My Loss of faith has caused severe depression

[Aran]

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, it may be fear. When I was a believer I had confidence that good old God was policing the universe. God prescribed a definitive moral code, and deviation from this code was wrong. My dilemma probably stems from a lack of confidence in humankind which I can't seem to be rid of.

I can understand that....but fear of what, that people may disagree? Back when "good ole god" was policing the universe..as you put it - people did bad things, didn't they? Despite there being some definitive moral code, despite that deviating from that code was wrong - people still managed to ignore, be oblivious to, or otherwise disagree with that code, didn't they?

What could possibly justify a change in your confidence in humankind, seeing as it's unlikely that humankind -et al- is doing anything differently between this moment and that moment? I mean, if you had no confidence in us before then you've lost nothing on account of your loss of faith in this regard - and if you had confidence in us before we're still doing the same shit...day in and day out. The status of your faith has changed, not humanity.

You're right, my lack of confidence in humanity has always been there. But when I was a believer I was certain that God would always be there to keep us in check. I'm afraid of what people can do, should they be left to their own devices, left to conceive what is right and what is wrong for themselves. The idea I accepted upon my becoming an atheist that humankind is the sole master of its own destiny is daunting and troubling, given what we are capable of. Its the lack of that omnibenevolent agency which most disturbs me. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my problem.

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Interestingly, there does seem to be a Venn-diagram-style overlap where society generally agrees on what is moral and what isn't, i.e. murder, child porn etc. It's almost as though these things had an intrinsic value, isn't it?

Hah, beautifully put.