Atheism promotes Nihilism

Quick topic I want to discuss -

Does atheism produce Nihilism?

I'd say yes. When I was an atheist, it inevitably led me to embracing nihilism, which inevitably led me down very dark roads.

This is one of the main problems I see with atheism - it's an unhealthy worldview that can lead to unhealthy habits and promotes all sorts of problems in society (materialism, selfishness, greed, lack of compassion, lack of honor, lack of morals)

Basic wiki definition of Nihilism, in case you don't know:

Nihilism (play /ˈnaɪ.ɨlɪzəm/ or /ˈniː.ɨlɪzəm/; from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

So let me ask you (specifically atheists), if your an atheist, doesn't that mean your also a nihilist? Obviously if you believe in no Creator or Deity, your life is completely purposeless, you exist for no other reason aside from obtaining treasures on earth and pleasing your flesh, and you have nothing to look forward to except death and non existence.....

If I'm wrong, and your an upstanding citizen atheist, please explain to me your moral code, where you obtain a sense of direction and hope from, and how you don't buckle to nihilism,

Thank you, God bless

Try some 'absurdism'. Its like nihilism lite

en.wikipedia.org...


Groundhog Day and American Beauty are both great absurdist movies.

Go some Kafka and Salinger too.

reply to post by Germanicus


Interesting,

Thanks for the quick reply,

I've always associated atheism with narcissitic behavior and nihilism,

Never studied much on absurdism,

Reading more on it now, thanks

oh and american beauty? awesome movie!!

I reject the idea of God, so depending on whether or not you define a belief in God as a "putatively meaningful aspect of life" I may or may not be a nihilist by definition. I think your own inability to have a good moral compass without the threats and rewards offered to you by a myth is your own problem, and shouldn't be projected on to those of us with our own strong moral convictions.

I have great respect for life and people - I just learned that I am happier when the people around me are happy, I don't need a sky wizard to threaten me in order to treat people well. I think we are incredibly fortunate to have our little safe haven in the cosmos and I think we should treat it with respect too. I have donated my time to feed hungry people, I volunteer in a community garden, support local businesses over national or global corporations..

I had some JW's come to my door one morning claiming my wife told them they were welcome to come back (a blatant lie.) After some friendly conversation turned religious debate, they told me that I didn't really have to worry about poverty or the environment because JC and his pops were gonna make it all better. I told them that was irresponsible and borderline evil, and to please not come back. Thank God they haven't.

I also live in a very religious part of the US and find that most of the zealots don't do much of anything for anyone but themselves.

Originally posted by Iason321
When I was an atheist, it inevitably led me to embracing nihilism, which inevitably led me down very dark roads.

Personal issues and what road you take has nothing to do with atheism.

Atheism is not a verb.

Atheism does not produce nihilism. Weakness produces nihilism. Many people with such worldviews are teenagers who feel powerless to change the world.

I learned the rudiments of a moral code from my parents, and the rest came from something called utilitarianism. I choose not to live the materialistic "screw everything, I want pleasure" life because I understand the harm it can do to others.

reply to post by Iason321


Atheism does not produce Nihilism. Atheism promotes realism and reality induces Nihilism...

But you can't blame atheism for reality, atheists are a minority (much of humanity believes in a higher power of some form). I have in fact never meet an atheist (one that believes in no higher beings) even those that believe in a superior alien civilization meddling in human events are not atheists.

I'm not an Atheist, I', a Pantheist and I'm also a nihilist. In our social and cultural environment today there is little to no purpose to live beyond biologic imperatives survive, eat, sleep and reproduce most of humanity is miserable and uneducated (even in today's first world nations).

We don't even get a t-shirt by the troubles we undue, we go out with noting. It does not amazes me that people decide to focus and seek personal enjoyment and pleasure before their time is up, of course that I agree that better choice is to work to uplift humanity in general, but ultimately does it deserve the effort...

Dying is the same as living.

reply to post by TinkerHaus


You seem to be in the minority of atheists who is mature, has morals, genuinely cares about people, and has a grasp on reality and can contribute to society,

Unfortunately, I'm gonna argue with you and say most atheists don't share the views you do and a lot of them don't care about anything but drugs and sex.....

Also, I want to add something -

There are a lot of atheists who are Christians,

and there are a lot of Christians who are atheists....

If you don't know what I mean by that, I'll explain....

reply to post by Panic2k11


Don't you see how that's harmful to society though?

A society that exists for no other reason but pleasing themselves, is going to run absolutely RAMPANT with greed killings, murder over money, drug use and abuse, sexual misconduct, etc.....can you imagine a society based off those values? What a nightmare!


.......................
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Wait, a thought just occured to me -

We're living in America, and that is exactly what America has become!

Goto your local news station if you don't believe me, every other article is about someone getting murdered over money, someone stealing for money or drugs, or authority figures getting slain for trying to uphold law and order.....

reply to post by Iason321


Quick payoffs and self satisfaction are a result of a corrupt society, not a lack of religion. Religion and morality are not reliant on one another to exist. We are just brainwashed to be thoughtless consumers by the myriad of distractions that the modern world throws at us 24/7.

If people had something to work for and were governed by an honest, fair and transparent system, a lot of the drugs, poverty, homelessness and violent crime you see today would disappear. What I mean by that is that if the common person actually had a real hope of gaining actual wealth, that would help make more people honest. I really think in a way a strong faith keeps people from focusing their energy in areas where they really can make a difference. I don't dislike or disrespect people because they believe in God. Many of my friends are former missionaries, still serving in their churches. I actually have a lot of respect for people who have their religion and actually follow the code that they claim to believe in.

