Why are atheists without hope?

[Nyx]

I am just like most people. For the most part, I might hope for the best reasonable outcome, yet plan and act thinking at the most probable one.

As I said, for the most part- yes, I might dream about winning the great prize at the lottery, but I am well aware what the actual chance of this happening is. Just like the majority of people, I did hope till the last moment when someone I loved was very ill- although I knew the chances of a recovery were at some point almost non-existent. I am for the most part a “moderate” optimist.

Just because someone doesn’t believe in God or afterlife, doesn’t mean he/she is hopeless. Just that their hopes are centered on life here on Earth.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

I am just like most people. For the most part, I might hope for the best reasonable outcome, yet plan and act thinking at the most probable one.

As I said, for the most part- yes, I might dream about winning the great prize at the lottery, but I am well aware what the actual chance of this happening is. Just like the majority of people, I did hope till the last moment when someone I loved was very ill- although I knew the chances of a recovery were at some point almost non-existent. I am for the most part a “moderate” optimist.

Just because someone doesn’t believe in God or afterlife, doesn’t mean he/she is hopeless. Just that their hopes are centered on life here on Earth.

That makes sense.

 

[drac16]

I don’t think an atheist must necessarily choose to have no hope. Not every atheist is a nihilist. The hope that an atheist can have is obviously different than that of a christian. An atheist can define “hope” in whatever way he/she wants. It can be a hope for having a healthy life, hope for their children to be safe, hope for being able to stand up to a bad boss that they work for, etc.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

I don’t understand why you are asking or thinking this. You’ve brought up this atheist/hope-less perception and question several times and the atheists on the forum have corrected you.

I expect the sixth or seventh iteration of this thread to be “Why are atheists such stinky doo-doo heads?”

 

[oldcelt]

I have never heard of this before. Do you believe in an afterlife? Do you believe you have a soul? Do you believe that there is a heaven where you will be the same person with a spiritual body, or do you believe in something like reincarnation?

Explain to me your belief system concerning the afterlife. Is this common with atheists, because this is the first I have ever heard of it. Most atheists I know believe this one life is it and once you die it’s over and there is nothingness. This is the first time I have ever heard of an atheist believing in life after death. Please elaborate.

There are several possibilities…not likely, but still…The second law of thermodynamics, and the eternal dream state…I’ll offer those two.

John

 

[CHRISTINE77]

I think it’s possible. Anything’s possible. This is something we can’t and won’t know for sure until we die. Right now, there is no proper evidence for it so I don’t count on it in any way. But as an open-minded person, I don’t rule it out.
I have a friend who is a medium who says he connects with those in the afterlife and what I’ve seen him do over and over is very, very amazing.

Define: “soul”

I don’t believe in any of these things…but I don’t rule them out.

As above. Just that anything’s possible. Which also means that there may be an “afterlife” or even a “second life” after this one, with many more to follow…but we don’t know.

Reincarnation? It makes more sense to me than the heaven/hell thing.

I don’t know if this thinking is “common” with atheists. But most atheists I know keep an open mind about things and believe something as it’s proven.
Therefore, most I know would say it’s possible.
Most atheists–and that includes Hitchens and Dawkins, etc-- say a God is possible, too…they don’t rule it out.
(Unlike many theists I know, who never say they think it’s possible there *isn’t *a god)

They just say they have not seen any decent evidence for one, that’s all.

I may be a little more open-minded about it than some because of what I see my friend do.

.

I thought atheism means non-belief in God. Agnostics are the ones who are unsure. Are you saying Dawkins is an agnostic? Seems to me you are re-defining the word atheist. (Or else atheists want to have their cake and eat it too - sounds very non-committal to me, why not just say they are agnostic, they just don’t know?)

Atheism is about belief, or specifically what you don’t believe. Agnosticism is about knowledge, or specifically about what you don’t know. An atheist doesn’t believe in any gods. An agnostic doesn’t know if any gods exist or not.

Well thank for sharing your beliefs though! Your friend must be a believer. There’s hope for you yet!

 

[CHRISTINE77]

I expect the sixth or seventh iteration of this thread to be “Why are atheists such stinky doo-doo heads?”

Of course not. I think the OP meant hope for the afterlife, not hope for this life.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

There are several possibilities…not likely, but still…The second law of thermodynamics, and the eternal dream state…I’ll offer those two.

John

What’s the second law of thermodynamics? (sorry - bad at physics!)

In the case of the eternal dream state, is that something you hope for?

