Does being atheist make any of us better human beings? If, let’’s just say in America, if we were majority atheist over any religion, would we be a better country to our neighbors than we are today? I don’t think so and I have no but I also have no reason to think that it might. Atheism is just a non-belief in god(s) and doesn’t inform us in any other way. Every political or social belief a person may have who is an atheist, is in addition to their atheism, not because of it.
In a recent post by my good friend Gretchen, she utilizes John Loftus’ book, An Outsiders Test for Faith as an example of how we should apply skepticism, to faith, which is one of several definitions proposed in an earlier post. I’ve read the book, the video she embedded I’ve also viewed before. What I want to ask here is what constitutes an outsider? Is it that a person was once a believer, and is now an non-believer that they are an outsider and are therefore qualified to make a determination as to what is true or not true to any religious belief? Is it possible to have any objectivity having been a believer in the past and now questions the beliefs of others?
I’ve never really cared for the word, deconversion. The actual meaning of the word, as a noun, is that it’s a return, from some religious belief to a previous belief or none at all. For many, if not most atheists I know, they never had a chance to deconvert, because they never converted to their religious belief initially. Think about it. A child of parents from any religion automatically raise them to believe what those parents believe. Small children always, at least in my experience, want to please their parents, so it’s easy for them to take on those characteristics the parents indoctrinate them with, whether good or bad.
On occasion, I am asked how it is I live without belief. What’s meant is belief in God. My response has mostly always been that I don’t really ever think about it and proceed to ask the person, if they go around all day thinking of their God? Well of course they don’t, but for some reason, not believing in any gods or spirits or demons is a strange way to go about life. What difference it makes has always puzzled me, and that there are those that cannot imagine a life without some sort of metaphysical belief, is sometimes beyond my ability to grasp.
Whenever I hear or read someone, a Christian, say that we have to suffer in this life because if we suffer and still have faith, there’s a better life awaiting us. I know, like many of you, I too used to believe this nonsense but today, I just shake my head and ask the question, why? Why would a God that supposedly loves us have us go through so much travail in this life with a promise that if we pass the test, keeping our faith, we will be rewarded, later?