Why aren't atheists joyful?

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AnAtheist:
If that makes you happy, I don’t mind.
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Thankyou:D When God lets you know please pray for me and my family.God Bless You
 
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Jeremy:
I would not say atheists have no joy. I would say that the joy atheists feel is inconsistent with atheism, though. In fact a common apologetics approach with atheists is to show that their actions are inconsistent with their (supposed) beliefs. C.S. Lewis addresses this in the first part of Mere Christianity.
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Interesting. Do you have any example, what actions of mine are inconsistent with my “belief”?
How is an “atheistic action” defined anyway? That action must be due to atheism (alone), so how can it be inconsistent with atheism?

Atheistic “actions” are not doing something like believing, worshipping, praying…

Please, name one true atheistic action for a start.
 
Atheistic “actions” are not doing something like believing, worshipping, praying…

Please, name one true atheistic action for a start.
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There is really no such thing as an atheist. Everybody worships something even if they are not aware of it. Be it self, ego, sex, money, power etc etc etc.

We all have a belief system, for one to say that they are beyond it all is to live a lie.

I used to figure many years ago that people were just afraid to go into that black void of death so they needed religion to cope.

Boy was I ever wrong, this universe didn’t just decide to create it’s self one sunny afternoon just because.

Nothing exist that was not created with the exception of God. How is that possible? He created physics as a non participant.

-D
 
AnAtheist,
if you ever give money to a begger who’s useless to you and feel happy after that, then you’re probably an agnostic rather than an atheist. atheists don’t believe in judgement after death, and such behavior does them no good.
 
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abcdefg:
AnAtheist,
if you ever give money to a begger who’s useless to you and feel happy after that, then you’re probably an agnostic rather than an atheist. atheists don’t believe in judgement after death, and such behavior does them no good.
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Since when do agnostics believe in judgement? They state, the question whether there is a god or not cannot be answered, so they make no statements about what (incl. none) god does exist. That includes the question whether God judges or not.

And why can’t atheists do something useless? Atheism does not equal hedonistic utilitarism. The latter could perhaps be considered “atheistic”, but that would qualify for a subset only.
 
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AnAtheist:
And why can’t atheists do something useless? Atheism does not equal hedonistic utilitarism. The latter could perhaps be considered “atheistic”, but that would qualify for a subset only.
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You can,

You have 367 posts in a Catholic forum over 10 months. This forum is very open and allows for all people to post here (within reason). My sincere question for you is … why post 367 times in a Catholic forum as an atheist and what are your goals and objectives in participating in a forum that is full of people who do believe in God?

I do not ask this to make you feel in any way unwelcome this is not my forum and that is not my place. I wonder what you seek here, are you looking for answers or perhaps to convert people to atheism etc? When I was an atheist I would have never wasted my time in an ignorant religious forum, that would be a waste of time and life was to short.

Atheism is no threat to my faith, worse case scenario is that there is no God and when I die I just go to sleep and never wake up. That doesn’t sound too scary to me, what is your worse case scenario? Another question I have is what is your atheism based on? Is it based on science, or perhaps the idea of no God just feels right? I would imagine that atheist who are serious base there ideas on something in discounting Gods existence. I base my Christianity on the fact that I sought answers and God revealed himself to me. You have to admit that no other person who as ever lived has affected history nearly as much as Christ has. Is this a mass delusion over thousands of years over some guy out of the tens of thousands crucified by the Roman empire? That seems a little less than likely to me if I were a betting man wagering my soul.

-D
 
Interesting. Do you have any example, what actions of mine are inconsistent with my “belief”?
How is an “atheistic action” defined anyway? That action must be due to atheism (alone), so how can it be inconsistent with atheism?

Atheistic “actions” are not doing something like believing, worshipping, praying…

Please, name one true atheistic action for a start.
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Let me be careful here. I am not referring to atheists who believe in some kind of overall structure to the universe but who do not believe there is a God or gods in charge of it, like in some eastern religions. When I mean atheist I am talking about someone who believes that everything we see is simply a random conglomeration of atoms which may follow scientific laws which are themselves arbitrary.

If I were an atheist as I described, every action would be designed to cause or prolong the pleasure I can derive while my brain cells are still intact enough to recognize pleasure. I would not “get mad” because people misunderstood atheism, or if I did I certainly would not consider that beneficial and would take immediate steps to prevent such emotion. I would not be able to meaningfully say “there are good and bad people in every group”, because good and bad are irrelevant.

That’s what I mean by inconsistent.
 
The opening post mentioned an “Atheist Wedding”.

Now just who performs an atheist wedding? Certainly not a Priests or Minister.

This would be a strange, strange union.
 
