Due to recent conversations, I've been challenged to provide an answer to the religious-based question: "What could atheism ever provide?"
I can only answer this question for myself, because there are no tenets to atheism. It’s not a structured worldview, a philosophy, or even a religion. So, what has atheism provided me with?
An afterlife?
Nope. Not for me, anyways. Like I said, the only thing that it takes to be an atheist is a lack of belief in gods (just like all it takes to be bald is to lack hair). After that, anything goes. Some people who don’t believe in the existence of a god still hold to the idea of an afterlife, either through reincarnation like Buddhists, or some other supernatural way. But my atheism doesn’t offer that to me.
A sense of security?
Nope. I’m secure in the idea of reality; I no longer fear death or other natural processes. Religion offers a false sense of security…the idea that God is watching over you and will protect you from harm, and has a plan for your existence. It can be scary – but humbling – to understand that there’s no great creator being that has the whole world in its hands. Like Julia Sweeney said, it’s terrifying to realize that the earth is just spinning around the sun all on its own…you wanna run outside and catch it. I do, however, feel secure in reality. It’s comforting to know that all is “as it should be” more or less, and that you’re not some chess piece or plaything. It’s nice to know that death and suffering isn’t caused by the will of any supernatural entity. I think I would find it more frightening to think that a God neglectfully lets bad things happen to good people. It’s scary to lose that false sense of security, but it makes you stronger when you open up to reality.
Absolute morals?
Nope. That’s another thing that religion offers, not atheism. Without a god to give us morals, we come to them on our own. We realize that as social creatures, humans must be cooperative and beneficial to survive. Therefore, any society that contains members who act against this idea won’t or even can’t function properly. We don’t need a God to be good – we just need each other.
A sense of community?
Nope. At least, not in a formal, structured sense. Atheism isn’t a religion, but as a collective group (grouped only by our lack of theism), atheists can create communities on their own. There are several online communities and several physical organizations that promote atheism and give the nonbeliever that sense of community that is lost when they reject their faith. We can still be social and have meetings or events together, but this is something any individual can achieve; it’s not even offered by atheism.
After you remove cancer, what do you replace it with? While religion was a disease I carried for many years, when I left it behind, I suddenly realized that my pre-packaged beliefs all had to be re-examined and re-evaluated. Here’s what it made room for:
Reality
Since becoming a nonbeliever of any gods, I've been able to see the world for what it truly is. All aspects of nature and natural processes shine brighter than if they were just “made” by some powerful creature. I have more of a respect for the universe and my place in it than I ever had thinking it was all made for me. I no longer hold to a false sense of security or a false sense of knowledge. What I observe and experience is no longer colored by a religious worldview. When I see a mountain, I think about the natural processes and all the time it took that led to its formation...I don't think about Matthew 17:20. I see reality as it really is.
Respect for Life
I no longer think that I will survive my own death. I do not believe in an afterlife, and therefore every second I spend alive becomes infinitely more valuable and precious. I can't afford to waist time on silly ideas such as prayer or religious rituals. I have a greater respect for all life in general. I am no longer afraid of death. I cherish every breath I have to spend with those I care about and to learn about the universe around me. I have to make amends to those I hurt now -- I don't get a second chance. I have to say what I need to say to people, and spend time with those I need to, now.
Hunger for Knowledge
It's funny how thinking you have the answer is vastly less fulfilling than actually honestly searching for the truth. When the hollow feeling “knowledge” was gone, I began to fill the void with real knowledge. I started craving an understanding of how the world works (if God isn't holding the world up, what is?), and I started to actually understand science. Religion sought to provide me with an answer to everything, and I didn’t even have to understand the answer to accept it. I sought knowledge backwards: first accept something as “truth”, then go and find evidence to support your conjecture. After truly understanding what knowledge is, I began to crave the answers of the universe.
