# Are there any atheist ideas of an afterlife? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768 "2008-06-30T13:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/21 "2008-06-30T17:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] How long do the arrangements take? Isn’t refrigeration enough? [/QUOTE] Not enough to prevent an odor. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/22 "2008-06-30T18:04:32Z")
[QUOTE=stpauler] No, atheism just means a belief that there is no god/goddess. [/QUOTE] Nitpick: atheism is not a belief _that_ there _is/are_ no god/s, but rather a _lack_ of belief _in_ one or more gods. Default zero position. This atheist holds to the sack of fertilizer notion, barring further evidence. This can be mystified into some sort of brahman-atman “I become worms and trees and soil and birds!” approach when needed. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/23 "2008-06-30T18:07:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Wasn’t there some group that was claiming our very distant descendants might have the computing power to create a perfect, self-aware simulation of our personalities, plus (somehow) the ability to work backwards and snag a copy of us, to start it up. (as distinct from the we-are-already-in-a-sim hypotheses) [/QUOTE] That would be the Riverworld Hypothesis (tho that involved artificial souls called “wathans”, which may be a bit beyond the curve for many here). There’s also Frank Tipler’s [Omega Point](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point_%28Tipler%29), tho it all may be moot if we have neverending expansion (and according to this article string theory also introduces a monkey wrench into the proceedings). An Omega Point of sorts may be possible without a universe-wide singularity-Tipler claims that all his ideas are based strictly on reductionistic principles BTW. YMMV. If something like that is possible you would be “recreated” in a sort of shotgun approach, involving an infinity of virtually identical and not-so-identical copies of yourself. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/24 "2008-06-30T18:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] Nitpick: atheism is not a belief _that_ there _is/are_ no god/s, but rather a _lack_ of belief _in_ one or more gods. Default zero position. This atheist holds to the sack of fertilizer notion, barring further evidence. This can be mystified into some sort of brahman-atman “I become worms and trees and soil and birds!” approach when needed. [/QUOTE] I think it can go both ways. YMMV. > **[Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/)** > > Find definitions for over 300,000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings. athe·ism Pronunciation: \ˈā-thē-ˌi-zəm\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle French athéisme, from athée atheist, from Greek atheos godless, from a- + theos god Date: 1546 1archaic : ungodliness, wickedness 2 a: a disbelief in the existence of deity b: the doctrine that there is no deity or > **[Ninjawords - a really fast dictionary](https://ninjawords.com)** > > A really fast online dictionary atheism (n) : absence of belief in the existence of God or gods; belief in the non-existence of God or gods ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/25 "2008-06-30T19:13:03Z")
Dictionary definitions are good only to the vaguest first approximation. Shades of meaning and usage are never reflected well in dictionaries. Trying to categorize atheist beliefs by using a dictionary definition is worse than useless; it actively confuses the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/26 "2008-06-30T19:39:03Z")
No one has ever come back to say otherwise, and there’s no scientific reason to believe that the “soul” (that is, an individuals consciousness) can exist independently of the physical body (which would be a prerequisite for an afterlife). I’m sure you could find a few crackpots that claim otherwise though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/27 "2008-06-30T19:43:08Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Dictionary definitions are good only to the vaguest first approximation. Shades of meaning and usage are never reflected well in dictionaries. Trying to categorize atheist beliefs by using a dictionary definition is worse than useless; it actively confuses the issue. [/QUOTE] Is the term not also divided in actual reality too though? I’m pretty sure I’ve met atheists who said their position was simple absence of belief, and others who expressed a belief that the notion of a deity was utterly false. