Atheists ONLY - Are you less happy now that you are an atheist?

[Raven]

A lot of it has to do with age and situation. If you're living a reasonably comfy life (which having time to log onto a computer and chat about Atheism usually implies), and you don't have to worry about death for a while, there's very little Christianity has to offer.

As we near death, and the threat of ceasing to exist starts to loom, that desire for something more will likely kick in a bit.

I beg to differ. The knowledge that all I am going to get is a nice long rest when my time is up suits me just fine. Xtianity provides nothing more than eternity stuck in a cosmic North Korea, and that's if you are good! Who needs it?

[Simon Moon]

A lot of it has to do with age and situation. If you're living a reasonably comfy life (which having time to log onto a computer and chat about Atheism usually implies), and you don't have to worry about death for a while, there's very little Christianity has to offer.

As we near death, and the threat of ceasing to exist starts to loom, that desire for something more will likely kick in a bit.

I disagree.

I am probably among the older people here, and getting closer to death does not cause me to consider accepting religious beliefs any more than when I was younger.

I did not exist for 14.7 billion years. It doesn't bother me that I will stop existing at some time in the future.

I am a Network Engineer, so it is no problem for me to post while I work.

[Clueless Morgan]

I think your poll is lacking a crucial option, and I say this because it's the option I would select :p

Becoming an atheist had a completely neutral effect on my happiness/unhappiness.

What it did was make me more interested in things.

[thesummerqueen]

I did not exist for 14.7 billion years. It doesn't bother me that I will stop existing at some time in the future.

Remembering some public figure or other (Dawkins?) saying something to that effect, I remembered this comic, which I posted some time ago, and which pretty much encapsulates why I really don't feel depressed.

We are star stuff. We are not made by something outside the universe, but are OF the universe, bound in every atom to everything else. The universe is ours in a way no supernatural being could ever give it to us.

"The Most Astounding Fact"

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[CapnAwesome]

I'm overall a pretty happy person. I don't know if it has anything to do with being an Atheist, I've been one my entire adult life so I don't have a good comparison. I think being an Atheist has been empowering though. It means that ultimately I'm responsible for the actions in my life, not some external supernatural force. I think that ethos of personal responsibility has really influenced my life and the accepting that one day I won't exist has caused me to do all kinds of crazy (and fun) things that I might have never done if I believed in any variety of afterlives. I think the idea of an afterlife makes people waste their precious short lives.

[thesummerqueen]

Hullo, Capn. I blamed you for me coming back.

[freedomfromforum]

I'm happier than ever, now that I'm an atheist.

[CapnAwesome]

Hullo, Capn. I blamed you for me coming back.

Who is to blame for me coming back then?

[Doubting Thomas]

There is a fast growing organization just to deal with this situation.

The Clergy Project - http://www.clergyproject.org/

I had heard of that before, which prompted my question. I think we'd probably all be surprised at the number of clergy who are actually atheists.

[henryp]

I think the best you can do is guess at how you would stare down your impending death until it happens. If you're old and tired, and you had a good run, I'm sure many people can accept that.

But someone finding out they have terminal cancer at 35 with two small kids, that's going to put a different kind of pressure on someone. The sort that the platitudes aren't going to cover.

I'm not talking personally though, I'm thinking more anecdotaly. People who have a run in with death seem to run to God quite a bit. People who go to prison seem to have a high instance of God finding. People living lives of suffering seem to have high instances of God.

The point being that there is an attraction to the idea, and it seems to serve as a counter weight to people dealing with garbage in this life.

This forum is likely not filled with that demographic, so there is a bit of an empathetic disconnect going on, I suspect?

Personally, I really don't want to die. I had, as has been said, 14 billion years or so of non-existence. And I'll get another bunch of billions later. So I want to drag out this existence thing for as long as possible barring some quality of life drop off.