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Darrel:
I wonder what you seek here, are you looking for answers or perhaps to convert people to atheism etc? When I was an atheist I would have never wasted my time in an ignorant religious forum, that would be a waste of time and life was to short.
I like a decent debate. Stimulates the intellect. And may lead to mutual understanding each other. This board is far from ignorant, so I have hope for the understanding part. Ignorance is not disagreement.
Atheism is no threat to my faith, worse case scenario is that there is no God and when I die I just go to sleep and never wake up. That doesn’t sound too scary to me,
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What if the Muslims were right, and you end up in their hell. Wouldn’t that be worse?
what is your worse case scenario?
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Ending up in a place where I’d loose my freedom. That includes some visions of heaven.
Another question I have is what is your atheism based on? Is it based on science, or perhaps the idea of no God just feels right?
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Science in the first place. A god explains nothing, but everything can be explained without one. Granted, the latter not yet, but mankind is working on that.
You have to admit that no other person who as ever lived has affected history nearly as much as Christ has.
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Well, he certainly did affect history alot. As for the sheer numbers, I’d say Buddha and Confutius have both reached more people for a longer time period. And Mohammed comes quite close.
 
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Jeremy:
I am not referring to atheists who believe in some kind of overall structure to the universe but who do not believe there is a God or gods in charge of it, like in some eastern religions. When I mean atheist I am talking about someone who believes that everything we see is simply a random conglomeration of atoms which may follow scientific laws which are themselves arbitrary.
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I don’t see the difference between a structered universe without an external principle that forced that structure and an arbitrarily structered universe.
If I were an atheist as I described, …] I would not be able to meaningfully say “there are good and bad people in every group”, because good and bad are irrelevant.
That’s what I mean by inconsistent.
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If you put that way, you’re right. But good and bad can be derived by other means than divine commandment, take secular humanism for an example. And why should someone, who thinks the universe is totally random, necessarily neglect the need for rules in a society (aka good and bad)? That’s a non-sequitur to me.
 
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AnAtheist:
Science in the first place. A god explains nothing, but everything can be explained without one. Granted, the latter not yet, but mankind is working on that.

Well, he certainly did affect history alot. As for the sheer numbers, I’d say Buddha and Confutius have both reached more people for a longer time period. And Mohammed comes quite close.
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Well, once science figures out how a universe full of matter was created from nothing, then we’ll talk about science answering everying.

Do you by any chance have any numbers? In my world history class a few years ago, we did a chapter on comparative religions. Buddhism and Confucianism were not in first place for the most followers. I’d give you the numbers, but I don’t own that book any more, sorry.

Eamon
 
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turboEDvo:
Well, once science figures out how a universe full of matter was created from nothing, then we’ll talk about science answering everying.
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For my part, science already did. The universe is a quantum fluctuation with a total energy of zero.
Do you by any chance have any numbers? In my world history class a few years ago, we did a chapter on comparative religions. Buddhism and Confucianism were not in first place for the most followers. I’d give you the numbers, but I don’t own that book any more, sorry.
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Followers is one thing. I am not sure, but weren’t there more Hindus than Christians over the time? Hindu is twice as old as Christianity and developed in a stronger populated area than Europe.
But we were talking about impact on history. Christianity and thus Jesus affected lots of non-Christians too, not always on the best of terms btw. Same applies for Buddha and Confutius. In China for example, Jesus made little to no impact, but Buddha and Confutius both had a huge one. And there were vast numbers of Chinese in the last 2500 years.
 
My fellow Catholics and Christians who have posted on this and other threads and described atheists as being immoral, foolish, ignorant, inane, devoid of compassion, hollow, superficial, etc., etc., etc., all I can say is shame on us.

I work with and have discussions with a lot of atheists. Most are nice people who don’t believe in God. Simple as that. The reasons why vary greatly, but many say that the behavior they see in Christians doesn’t attract them to the faith. This is a sad testimony indeed.

My greatest concern in participating in these forums for the past six months has been the example that we are showing in our treatment of one another, and most particularly, our treatment of those who disagree with us, whether they be Protestant Christians, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Hindu, Muslims, New Age, Agnostics or Atheists.

The refrain from the old song, “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love” should be our basic operating principle.

AnAtheist and others - please accept my sincere apology for any mistreatment by me or others on these forums. A spirited discussion is always in order, but insults are out of line. Please take note of what my Pastor often says, “Don’t judge the Catholic faith based on the poor practice of it my some Catholics.”
 
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AnAtheist:
And why should someone, who thinks the universe is totally random, necessarily neglect the need for rules in a society (aka good and bad)?
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Which society are we talking about here?
 
You said “there are good and bad people in every group”, referring to atheists and to Christians. But if good and bad are completely determined by societal rules, I need to know what society you were referring to, in order to put your statement into its required context.
 
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abcdefg:
AnAtheist,
if you ever give money to a begger who’s useless to you and feel happy after that, then you’re probably an agnostic rather than an atheist. atheists don’t believe in judgement after death, and such behavior does them no good.
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You’re correct. Atheists don’t believe in judgement after death, or that their good deeds will somehow be returned upon them at a later date.

This doesn’t mean that an atheist who does good secretly believes in Heaven or Hell in his heart of hearts. What it means is that even in the complete absence of any reward for their actions, many atheists show kindness and charity to their fellow man simply for the sake of showing kindness and charity. Kindness not as a means to get into Heaven, but as an end unto itself.

I fail to see how that paints atheists as less moral.
 
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