Higher Standards of Love
I once thought that I was loved by people in my congregation out of the goodness of their hearts, but after denouncing my faith, I find that some people only "love" someone if they think God tells them to. Obviously, God doesn't want his disciples to listen to the "lies" we apostates spew, and therefore we are not to be trusted or cared for any longer. And I was guilty of the same thing. I claimed "love" for my fellow believers simply because they believed like I did. It was more of an in-group, tribal thing than actual love. Many religious people claim a feeling of absolute love from God, but it turns out that it's more a projection of what they hope to have -- a sense of being looked after and cared about. I've felt a love greater than any God and I married the one who gave me that feeling.
True Peace and Happiness
Being a believer carried a lot of baggage with it. I was expected to be oppressed by nonbelievers and stalked by the Devil. I was expected to always struggle to live "in the world, but not of it". I had to ask God for anything and thank him for everything. I had to rationalize any event to either be of God or Satan. My life was full of tests, tribulations, and leaps of faith. I had to pray for others, as their lives (and after-lives) were my responsibility. I had to feel guilty for being human, guilty for thought-crimes, and always subject my worthless self to a Supreme Judge and beg for pity at the throne of my Master.
After throwing off the shackles of faith, I realized that none of that was true. Feelings of guilt and torturous thoughts were blown away by the light of reason. I learned to let life in -- to experience it fully and completely, the good and the bad. And I am happy. No longer do I lay down my faculties of reason in the place of blind obedience to an idea. After you are brainwashed and mentally abused by a mindset as vicious as religion, you realize after it all just how bad it really was. I’m sure we can all relate to being young, then getting older, looking back and realizing just how dumb you were. It’s similar with religion…I can’t believe I believed some of things I used to. I know I should have known better, but I’m happy that now I do. I’m truly happy.
A lack of belief cannot provide you with positive beliefs -- each atheist must decide on their own about EVERYTHING. We're not handed a pre-packaged set of beliefs, morals, or tenets. In short, atheism offers nothing, but it opens the world up to you. We each must make up our minds about life, the universe, and everything.
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Comments: 16
Accepting the label of "atheist" was the most freeing act of my long life. I know I'm nearing the end, that the matter and energy of which I am comprised will soon be recycled and that the only thing that death takes away is ego. I know I'm a good person who has lived a full and interesting life and am not afraid of losing consciousness for the final time. What a relief!
However, athiests are not always happy, and life doesn't become wonderful as is suggested here, once you are an athiest.
Many of the children with whom I grew up, grew up the same way I did. Naturally bc our parents were athiests, we were too, but I was one of the few who remained an athiest, and by the way, the least successful of all of them.
I agree, and I'm sorry if you got the impression that I was claiming that. I said that MY atheism has given ME a happier life than when I was a Christian. I can't speak for all atheists, and I'm certainly not claiming that atheism makes you happy. Again, that's not what I'm advocating.
Like I said, lacking a belief in God left room to learn how the world actually works, and happiness resulted from that. Atheism itself can't directly give you anything, because there's nothing to give. I found happiness in nature and reality -- something not possible with religion.
My personal take is that when my body expires, everything I am goes with it, and... Now you're expecting, "and that's all there is". I can't give it to you. There are certain things about life that lead me to wonder. All I will say is, "that's all I can tell you."
Now a lot of people would find this an untenable position, because it is not fully formulated. Answers still need to be found. I have a decision-making process that is ever vigilant for conclusions jumped to. This mode of being incorporates uncertainty as a part of its core. This is what some religionists can't deal with, but I think it necessary because it fuels my passion for learning. The compelling reason to keep researching the nature of this life is simply this uncertainty, the fact that we don't know enough. Life's much more exciting to me that way.
I had a very similar experience, your article applies to me as well.
Tristan Russell, Oct 9, 2008, 12:09am ED
Why would lacking a belief in God leave room for you to see how the world really works. Did u ever consider that your former belief in god may be how the world really works.
you say that atheism can't really give you anything bc there is nothing to give. What does that mean and why is that somehow opposed to religion? Although I've never been religious, so u would probably know this better then I, but why can't u enjoy nature if u are religious and how does atheism make that any different, or is it just u for whom it is different?
