nermal

Don't know what you're talking about. I love Christmas, so does my seven year old--he still believes in Santy Claus. I love the music and still get choked up listening to "The Little Drummer Boy," what a wonderful myth. It speaks to the true beauty of human nature, and leaves out all the judgemental BS that is most of the NT. Bob Seger's rendition is my favorite. I've also got an impressive collection of old Christmas LP's--Andy Williams, Burl Ives, Bing, et. al.
Halloween is fab. I get a little giddy as October approaches, knowing that Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas are all part of the upcoming season.
I don't feel any more guilt about celebrating religious holidays than an educated Christian does about celebrating a holiday which was usurped from another, earlier culture.
It's all a celebration of nature, change of seasons, community, humanity.

Ed

tekora

Oooh, very nicely said.

And you're right. Christianity always put more burdens on me than if offered comfort. I was too bothered by how bad people seemed to be rewarded and good people seemed to be besieged with troubles - this was a constant in my family, and by the time I was 11, I wanted to hunt God down and demand why he let the world be this way. For quite a few more years, I convinced myself the trouble was in my perception, not God's actions.

Then I decided the real trouble is that people sit back and wait for God to fix everything. We don't take it into our own hands to relieve human suffering, to make the world a nicer place to live in.

Atheism is empowering to me: it means that man has the power to fix his own troubles, and the responsibility to do so. This is a great comfort to me.

Zora

I actually seem to "suffer" less than my religious friends. I was raised agnostic, so never felt like God was going to get me for something. (My Dad always jokingly said his kids didn't have to fear God. They had him! He was really a great Dad.)

No..."if only I had.." complicated my feelings over Dad's death, because I knew this was the only chance I was going to ever have to be with him. So, I made our time count.

One friend wonders what God is trying to tell her by having her Mom linger with Alzheimer's for years. She wonders if she is being punished for not trying to take her mother to live with her when she couldn't care for herself anymore. A Mormon friend whose daughter is alcoholic wonders why God is punishing her .

They've already been to church and heard the "God moves in mysterious ways" thing. So why are they still bothered enough to talk to the atheist? That's gotta tell you something!

Aravnah Ornan

The same comfort that I would have gotten from Christianity when my beloved pet of sixteen years died. Most Christians will agree with atheists that he was not taken up to some sort of kitty heaven where he will spend eternity ripping open garbage bags and not being scolded for it. I consoled myself by reminding myself that I had provided him with the means for a happy life while he was around to live it.

More generally, we should be careful not to credit religion for filling emotional "needs" that we didn't have until religion told us we did.

KitKit

all i can say is that i was not raised with religion. all my friends (mostly xtian ones) ask me "why are you so happy all the time?", "you are the most positive person i've ever known.", "is the glass ever half empty with you?" and so on. i have nothing to bring me down. i was raised to enjoy every second of this wonderful, short existence. and i have never needed a god or church to help me do that.

emotional

Atheism's biggest problem is that it offers no life after death. Atheism is reason satisfied, but it is emotion in convulsions. If there's one thing atheistic science has been doing consistently, it's been giving mankind bad news.

Mankind used to think he was at the centre of the cosmos. Astronomy gives bad news: he is at the periphery of a galaxy. OK, I can handle that.

Mankind used to think he was a special creation. Biology gives bad news: he is just a primate, a mammal, an animal like all others. OK, I can handle that.

Mankind used to think there was an afterlife to look forward to. Neurology gives bad news: mind and brain are the same, and with the body dies the mind. OK, I can ... wait a minute! I CAN'T HANDLE THAT!

It is after all this reading of science books that I decided to toss reason to the flames and choose faith instead. I decided that no scientific evidence, verified or unverified, can be allowed to take precedence over the existence of life after death. I believe in God and in the afterlife no matter what the evidence says.

God is the Creator of the universe. He is both immanent and transcendent. Between the Creator and the creation a great gulf is fixed, but He pervades all of the creation. He is the All-Wise Father. He is Love. He saves sinners, cleanses the sins of men. He is the Lord of Life and Death. He is the Light of Love that all who die meet. He is the Reviewer of Life. He is the Lord of Heaven and Hell. He is the All-Merciful. May His blessing shower us all.

I trust in God to keep me alive after I die. If I cannot see God now, it is because of my multiple sins, but I may rest assured, by my faith, that He exists and will keep me alive.

Mageth

Atheism's biggest problem is that it offers no life after death.

Umm, that's not a problem with Atheism, that's just a fact of life. At least Atheism's honest.

Atheism is reason satisfied, but it is emotion in convulsions.

Not from where I stand.

If there's one thing atheistic science has been doing consistently, it's been giving mankind bad news.

What exactly is "atheistic science"? Never heard of it. And I haven't heard any of this "bad news", either.

It is after all this reading of science books that I decided to toss reason to the flames and choose faith instead. I decided that no scientific evidence, verified or unverified, can be allowed to take precedence over the existence of life after death. I believe in God and in the afterlife no matter what the evidence says.

So faith is just another word for self-deception. Well, I wish you luck in your delusions.

Tom Sawyer

emotional,

At least you're honest about your reasons for faith. The fact that we will one day END is a hard thing to face and atheism really doesn't give any solace whatsoever. The choice to not accept that view of the universe and decide that you want to live in a world that has meaning and purpose and will continue on forever is a valid one; it's also the choice that most people make.

Atheism doesn't have an answer to match this, nor does it try to. However, it does allow one to begin to see the universe how it truely is, not how we truely want it to be. There's not any emotional comfort in that. If you want emotional comfort, you have to find it in other ways. Atheism is simply a lack of something, not anything in and of itself. That's it's biggest problem and it's biggest virtue. It's a problem because it doesn't replace religion with anything that can match it. It's a virtue because it allows one to search for one's meaning and place in the world without any blinders on.

AJ113

For me, Atheism's biggest problem is trying to come to terms with it after spending the whole of my former life with my head full of christian shite.

SecularFuture

GPLindsey
I totally agree.

Absolutely nothing, and this is why many atheists are merging their atheism with philosophy. Religion (theism) is not the only answer.