Is being an atheist important to you?

[EgoDeath]

I often go back and forth on this idea, debating with myself whether or not being an atheist is important to my identity. At times, I feel that, no, it isn't important. God or the lack thereof is simply a non-issue in most areas in my life and it's something I simply normally don't think about. It's not like I go to work and think, "Well, it's Monday morning and there's no such thing as god. The endless march of time will erode us all into stardust eventually, so let's go to work."

At other times I do feel it's important in the sense that I don't believe in god because of the way I view the world. I am naturally skeptical and have always been a logical thinker, so this does play into the fact that I don't believe in god for good reasons and I do view the world in a certain way because of this. I get along with Christians and other god believers alike just fine, but I do tend to click with atheists the best in conversations. Coincidentally, most people I consider my friends happen to be atheists. This isn't something that was done purposefully, but when the subject came up between friends and me, I realized one day that all of my friends are atheists as well.

So I go back and forth between this, but ultimately I think the answer would be yes. The fact that I don't believe in god actually is pretty important to me. Maybe I like the rebellious aspects of it, I'm not really sure. But I do also see myself settling down with a beautiful atheist woman one day; that'd be awesome. I really don't see myself dating a religious person by any stretch of the imagination, as I simply think our worldviews would probably be vastly different. If, of course, I found someone who was religious, but that person didn't find their religion to be all that important to them, an exception could be made I suppose.

For the most part, I don't usually ask people about their religious beliefs though, so who knows? I think it just so happens to be that I click well with atheists as opposed to theists. For that reason, I would say that atheism is an important part of my identity. What do you guys think? Why or why not?

[Yonadav]

I am not yet an atheist. But I have a belief that has been creeping into my mind about hard determinism. I am starting to believe in hard determinism and disbelieve free will. I'm not quite there yet, but I am certainly leaning toward hard determinism. I see no room for a deity if we don't have free will. Judaism entails soft determinism. It has to be soft. There has to be a measure of free will. Without it, there is no Judaism. So if I really became convinced of hard determinism, then I would become an atheist.

But being an atheist wouldn't be very important to me. I would simply not be a religious believer anymore. If I were walking by a synagogue and some guys stopped me and told me that they need a tenth man for a minyan, I would go in and make their minyan. They are just asking me for help, and it is part of our culture for me to give them this help. I wouldn't feel any need to tell them that I'm an atheist, and they wouldn't really care very much.

[Belacqua]

The fact that I don't believe in god actually is pretty important to me. Maybe I like the rebellious aspects of it, I'm not really sure.

I can see that it's important to people, in that it's a pretty important part of how they see themselves in the world. Not that we devote much of each day to thinking about our role in the world. 

What worries me is people's tendency to define themselves in terms of what they oppose. "Negative identity." 

Some people are just atheist, and some people are in addition wildly anti-religion, and the anti- part becomes personally important.

[onlinebiker]

Being an atheist is important to me as being right handed, blue eyed, or 6 foot tall...


It only matters when I' m checking boxes on my personal information on some paperwork.



Other than that, I rarely notice.



Oh - and I get to sleep in on Sunday morning.

[EgoDeath]

I am not yet an atheist. But I have a belief that has been creeping into my mind about hard determinism. I am starting to believe in hard determinism and disbelieve free will. I'm not quite there yet, but I am certainly leaning toward hard determinism. I see no room for a deity if we don't have free will. Judaism entails soft determinism. It has to be soft. There has to be a measure of free will. Without it, there is no Judaism. So if I really became convinced of hard determinism, then I would become an atheist.

But being an atheist wouldn't be very important to me. I would simply not be a religious believer anymore. If I were walking by a synagogue and some guys stopped me and told me that they need a tenth man for a minyan, I would go in and make their minyan. They are just asking me for help, and it is part of our culture for me to give them this help.  I wouldn't feel any need to tell them that I'm an atheist, and they wouldn't really care very much.

It seems much more common, in the Jewish community at least, for people to simply be "cultural Jews," where they sort of go through the motions of being a religious Jew, but don't actually believe in god or any of that stuff. This is at least what I've gathered from my limited exposure to Jewish people in real life.

The fact that I don't believe in god actually is pretty important to me. Maybe I like the rebellious aspects of it, I'm not really sure.

I can see that it's important to people, in that it's a pretty important part of how they see themselves in the world. Not that we devote much of each day to thinking about our role in the world.

What worries me is people's tendency to define themselves in terms of what they oppose. "Negative identity."

Some people are just atheist, and some people are in addition wildly anti-religion, and the anti- part becomes personally important.

Sure. The people who identify as "anti-theist" tend to come to mind when I think of what you're talking about.

Being an atheist is important to me as being right handed, blue eyed, or 6 foot tall...


It only matters when I' m checking boxes on my personal information on some paperwork.



Other than that, I rarely notice.



Oh - and I get to sleep in on Sunday morning.

I see where you're coming from. I also don't see it as some part of my life that I need to share with someone, but it certainly affects my view of the world, which is why I'd consider it important.




I do wonder if some atheists are apprehensive about admitting that atheism is important in their lives because of the many disingenuous attempts by the religious to convince us that atheism is an active belief rather than a lack of a belief. Admitting that atheism is important may provoke theists to say, "See? You just like going against god." -even though they would be off-base in that accusation.

[Macoleco]

It is important to me. It means I escaped from an indoctrination most people never leave. And it is also an achievement for humanity, in the sense that society and science has progress enough to the point I could inform myself about religion, helping me to make the decision.

[EgoDeath]

It is important to me. It means I escaped from an indoctrination most people never leave. And it is also an achievement for humanity, in the sense that society and science has progress enough to the point I could inform myself about religion, helping me to make the decision.

I agree; I also tend to see it this way. I personally think it's a bit courageous to declare oneself an atheist in a society where there are still places you can't even hold public office if you are one (at least here in the US). I also tend to agree with Dawkins in The God Delusion when he expresses the sentiment about atheists who "believe in belief," saying, "These vicarious second-order believers are often more zealous than the real thing." These 'I believe in belief atheists' are tough to listen to and I totally get the feeling that they give the religious a pass as a way to avoid rocking the boat. But I believe that at this point, we should be rocking the boat and challenging these archaic, nonsense fairytales.

[brewer]

Important? Probably only when religious entitlement and privilege rears it's ugly head when I'm in the vicinity.

[Fireball]

It's important to me in the sense that I reasoned my way out of the programming. As far as what it means in my day to day living, not a whole lot, except when some religious people show up at my front door. Then, they are made to feel unwelcome.

[Peebothuhlu]

Must admit I'm with OnlineBiker.

The whole thing has just never been any big 'Thing' in my life/to me.

Cheers.

Not at work.