What it takes to become an atheist.

dontplaceliterature

I was pondering this today during lunch, and to me it seems that it comes down to whether or not you can accept that you will one day be permanantly gone and anyone you have lost in death will never be alive again. Once a person becomes comfortable with these two ideas, there isn't really any incentive to believe. Maybe it's an over simplification, but it seems to me that this is the heart of the matter. Any thoughts?

zoiks

Hey DPL,

I believe that you've pointed out that singular moment when one can let go of belief. In my experience, I came to see that the 'gaps' have become too small for god to fit in, and then I had a moment like the one that you describe.

Now, let's see if this thread can be hijacked by our resident theists (they do a wonderful job of telling atheists what atheists believe) and get to 100 pages or more.

shamus100

One more reason not to even bother joining in the discussion, Zoinks. ;) I guess if you're insecure about your beliefs or are still angry at Zeus then it's a good place to tell everyone how smart you are and how stupid everyone else is. :D

Whatever floats people's boats, I guess. ;P

zoiks

One more reason not to even bother joining in the discussion, Zoinks. ;)

Yes, my sage simian friend. I have refrained from jumping into that other thread...and I just can't stay angry at Zeus. Not with that beard.

Flat_Accent

I never really though about it like that. Though maybe that's because I haven't been greatly affected by death yet.

I saw the flaws and thought that there was no real place for god. After that I didn't see the point believing something just because I might want it to be true.

shamus100

I'm more angry at the Invisible Pink Unicorn. She didn't deliver on my 100,000,000 cheque that was supposed to be delivered. >:O

Think I'll go tell everyone how stupid they are for believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster now. Gotta go, time's a wasting... ;P

cofty

shamus don't you ever get tired of popping into these sort of threads to tell everbody you don't like these sort of threads? Apparently not.

dpl- You are right getting used to the idea of oblivion is not easy. For me atheism came first for other reasons than I gradually got used to the idea of my mortality.

John_Mann

I still wish to live forever in a way or another, but all my reason and logical inferences says to me there's no way to scape from absolute oblivion.

Nobody believes in a god b/c it so nice, good, benevolent and stuff. It's b/c THE PROMISE of everlasting life, no matter if in a flesh and bone or in a smoke body, all the people want it's not die.

That's the ultimate truth: oblivion.

corpusdei

That's part of it, but I think the core of the need for religion hinges on two points - our need to explain the unknown, and the difficulty of true independance. What made the sun move across the sky, or rain to fall? We're limited by our own experience, so without an understanding of astronomy or meterology we created Gods in our image to explain these things.

Deeper, I think, is the idea of independance. It's scary to stand and live your life without the crutch of leaning your mistakes on sin, your hardships on a devil or your successes on divine assistance. Taking away those supports means that you have only yourself to blame for your own mistakes, and I don't think that we as a species are especially good at that.

shamus100

I'm more angry at the Invisible Pink Unicorn. She didn't deliver on my 100,000,000 cheque that was supposed to be delivered. >:O

Think I'll go tell everyone how stupid they are for believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster now. Gotta go, time's a wasting... ;P

There is some irony in there, no?

But that comment was posted as an answer to Zoinks, not you. Please don't take it personally. I'll join in any discussion that I please with or without anyone's permission. :)

What it takes to become an atheist.

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