This is what some religionists can't deal with, but I think it necessary because it fuels my passion for learning. The compelling reason to keep researching the nature of this life is simply this uncertainty, the fact that we don't know enough. Life's much more exciting to me that way.
Rick McGirr , Oct 9, 2008, 2:22am EDT
Why would uncertainty fuel your passion for learning? I don't get it. Is there something about being uncertain, that just naturally makes u want to know about things and don't religious people want to know more and more about god and strengthen their belief in "him" on a moment to moment basis.
I'm just not understanding how wonderful this new found atheism of the two of u is. It's just what u chose to believe in, a "faith" in the non existence of god. why is that so wonderful, u didn't discover anything new. Atheists have been around since time immemorial. If you are an atheist, then u don't believe in creationism, which more then likely means that you do think that human kind was around before monotheism came about, which means, all those people who lived back before the creation took place, were also atheists. atheism has a
much longer tradition then u might think.
"...why can't u enjoy nature if u are religious and how does atheism make that any different, or is it just u for whom it is different?"
As I've said time and again both in the article you're responding to and in my comments given to you, I can only speak for myself -- and so can you. Atheism isn't an organization, religion, dogma, or club. All atheists make up their own minds about EVERYTHING. The only thing we must have in common is that we lack a god belief.
Now, to your question. For me (and I assume for many others), religion kept me from seeing the real world. I didn't marvel at how everything came to be by the natural laws, and I didn't try to learn about it. I just liked it because something "bigger" made it. Now I find it more special to know that nothing God-like made the universe (as far as we can tell), and it's all explainable without Supernatural Daddy poofing everything into being.
"you say that atheism can't really give you anything bc there is nothing to give. What does that mean and why is that somehow opposed to religion?"
Atheism is a position to theism. It's a single answer to a single question. That's it. Religion generally involves theism, therefore the opposition should be apparent. In the broader sense, many atheists also shun lack of critical thinking, dogmatic dictates, and belief without evidence -- all of which religion holds near and dear. I'm not saying that it's always opposed to religion. Most Buddhists are atheists. Raelians are atheists...they don't believe in a supernatural god, but they think space aliens created humanity. But in general, a lot of atheists disavow religion.
I believe that it's religious fundamentalism that's so restricting to open inquiry and that promotes all the bad things that come from religion. I know some religious people (not many, I admit) who are open to learning; Christians who don't take the Bible literally, but as metaphorical. These are Christians who live up to the tenets of Christianity. They are, I believe, a tiny minority.
Ever since reading the book "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism" by Susan Jacoby, I call myself a secular humanist rather than an athiest because I'm not defined by my lack of belief in a supernatural being. I'm not "anti-religious". Instead, I interpret and attempt to understand with "secular" eyes rather than religious ones.
I don't attempt to downplay or dismiss other people's religious convictions. I simply don't see the world (social, physical, family, etc) according to Scriptures or theology. I'm not a member of the faith based majority and I'm okay with that. It sounds like you are comfortable in your skin, as well. That is what I call a healthy human being!
Once a person begins to learn the depth of the natural world, they're likely to do one of two things with their amazement: 1) Develop a desperate desire to know more, to get to the deep reality of everything, or 2) assume they can never understand so much, and instead make it smaller by reducing everything to "the magic entity made it. It is as it is because that is how the magical entity wants it to be." Atheists are the #1 types, theists the #2.
Some of the prisoners sided with the religious viewpoint that everything happens for a purpose...that God somehow had a plan, but people can't know the mind of God. Other prisoners were non-practicing Jews from academia that did not think God had anything to do with the Holocaust...they looked to history and found cultural explanations. Some prisoners reasoned, how could a caring God put His chosen people through such a horrible ordeal and expect them to come out of it loving their Creator? When family members had died horrible deaths...were they to be viewed as innocent sacrificial lambs and a gift to God? And survivors were expected to be grateful? I'm not doing the program justice...it was very moving and tragic. But I came away amazed at the ability of faith to provide a protective barrier for many people...safety.