Atheism, A Grim Position?

[Mister Agenda]

Hello, I'm new to the forum.

Welcome.

Full disclosure: I'm currently a non-traditional theist. However, I have considered atheism a few times but it seems to be such a grim position. Let me explain.

As I understand atheism, these would be a few of its tenets:

Neither mere atheism nor mere theism are the sort of things that have 'tenets'. They are differing opinions on the same topic: the existence of God(s). Both good Samaritans and people sacrificing babies to Moloch are theists. Atheists aren't quite that diverse...but we're pretty diverse. If all you know about a person is that they're an atheist, you know next to nothing about them.

There is no ultimate meaning. Therefore, all lives and events are ultimately meaningless.

You seem to have confused atheism with some form of nihilism.

There is no ultimate basis for value.

Maybe, maybe not. An atheist's opinion on that depends on other opinions than the existence of God. And one could believe in God without believing in an ultimate basis for value. For example, under divine command theory, what's good is good because that what God wants. That's not an 'ultimate basis', it just makes morality arbitrarily determined by God.

Therefore any moral position is ultimately arbitrary and logically, equally defensible.

Could you demonstrate how one might equally defend rape and kindness?

This means that things like genocide, pedophilia, torture, etc. are equally defensible to any other moral position.

Unless you support this claim, I will dismiss it as a mere assertion.

There is no ultimate intentionality associated with/in reality.

Probably not, but that could be the case with God, as well. The Bible certainly isn't clear what ultimate intent God is supposed to have for reality.

Therefore, all events, actions, thoughts and behaviors are determined by chance and necessity.

And if you throw God in, that makes it so much better?

Thus, an individual's thoughts and actions are determined solely by prior causal events and chance.

Atheists didn't invent determinism nor are all atheists determinists. But throw God in the mix, and you've just added one more causal event, God doesn't make your will any freer. An omniscient and omnipotent God necessarily eliminates your free will altogether.

At least for me, if I take these atheist positions to their logical conclusion this all seems psychologically pretty grim.

The only position common to all atheists is not believing in God. Those aren't 'atheist positions', none of them are even unique to atheists. And if they ARE pretty grim, that's completely irrelevant to the question of whether they are true. Would you rather believe a pleasant lie or a grim truth?

I'd be interested in comments why this is not necessarily the case.

I hope my comments were helpful.