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Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
#31
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 8:09 am)Nope Wrote: Depression and bipolar disorder is in my genes apparently. Several people in my family are alcoholics or addicted to religion. For them, admitting that you are depressed is a character flaw that Jesus can cure. They put on happy music or throw themselves into church. Sadly, the people closest to them often suffer from their denial. I think that untreated depression is probably as common among Christians as it is atheists but Christians are less likely to seek help or admit that they aren't happy. At least among my religious family and friends, lying to yourself seems to be a shared trait.

I'm not a fan of Focus on the Family but this article is a good description of how hard it is for many Christians to admit that they have a mental disorder.
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/lifechal...ian-family

Quote:Mental illness runs in my family, and yet there has always been a lot of denial and shame about it. For a long time, I thought if I just kept focused on God's Word, I'd find relief. But the depression just got worse.

“Spiritually, I couldn’t feel God’s presence. I couldn’t understand why He didn’t heal me. Reading the Bible didn’t help. I couldn’t even pray. Others had to pray for me. Only after I’d received some counseling and started taking anti-depressant medication did I start to feel better.”

It's so sad. The Church claims to have all the answers, but they don't. Tell them you been waiting 20 years for god to heal you, they say well god's time is not your time. Hold the faith because if you stop believing it will never work. "Give it to god." "Rebuke the devil." Those aren't answers.

Like Vic, my depression stopped when I let religion go with all the changes it put me through.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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#32
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 9:30 am)Godschild Wrote: I must disagree here with what you say, after five plus years here most of the atheist who have come here have express they are currently depressed ( at the time they are here) and some talk about ending their lives, the facts from this forum alone are against your statement Rhonda.

GC

If I'd said that atheist never get depressed, then yes the facts would be against me. But I specifically stated that was not what I'm saying. Pointing out atheists who experience depression and assuming it is their atheism that's making them depressed is like pointing out that most people who commit violent crimes have at some time in their lives eaten a pickle and assuming that eating pickles makes one predisposed to violence.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
Reply
#33
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 12:34 pm)Godschild Wrote:
(August 15, 2015 at 12:13 pm)Cinjin Wrote: I like to give credit for those talents to the people that spent their lives studying the work of countless others who studied and sacrificed their time and lives to overcome the religious right that held down medical science for centuries.  But hey, you go ahead and thank a wizard in the sky... that's reasonable.


...And immediately after you accuse the general population of atheists of being depressed due to their atheism, you go and admit that you yourself are depressed.  Does your god also get the credit for giving you your imbalance?  Curious how your god STILL needs doctors to cure what he gave you.  Curious how your belief structure has nothing to do with your depression but somehow atheists are depressed because of their belief structure.  Got a nice hot cup of hypocrisy there godschild.

And yet you wonder why atheists get angry at you.
I was nearly always depressed when I worshiped your god.  I have been occasionally depressed while NOT worshiping your god.

...and this is for everybody:  Depression needs no religion or lack thereof to rear its ugly head in your life.  Stop connecting the two simply to promote your filthy agenda.  


Fucking pathetic.

Just stay out of my conversations

This is not your conversation GC.

Quote:none of what you said about me and what I said is true, you're an outright liar.

Because you have no honest answer to what he said, you resort to calling him a liar? That's disingenuous.
Quote:This is all I have to say to you, a person who holds a grudge against all Christians because he can't get along with his dad, that's not my fault, you need to get over it and live a normal life, if that's possible by now.

GC
Low blow, GC. So when somebody strikes a nerve, you go below the belt? Maybe it's you who needs to get hold of yourself.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
Reply
#34
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 11:09 am)Godschild Wrote:
(August 15, 2015 at 10:08 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: I'm a little bit down at the moment because I have a sore shoulder. Would belief in a deity help with that?

Being down and depression are two totally different things, I have continuous back pain, but it doesn't lead me to depression, I understand I will always have it and accept that fact, and yes I've asked God to relieve it from time to time when it gets very bad. True belief in the God of creation could very well be of a great help in your shoulder pain, He could say go to the doctor that I gave the talents to help people heal, don't be stubborn of dumb and sit around in pain.

What I was referring to was all the atheist that are or were here that have sad they have depression, I have a chemical imbalance in my brain that does keep me depressed from time to time and take medication to control it, I have a good Christian doctor who puts me with the best doctors to treat my ailments, they may be Christian doctors or they may not, they all are blessed with talents from God, I believe this because they are always successful at helping me.

