I saw a BP post that reversed this question so I wondered what religious people had to ask athiests.
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Im an atheist. But apparently there is 3 different sort of atheists. the nonreligious, the nonbelievers, and the agnostic. What one do you all fall under and can you elaborate?
I myself am somewhere between nonbeliever and agnostic. I find it hard to believe there could be a god but also know simultaneously that i can not be certain about my non belief
Personally I'd say agnostic, I mean the existence of a Something would explain a lot, and it's nice to think that there is something else going on in the universe, but if there was I don't believe it would be anything approaching the Abrahamic God
What do you think happens when you die?
I think that you start off dreaming, and then your dreams slowly fade away as your brain deteriorates. Somewhat poetic, and seems legit looking at science.
What drives your life? Do you follow any philosophies that inspire you or do you live on a moment-by-moment basis?
My life is driven by the wish to make the world a slightly better place.
Fellow atheists: are you frightened of death?
Death seems like something of a lose/lose scenario to me. I don’t want to cease to exist, and miss out on the immensity of the future, but I also wouldn’t want to live forever. Talk about a nightmare you can’t wake from!
I am a afraid of a painful death, but not afraid of being dead. Like, I definitely don't want to be tortured to death by a murderer, but the actual being dead part doesn't seem scary. That's just nothingness. The world got along just fine without me for millions of years without me and I didn't experience pain or terror or anything else; I expect it'll be much the same when I am gone. But I'd defo prefer to die in bed after eating chocolate mousse and drinking a glass of wine.
Which religion do you respect the most/dislike the least?
Buddhism, and the one I hate the most is American evangelical Christianity because they are getting increasingly more violent, are very hypocritical, some are racist, and their entanglement with the GOP has destroyed the country by creating a culture of propaganda and fear with no solutions other than taking away rights from women, lgbtq+, people of color, and anyone the deem lesser than themselves.
Why
1. Growing up in a non-religious family is one of the factors contributing to this. 2. I've always leaned towards scientific beliefs rather than believing in a higher power. I haven't encountered convincing reasons or evidence to think otherwise. 3. Explaining the world doesn't, in my view, necessitate a belief in a god. 4. I often wonder, if a god exists, why do humans commit such awful acts? Wouldn't a god strive to reduce or eliminate such behavior?
Many reasons, seeing the constant sex scandals of many churches, the lack of scientific evidence to support the claim a deity exist, and actually reading the religious text and seeing the inconsistencies, odd or cruel laws, and the history of genocide and violence of many religions.
I never really believed a higher power could exist in a world like this. Wouldn’t he have done something already? I just believed from a young age that the world was every person for themselves, even while growing up in a Christian family. Also, there are so many religions out there it doesn’t really make sense that one would be correct if ten thousand people would believe the other was correct, so it’s just a big tug of war on who’s right. My parents found out because I didn’t have the same enthusiasm as them about church, so they’re currently trying to convert me (it will never work, and it’s just boring when they try). If my grandparents found out….my grandmother used to be a priest… so they would probably go through the whole bible with me and throw it at my face repeatedly.
I was raised religious, then I read the Bible, and really? No records of the flood anywhere else.
My family never baptized me or anything, and I just dont really have an interest in it.
I somewhat resent religion because it was forced on me from a young age, and I always kind of thought that there was no god. I remember when I was about five thingking "what if god is fake?"
Philosophically, it’s not something I concern myself with. It leads to a lack of questions from the incurious—“Why? God. The end.”—and infinite recursion from the curious—“Why? Because of this. Why that? Because of this. Why that? Because of this…” Scientifically, I love the same question, though it’s really the other side of the “how” coin. I don’t believe for a moment that all of our questions will ever be answered, but it’s still fun to ask them.
