Critical thinker, skeptical about atheism.

[Esquilax]

[The Grand Nudger]

A life in which these "basic" questions are unanswered isn't empty, it's fascinating. I told you before, I decided what my life would mean, why I'm here, and now I live it. Do you do this any differently than I do? Tell me what part of that is delusion?

[pocaracas]

[KevinM1]

[Jenny A]

at the end of the day we all have a desire for fulfillment in this life

With you so far. . .

, and I believe that's why atheism is such a minority belief system in our world,

it leaves one empty, because it has no answers for the most basic questions, and who wants to live an Empty existence,

I've repeatedly asked Christians just what is this fulfillment that they've found through belief in god. The answers I've gotten are: he made us; loves us; we made us to worship him; we aren't going to die; god has an unspecified plan for either each us or for humanity as a whole.

I don't find any of those compelling reasons to get out of bed in the morning. In fact some of them are positively belittling, or depressing. Nor do I see any evidence that any of them are true.

wondering what the point of getting up in the morning is, if one lives a meaningless life that ends in a hole in the ground,

some will say, "There is no meaning to life, but you can just use your imagination to make one up", but thats living a delusion.

I don't use my imagination to make up meaning in my life (that's the job of religion), I make my life meaningful and fulfilling by how I choose to live it. My actions are not a delusion. Neither are my interactions with others. They are real and fulfilling.

And so we will always have religion it seems to me, since the alternative is a despair,

Really? I don't find myself in despair.

even if its veiled in a kind of "positive denial", that everything is OK with the world, despite it being completely meaningless and empty, seems like an oxymoron to me.

No, everything is not okay with world. My little part of it is pretty good. Other parts of the world are not. If there is a god, he created a world with a lot of harsh nasty bits.

That does not mean that my world is all despair.

BTW: oxymoron doesn't mean quite what you think it does. An oxymoron is a word or phrase that logically contradicts itself: liquid gas; seriously funny; original copy, expensive gift, open secret, negative growth, dull roar. But as you might have noticed in the previous examples they do tend to be idioms meaning something other that what is implied by the simple combining of the two words.

You can also make up jokes by calling phrases oxymoron to reveal what you think about certain people or things:

military intelligence,
scientific creationism
intelligent design
Christian charity
true believer
cardinal saint
express mail
religious education
honest politician
biblical inerrantcy
atheistic dogma

[Alex K]

I'm not so impressed now. OP in their insistence to know better what atheism is and means than the actual atheists here, going on about how empty and desperate I'm supposed to feel without bothering to actually think about our position, now sounds like a dime a dozen fundie with a bit of window dressing.

Critical thinker? I have yet to see evidence for that.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

[Simon Moon]

it leaves one empty, because it has no answers for the most basic questions, and who wants to live an Empty existence

Just the opposite for me.

The search for answers is so much more fulfilling than making them up, or by getting them form a Bronze Age text written by people that made them up.

Once you claim you have the answer (God did it), you stop looking for the real answers.

My existence is far from empty. Knowing that this is the one and only life i will get, every second is precious to me.

For theists that believe in an eternal afterlife, this short life of 70 or so years, is nothing but a place to wipe their feet in preparation for 'real life' that starts after they die.

wondering what the point of getting up in the morning is, if one lives a meaningless life that ends in a hole in the ground

Again, stop projecting your idea that atheists live a meaningless life on us. My life, and the good I do while here, is meaningful to me and my friends and family.

some will say, "There is no meaning to life, but you can just use your imagination to make one up", but thats living a delusion

Providing our own meaning is more real than your god supplied meaning.

Would you put up with your parents picking your spouse for you? Your schools picking your career for you? Friends picking your hobbies for you?

Why would you want anyone to pick your meaning for you?

And so we will always have religion it seems to me, since the alternative is a despair

I have no religion or belief in gods, and I am not in despair. But yes, I agree, sadly there will always be religions.

It seems to me you are equating atheism with nihilism, or you believe that atheism leads to nihilism. You seem to make a lot of assumptions about other people's positions. Seems there is a name for that...

Oh yeah, 'bigotry'.

[Tonus]

And so we will always have religion it seems to me, since the alternative is a despair,
even if its veiled in a kind of "positive denial", that everything is OK with the world, despite it being completely meaningless and empty, seems like an oxymoron to me.

So we'll always have religion because people are weak?

[KevinM1]

And so we will always have religion it seems to me, since the alternative is a despair,
even if its veiled in a kind of "positive denial", that everything is OK with the world, despite it being completely meaningless and empty, seems like an oxymoron to me.

So we'll always have religion because people are weak?

We'll always have religion because religion tells people they're weak, and their only hope is the religion that tells them they're weak.