thebeave

My happiness as a person really has nothing to do with religion or atheism. It has more to do with the mundane every day things: nice weather, healthy relationships, enjoying nature, working on my hobbies, visiting with friends and relatives, having things go my way, avoiding mean and nasty people, etc.

The one thing that being an atheist does for me is give me peace of mind and frees me of the debilitating cognitive dissonance that come with being religious. I have a view of the universe that, with few exceptions, makes total sense to me. I don't rack my brain all day with silly, unanswerable questions like, "What is the purpose for being here?" or "Why did God do that do me?" or "Why does my priest talk of Adam and Eve, but these scientists talk about austrailiapithicus afarensis? Who's right?". I may not necessarily like the way the universe works sometimes, and if I was in charge, I'd make a few changes perhaps (like faster than light travel or being able to go back 13 seconds in time and undo some stupid thing I just did ), but it makes me very much at peace with myself that I understand it... at least at a fundamental level. I just can't imagine being like some of the hardcore theist members of this board who spend all day doing these twisted, mental gymnastics in their mind to try to rationalize their nonsense religious beliefs. I still find it truly mind boggling when I see it happening here.

faustuz

There is a sure antidote to fearing death, and I believe it is the only one. It is, live your life fully. If life is fulfilling, death has no bite. I don’t really buy the theistic view that belief in the afterlife makes accepting death much easier. If you held a gun to any Christian’s head and told them they were about to die, I guarantee they would sweat profusely. (Disclaimer, I’m in no way suggesting that anybody actually do this. I’m sure without this disclaimer one of our resident apologists will claim I’m an advocate for genocide against Christians.) Most Christians among theists, at least, have a rather strange view of the afterlife anyway. It’s a place where evil, striving and any possibility of pain or gain is gone. This would be non-life, the equivalent of death. The possibility of evil, of failure, is at the very essence of being alive. Eliminate these things and you have death. Christian afterlife is in every way equivalent to the atheistic view of death.

Again, I say that living life fully is the only antidote to death. Living life fully may mean different things to different people. For me, it’s devotion to family and art (art in my case being music. I think I feared death until I took up the piano, which is what in fact “saved” me). As long as I focus on these things, I completely forget about death. The only thing precious to me is the moments I have on earth to do the things I want to do. The time when I’m not alive isn’t just valueless for me, they don’t even exist.

By the way, I know that I too would sweat if the gun were held to my head. I don’t think it is fear of death per se that would make me sweat, though. It’s sadness for the people left behind, the missed opportunities, the son who would grow up without me. No hope for the afterlife will heal this fear, though. If I die today, my son will indeed grow up without me. That’s a fact that even the theist can’t deny.

Eudaimonist

Faith, Reason, and the Good Life

This article is long, but well worth wading through! It provides optimistic empirical results for atheists, but less encouraging results for agnostics.

crocodile deathroll

Most Buddhists are atheists and I generally find them much less belligerent and more at ease that Christians theists.
I am far more at ease being an atheist because negates any concept of that diabolical place called Hell and I can free walk down the street during a thunderstorm and tell as many whoppers as I like without being in fear of being struck by lightning