Perchance

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going. Bear with me here.

Atheism is usually called (at least around here) a lack of belief in deities. There are various reasons for it, but it's usually seen as lack of belief rather than belief.

Yet I've also heard atheists claim benefits to atheism, or claim that they know more atheists than theists who have x good quality. These include:

• More logical thinking
• More intellectual freedom
• Great integrity and consistency of belief
• Greater happiness from not worrying about things that theists have to worry about
• More interest in subjects that before would have been deemed 'sinful' (evolution, for example).
• Peace of mind
• Greater joy in life

What interests me is that this sometimes seem to build itself into a mysticism (atheists are this way; atheists cannot be illogical; intellectual freedom and happiness are the hallmarks of atheism).

Is there anyone else who thinks that some atheists build a mysticism around atheism, and attribute characteristics to it other than a lack of belief?

-Perchance.

philechat

Interesting question, though we must first check if the "cause-and-effect" are in the correct order. Is atheism the cause of say greater happiness and open mind, or is a certain state of mind conducive to atheism? One note is that a larger number of atheists are involved in higher education, which seems to also be a function of one's class and social environment, as well as many other cultural factors.

I do not think psychological well-being are positively correlated to atheism. Both positive and negative correlations are observed among studies of religious beliefs and health, perhaps due to a complexity of factors involved in the studies.

However, there is a positive correlation of secularism and wealth of cultures. That is, a culture that is wealthy and not plagued by war/famine are more likely to be secular than a culture where food and resources are scarce. Perhaps it's the religions' offering of "comfort in the afterlife" that gets many people through difficult life periods.

braces_for_impact

I think even though atheists may share simular world views, each one in and of itself is unique. Are there illogical atheists? Sure. Atheism is only a lack of belief. That's all. Therefore anything else within that framework is certainly possible.

Many of the things you mentioned, lack of certain kinds of guilt, a feeling of consistency, integrity, etc. are very common among atheists I would imagine. But generalizing that all atheists feel a certain way is no more productive than lumping christians under one banner.

As far as mysticism is concerned, what's your definition of that? Could you be a bit more clear about what you mean? I think many, many people define themselves by religion, and some atheists likewise may help define themselves by their lack of belief. I don't see that as mystical however.