What’s the worst thing about being an atheist?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Atheism may be enlightened thought, but it’s not all guns and roses sunshine and roses.

For me, the worst part of atheism is not having anyone to blame for the backassward cycle of life.

For example, when I sit down at a fine restaurant for a nice meal, I begin with the crappy salad, then progress to the ho-hum soup. This leaves me unsatisfied, wanting more, and better.

Then when the entree arrives, I eat the crappy vegetables first (just to delude myself into thinking I’m eating healthy). I get them off my plate as quickly as possible to get them out of my sight, and to make room on the plate to properly handle the better parts of the meal.

I then progress to the starch because you need some healthy carbs in your diet, too (typically a baked potato slathered with butter and sour cream). Not bad, but it leaves me wanting more and even better.

Then, and only then, I progress to the star of the show, the pièce de résistance—the meat!

I’m very careful to eat my meat (e.g. a T-bone steak) in a very precise manner, starting with the worst part, then progressing to the best. I trim off the peripheral fat and put that aside, then work my way inward to the most succulent meat next to the bone. Then I eat the fat that I previously trimmed off and gnaw on the bone (when no one is looking).

If I require an encore course (as I always do), I finish off with a plate of raspberry pie à la mode.

My point: it’s best to start with the worst and finish with the best.

But life is the complete opposite. In life, you start with the best—cute baby/happy-go-lucky toddler/carefree child…, then slowly progress to the worst—ugly, decrepit old person. And then you die, with no raspberry pie à la mode as your reward.

If you’re a religious sort, you can blame God for this tragic life cycle, and perhaps bank on a good afterlife, like heaven filled with nothing but T-bone steaks and raspberry pie à la mode.

But, as an atheist, you’ve got no one to blame, and nothing to look forward to. No one is accountable. No one to sue.

So, for you other atheists, what’s the worst part of atheism for you?

2

All the shit I get from other atheists complaining that I’m too intolerant, condescending, dismissive, rude, confrontational, etc. to theists.

3

I’m more on the side of agnostic or doubting-Christian than atheist, but I’d say, the belief/viewpoint that life is all about the strong prevailing, not the right or ethical prevailing.

The Allies won WW2, but that’s only because they were stronger. If the Axis had been more powerful and had the A-bomb, there’s no reason they couldn’t/wouldn’t have won.

Also, the famous Dawkins quote (paraphrased): “The universe behaves the way we’d expect if there is no right or wrong, no god that cares, but simply blind, pitiless, indifference.”

4

One of the worst things is being ineligible for Lenten fish suppers.*

*although you could probably sneak in disguised as a believer. I doubt the Barracks Tavern checks Jesus cards at the door.

5

I find the lack of a deity to blame to be a feature, really.

I don’t really know of too much in the way of downsides to being an atheist.

6

Frustration with believers.

7

There are certain aspects of a church community that are nice, that are hard to find a non-religious equivalent for. Things like pot luck dinners, church ladies bringing meals to sick members, and Christmas hymns all come to mind. These things are far outweighed by the negative aspects, but I can’t say that religious membership was all bad.

8

Strong agree here. The realization that ethics and justice are entirely irrelevant to the arc of history is painful to carry.

Relatedly: Many, many (I would even wager “most”) people have a broadly unhappy life that is characterized by scarcity and hardship. Most people die powerless and afraid, with little understanding and no control over what is happening to them. Without a divine purpose, we are left to realize that whether or not this paradigm applies to you is pure, random chance. Winning the “birth lottery” and being born into privilege substantially increases your chances of a pleasant existence but it is by no means a guarantee, and those birth circumstances likewise apply to only a tiny fraction of humanity.

We can work hard and make rational choices to try and increase the general comfort level of our lives, but whether those choices yield results is itself a crapshoot. It was comfortable to imagine that there might be a guaranteed improvement at some point after death and it is painful to have lost that comfort.

9

If church ladies’ pot-luck dinners featured T-bone steaks and raspberry pie à la mode, I might convert into a believer.

10

I guess loaves and fishes no longer cuts it. Jesus will have to up his game.

11

Your life must be very different from my own. I’m 64. The only decade in my life that wasn’t better than the one that came before it was my 40s. I had good supportive parents but childhood sucked. I’m looking forward to my 70s and 80s and beyond.

12

I’m 66. Life was great until I hit 64. Then everything quickly went south…not to scare you or anything.

J/K :slightly_smiling_face:

13

Exactly. Biological evolution is all about survival and adaptability, justice has nothing to with it. In fact, it may be counter-productive.

14

I envy true believers their faith that they are embraced by a loving god, and that there’s a reason for everything-- no matter how terrible and senseless things seem, we just don’t understand God’s Grand Plan. Also that if they just follow the rules, they will be rewarded with an eternity in paradise, and be reunited with their dead loved ones (as long as they had also followed the rules, of course). It must be very comforting to really believe.

15

Wait, what? I hit up as many fish fries during Lent as I can. Why would an atheist be ineligible? They are generally money-makers for the church so I’m sure they are happy to have me there. And hey, maybe I will convert!

As to the OP, the hardest part for me is the increased difficulty in providing a coherent and satisfying answer to difficult moral and existential questions to my young children. It’s so much easier to say “Be good because God wants you to” and “When you die you go to Heaven” than “Be good out of a humanistic/consquentialist/whatever ethical system” and “When you die you can only hope that the actions of your life leave a positive impact in the world”.

16

Being in the closet, so to speak, in society. We don’t really have an organization or voice politically. I would like to be able to say, “I am an atheist”, and expect the same level of basic social acceptance as someone who says, “I am a catholic” or “I am Jewish”.

17

There is no god, karma, or cosmic justice. If you want to live in a better world, it is your responsibility to work towards it.

When you die, you will live on with those whose lives you have affected.

18

Yup, those are both pretty much my viewpoints and the ones I try to pass along to my children.

But, particularly when children are young, that is a much more fraught and complicated discussion than “God did it” and “You get to go to Heaven and see Grandma”.

19

I look at attending a church supper as having drawbacks similar to those “free” meals offered by investment advisers and time-share sellers. Even if the former doesn’t feature an unpleasant hard sell, the possible psychic costs have to be figured in.

20

Just come to Wisconsin. Every Friday is fish fry friday all year round, all are welcome. Even Unitarian atheists like me.