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/28 "2008-06-30T19:54:38Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Dictionary definitions are good only to the vaguest first approximation. Shades of meaning and usage are never reflected well in dictionaries. Trying to categorize atheist beliefs by using a dictionary definition is worse than useless; it actively confuses the issue. [/QUOTE] Then let’s use [this site](http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist.htm) as further elucidation of the point I made and the dictionaries’ definitions which I find to correspond as well. > [@](#): > > Atheism: Belief in no God, or no > belief in God; there is a difference [It’s further defined here](http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist4.htm) > [@](#): > > Most of the North American public define an “Atheist” is a person who believes that no deity exists: neither a God, nor a Goddess, nor a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. This definition is reflected in American dictionaries – not just because most publishers are Christian, but because it is the purpose of dictionaries to follow the public’s word usage. Some individuals who consider themselves Atheists mesh well with that definition. But they may be in the minority. Many, perhaps most, Atheists simply have no belief about deity. For them, Atheism is not disbelief in a deity or deities; it is simply a lack of belief in any of them. It goes on quite a bit with the end result summarized as: _absence of belief in the existence of God or gods; belief in the non-existence of God or gods_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/29 "2008-06-30T21:41:36Z")
Buddhism is essentially atheistic – that is, Gautama assumed the gods of his culture **exist,** but they’re **beside the point.** You don’t get enlightenment by praying to them – they’re in the same fix **we** are, trapped in the world of maya and stuck on the wheel of karma. Buddha never claimed to be a god nor a god’s prophet, just a guy who sat down and thought things out. And most (not all) branches of Buddhism believe in a personal soul or spirit that reincarnates. In Hinduism, from which Buddhism derives, reincarnation operates mechanistically – your soul will find the incarnation appropriate to your karma like water finding its own level; no god sits in judgment on the process and you cannot get a better deal through prayer. N.B.: In some schools of Hinduism, you **can** get spiritual benefit from trying to commune with the gods via prayer, chanting, meditation, spiritual exercises – “yoga” means “yoking,” i.e., linking your soul to God’s. Lotsa variety in Hinduism. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/30 "2008-07-01T00:15:26Z")
**Exapno** , you are confusing what characteristics atheists often have, with what characteristics atheists have that make them atheist. An extremely large percentage of US suburban homeowners would also own a car, but that doesn’t mean that the definition of a US suburban homeowner is someone who owns a suburban house and a car. Someone is an atheist if they don’t have a belief in any god. Atheists often extrapolate out from there to a number of other views, but only as a secondary matter. The answer to the OP’s second question has been answered. The OP’s first question doesn’t make sense, on its face. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/31 "2008-07-01T05:54:56Z")
[QUOTE=BrandonR] But what is religion with no gods? I think when most people say they’re atheist, they’re also admitting to not believing in a spiritual afterlife and similar, unprovable things. [/QUOTE] It’s conceivable for someone to believe in an eternal soul, heaven, hell, angels, miracles, etc., etc., without necessarily believing in a God. Simply identifying someone as an “atheist” only refers to what he \*\*\*doesn’t \*\*\*believe, not what he does believe. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768/32 "2008-07-02T14:17:33Z")
I just got reminded of something I read once – that there’s an idea that the last moment, before your mind shuts down for good, might subjectively seem like/be an eternity (sort of like a ‘personal Omega Point’). This obviously wouldn’t entail a continuation of the existence of the soul in any way, and in fact wouldn’t even necessitate its existence, but it would, in some way, be a form of eternal life, though what the mind would do during that eternity is anyone’s guess (hopefully, not relive the pain of dying all the time, because that’d be a pretty sucky afterlife). If, for instance, you’d be stuck in some memory for all eternity, you could even work in a nice little heaven/hell-dichotomy: you either get a good or a bad moment, perhaps based on the state of your conscience, or whatever (that’s just an attempt to hypothesize about a possible implementation of such an atheist afterlife, I should point out). However, it’s not really clear to me how that would work, subjectively experiencing eternity. A loss of the ability to keep track and concept of time, perhaps. But it’s a possible conception of a not entirely un-afterlife like thing within an atheist (and probably even largely materialist) view. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-atheist-ideas-of-an-afterlife/454768.md?page=1)