 

[HerCrazierHalf]

Of course not. I think the OP meant hope for the afterlife, not hope for this life.

In that case, I personally have no significant hope for the afterlife, nor am I bothered by the finite nature of our earthly lives. Somehow “everlasting life” (The phrase used in the church I used to attend) isn’t that appealing.

 

[oldcelt]

There are several possibilities…not likely, but still…The second law of thermodynamics, and the eternal dream state…I’ll offer those two.

John

My apologies. it is the first ,aw and I got back tooo late to correct myself…essentially, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Since our consciousness functions via energy exchanges within the brain, could our consciousness retain some sort of function after physical death?
So far as the eternal dream state…dreams occur within microseconds yet seem to last substantially longer…even many days. Could this occur at or near death and continue indefinitely?
Neither are very likely, but seem to be possible.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Trust me its a very frustrating predicament. Believing in God in a way is not a choice.

As a former atheist, I disagree. Atheism is definitely a choice. We are freely choosing not to believe. No one can force you not to believe. You have to make that choice on your own, and there is nothing deterministic about it, since atheism is a mortal sin and we are never forced to sin.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Thus, this “hope” for supernatural outcomes is only a possibility because they wish it to be. It is a baseless and false hope produced by frightened minds that cannot or will not accept the natural limitations of existence.

Calling something baseless and false does not prove it is baseless and false. Where is your evidence that there is no afterlife to hope in?

 

[Charlemagne_III]

I believe that all human beings have hopes. They may not be of a religious/spiritual nature, but they are hopes none the less. That some of us have chosen not to believe in a theistic deity, in no way indicates that we are without hope.

John

I don’t think you hope in the afterlife, do you?

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Perhaps you could clarify what it is you mean by “hope”.

Hope in the afterlife.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Sorry Charlie, your question seems to be based on a failed assumption.

What failed assumption would that be?

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Why do you think atheists don’t “hope”?
Why?

so do you hope in the afterlife?

 

[CHRISTINE77]

My apologies. it is the first ,aw and I got back tooo late to correct myself…essentially, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Since our consciousness functions via energy exchanges within the brain, could our consciousness retain some sort of function after physical death?
So far as the eternal dream state…dreams occur within microseconds yet seem to last substantially longer…even many days. Could this occur at or near death and continue indefinitely?
Neither are very likely, but seem to be possible.

Yes but do you hope for these? Or are you just resigned to the fact that Science and other religions only offer these options?

 

[Nyx]

Hope in the afterlife.

In this case, you are right- I have no hope in an afterlife. As for being hopeless- this depends of your understanding. Ceasing to exist after death is just this. We didn’t exist until we were born either. So, giving that you no longer have any thoughts, memories, can no longer feel anything and so on I don’t have reason to actually feel hopeless about it (although I am human, so yes, I still do fear death to a certain degree). As a friend put it “why be terrified or desperate regarding death? A dead person is not aware of anything. It is terrifying for those who loved him/her and are still alive”

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Hope in the afterlife.

I have been thinking about this a lot and I also think you might mean what Hebrews 11 has to say:

"1 Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see. 2 That is what the people of long ago were praised for. 3 We have faith. So we understand that everything was made when God commanded it. That’s why we believe that what we see was not made out of what could be seen. "

We hope for what is unseen, and we are sure of it by our faith. A person that only believes in the scientific explanation of things is a materialist, and will not accept anything on faith. However a person who has faith is sure of things unseen, and that is what hope really is based on.

Anyone who wants to argue this is certainly welcome to!

 

[Charlemagne_III]

In this case, you are right- I have no hope in an afterlife. As for being hopeless- this depends of your understanding. Ceasing to exist after death is just this. We didn’t exist until we were born either. So, giving that you no longer have any thoughts, memories, can no longer feel anything and so on I don’t have reason to actually feel hopeless about it (although I am human, so yes, I still do fear death to a certain degree). As a friend put it “why be terrified or desperate regarding death? A dead person is not aware of anything. It is terrifying for those who loved him/her and are still alive”

Well, this is the usual atheist mantra, that we will end up as we were before we began.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that in-between we have acquired the instinct to live life to the hilt, so why not beyond. It is a recurring theme in most civilizations, that death is not the end. We hope for something better than nothingness at the end of the tunnel.

Now the question is, why are atheists content not to hope?

I know plenty of atheists who pick a lottery ticket despite the chances are they will never win. They are willing to bet on the money, but not on their own immortality? Do they not want to be immortal? And if they do want to be immortal, why refuse to hope in that for which the evidence can only be forthcoming when they die?