Question for Atheists?

Question

First of all let me say that I am not trying to insult you or be funny, this is a serious question and I would like serious answers. Second let me say that I do not belong to any particular religion so I'm not trying to convince you of anything.
Why is it that you do not believe in an afterlife? I'm not talking about god, satan, heaven or hell, just an afterlife.

Is it

A- You're trying to tick off theists?

B- Since you consider the theist’s beliefs illogical you figure that the opposite would have to be logical?

C- you consider it your belief and if so, do you have any proof to back it up or is it on faith? (for lack of a better word)

Or

D- Explain in your own words.

Answer 1

"Why is it that you do not believe in an afterlife?"

--It's really very simple. There is insufficient evidence for one. Why should I believe something for which I have no evidence? I'm actually curious as to why you didn't list this as one of your possibilities, as if you had never thought of the most obvious answer.

Answer 2

I don't believe in an an afterlife because frankly, what makes up a "soul" are thoughts and emotions, and THEY are electric reactions that happen in your brain. Once your heart stops beating and your (brain-)cells don't receive any oxygen anymore, they'll die and no reactions what-so-ever will occur. Dead is dead, and with your body die your thoughts and emotions.

The thing about god or no god is that: we can't completely know at the moment, but we can say what is wrong (the world couldn't have been created in 7 days, that's a scientific fact) and we can say which theory is more likely; evolution or creationism, a god or several gods. Currently that is definitely the first; evolution.

I have no interest in trying to ridicule people with different views, but I certainly think that all the arrows point into one direction, and that is what our scientists claim - not what the bible, thora or any other book claims. If you don't see that then, yes, I might think you didn't read up on things and only believe because you were brought up that way, and because it IS easier to think you have somebody watching over you and loving you, than to accept for yourself that you're all alone.

Answer 3

How can anyone back up a belief in either an afterlife or no afterlife? How can you prove the unprovable? As an atheist I cannot disprove an afterlife but then neither can followers of religion offer proof that there is one so perhaps we ought to call it a draw. (I do wonder if Muslims worry about paradise running out of virgins though).

Answer 4

I'm not even an atheist and I can say, none of the above. A theist's beliefs do not impact anyone elses.
An atheist just doesn't leap to faith to explain anything. If there is no reason to believe in an afterlife, they don't.

Answer 5

Actually, as a spiritual atheist (pagan and Taoist) I do believe in an afterlife, I just don't believe in deities.

My opinion is that what happens when we die is what we think happens when we die. This is based on a project researching NDEs from around the world, comparing the rhetoric used by people raised in Western and non-Western cultures to describe the experiences.

I came to the conclusion that our descriptions of spiritual beings and experiences appear to be metaphors for what is, underneath, the same thing. Only what that 'thing' is, is too abstract for our minds to comprehend - so it is expressed in symbols.

Actually this is when I really began to honestly believe deites are only metaphors and archetypes, for something that is there but is more abstract than a deity could be. This is when I started to become a Taoist.

Answer 6

I do not believe in an afterlife because all of the electrical stimulus responsible for life ends at death. The body is reduced to its component parts--most of which is water--during decomposition. Eventually, nothing resembling a living being is left. Even mummies eventually decay.

As far as the existence of a soul or spirit, I am completely open to being proven wrong when I say that I feel none exist. The problem is that the dead don't seem to have much to say. Pity, since they are in the best position to know what--if anything--stands behind death.

My viewpoints are based off of my own logical processes. I rely on no one for deciding for myself what is truth. Since knowledge can only be attained by holding an open mind, I am always willing to admit that I could be wrong. As far as angering Theists go... they seem to do a decent enough job for themselves in finding things to be upset about. I don't need to help them.

For the record, I do find the idea of a Divine Creator to be highly illogical. I came from a Christian upbringing, but discarded those views as fable and myth long ago.

Answer 7

I believe how I believe and share that belief on here when asked specifically how I believe. My answer should not offend anyone, since your belief makes not difference to me. But it does offend people. Why I don't know. If you don't want to know how I believe (or atheists in general), why do you keep asking? I'm not picking a fight by answering a specific question. I have a right to my opinions and a right to state them here. Stating my opinion is not a call to war. Stop being so sensitive already. It gets a little tiresome answering a question then getting attacked or challenged to prove my NON-belief. I don't believe in YOUR god. I don't have to prove that your god doesn't exist because I don't believe in him. You believe in him...YOU prove it.

I do not believe in an afterlife because I do not believe in the supernatural. The afterlife is a supernatural place created by a supernatural god, inhabited by supernatural souls and beings...of which I do not believe in.

atheist

Answer 8

I don't believe in gods. This makes me an atheist. I do not make any claims about an afterlife.

Many atheists believe in an afterlife. They just call it death.
( Sorry I just couldn't be completely serious)

I do seriously consider the possibility of what some physicists call "Quantum Immortality" but have no firm beliefs on the matter.

Answer 9

D-There is no evidence of an afterlife that can withstand the scrutiny of investigation and testing under scientific methodology. Simple really. Like all things religious or spiritual there is simply nothing that I can look at to even wonder if there is an afterlife. Just like Santa Clause. I no longer wonder if he lives at the north pole since I learned the most basic fundamentals of science.

Answer 10

There is no evidence of any "life" separate from biological functioning. Human beings are simply biological beings like frogs, swans, oak trees, bacteria, or chipmunks, except that we have evolved with the cerebral capacity to think things through and talk about them. In other words, biology IS life, and there's no life separate from it.

There's no evidence for a soul or anything supernatural, so why would an atheist accept that some part of us is a little immortal bit locked up in our bodies, just waiting for life to end so it can get to some place called the "afterlife"?

The idea, based on any evidence that we have, has no support. It is much more plausible that it is simply wishful thinking.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 11

I don't so much not believe in the afterlife as I don't believe in an afterlife. I know it sounds like splitting hairs but I just find it irrational to believe in things with no shred of evidence to support it. If it turns out there is an afterlife cool I'll enjoy the bonus but I have have to reason to expect there is one.