Any Downside to Atheism?

[Liam Anderson]

Not very elaborate... but okay. So, you think I only assume that you don't know the religions you are rejecting? Am I now to conclude that you know them all intimately, that you have experienced them all deeply so that you know what you are missing? Okaaaaay. Sorry, I don't buy it.

 

[Smoke]

From my perspective, the only downside to atheism is denying yourself something. Granted, this is something you don't want to experience but then, you don't know it, hence you don't know what it is you are missing. If you want to live your life to the fullest, religion is or may also be a part of life you are tossing out.

I was a Christian till I was 45 years old. I have experienced it.

Not very elaborate... but okay. So, you think I only assume that you don't know the religions you are rejecting? Am I now to conclude that you know them all intimately, that you have experienced them all deeply so that you know what you are missing? Okaaaaay. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Somehow I doubt that you have deeply experienced Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, Asatru, Judaism, Islam, Hellenic Reconstructionism, Kemetic Orthodoxy, Theosophy, and Jainism. How can you choose to be a Christian if you haven't experienced all other religions first? How do you know what you're missing?

 

[Autodidact]

From my perspective, the only downside to atheism is denying yourself something. Granted, this is something you don't want to experience but then, you don't know it, hence you don't know what it is you are missing. If you want to live your life to the fullest, religion is or may also be a part of life you are tossing out.

To me it looks like you were living inside Matrix and take the blue pill. No chance to even see if there is anything out there. And I don't mean afterlife alone, I mean the spirituality right here and now.

Of course, most of us have already experienced it. You may say that you'e missing something--living without religion. And my guess is that you've never experienced it.

 

[Autodidact]

From my perspective, the only downside to atheism is denying yourself something. Granted, this is something you don't want to experience but then, you don't know it, hence you don't know what it is you are missing. If you want to live your life to the fullest, religion is or may also be a part of life you are tossing out.

To me it looks like you were living inside Matrix and take the blue pill. No chance to even see if there is anything out there. And I don't mean afterlife alone, I mean the spirituality right here and now.

What makes you think a spiritual life requires God? Don't tell the Dalai Lama; he thinks he's a spiritual leader.

 

[Autodidact]

Define spirituality without God, please.
If you believe in various kinds of spirituality, that's your prerogative, though. Again, I'm saying you are missing the one that involves God. We can go into more details if you grant my request above. Without it, I have no arguments to support my claim.

So the downside of being an atheist is that you're missing religion? Is that what you're saying?

 

[McBell]

Not very elaborate... but okay. So, you think I only assume that you don't know the religions you are rejecting? Am I now to conclude that you know them all intimately, that you have experienced them all deeply so that you know what you are missing? Okaaaaay. Sorry, I don't buy it.

 

[Vile Atheist]

I know. Me too lol. I wonder if he realizes his own argument applies to him as well, in the opposite direction. Obviously he's spent many years as an atheist and knows all about atheism.

 

[McBell]

I know. Me too lol. I wonder if he realizes his own argument applies to him as well, in the opposite direction. Obviously he's spent many years as an atheist and knows all about atheism.

I cannot help but wonder if he is one of the four Darksun friends.....

 

[Vile Atheist]

I cannot help but wonder if he is one of the four Darksun friends.....

Every single day, Mestemia. Every single day, you make me laugh out loud lmao. Frubals.

Edit: Apparently I have to spread some around first. What kind of socialism is this?

 

[Autodidact]

Not very elaborate... but okay. So, you think I only assume that you don't know the religions you are rejecting? Am I now to conclude that you know them all intimately, that you have experienced them all deeply so that you know what you are missing? Okaaaaay. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Have you?

 

[McBell]

Have you?

Well, he had to of.
I mean, if he hasn't, then he is merely a hypocrite.
And everyone knows how Jesus felt about hypocrites...

 

[Liam Anderson]

I was a Christian till I was 45 years old. I have experienced it.

Well, good for you.

Somehow I doubt that you have deeply experienced Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, Asatru, Judaism, Islam, Hellenic Reconstructionism, Kemetic Orthodoxy, Theosophy, and Jainism. How can you choose to be a Christian if you haven't experienced all other religions first? How do you know what you're missing?

No I haven't. Nor do I claim to have. What I am missing is not the point of this thread, the title is "Any Downside to Atheism." I simply gave one.

