What is it like to be an atheist?

[freethinker44]

What is it like to be an atheist?

It's liberating.

 

[waitasec]

Why does the word "atheist" mean, one doesnt believe there is a God?

Does "amoral" mean one doesnt believe in morals?

no, i would say amoral is one who lacks a moral sense

in order to not believe in morals, the sense or the knowledge of it would be apparent and then denied.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Then why not just say Atheo?

Why don't people call themselves a word you just made up?

I would think that the answer is obvious.

 

[Alceste]

It feels comfortable and rational. The idea of some old bearded fella spying on me all the time to make sure I'm behaving myself and some hoofed, goaty fella trying to tempt me into wrongdoing so he can torture me for all eternity creeps me out. I can't even imagine believing something like that. How could I ever properly enjoy a day in the garden with that kind of chatter cluttering up my mind?

 

[doppelganger]

Haha well on the other forum I frequent, the atheists tell me I am one of them so I occasionally identify myself as one depending on who I am talking to... But deep down I think I probably am not one. So yeah... I suppose I like the fence well enough.

To clarify, I usually identify myself as an atheist with theists since I pretty much am one as far as they are concerned. But I call myself agnostic with atheists. And... Tmi... Boring tmi at that lol.

Oh, I completely understand. The theists definitely aren't where I'm at, but I can't resist throwing a spiritual wrench into the works for most atheists from time to time, too. :?)

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I am just curious because I have never been an atheist before.

I think Penn Gillette did a better job than I could of capturing how it feels for me:

I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

[...]

Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

There Is No God : NPR

 

[Awoon]

Why don't people call themselves a word you just made up?

I would think that the answer is obvious.

Well "theo" means God then "a" would mean without God.

amoral means without morals, so atheo would mean without god

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Well "theo" means God then "a" would mean without God.

amoral means without morals, so atheo would mean without god

Since we already have the more precise "atheist" ("one without belief in God"), I don't see the need.

Also, I don't think that you can directly replace a noun with an adjective.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Well "theo" means God then "a" would mean without God.

amoral means without morals, so atheo would mean without god

Yes and baptism should be bapto.

"-isma suffix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form action nouns from verbs ( baptism ); on this model, used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence, etc. ( criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism; intellectualism )."

 

[Awoon]

Since we already have the more precise "atheist" ("one without belief in God"), I don't see the need.

Also, I don't think that you can directly replace a noun with an adjective.

Well beliefs is what the new world is made of. Political, religious, sports, corporate.

I believe in a god or I don't believe in a god.

If you dont have a job people will just say that. They dont say I dont believe in job.

 

[Banner]

Oh, I completely understand. The theists definitely aren't where I'm at, but I can't resist throwing a spiritual wrench into the works for most atheists from time to time, too. :?)

Same here. But I mostly like to tease them about the fact that their lack of belief isn't as rational or logical as they like to believe. ;p Well for quite a few of them anyway.

 

[Sunstone]

...I have never been an atheist before.

Keep trying! You can do it!

 

[Noaidi]

Then why not just say Atheo?

You're right, you know. 'Atheist' is just way too complicated. 'Atheo' sounds much better.

The ending -ist denotes the person doing or practicing the action, so an atheist is a person who doesn't believe in gods.

Edit: oops. I see this burning hot topic was addressed a few posts above.

 

[etherealascension]

It's been good. Never have to fear God or hell, never have to keep some dogmatic way of life, never have to be careful of any rules or regulation dictated by god, etc. I've been a Christian before, so I know what I'm talking about when I say it's been infinitely better for me.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

It feels honest.

 

[IsmailaGodHasHeard]

Pretty much the same as anything else. You believe in the things that seem real to you and you don't believe in the things that don't seem real to you. When it comes to god/gods, you probably do know how it feels. Just like atheists you probably don't believe in the vast majority of the deities in which other people profess belief. Atheists simply believe in one less deity than you do.

Oh, okay. You are right.

 

[murtaad]

It doesn't really feel like anything. Some people have hobbies like collecting coins or fishing.

Being an athiest is kind of like not collecting coins or not fishing.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

Apart from a disbelief in God, which is the obvious difference every else can be much the same as any theist. If you stub your toe it hurts just as much and feels much the same. And if you eat too many hamburgers and greasy chips or French fries and do the same amount of lack of excercise, you get just as fat. Any belief or disbelief in God makes no difference.

 

[waitasec]

as a former christian, i'm not fearful as i used to be...

 

[YmirGF]

It feels comfortable and rational. The idea of some old bearded fella spying on me all the time to make sure I'm behaving myself and some hoofed, goaty fella trying to tempt me into wrongdoing so he can torture me for all eternity creeps me out. I can't even imagine believing something like that. How could I ever properly enjoy a day in the garden with that kind of chatter cluttering up my mind?

It's comforting to know that we agree 100% on some things, LOL. Personally, I rarely find myself thinking of "god" when not on RF. I'm far too busy observing reality.