# What’s the worst thing about being an atheist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166 "2023-04-25T13:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/461 "2024-02-23T23:11:56Z")
I can’t recall if someone mentioned this upthread or not, but one of the irks of being an atheist is that, by that assumption, highly-religious people won’t get their comeuppance. They’ll live by their religion (and impose their religion on others), fully convinced that they’re going to heaven, and die with a smile on their lips on their deathbed - and if you believe that death just means instant blackness and nothingness - no awareness - then these folks never found out they were wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/462 "2024-02-23T23:43:00Z")
Worst thing about being an atheist? Tombstone for an atheist: All dressed up and no place to go. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/463 "2024-02-23T23:47:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > For that matter, can’t a sinner be given last rites in the Catholic church and still be absolved, without doing the other stuff? Interestingly, a sin is as defined breaking the rules of a religion. If you don’t believe in a religion, then there are no rules to break. Atheists are sinless. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/464 "2024-02-24T01:26:43Z")
That wasn’t my point. I’m saying that a believer who sins can still hope for a deathbed redemption. As an Atheist, I have no such hope. All I can do is look b ack on a life lived well, or poorly. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/465 "2024-02-24T05:28:59Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > one of the irks of being an atheist is that, by that assumption, highly-religious people won’t get their comeuppance. They’ll live by their religion (and impose their religion on others), fully convinced that they’re going to heaven, and die with a smile on their lips on their deathbed - and if you believe that death just means instant blackness and nothingness - no awareness - then these folks never found out they were wrong. This bothers me not one iota. I’ve made enough mistakes and had enough incorrect opinions in my life that I will be glad to let them fall away when I die, along with any useful achievements I may have had. My pious hope for such people is that they will learn they were wrong while they were alive, and their deathbed feelings will be at least tinged with regret for all the harm they have (at least attempted, or actually) done to other people. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/466 "2024-02-24T05:33:06Z")
I seek my redemptions during my life. I would much rather be forgiven by those I have wronged than by a mythical creature I can’t possibly do harm to. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/467 "2024-02-24T07:00:25Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > …Unless, of course, there’s a TV in the afterlife. Maybe God or our alien AI universe creator has Netflix on their device. Now that Netflix has cracked down on sharing accounts, this won’t help. God’s not gonna pony up the extra $6.99 a month for everyone. It’s interesting to me that everyone who’s been part of an organization understands that the written rules aren’t always the way things work, but we often expect members of a religion to be the exception. It’s also very easy for non-believers to misunderstand the precepts of a religion and to conflate the beliefs and practices of different sects. It’s really tempting to tell believers, especially the ones who are holier-than-thou and hypocritical, how they should be behaving according to the religion they belong to, but it’s not my place as an atheist to do that. Given that I was an actual church-going member of mainstream Protestant congregations for some 30 years of my life, I sometimes feel qualified to do so, but I refrain. The worst thing for me about being an atheist is that Christian acquaintances get almost defensive about their beliefs. I end up just not telling people for fear that I’ll alienate them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2024, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/468 "2024-02-24T08:50:53Z")
“Anybody who demands that I have faith in gods, I’ll just point out that _real_ gods can just punch you to prove they exist.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/469 "2024-02-26T03:55:48Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > As for free will, I believe that already said I consider it an incoherent concept. It’s just an empty phrase. It is useful if it has relevance. In the case of a Cosmic Dom who likes to spank you because reasons, “free will” has meaning. In the sum total of the cause/effect vectors of reality, it offers nothing of value. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/470 "2024-02-26T17:26:45Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Interestingly, a sin is as defined breaking the rules of a religion. If you don’t believe in a religion, then there are no rules to break. Atheists are sinless. Atheists don’t even believe sin is a thing. Atheists - like everyone - can do unethical things though. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/471 "2024-02-26T18:24:06Z")
I wonder if there is much of a difference between a “sin” and an “unethical thing”, perhaps it is this: Whether an act is unethical or not is subject to analysis, whereas a sin is a sin because God say so, and that’s it. (Then again, the constant debates about interpreting that “God say so” tend to blur the difference again) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/472 "2024-02-26T18:52:14Z")
I can’t teleport, but I _can_ eat chocolate cake. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/473 "2024-02-26T19:03:01Z")
Devil’s food? ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/474 "2024-02-26T21:02:45Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I wonder if there is much of a difference between a “sin” and an “unethical thing”, perhaps it is this: Whether an act is unethical or not is subject to analysis, whereas a sin is a sin because God say so, and that’s it. It makes a world of difference, and you pretty much answered your own question. Under secular morality, something is wrong because it harms us people (and eventualty other living beings). Under Christian morality, sin is anything that goes against the order of things ordained by God. As an atheist, I am thankful that I need only consider the moral interests of my fellow mortal beings, and not have to subvert my ideas of morality to those of an all-powerful sky being. And that any punishment you might suffer will be in the here and now, before your fellow humans and for offenses aganst other humans, and not in some invisible afterlife due to offending primarily the god’s sensibilities. And while there are people - indeed many people - that I would subject to severe punishment if I could, there is NO ONE who I would subject to horrendous eternal punishment, which is what conservative Christianity teaches us willfully sinning against God makes us liable to. No one. You can’t punish people eternally for a finite crime. The doctrine that God created the world knowing that many would end up eternally damned is a perverse invention. The only one I could remotely fathom condemning to an eternal hell is the very (fictional) god that Christianity preaches, for being such a monster to conjure up a world where eternal demnation can even exist. That’s right, not the Devil, but God (both fictional characters again, I’m only speaking academically). And in fact, I couldn’t even bring myself to leave that god in hell forever. Why? Because, I AM FAR MORE MERCIFUL THAN HE IS. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/475 "2024-02-26T22:04:35Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > If church ladies’ pot-luck dinners featured T-bone steaks and raspberry pie à la mode, I might convert into a believer. Well, one of our church ladies runs a hog farm. She brings in huge troughs of pulled pork, and her husband and sons to help serve it. We also have a minister who had a sex-and-then-career change and now brings her wonderful (but reeeeally strong) beers. [Here’s info on her and her wife’s brewery…](https://www.channel3000.com/madison-magazine/q-a-with-giant-jones-brewing-co-co-owners-jessica-and-erika-jones/article_0911b9e2-9e0b-11ee-9aab-e7bfba267ee5.html) ---
**Author:** ![Imuseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbce88/32.png) [@Imuseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imuseless)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/476 "2024-03-28T18:14:23Z")
The worse thing about being an atheist is becoming a psycopath because studies have shown all atheists are psychopaths. I’m serious look it up on google. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/477 "2024-03-28T18:29:22Z")
> [@Imuseless](#): > > The worse thing about being an atheist is becoming a psycopath because studies have shown all atheists are psychopaths. I’m serious look it up on google. - Or you could link to a few. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/478 "2024-03-28T18:31:11Z")
Cool. Did being an atheist make me a psychopath or did being a psychopath make me an atheist? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/479 "2024-03-28T18:43:58Z")
Good grief. That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. You know Google doesn’t always tell you the truth. It just seems like it. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166/480 "2024-03-28T19:13:41Z")
My cat. Zero religious affiliation, total psycho. Seriously: he’d shit in St. Francis’ sandals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-worst-thing-about-being-an-atheist/983166.md?page=25)