Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask Atheists

Why do atheists so often seem crabby?

 

What are you talking about? We're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet! You take that back you beast boi! :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum:

 

@Benway
Look, if the idea of God helps you, then go ahead- nobody is trying to convince you to believe in anything. However, this thread was created in a polite manner, seeking to inform those who were interested in different beliefs. Being in a place where we have all religions/ non-religions, there is bound to be some debate, but you don't have to boil down our beliefs or discredit any of what we believe. Okay?

So if you're genuinely interested in learning about atheism, go ahead and ask all you want- but there's no need to get like this.


And as an answer: My personal beliefs are that life isn't meaningless. I don't believe the universe will care if I die, I don't believe in heaven, hell, or being birthed again, but I think there is a meaning of life:

I believe that my death won't affect the universe, but it will effect a lot of people around me. Friends, family, people I'd barely know. I believe that we are here to create a legacy, and we all influence someone else's life, or many other people's life. So if I died right now, my legacy would go unfulfilled, but people will still be influenced by my life and my death. Everyone has something to teach everyone, and that's what life is- humanity and learning.

That's just me, anyway. I'm sure many other atheists have other beliefs.

 

*giggles*

Very true!

 

Hehe

 

I knew who you were talking to, but the attitude applies to all of us.
And what is bad about living and enjoying my life? What is hopeless about that? I'm living for today, tomorrow, next week, next year...not for some supposed afterlife...I'm living to watch my kids grow, my grand kids learn, and for the life I have right now. And right now my life is pretty damn good. I'm talking with an amazing woman, I have great kids...a good life.
What is hopeless about that?

---------- Post added 26th Jan 2016 at 02:09 PM ----------

Hmmm...I get checked regularly thank you very much....

;0)

 

No. There are various atheist organizations around, but if a church is defined as a place where a spiritual or supernatural entity or principle is worshiped, then none of them fit that.

Put another way, there's no there there to worship, so there's nothing to build a church for.

Todd

---------- Post added 25th Jan 2016 at 10:12 PM ----------

Possibly because some people insist on building gigantic castles in the air out of their assumptions about what our beliefs mean rather than simply listening to what we are saying about what we believe?

Just a theory you understand.

Todd

 

Damn, this thread blown up. I'm siding with the atheists!

 

how do atheist react when someone knock on their door and introduce themselves as a servant of god or the church and ask for your time to listen?

 

Oh, and just to clarify...

Atheists may be defined as people who don't believe in a god or gods.

Believing that life has no greater meaning, purpose, or point is my personal belief. Some atheists may share that belief, others may not - as is seen on the thread so far. We are hardly monolithic in our views on things.

I mention this since there seemed to be a bit of confusion on that point.

Anyway.

Todd

 

Personally, I have had Jehova's Witnesses knock on my door once, more often I get stopped walking around campus by Mormon's. They always ask similar stuff about if you believe in Jesus/God/Salvation or if you have heard much about them before. I am always polite to them and let them say their part, take their business card or pamphlet if they offer and then politely part ways. I don't see any reason to be rude to people, I am sure it is hard enough to stand around in a dress shirt and tie getting ignored by the majority of people you try and approach, I don't need to make their day any worse. So I try and have a genial conversation with them so that hopefully they feel better as I feel sort of bad for them, seeing they get ignored by virtually everyone they try and talk to. I may be an atheist who disagrees with their beliefs, but that in my view is no reason to just completely ignore someone who is trying to talk to you, that is just rude. At the end of the day people are still people so I afford them all a level of respect and if they want to talk to me about God, well I can spare 5 minutes so there is no harm done. As the olde saying goes "be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle".

 

Good point. Mind you, I'm just playing Devil's advocate here. I'm more or less an atheist myself, with some belief in reincarnation, Vaguely along Jain lines...no Gods or such.

 

(*hug*)

 

I tell them that I'm not interested, that I have things to do, thanks, good-bye.

Todd

 

I ask this question honestly and sincerely. Many atheists say that their moral compass(so to speak) is based on whether what they do hurts others or helps others quite often. If everyone believes differently about what hurts and helps others(and we needn't only look at politics to see this happens), then, is this not a recipe for chaos and conflict?

 

I certainly don't subscribe to the fact that all atheists are unkind or have a depressed outlook on life as a previous poster states. In fact, I have found them to be as even-keeled or as typical as the rest of society

When I speak of relativistic morals and chaos/conflict, I am speaking of a general society or things at a global level. And I am speaking about moral issues beyond the law. Let's say how to raise children, have a good marriage/relationship etc. It seems like life could be more messy than it needs to be. I don't say this in an argumentative way either. I am just trying to make sense of it.

I appreciate your efforts.

 

I have a particular Jehovah's Witness who comes to my house. She is a personal friend, as are her family. she'll talk to me about god, I'll talk to her about life. Not a problem. We have an arrangement that she is always welcome, and who ever is with her, but no other member of the church is welcome (after a run-in years earlier). They respect this, my house is off the route for all the others.

 

I'm more agnostic, but if you realize there's no deity that will clean up our mess or solve our problems and realize we humans ourselves must keep on keeping on, it can get depressing.

Plus, it's hard to be happy knowing Hitler is probably not being tortured by Satan in 1,001 different ways at once.

 

That chaos and conflict seems to be an insurmountable challenge of the human condition; individuals, families, social classes, cultures, regions, nation states, political ideologies, philosophies and religions are always going to be in discord. All disagree on what hurts and what helps; and all conveniently base what is good on what can bring benefit to them.

Atheism is only the tiniest part of that chaos and conflict; the question of how to live a good life central to all ways of belief is not going to be agreed on by all. But for an atheist to sacrifice that independence for the sake of a negative harmony is as unconscionable as forcing minor religious sects to merge into more dominant rivals' belief systems to achieve unity. Of course, that argument is only compelling to those who regard liberty positively; I am sure we atheists are a deep moral pain to religious fundamentalists who care about our souls more than the principle of individual freedom.

Discord which obeys the rule of law will never be truly chaotic and conflict confined to a civil arena will never be so dangerous as an enforced unity. If we can all be wrong in different ways, we can balance one another's flaws. If we were to be all unified in wrongness, then there had better be a God to help us.