Are Atheists Afraid of God?

There's probably more truth to this than many might accept. What if the atheists really are right? That implies the Christians have been living a lie their entire lifetime. Not something they're really prepared to deal with so they probably are afraid of the fact that the atheists are right.

 

What is there to be afraid of? Are you implying that an atheist enjoys life more and that Christians hate their lives? I can assure you that is not true.

And after death well the Christians worst case scenario is better than the atheist best case. If we are wrong we simply blink out of existence bit of the atheist is wrong they go to hell.

It's a win win for Christians.

 

Similarly, discussions that I have had with Christians end with appeals to emotion ("Don't you want there to be an afterlife?"), attacks on motivation ("You secretly believe, you just don't want to be held accountable for your sin."), threats of Hell ("You'd better hope we Christians aren't right, or just think of where you'll be spending eternity!") and other fallacies.

 

- - - Updated - - - there is a difference between saying an atheist does not believe or care about God, and saying that they wouldn't care what others believe about God. The belief by others may impact them a hell of a lot, even if the abstraction we call 'God' can't possibly touch them in any way. I have no idea why you connect their level of indifference or 'caring' with whether they are 'true' atheists or not. Seems to me what you are trying to measure, has a lot more to do with their how their personal experience with believers in their culture or immediate circle, intersects with their personality. An apathetic approach to the beliefs and attitudes of others, is pretty common in cultures where tensions between adherents two beliefs stays so low-level they barely oppose each other.

On top of the cultural dynamic, there is an inevitable impact of personality. Some people are naturally very laid back about the beliefs of others, or private about their own. Some people are just born lobbyists always out there with their opinions, eager converters who want you to know which quarterback in history is the greatest, which recipe for potato salad is the best, which, politicians are honest or frauds, and whether God exists and changes our destiny. None of that has anything to do with their purity or 'trueness' of their belief. Hell, it doesn't even necessarily correlate with stability of belief. Those same lobbyist types are just as likely to switch loyalties on that quarterback question, or tell you their doubts about politicians, that six months ago were saints.

Now about this assertion that most 'so called' atheists have an actual hate towards the concept of a God, and spend time trying to disprove it. First, lets distinguish between those that try to disprove it to themselves, and those who try to disprove it to others. One is a mental exercise that is often part of the process, atheists must go through to dilute the impacts of a lifelong barrage of theist propaganda on their thinking patterns and philosophy. You reexamine the evidence, the logic that has made you a theist, and you do it over and over again. If you determine God is a faulty premise, sometimes you need to scrub God and the Church from your habits and minds and that takes a vigilance and a tenacity. Stoking a flame of anger that the propaganda was driven into you, is a typical stage that incentivizing the process. Usually the anger drifts away when the job is done and the internal war is over. When you are disproving it in others, if you decide to, you revisit the arguments and sometimes that anger revisits as well

Its a good idea to distinguish between atheists,who do not believe, and a subgroup of them that I call anti-theists that do not believe, and don't think anyone else should either. They see the social, cultural and personal consequences of belief as destructive and even dangerous. All anti-theists are atheists. That does not mean all or most atheists are anti-theists. You primarily hear from the anti theists subgroup on this forum. That tells you more about the people who inhabit political forums, than it does about atheists. I never hear more from 'antis' of all sorts than when I come here.

Whatever you may mean by being more or less 'true' has little to do with any of this. None of this measures purity or stability in a belief or disbelief in God.

 

I enjoy life much more now that I am not a Christian. As a Christian, I can't ever really say I was happy at all, actually, and I did hate my existence.

Pascal's Wager is intellectually dishonest and broken.

If Christianity were true, there would be no winning for me. Existence would be damnation. If I don't believe, I'm damned. If I do believe, then some of those I care about most are damned and I am eternally separated from them, with the knowledge that they are tortured for eternity by the will of a God that I have pandered to in order to save my own skin. I don't know which Hell is worse.

 

Always followed by a question mark ?..why this and why that ?
It's simple, there are no answers and there is no god.

 

God says he will take away all pain in heaven so you have to assume he has a plan. Being a Christian doesn't mean nothing goes wrong in your life and being an atheist doesn't mean you have more fun.

