Hi there. I've just read back over this post, and it comes out like a bit of a rant. I'm usually quite sanguine; I don't quite know why its come out like this. That said, it was quite fun to do. Anyway. I'm interested in your response, if you feel like making one.
Athiests have no message of hope to preach. Since the grave is the end to them, I don't understand why they spend their relatively few moments of existence trying to convince others that they should join their group.
Well, I dunno... Its quality not quantity, isn't it? Even if it meant that the amount of time that I expected to be conscious for was finite, I'd rather have a view of reality that makes sense to me and seems logically okay, than one that promised infinite existence and didn't seem to make much sense.
And though you make the argument from a Christian perspective, it could be used by a lot of people of other faiths. Why do Muslims want to convert people? So that they can have a nice eternal life. Why do Jehovah's Witnesses? Same reason. They have wonderful messages of hope to preach. Its perfectly nice of them, but that's not the point. Is it right? If its not, then its a total waste of everyone's time.
If consciousness lasts forever then it is an infinitely less precious thing than something that only last for a lifetime. If existence is something that can be snuffed out at almost the same instant that it is kindled, why should we get involved in spurious religious systems in order to place our lives in a broader context? If there isn't a supernatural realm of any kind, the time and effort expended on worshiping might be better spent trying to help yer fellow lifeforms. And anyway, how can we make an informed decision about the religious scheme that we should adopt? There are so many, and they all promise so much, with no evidence as to which is the correct one.
Some, in their hopelessness end their own lives prematurely when life becomes tough or unpleasant.
Atheists commit suicide because they don't believe in God? Perhaps this is true, I don't know, I've never commited suicide. Are you saying that no Christian has ever commited suicide? Or no TRUE Christian? The insinuation here is that atheists aren't really there when the going gets tough (slackers, all of them). This kind of characterisation just seems to be the product of a massive failure of the theistic imagination. If there isn't an afterlife, and we only have this lifetime to make any kind of impact, then this might act as a spur to get on with things. It does for me, anyway.
And though there aren't that many witch trials now, there has been the rather distressing tendency in times past for Christians to end the lives of others prematurely, when their lives become tough or unpleasant. That's not very nice.
They consider themselves to be accountable to no higher power, so there is no motivation for and no reason for them to consider morality to be of any significant consequence. They seem to consider the pleasures of the here and now to be the important thing in life and focus on the me and mine as the pre-eminent drive in life as to how one lives and relates to others. After all, what reason would there be to think and act otherwise if the grave is the end?
This argument actually gets me annoyed, every time that I see it; maybe that's why theists use it. It just seems to demonstrate a tremendous failure of empathy, or observation. Do you really see atheists running around the streets, raping and pillaging themselves happy?
"Oh God, its those damned atheists again, masterbating in the streets and stealing wallets." Call me crazy, but I think atheists are bound by social codes as much as anyone else. Wanking on street corners provokes stares from most people, regardless of their religious persuasion.
Israel and Palestine are filled with theists who do horrible things. Even Christians occasionally murder people. According to you this couldn't happen. Or maybe TRUE Christians don't murder.
Furthermore, it scares me that the idea of God is all that stops theists from doing a Columbine, excuse my French.
Many hate any who would preach any other gospel than theirs, especially a gospel which preaches accountability for the way one lives to be reckoned with in existence beyond the grave.
Pretty much by definition, atheists don't believe in accountability AFTER the grave. They believe in it BEFORE. That will do, won't it? And as for intolerance of others beliefs, isn't that something that pretty much anyone is in danger of expressing: atheist, Christian or Hindu?
Feel free to mention that Pol Pot was an atheist. This may well cause my entire worldview to shimmer and collapse, like a mirage in a desert.