Atheists: Facing the unfaceable

[Strider]

Why do you not believe in an afterlife? How can you have any knowledge of the afterlife? It's a total unknown to you. You have absolutely no evidence to show that we don't exist in some form after this life. You should be just as open to the possibility of an afterlife as not. I think an atheist would view the afterlife as an unknown rather than a foregone conclusion that we simply don't exist after death.

Biological organisms live and then die. True, the existence of an afterlife is unknowable, as is the existence of Thor, Zeus, Poseidon, Allah, YHWH, or any other deity. I don't believe in any of them, and I assume you only believe in one, and an afterlife seems equally implausible. I'd note that there is no scientific evidence suggesting there is any possibility of life after death.

Waited a bit to post this...but....is it possible that these things being "unfaceable" is actually -part- of the indoctrination so many received?

The "first invent the disease" part of "then sell the cure"?

My first reaction to the OP was, "I don't face the unfaceable, nothings unfaceable". I don't have to find a second solution to a problem because I never bought the first solution -or- the problem to begin with. Alot of the implication here seems to surround death.....and this is only anecdotal, but I've seen people face death.......and it looks alot like the way they face life, identical, really...and I've never noticed anyone who stood out in this regard, nor have I ever seen an occasion where I could determine their underlying belief structure by the way they reacted.

It's cool; we all approach and think about things differently. I think that anyone who becomes old enough to contemplate mortality is horrified by the thought of death and non-existence - initially at least. Personally, I was, and I still don't like the idea to be honest. "Unfaceable" may have been a bit dramatic, but mortality is probably the cruelest fate we have to deal with and eventually accept or else buy into the delusion that we'll get to live forever in a better place later.

I truly think there is something to be said for people who just accept death for what it is, an essential and final step in life with nothing after. I guess the point I was really driving at was that we view life as finite and theists view it as infinite. Accepting a finite lifespan is a tougher pill to swallow than an infinite one.

I can understand what you're saying though, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on it.