~Ivy~’s questions

 ~Ivy~ wrote a note that asked the following questions which I numbered for ease of reference.

1. Is atheism more beneficial than Judaism/Christianity/Buddhism/Islam, and if so, how?
2. How does atheism improve the richness of life moreso than Christianity/Judaism/Buddhism/Islam?
3. What has atheism done for you?
4. Do you promote atheism over religion?
5. Do you promote atheism over agnosticism?
6. By the end of life, is it more important to have been an atheist?

If you have questions regarding a particular explanation, it makes it easier if you reference the question number.

1. Is atheism more beneficial than Judaism/Christianity/Buddhism/Islam, and if so, how?

I will answer this in several parts. First of all, I find that atheism just describes a person who does not have a “god-belief”. I usually extend that in my mind to mean “anything supernatural” as well – but techically I guess it doesn’t have to.
As such, atheism doesn’t “promote” anything by itself. It isn’t a thing that can be beneficial.
Do religions inspire things that are beneficial? Sure.
Do religions inspire things that aren’t beneficial? Undeniably.

My person philosophy reflects secular humanism to a great extent. I think that secular humanism and its principles can inspire beneficial actions etc. and I think that it has safeguards that make inspiring painful things very difficult to square with humanism.

Now to a major point – the measure of an idea’s beneficial or negative impact on humanity is no reflection of the TRUTH of the idea.

So, if these religions think they can be *beneficial*, then let them say that. If these religions think that they have claims that are TRUE (which as far as I can tell, they do), that’s a completely different question and matter. I think that beliefs based on reality yield a much better chance at affecting a person’s actions in a positive and beneficial way than beliefs based on fancy.

So when Christians say that Christianity is true (as in, accurately reflects/describes reality) – they are wrong. Could their beliefs be beneficial? Potentially, but that’s irrelevant to the truth of their claims.

Hopefully that was clear – if not please ask.

2. How does atheism improve the richness of life moreso than Christianity/Judaism/Buddhism/Islam?

It relieves the non-believer by his not needing to worry about some God. It provides comfort in knowing that while other people worry about the “life to come” – that they probably have no reason to think that such a thing is something to worry about.

Many believers are very uncomfortable with uncertainty. I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing, others find that hard. I find that my life is more rich because I can always find out more and question and learn more. I haven’t settled for answers that might be wrong – which is what would worry me if I *believed*.

I find it a little odd that you put Buddhism with the others…from my study I’ve found the Buddhism is much more concerned with the here and now. How to be a better person, how to relieve suffering, how to focus and calm the mind.

As I said before, I have a philosophy with which I live my life, and I find it very fulfilling. I find that the richness of my life is increased in knowing that this is the only chance I have at existence – don’t waste it. This day will never be again, and that’s empowering.

And to echo the point in my last answer – whether or not something enriches life is an entirely different question than whether it’s true or not.

3. What has atheism done for you?

Ignoring the problem that the *lack of something* can’t do things, I would say that the whole discovery process and questioning process has yielded far more than I could have guessed it would. I started questioning about a year before I kept any kind of public diary like this. I noticed the similarity in the prayers that the Roman’s in Vergil’s Aeneid said with the prayers that I said. I saw how in a battle you could imagine your local gods fighting with the warring neighbor’s gods…and the turns of the momentum of battle reflecting the god’s battle.

So I began questioning, and I haven’t stopped. I’ve found that many people have never thought to question their beliefs in at least a few of the ways that I question them. I enjoy debating, and I enjoy mental stimulation. I hope that I get others thinking, others questioning in new ways.

Actually, in my preparation for the LSATs, reading and critiquing arguments all these years has really helped me on the “logical reasoning” sections. I almost never miss more than 2 of those questions.

“Atheism” brought me from worrying what God’s plan for me was – to realizing that I am in control of my plan. Atheism has lead me to question many things, even outside of religion. Atheism gives me an island of sanity in this crazy world.

4. Do you promote atheism over religion?

This is a tricky one. I am going to say a qualified yes. Yes because truth is important, and many of the claims of religion are nonsense. However, what’s more important, in my mind, is that people cease to believe in superstitions for the right reasons.

If the principle that you should believe something only if there is a reasonable reason to believe it – and to that extent, then, many of the claims of religion evaporate. I would not endorse the *promotion* of atheism in a way other than dialectic or arguments. I wouldn’t promote any sort of “outlawing” religion in the sense that you make it illegal to believe in God – even if people stopped, they’d stop for the wrong reason, and they haven’t improved their position any.

5. Do you promote atheism over agnosticism?

This gets tricky. Atheism as I see it is the lack of a belief in God. So you either have a belief in God, or you do not have a belief in God. You can fall in to only one of the two categories.
Agnosticism can have two definitions that I know of: 1. Whether there is a God or not is unknown/unknowable or 2. God is unknowable.

I really agree with AUUB on this one.
I’ll concede that strictly speaking – whether there is a god or not is unknowable. But unknowable in the same sense that EVERYTHING is unknowable. There is always uncertainty.

So there is uncertainty that we cannot get rid of, but everyone, including agnostics, ignore for the majority of their life. It seems strange to be “agnostic about God” when there are plenty of other things to be just as “agnostic about”.

For example, It is unknowable whether there is a monster that lives under my bed. All reason and evidence suggests that there is no monster under my bed – when I check, there’s nothing but dust down there – but he could pop into existence at any second.

But you don’t heard of people who are “agnostic” about whether a monster may pop into existence under his bed.

I think that agnostics should apply the same standard to similar things. There is no reason nor evidence to suggest that there is a God, and yet there are agnostics who don’t worry about monsters, who worry about God.

It’s just inconsistent, so yes, I promote atheism over agnosticism.

6. By the end of life, is it more important to have been an atheist?

Do you mean:
Is it more important to have been an atheist than a Christian at the end of life?

No, I think it’s more important to have lived a good life and been a good person – which I think is easier to do as an atheist.