- - - Updated - - -

See, these are the typical atheist drive by posts with absolutely no content that I was talking about.

 

Yeah, I wrote my last post in response to you at 7:48 pm (PST). Then you write this at 1:41 am, apparently having expected me to just at your command.

You need a lesson in patience.

I will respond to your post in one week with a list demonstrating how some theists attempt to impose their religious dogma on others.

Too long? Too bad.

 

Ahhhh didn't see that coming.

Lol

You shouldn't make claims you are not prepared to back up.

 

Like you've done several times in this thread? That's funny.

I will provide evidence supporting my claims in one week.

 

I'll throw in my two cents...as an atheist, I am not afraid of god. I am likewise opened to the idea that a god exists. But I need evidence. I was once a Christian, thought about the foundation of my belief, saw it was unsubstantial, and my belief in a deity evaporated. Some atheists speak out against theism because often times religious belief is the source of bigotry, or oppression, or the ignorant dismissal of scientific findings. Most atheists would not care what a person believed if that belief did no harm to others. There are some atheists who are obsessed with the notion that one's fellow man should use the same logic and evidentiary criteria for a religious belief as the person uses to ascertain other things, such as the probability of UFO earth visits, for example. Personally, I would like for there to be a god out there someplace, a deity that actually knows and interacts with earthlings. But the deity would have to be truly kind and have a sense of humor. Just give me the evidence, actual, real evidence, and I'll believe.

 

How does a belief in God hurt you? How are oppressing you?

 

I'm just here for the comedy.

 

I said that religion, among other problems it creates, is a source of oppression. So, take a look at Islam in the Middle East. Theocracies mandate that women are to be covered. In some locations women are not allowed to leave the house without a male relative escorting. Gays are thrown off rooftops because homosexuality violates tenets in a religion. In America, gays were legally not allowed to marry, laws enacted almost entirely because of religious beliefs. Have I mentioned terrorism yet? Need I?

 

Where did I say vote? By getting involved with political issues I mean lobbying the government. The Australian Christian Lobby is a classic example.

 

So you also have a problem with homosexual groups lobbying government or should only Christians be banned from it?

 

I can't speak for everyone, but having discussions with others is why I come here as well. I have no doubt that other atheists come here for exactly the same. I don't see anyone whining about how god isn't real. I do see all atheists painted with a broad brush however; like we're all arrogant, all ignorant, all angry, etc. That's the whining I see, in copious amounts, and I'm not here for whining any more than you are. If you want more engaging or intelligent posts, make sure none of the fault for that is on your side. I have a hard time just going along with the idea that a person is looking for a conversation while in the same breath saying they have no interest in what I believe. Those things contradict each other. Do what you want, but complaining about the behavior of others while your own might need some improvement is just poor form, and there's no reason to take you seriously.

If you are honest about wanting to have some sort of intelligent conversation on the other hand, let me know, and I'll oblige you as best I can.

 

The answer is definitely "NO" they are not afraid for there is nothing to be afraid of.

 

Let's hear how Christians are oppressing.

I doubt Islam is having much effect on you.

 

Social contact, productivity, and activity, which make life enjoyable for most. These come in every flavour, even gluten-free.

Meantime, I submit that the monotheist is in the very worst position when it comes to an afterlife. Consider you're one of the trillions of known and unknown gods ... and it so happens you're the boss god (and NOT Yahweh). The atheist arrives at death without ever having declared a god, yet willing to accept one should it be real. Then the Christian arrives, who's declared 'all other gods are false, only MY god (the wrong one) is real'. Which of these two is going to be less offensive to a supreme creator like yourself?

Yahweh has about a one in a zillion zillion chance of being the right god, yet you have offended all other possible gods in asserting he is the only god. You lose .. big time.

 

now hold on just one minute

 

beautifully put. and the elephant in the room, always.

when it comes to bottom lines, this one (my bold) demonstrates very well the awful corruption of religion.

 

no, you have to HOPE he has a plan. otherwise a lifetime of ignoring the fact your loved ones will be tortured for eternity will have been for nothing.

 

homosexuals actually exist.

 

I have a distant ancestor who enjoyed such a demise, in the 1690s. We're still witches to this day, so it wasted effort