Logic in an atheistic worldview

[Jeff V]

It's a rdiculous question was my point. Scratch that. I mean oh heavens yes I'd just gather my family and all my believing friends, go to a church and drink poisoned kool-ade on a Sunday and just end it all.

[hmkpoker]

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It's a rdiculous question was my point. Scratch that. I mean oh heavens yes I'd just gather my family and all my believing friends, go to a church and drink poisoned kool-ade on a Sunday and just end it all.

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If I might ask the question in a sincere fashion, what would you do if it were sufficiently "proven" to you that there was no God or afterlife? (And didn't believe because of Pascal's wager, etc.) I'm curious about this because it often seems that Christians hold the mortal life in relative apathy (and justifiably so).

And ridiculous or not, this is a philosophy forum, and we should not be strangers to the impossible but interesting "what if" scenarios.

[Lestat]

If I ever found out there was a god, I certainly wouldn't jump off a bridge. I might even become more religious than you are now.

This is what amazes me about theists who try and contemplate the mind of an atheist. As if all atheists have heathenistic reasons for refusing to conform. Most atheists are atheists for the exact same reasons you might not believe in Nessie, Yeti, or Ogres. It is not some conscious effort to rebel. It's just that there are no legitimate reasons to believe in such things.

What I was trying to get at with my question, was that if there ever was a reason to believe in god, I honestly don't think most atheists would be upset. They would simply change their beliefs. If god was disproved however, I doubt most theists could handle it.

[Jeff V]

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If I might ask the question in a sincere fashion, what would you do if it were sufficiently "proven" to you that there was no God or afterlife?

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I was an atheist for 10 + years, so I lived what I would do for quite a while.

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And ridiculous or not, this is a philosophy forum, and we should not be strangers to the impossible but interesting "what if" scenarios.

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Touche.

However, the ridiculous I was speaking of was the type of reaction he was looking for which was obvious taking the context of the question.

[Jeff V]

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If god was disproved however, I doubt most theists could handle it.


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That is bullsh*t, and says much about you.

[hmkpoker]

yeah, definately.

If I believed God and the afterlife were real, I'd be on the Jesus train lickety-split.

[NotReady]

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This, I believe, is what Sartre was getting at with his talk about absurdity


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This is partly true. But the bigger picture is that existentialism is itself the logical outworking of a worldview that rejects God, which is all non-theistic worldviews. If man is the highest rational being then since he is obviously not omniscient and can make no sense of existence the universe is irrational. That includes human reason itself. And that is absurd.

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What I was trying to get at with my question, was that if there ever was a reason to believe in god, I honestly don't think most atheists would be upset. They would simply change their beliefs.

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Change my beliefs? Yes. Be happy about it? If it's the Christian God, no. I loathe going to church and I've grown rather fond of certain sins. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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If god was disproved however, I doubt most theists could handle it.


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That is bullsh*t, and says much about you.

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If I had nothing and I found a million dollars, that'd be pretty damn nifty. If I had a million dollars and I lost it, I don't think I could handle it (except that I'm pretty resilient and I'd pick up the pieces somehow). I think this is what Lestat meant.

[Jeff V]

"(except that I'm pretty resilient and I'd pick up the pieces somehow). "

Exactly, and I'll let Lestat clarify what he meant,because I think he meant otherwise-again based on the context of his post.