What I disrespect is the idea that because one is "saved" one need not worry too much about the world around them. Some people, rather than work to change the world around them, grow resentful of it and actually start hoping for the so called second coming. Wouldn't this by definition be nihilism?

Can faith promote nihilism as well?

reply to post by Iason321


Why does self pleasure have to be the worst things like greed and lust.

People in the world get pleasure from helping people, learning, experiencing. Everyone is a nihilist in perspective.
We all want pleasure in some way you can't deny it.

reply to post by NewerBeing


Self pleasure is not always bad, as you pointed out.

But a lot of it can be very destructive - love of money to the point of not caring about anything but money,
love of sex to the point where your banging anything that walks, going around causing adultery and spreading STD's and causing unwanted pregnancies and promoting abortions

love of drugs, alcohol, smoking (I don't think I need to go into why these are bad, do i?)

love of gluttony to the point of causing mass obesity and diabetes and other diseases that were not problems before the modern age (at least not to the extent they are today)

these are just some examples off the top of my head....

reply to post by TinkerHaus


I would say it depends what you place faith in.

Faith in Christ and the Bible? I would say no, that would never promote nihilism. Maybe rebellion and rejection of the material world and secular society, but certainly not nihilism. Look at the definition of exisential nihilism again - it means you believe life is without purpose. If any believer in Christ thinks they're life is without purpose, they are missing the whole point of Christianity.

reply to post by Iason321


I had to sign in to reply to this . My moral is similiar to yours (and I'm Atheist not Theist). My whole family are christian, I even went to a christian school my whole life. No one can prove one way or another. That's where belief comes in for Theists, and I think with Atheist's it's a bit more difficult to simply blindly believe. Now, in my case I live righteously reguardless, because I can't prove there is no divine creator much like you can't prove there is. I have high reguards for respect, responsibility, and moral. There's two questions I ALWAYS ask myself. 1) What am I doing? 2) Why am I doing it?. With this technique I have found myself succeeding more. Along with helping people when it is neded. Now if there happens to be Purgatory, well then I can only hope to have lived humble enough.

Side note: "So let me ask you (specifically atheists), if your an atheist, doesn't that mean your also a nihilist? Obviously if you believe in no Creator or Deity, your life is completely purposeless, you exist for no other reason aside from obtaining treasures on earth and pleasing your flesh, and you have nothing to look forward to except death and non existence....."

^This is an assumption on your part. Life is full of purposes which is irrlevant to a Theists or Atheists. I value my life just as much as you do yours. I want to help people while I'm here, I want to teach and accomplish things, I want to make a change.

My sense of direction comes from my parents. They taught me well. My dad passed away a year ago and all I can do is represent what he has taught me and be the best man I can be. I do not need faith or simple solutions to problems that I'm willin to atleast try figuring out on my own.

Thanks for the thread and hopefully you'll get a whole broad variety of opinions.

This is one of the main problems I see with atheism - it's an unhealthy worldview that can lead to unhealthy habits and promotes all sorts of problems in society (materialism, selfishness, greed, lack of compassion, lack of honor, lack of morals)

I spent enough of my life as a christian, that I can tell you everything in your little list there runs rampant among christians. They're just better at hiding it.

You wanna preach forgiveness and reconciliation to god through Jesus Christ, that's fine. I can live with that. But if you want to compare morals with atheists, you lose. The church, it's congregation, and especially its leadership, are equally, if not more so, prone to corruption and "lack of morals" as atheists are.

I saw this better than you, self-righteous attitude for many years of my life in the church. The "real christians" are few and far between, and you shame them.

Physician, heal thyself.

reply to post by jeenyus2008


You don't sound like an atheist at all,

you sound a lot more like a Christian who's lost his Spirit, agnostic really,

Your morals and worldview were probably shaped by Christ, since you grew up in a Christian home, and He's obviously still living in you,

I grew up in a home with atheists, I never once went to Church, and I would hear my parents say "JESUS CHRIST!!!!" 25 times a day without ever thinking about it, and cuss openly, we didn't own bibles, it was viewed as fairy tales, my mom and dad still hold that view (sort of, since my massive conversion and life transformation, they've started having some sort of faith)

I've never met a miserable person who had true faith in Christ,

every depressed person, every drug or alcohol addicted person, every last miserable one I've ever met, had very cold, or non existent faith in God

reply to post by Klassified


Remember what I said -

There are many Christian atheists,

and there are also Atheist Christians

Originally posted by Iason321
reply to post by TinkerHaus

 

You seem to be in the minority of atheists who is mature, has morals, genuinely cares about people, and has a grasp on reality and can contribute to society,

How many atheists do you personally know? And what age are we talking about?

If you go to one Christian church - - does that mean you judge all Christians from what fits on a "pinhead"?

I'm atheist -- and finally met another atheist. Atheists don't exactly say "Hi! I'm atheist".

So - - when people talk about ALL these atheists they know and are judging ALL atheists by ALL those atheists they know. I want details. I want to know how you know atheists in real life.

reply to post by Iason321


Can you blame them? Perception is an amazing thing. Thanks for the response but there isn't a part of me that believes any part of religion. Just to clear that up for you.

Originally posted by Iason321
reply to post by Klassified

 

Remember what I said -

There are many Christian atheists,

and there are also Atheist Christians

That makes no sense at all.

I grew up Christian. I know what it is to be Christian.