Atheists, do you ever have doubts about your faith?

Question

Do any of you have doubts about there being no God, like Christians have doubts of there being a God?

Answer 1

I believe in the natural, physical world . . . not the supernatural one. Since I believe in REAL things, I don't need faith.

The supernatural – including God, heaven, hell, Satan and tooth fairies – is an invention of the human imagination. The following is for those who believe in the supernatural or indulge other fantasies in preference to reality.

Faith and logic are antithetical. If religious adherents would admit that they believe for PERSONAL, rather than logical, reasons, THEN they would be honest about their "faith". But it’s dishonest to claim one's faith is logical – faith is a personal position, not a logical conclusion.

Faith and doubt always go hand in hand. Faith without doubt is BLIND faith. It takes a closed mind to sublimate doubt to the point of blind faith. Normal people leaven their faith with a little common sense. Doubt always nibbles at the edges of their faith. After all, without doubt, faith would have no context, no purpose, no meaning, no point. Would it?

Because there is no evidence for anything supernatural (including God), NOBODY can claim ANY knowledge of it. Anybody who does is lying or delusional. It takes suspension of disbelief to believe in the supernatural: one must convince oneself that the impossible is possible. This is the opposite of curiosity. You have one life, one quest: yet you choose to surrender it to something you can’t possibly know anything about.

When people talk about faith, they're usually talking about the supernatural: God, angels, miracles, etc. There is, of course, lots of doubt involved because the supernatural is entirely outside the human (natural) realm. It's not so much that God or angels can't exist . . . the real point is that NOBODY has access to the supernatural and thus NOBODY knows ANYTHING about it. Anybody who claims to have faith in something he knows absolutely nothing about is actually confessing to placing his imagination before, and above, his intellect.

Imagination has its place . . . but not where life decisions are involved. Placing imagination above intellect is surrendering your quest for meaning. You are surrendering the meaning of your life to your religion; to your version of God.

And that's fine. Just be honest about it. You made a leap of faith. Your faith is a personal position – not a valid logical conclusion.

Answer 2

Atheism isn't a faith because you don't become an atheist by blindly following the flock or taking a leap of "faith". You become an atheist by having doubts about religion and then following it up with a lot of hard study. The conclusion: all of the religions of the world were invented by people to explain the mysterious things they observed in life, e.g., death, lightning, fire, suffering, etc. And somewhere along the way, a few people found that religion was also useful to control others to get what they wanted, e.g., money, power, submission of women, slavery, etc.

Answer 3

A lack of belief is hardly a 'faith'. I've also never personally met an atheist who has said they know there is no god. A lack of belief in deities is not a belief that deities don't exist regardless of how hard theists try to spin it that way.

Tell me, do Christians ever have doubts about their own lack of belief?

Christians never seem to think about the fact that they're nearly as atheistic as any atheist on earth. They disbelieve in nearly all deities.

Theists get so wrapped up in the fact that atheists don't believe the way they do that they almost never think about the fact that they agree with atheists more than they disagree.

Answer 4

It takes no faith to say "I doubt it" in response to an unsubstantiated proposition like "Yahweh exists". Faith enters the picture when one DOES believe. Nonbelief is the default philosophical stance, requiring no faith on the part of the skeptic regardless of whether they doubt the existence of Yahweh, Mithra, Zeus, Quetzalcoatl, Freya, Zoroaster, Krishna, Ninsun, Marduk, Cthulu, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc.

Answer 5

I sometimes have doubts about my faith in human kindness. I sometimes have doubts about my faith in my own abilitites. I sometimes have doubts about my faith that my local pizza parlor will consistently deliver up a delicious pie.

But I never have doubts about the lack of existance in God because it is not something that I rely upon.

Answer 6

Having doubts about the existence of a deity either way makes one more along the lines of agnostic than a true atheist.

Answer 7

When I was young and making the transition from believer to atheist, I went back and forth for a while. Since making up my mind, I haven't had a doubt.

Answer 8

i will say being human, you clearly conflict at one component or many factors on your existence with faith or loss of religion, For my finished existence I struggled between the christian faith and my very own loose concept, As a 27 years old, i desperate to have faith in myself and not God's.I fairly be loose to think of rationally and have faith my very own instincts fairly of people who became into pounding in my head when you consider that toddler hood, for me it incredibly is been a adventure when you consider that i became right into a toddler now i've got self assurance extra loose and extra like myself and that i comprehend I be sure the guy i'm, not faith.

Answer 9

Not often, but I try to address them with logic and not just shake them away. Perhaps there is some cognitive dissonance there but I try to be even-handed and rational when I think of if or how the supernatural might exist.

Answer 10

Atheism isn't a faith. It isn't a religion. They don't meet on Thursday evenings at the YMCA for services.

that said - i can't answer cause i'm not an atheist.