GC

Were you just ragging on Atheists for being depressed and then admitted that despite your belief in God you too are depressed? What a crock of shit. I think the abundance of depressed people on these forums has way more to do with internet addiction than Atheism or Theism.
[Image: dcep7c.jpg]
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#35
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 9:30 am)Godschild Wrote: I must disagree here with what you say, after five plus years here most of the atheist who have come here have express they are currently depressed ( at the time they are here) and some talk about ending their lives, the facts from this forum alone are against your statement Rhonda.

GC

Of course, it couldn't possibly be that you're seeing what you want to see...
Thief and assassin for hire. Member in good standing of the Rogues Guild.
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#36
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 12:26 pm)Godschild Wrote:
(August 15, 2015 at 10:23 am)LastPoet Wrote: Well, it is GC. They are special for their belief. Shit, my unbelief made me. According to their lore, i am going to fear

I only fear the pain of others. My own, lets just say I gad my share and many more is to come.

If your god exist, fuck him and you for your gullibillity. Live your futile life as is, just dont dare to tell others how to live. That whole free will BS christians speak of.

You need to get a hold of yourself, I wasn't telling anyone how to live I was saying that Christians are less likely to be depressed, I'm among Christians all the time and see how well adjusted most are. So get off your high horse with me.

GC

Care to provide some evidence there Chief, or are you gonna go with personal testimony and bullshit again?
Thief and assassin for hire. Member in good standing of the Rogues Guild.
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#37
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
When I was depressed in my teens I was an agnostic and when I became an atheist (over the period of a few weeks) at 18 my depression evaporated completely. Just to be clear I'm not saying atheism cured me, I didn't shout, "Hallelujah! Richard Dawkins has performed a miracle!". But it was such a profound shift in how I viewed myself, the world and life that I felt freed emotionally. I made peace with myself and became more emotionally content than I had believed possible. My new self-acceptance gave me self-confidence.

I'm not surprised some religious people credit their faith for their happiness. Maybe strong belief in something else makes them feel that they have permission to believe (Literally have confidence) in themselves. In this manner someone with poor self-acceptance can have self-confidence. But this is just my hypothesis, I have no proof.

Also, it occurred to me later that if I had been exposed only to theists my worldview could have been so different that I may have become a believer. The realization of the accident of geography led me to be a firm advocate of live and let live on the matter of personal belief. (Although I hereby reserve the right to mock and criticize anyone ad nauseam)
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. ~ George Bernard Shaw
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#38
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
(August 15, 2015 at 11:09 am)Godschild Wrote:
(August 15, 2015 at 10:08 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: I'm a little bit down at the moment because I have a sore shoulder. Would belief in a deity help with that?

Being down and depression are two totally different things, I have continuous back pain, but it doesn't lead me to depression, I understand I will always have it and accept that fact, and yes I've asked God to relieve it from time to time when it gets very bad. True belief in the God of creation could very well be of a great help in your shoulder pain, He could say go to the doctor that I gave the talents to help people heal, don't be stubborn of dumb and sit around in pain.

What I was referring to was all the atheist that are or were here that have sad they have depression, I have a chemical imbalance in my brain that does keep me depressed from time to time and take medication to control it, I have a good Christian doctor who puts me with the best doctors to treat my ailments, they may be Christian doctors or they may not, they all are blessed with talents from God, I believe this because they are always successful at helping me.

GC

I am confused you mention atheists being depressed and then say you, a christian need treatment for depression. Would it not be more accurate to say people get depressed sometimes because of life and or brain chemistry rather than say certain groups are more prone to it.



You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.

Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.




 








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#39
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
Quote:I must disagree here with what you say, after five plus years here most of the atheist who have come here have express they are currently depressed ( at the time they are here) and some talk about ending their lives, the facts from this forum alone are against your statement Rhonda.

AF is far too small a statistical universe from which to conclude that non-theists tend more towards depression than theists (in all fairness, the reverse is also true).

I've had depressive episodes in my life - the death of my father, the ending of certain relationships, the loss of dear friends, etc. But my atheism can hardly said to have been the source of my depression.

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#40
RE: Atheism Doen't Equal Depression
Funny you should mention Richard Dawkins because that's who I came here just now to mention.

I am currently reading his book The God Delusion and just ran across a quotation from George Bernard Shaw. "The fact that believers are happier than skeptics is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."

Yes, like alcohol, religion provides a way to escape the full effect of our problems. When I was a Christian, my favorite passage from the Bible was Hebrews 13, "Let your conversation be without covetousness but be content with such things as you have. For he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. I shall not fear what men shall do unto me." Now that I no longer believe that Jesus is that imaginary helper, it's only logical that I should "fear what men shall do unto me." But I see no statistically significant difference in the lives of Christians and the lives of nonbelievers. So it's a waste of emotional energy to fear that over which I have no control. I will live until I die and that is that.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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