-style proof of God). The western educational system mostly teaches logos, so we get very good at this type of thinking in school, but not very good at the mythos thinking. Then people grow up and some believe that logos is all that matters. Logos has no use for religion, so the people who have the most extreme preference for logos over mythos become atheists.

The effect is not just limited to religion. Westerners also seem prone to dismiss the value of art, literature, music and anything else that requires mythos for its appreciation. It is hardly possible for anyone to make a living as a poet here.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Hmm,interesting question.But I don't think that this is a strictly Western phenomena, after all Russia, China and Nazi Germany(though Germany is a Western country) to name just a few countries practiced atheism and look where it got them and has gotten them. Is this an anti-christian jibe or are you simply wondering about religion in general? Because people have always believed in something bigger than themselves from the time of the cave-dwellers to now. Just because technology has gotten better dosen't mean we no longer need God,if anything we need Him even more. Just remember what Albert Einstein said, that he would use his science to understand God's universe better. But to answer your question more clearly (I hope) it's just that people in the West have always sought to understand their world and if it takes them down one path or another that is their choice.But from what I have read and heard most people become atheists because they have had some very bad experinces with their family's religion growing up and don't wish to practice it as adults. Especially if their parents or grandparents were overly strict. The American Jews for instants are more likely than any other group in America to become atheists,about 65% percent I believe.Huh,go figure. Whereas the American Catholics are the most devout. If you have had bad examples of christian behavior or whatever remember it's the Song and not the Singer that matters most !!

Answer 3

Free will.

Let me explain.

Overall your statement is a generality based on your personal beliefs. Not all westerners are attracted to atheism. Nor are they all attracted to one specific religion, although christianity is a common western religion.

Freedom of expression lets many people with differing ideas live together peacibly, for the most part.

Atheists are not concerned about things like the eternity of the soul anymore than a chef cares about where rainbows come from.

I think that the more freedom you give a society, the more variety of ideas will be created. Everyone wants to explain why we are here. Atheism is some people's explaination that lets them be happy.

Answer 4

I think we live in a society where tradition is not very important. Kids rebel from their parents' ideas and follow their own beliefs. Therefore, they may be more open minded and explore all their options in areas such as religion. Also, people are looking at the world a little more skeptically. If God exists, where is he? In the Bible, He is a strong force on Earth.. burning bushes, sending down plagues, etc. Why doesn't He do that anymore? How do we know He exists?

We are living in a time where proof is very important. DNA testing, polls, surveys, students being state tested every few months.. There is no PROOF that God exists. Therefore, he must not.

Answer 5

Atheism is not just a cultural thing of the West; I know a lot of foreigners whose first thought about Westerners is, "those kooky fundamentalists!"

However, there are differences. Under communism in China & the former USSR, atheism was taught as a belief system exactly the way theism is taught to kids in the West by churches, or by the gov't in theocracies. Atheism in the West is different because most Western atheists arrive at it by their own means, through their own individual life journeys rather than being raised atheist or "taught" atheism. Many surveys indicate that in the US, about 9-10% of the population are atheists, strong agnostics or simply profess no belief in gods (either they're "closet atheists" or simply never think about religions and gods).

With all due respect to your friends, all three of their theories are, um...grossly ignorant. I hope this isn't what passes for theology nowadays. Theory 1 is just a re-iteration of Pascal's wager, which was long ago dissected. (See first link below.) Also, gambling is actually much more prevalent among the poor.

Theory 2 is a non-sequitur; who cares how much work some god had to go thru to create the universe? Didn't he just snap his fingers anyways?

Theory 3 is wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin, but suffice it to say that evolution is not "believed in" for psychological or emotional reasons like creationism is. The evidence in favor of evolution is overwhelming; the evidence in favor of creationism is exactly and precisely zero. Also, evolution is NOT an atheistic belief any more than gravity is. (If you believe that we're held to Earth by innumerable god's angels pulling us downward, then I'm afraid I can't help you.) Creationists use evolution as a straw man to attack all science and rational thought, since they see it as a threat to their advocacy of blind faith in an autocratic church.

What all three of these theories have in common, is that none of them bears the slightest resemblance to how any atheist I've ever met actually thinks. It's a pity you don't appear to have any atheist friends, their input would be a lot more helpful (and truthful) than wild stereotyping by a group of people who hate atheists and see nothing wrong with demonizing atheists.

Answer 6

I can think of two reasons.

The first is historical. Religious people significantly obstructed science in past centuries. Their goal was not an clarification of faith, but they were somehow inconvenienced by science, or it required from then an extra effort they were not willing to exert. Therefore, they stifled science. In reaction, society went the other way.

The second reason has to do with explanations. You may ask why the sky is blue. An answer may be that God thus decided, and that it may have been any other color depending on His whim. Science has given an explanation that does not depend on an arbitrary whim. Such is expected of science. Some people saw evidence of God existence in the fact that some things cannot be explained otherwise. Science explains issues without the need of a supernatural will at any point. To some people, this is proof of the non-existence of God.

Answer 7

Atheism is the consequence of reasoning

The belief in the supernatural has to be taught and a child has no critical faculty developed enough to refute mysticism. Atheism is the natural condition of man. All children are atheists until they are indoctrinated into mystical practices. In the West, people have the opportunity to reassess their childish beliefs and find scientific explanations for the existence of the universe and life more logical than magic.

Magic events, such as the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing consciousness that existed before the universe, independent from physical reality, deliberately interested in creating reality, the universe, and its laws, including living organisms and humans is getting harder and harder to accept by science-oriented individuals.

Moreover, a super-consciousness portrayed in the "holy books" as having a jealous, vindictive, and cruel personality, instilling fear and requiring sacrifices in order to be acknowledged by nomadic tribesmen, appears to the average person, even believers, more and more like a character in another chapter of Harry Potter's adventures.

One would have to look at the phenomenon of mysticism, even in the East, and observe how it is being transformed from cultish practices of the backwards masses of the villages in Asia or Africa into "respectable' church-going organized practices of the general population that lives in large cosmopolitan cities in those same continents. The transition is obvious: cults turn into religions; religions turn into water down spiritual clubs; spiritual clubs leak out atheists right and left.

Answer 8

Actually, none of the above. The fact is, unlike so many other countries, most people in the western culture are not born into a specific culture/religion. So many of us are born into multiple cultures, several religions, Judaism, Christianity, Celtic, the list goes on.

We end up choosing Atheism because we're presented with too many choices, so we choose nothing.

Answer 9

I would probably agree in parts with #2 and #3. I wanted to add that perhaps peopleare being "blinded" to their ancestors' religions by consumerism and the competition to have "better" things than other people.

Answer 10

Education does have something to do with it. If you are brought up in religion and never hear the other side, then you just take it for granted that there is a God and that God is your God.

If you hear the other side, then you just might consider... and in the West, we are more likely to hear the other side.