What is being an Atheist like?

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Hi, I'm Connie, I'm new to these forums and atheism in general. I actually am Christian, and have been raised that way my whole life (baptist denomination). Being in the church is hard for me since I'm transgender, but I'm not leaving yet, because I still believe in God. However, I am willing to get some insight on to what atheism is like, from atheist themselves. I'm, how should I put it...educating myself on atheism. So, wooo!

Heya Connie, welcome to the forums! Good for you on educating yourself about atheism. We get tired of people telling us what atheism is and what we believe, so this is refreshing.

Edit: I just saw you gave some answers yourself. For what it's worth, considering what you've said, I would say you already are an atheist. It's merely a descriptive term for a state of mind. If you're unsure about god's existence, you are an atheist. There is no initiation ceremony. And if you did become convinced again of the existence of God, you'd be a theist once more. That doesn't mean you are required to join a religion though or worship the God at all. That's your choice. Don't worry, we will support you here Maybe my website will help, it's geared towards new or potential atheists, starting with explaining more about the word itself. Click here

The people who taught you about Christianity are just basically passing on what has been shoved down their throats, most likely. They are probably not deliberately lying, just saying what they believe. It doesn't mean they are correct, though. For someone who has always been outside of religion, it is blatantly obvious to me that the whole thing is made up. Prayer doesn't work, it's been scientifically tested. It can produce the placebo effect, but otherwise it has no impact. Probably because no one is listening.

My questions:

1.) Why are you an atheist?

Because I find claims about God have no credible evidence to back them up. I don't even consider "God" to be a well-defined term. There is no possible way to test anything said about it, including it's very existence, so I reserve judgement until such time as there is a reason to believe any of it. It's part of being a sceptic: not believing until there is a rational reason to do so. Not all atheists are sceptics. Some believe all sorts of weird things based on what I would consider no evidence.

I don't claim to know there is no God, but one thing I can be as certain about as humanly possible is that any real God is nothing like the ridiculous comic book villains portrayed in religious texts. They are simply reflections on the state of mind of people at that time, their struggles to understand the world around them and their attempts to control each other through stories.

2.) What is life like for an atheist?

I've never been anything but an atheist. Life is just how it is for a theist, except I don't arbitrarily attribute external agency to things that happen. I learn about things that are possible to learn about, and I accept that some things are beyond our knowledge, perhaps forever. We live in the same world, and any theist who manages to survive day to day is basically living like an atheist. They look both ways before crossing the street, they fasten their seat belt, they don't pick fights with huge gangs of people for no reason, they don't jump off cliffs.

3.) There is no God. How do you cope with that? How do you find purpose and meaning in your life?

No one has ever been able to tell me what meaning God does give to life. In religions such as Christianity, this life was created by him on a whim, in order to test us to see who is worthy of being his eternal buddy and who gets discarded and possibly tortured. That's a weird, sick twisted game he is playing and devoids this life of any meaning for me. I cope with there probably being no God in the same way I cope with growing up and not continuing to look to my parents for answers anymore. I think for myself.

It seems I'm conscious, and other humans and animals appear to be conscious. So I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they feel things fairly similarly to how I do. I know what things help them feel good, and I know what makes them sad or hurts them, because they are fairly similar to what works for me. So my purpose is to enjoy this life while it lasts, and to look after other humans and animals as best I can so we can all enjoy what is probably the only life we will ever have.

4.) What are your thoughts on death?

Death is sad for the people and animals who are left behind. They miss the person/animal that has died. But there's nothing that can be done, and frankly living forever would be the worst form of torture I could imagine, no matter what I was doing. So death is probably the end. For the person/animal who has died, there is nothing to worry about. They exist only in our memory, and in the new ways their atoms are distributed through nature to become parts of other things. In this way, they are metaphorically reborn, or perhaps simply return home.

5.) Has being an atheist changed your life in any way? If so, how?

Since I've never been anything else, I can't answer that. I can't make myself believe something for which there is no evidence. Crucially though, I have no interest in joining any religion even if there is a god. If I found out there was one, it would make no difference to me. I'd be happy to talk it in a sensible manner. It's welcome to talk to me anytime. So I don't care if there is a god, I just happen to see no evidence that there is. People that claim to know something about it can't demonstrate any of what they say to be true, nor can they agree on the most basic details. So I conclude they are probably talking about figments of their imagination, with the placebo effect and confirmation bias taking care of the rest.

I hope those answers were OK! Enjoy the forum, and feel free to ask any follow up questions