Doubting Atheists

  • Thread starter Thread starter SPBlitz
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

SPBlitz

Guest
I know that many religious people experience doubt over they’re faith. I’m just curious, do you atheists ever doubt your atheism, and have moments when you think the whole theism thing might be true?
 
SPBlitz said:
I know that many religious people experience doubt over they’re faith. I’m just curious, do you atheists ever doubt your atheism, and have moments when you think the whole theism thing might be true?
Click to expand...
‘The whole theism thing’ encompasses a gigantic amount of belief systems. Atheism is not just a disbelief in the Abrahamic God.

I guess there are some atheists who might describe themselves as spiritual and wonder if there’s something over and above what we normally experience. I’m not one of them.
 
SPBlitz said:
I’m just curious, do you atheists ever doubt your atheism, and have moments when you think the whole theism thing might be true?
Click to expand...
Can’t speak for others, but since I lost my faith around 9 or 10 I’d say no. At best I have considered “could I be wrong?” a few times. But that’s not from a place of doubt per se but part of my personal philosophy that we must all look around time to time and ask “am I wrong?” and “could I be the bad guy right now?”

Actually, if not for religion’s role in public policy and certain social interactions my atheism would simply be the absence of religious thought.
 
My issue isn’t just with religion, it’s with the whole idea of supernaturalism. I’ve had a few moments when I’ve wondered if there could be a supernatural reality…and then I realize once again, no. It sounds interesting but with zero evidence I still have to rule it out. Maybe If, like Freddy, I was more spiritual but, I’m just not.
 
Last edited:
Shasta-Rose said:
The saying is that there are no atheists in foxholes.
Click to expand...
Care to elaborate?
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

That phrase makes a wildly poor assumption on the basis of nonbelief.
 
When I was atheist I had zero doubts about my beliefs. Once I began believing in God again, there was no doubt, it was more me discerning what God actually is, which was a process.
 
If I may: the supernatural is also an abductive conclusion. Because naturalism is both insufficient and incoherent, therefore there is the supernatural. As Sherlock Holmes would say, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
 
Last edited:
Neithan said:
If I may: the supernatural is also an abductive conclusion. Because naturalism is both insufficient and incoherent, therefore there is the supernatural. As Sherlock Holmes would say, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
Click to expand...
Response from an atheist, and meaning no disrespect: what does this mean?
 
No disrespect is apparent, but your question might be too vague for a meaningful answer. It’s a two-step process that 1. eliminates naturalism as a sufficient or coherent explanation of reality and 2. concludes there must be something supernatural. The first step of course involves a lot of sub-steps.
 
Last edited:
No, not in any real sense. When studying a belief system I can sometimes see the way spiritual reasoning works or the function of certain rituals, prayer etc. but it dos not make me believe. I would quite like to believe that there are ghosts and always enjoy people telling me their stories about loved ones being in contact but I always see this as a personification of memory, or of a sense of loss or continuity. I don’t really think there are ghosts. I occasionally invoke the name of God or other beings as in ‘you are doing God’s work’ or ‘we are on the side of the angels’ but I don;t think that reflects any inner belief, any more than saying ’ Justice is blind’ means I believe in an entity called Justice.

I know atheists who are quite confident that, if able and aware at the time of their death, they are very likely to pray because prayer was inculcated into them as children and is culturally inescapable. But even though they expect to do this, they don;t expect to believe.
 
Thank you all for the replies, they were quite interesting. It seems from what’s been posted that it’s fairly unanimous that atheists don’t ever really have doubts about their atheism. I guess this means either that doubt is a peculiarly theist/religious problem, or that the atheists who are very confident in their beliefs are more likely to post on a Catholic forum than those that are less confident.
 
Last edited:
SPBlitz said:
or that the atheists who are very confident in their beliefs are more likely to post on a Catholic forum than those that are less confident.
Click to expand...
FWIW I don’t seriously doubt theism, but I do try to “suspend belief” when I want to really understand an atheist’s argument from their perspective. I don’t claim to be a skeptic or freethinker, though. If an atheist truly never doubts their atheism then they are also not skeptics or freethinkers, but a different kind of believer.
 
Shasta-Rose said:
The saying is that there are no atheists in foxholes
Click to expand...
That’s why it’s just a “saying”. Lots of us in the military. I just retired after 20 years. Definitely more atheists than Catholics today just FYI.

Boot camp in San Antonio TX draws over 1000 attendees every Sunday to the Humanist/Secular service.
 
SPBlitz said:
it’s fairly unanimous that atheists don’t ever really have doubts about their atheism.
Click to expand...
I would say your understanding of atheism is not accurate then. Since it’s not a belief (assume you know this) it doesn’t make sense to say you doubt it. Atheists don’t believe in any gods. They are agnostic (they don’t know) and they don’t believe (not theist). Certainty is the realm of religion.
 
Atheism is an amorphous term. There is no faith, obviously, but there are many beliefs that are atheistic. Buddhism, for example. Materialism, for another. Metaphysical naturalism and its variants. And the atheists above seem pretty certain. Certainty is also the realm of ideology.
 
Last edited:
Sure but that’s not what the OP was asking. An “atheist” cannot prove there is no god. In the context asked, it means they don’t believe, they doubt the proposition of theism (they are not certain…they don’t believe). It’s the opposite of being certain.
 
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

I suppose there could be some Gnostic Atheists out there but would say they are just as incorrect as Gnostic Theists.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top