The down side of being an atheist.

Most believers in god, have a smug self satisfying belief that in the hereafter, they will be able to say: "I told you so!" to those of us who are atheists.

Obviously an atheist cannot expect to be able to prove that his view is correct in a nonexistent hereafter.

 

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Eternal dreams will (hopefully) be enough for me. Sweet dreams.

 

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THE down side.. is if they are right.. in which case... life was meaningless.

-MT (THE UPSIDE IS if they are wrong... in which they will all burn...)

 

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Typical deist. Secretly wishing that all of us, who don't agree with you, burn for an eternity. If god does that, he is the complete opposite of what you claim he is, and I don't give a shit if I burn for all fucking eternity.

 

the downside for me, is that I loose a great deal of respect for people who go Abrahamist.

I posted a thread about a female friend of mine that converted last summer, she was one of people I admired most. now she repeats the doctrine of her church and throws around words like intelligent designer (because it has become more beneficial for churches to push their doctrine saying that instead of creator), and completely ignoring the weak anthropic principal, something that we sat next to each other and learned, while making arguments for a creator.

I used to want to be more like her (great schoolwork ethic), now I feel like a she has become a crack addict and I should have an intervention, but you can't have an intervention when everyone is a crack head.

 

amen cato, amen. my thoughts exactly.

 

Dinosaur:

Who gives a shit? Why should I feel obliged to 'prove' myself to anybody? Especially brainwashed fundies?

 

ITS NOT UP TO ME....

its up to you...

if your lucky.... there is nothing more...

but science always shows... there is something more.. something intangeble... something we dont exactly understand.

so... good luck.

thats my moatoe.... personnally.. im betting on a GOD of some kind.

-MT

 

I don't know if there is a god or not. Nobody does. But I would bet my life that if there is a god, it's not the god you hear about today. It's not the god you read about in any book printed by humans.

 

Mosheh:

You're not qualified to make that statement.

 

On the contrary life has more meaning because this IS IT!! There is no looking forward to some non-existent reward this is IT! And like cotton said if there is a supreme being who would condemn people to an eternity of suffering simply because they didn't stroke his ego enough (regardless of other qualities) then he can go screw himself.

 

My sentiments exactly.

How much of a downside one feels as an atheist will be a strong function of personality traits that are probably going to be hard to alter. Some people have little or no innate sense of spirituality, and for them, atheism is the freshest air they can breathe with no downside at all.

Others seem to have an affinity for religious ideas that cannot just be turned off. And if you have such a sense, in addition to placing a high emphasis on reason and science (yes, you can have both), well then you might just find a bit of a conflict within yourself.

I am an agnostic that will admit up front that all the evidence (or lack thereof) in world points to atheism. I highly, highly doubt that there is a God or an afterlife. Yet part of me profoundly longs for it to be true. I cannot turn that longing off. But luckily, at least, I can recognize it for what it is. What to do about it is another question.

 

Hay Dinosaurs, have you ever seen a dinosaur skeleton full formed from its original bones? Well I haven't which makes me believe dinosaurs never actually existed.

 

Hey Dinosaur, have you ever seen an allah skeleton full formed from its original bones? Well I haven't which makes me believe allah never actually existed

 

um...have you ever been to a museum? Many of them have actual bones on display in addition to casts.

I suppose someone told you that all the bones on display in museums were fakes, and like a good creationist you just believed it without bothering to check...

 

theres no down side to being atheist, (whats to feel down about) unless your really an agnostic.( which means your secretly wishing)

 

My conscioussness ending, thats what.

70-80 years is not enough. I have too many things I want to do, too many people I want to know, too many places I want to see, too many discoveries that I want to be around to know about, too many more moments to share with my wife and kids.

Thats what.

Given the choice between it all ending in 30-odd years or being able to experience the wonder of existence for an indefinite time, I'll take the latter, thanks.

 

Its very narrowminded of you to think that when someone finds religion, they are equivalent to a crack addict. I am sure your friend is still a fully functional person that has somepart of herself filled with religion. Religion meets her need, whereas, others eat chocolate and ice cream. Atheists tend to fill themselves with arrogance/pride. This isn't a blanket statement, but I know a lot of atheist that can't talk about anything but themselves, their views, or whats going on in their lives.

 

Not necessarily. This atheist believes the hereafter of heaven is not in the clouds but in the future.

 

Spidergoat,

Like in Memories or remnants of things you left behind?? Atoms, particles, ect?