And I still doubt that every atheists has experienced many or all of the religions and even if they have, they must have been disappointed since they chose to ignore them. Hence, they missed something.

 

[Liam Anderson]

Of course, most of us have already experienced it. You may say that you'e missing something--living without religion. And my guess is that you've never experienced it.

LOL! Another one attacking me in return...

Again, how my personal experience is relevant to the topic, please? I thought we were debating atheism in this thread, not Christianity. Or myself.

 

[McBell]

LOL! Another one attacking me in return...

Again, how my personal experience is relevant to the topic, please? I thought we were debating atheism in this thread, not Christianity. Or myself.

You made assumptions about the experiences of others.
That is when YOUR experiences became relevant.
If you dislike the fact that your personal experiences are now relevant, you should not have 'attacked' the personal experiences of others.

 

[Smoke]

No I haven't. Nor do I claim to have. What I am missing is not the point of this thread, the title is "Any Downside to Atheism." I simply gave one.

What you are missing is directly relevant to the credibility of your argument. You can't expect anybody to take such an egregiously hypocritical stance seriously.

 

[Liam Anderson]

You made assumptions about the experiences of others.
That is when YOUR experiences became relevant.
If you dislike the fact that your personal experiences are now relevant, you should not have 'attacked' the personal experiences of others.

I beg your pardon? How am I attacking anyone's personal experiences? Someone made an interesting thread - it wasn't even you unless you own that other screen name as well - and I replied. I thought it was a debate, not a kindergarten sandbox?

In case you are really interested, I was raised in an atheist family, I only discovered religion when I was 16 but I still fail to see how this is relevant here. The question posed was a downside to atheism, I thought of one so I posted it and you come down on me? If anyone, it is you that is attacking me - and making it ad hominem at that, accusing me of being friends with someone I haven't even heard about... That's not what I'd expect in a mature debate. Present an argument to contradict my claim or leave me alone, please.

 

[Liam Anderson]

What you are missing is directly relevant to the credibility of your argument. You can't expect anybody to take such an egregiously hypocritical stance seriously.

Hypocritical? How? It would be, if I claimed to know something I don't. I am not, I'm simply trying to participate in a debate about atheism. Again, not Christianity.

The fact that I haven't experienced other religions does not diminish the fact that atheists deny themselves this experience. Either because they became disappointed in a religion or never thought of it... I'm not even speculating about the reasons, I'm simply stating the fact: by rejecting the existence of God, you are ridding yourself off of experiencing His presence. Am I wrong in that? How? If I were, you wouldn't be atheists but rather anti-theists.

 

[Kerr]

Liam, the downside you speak of is not specified to atheism, it exist in any other "faiths". For example, you as a Christian can be considered to miss aspects of the spirituality in, say, Bhuddism. I understand what you are saying, though, just saying it is nothing unique to atheism.

 

[MSizer]

..by rejecting the existence of God, you are ridding yourself off of experiencing His presence. Am I wrong in that?

I think we need to take a bit of a breath and remember that this is only a forum, so nobody needs to have a heart attack over it.

I think the point is that many of us do believe you are wrong about it, as we have gone the spirituality "with god..." route early in our lives and found it vacuuous. We consider it delusional to believe otherwise, so we don't think of our "failure to experience spirituality with god" to be a downside at all, but an "upside" so to speak. I am personally glad that my view of life and the universe is not impeded by what I consider purely superstition. I think the reason atheists sometimes get annoyed is that it feels like believers consider us somehow less able to be spiritual, or perhaps lacking in some way due to our tin ear for the supernatural. The irony from our point of view is that belief appears to us to be gullibility.

In the end, we both have to remember that conviction is unconcious, so I am no more responsible for my disbelief than you (Liam) for your belief, so getting along is a more important goal than the futile goal of trying to change each others' mind.

 

[cottage]

From my perspective, the only downside to atheism is denying yourself something. Granted, this is something you don't want to experience but then, you don't know it, hence you don't know what it is you are missing. If you want to live your life to the fullest, religion is or may also be a part of life you are tossing out.

This isn't at all right. How can the atheist be in denial of something that doesn't exist? And it is surely nonsense to speak of not wanting to experience a thing that is believed not to be true. It is equally nonsensical to say a person is tossing something out when in fact it was never in. The sceptic is only missing something if the sceptical belief is wrong or false. But there is nothing wrong or false in the belief that there is no God.