Saturday, December 8, 2012

Why do Atheists care about God?








I wrote a discussion post on my Rationally Faithful blog in October asking this question in an attempt to bring about a discussion.

 Here I will expound on it a bit more.

Atheism is often described as a belief that there is no God/never was one.
Despite this bold claim, Atheists are still fixated on God. This is interesting because let's say:
  • Person A does not like carrots and Person B does.
  • Being that Person A despises carrots he/she will not even contemplate it; whereas Person B loves carrots and will contemplate them.
  • So why do Atheists care about a being that does not exist, is fictional - a myth?
  • Why waste cognitive resources contemplating a supposed figment of the imagination?


The question is an important one to ask being that atheists want God out of society, yet always contemplate Him.  A study even showed that atheists seem to know more about God and religion that believers of God.

How is this even possible?

Well deep down atheists want to believe.  They are hungry for God.  They want to know as much as they can about God so they seek Him by means of silly polemical arguments, sophistry, research and so on.  It is no wonder why so many eventually become theists.

Jesus said, "Seek and you shall find."  How right was He?!  

As a former atheist myself I can witness to this deep hunger which at first an atheist is unaware of.  It is a deep drive to question - to seek God.  At first, atheists will not admit it, but they eventually realize that this hunger is not coincidental.

There is something wrong.  Science answers a lot, but there is still something missing.  Deep down atheists know this.  In order to seek what is missing, atheists engage theists.  They try every possible avenue of rationality in order to disprove God.  Those who are genuinely seekers eventually find God using atheism.  This is a paradox that only God can explain.

How can one find God when one disbelieves in Him?

There is nothing impossible for God.  God can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants.  An atheist's disbelief is not an obstacle for God's grace.

Can the God who created this universe with all its wonders not be able to reach into the mortal atheist's mind and heart?  God can do it.

Atheism is a quest for God.  It seeks God.  It desires God.  An atheist who believes there is no God would not go through the trouble of researching and questioning this entity unless there is more to this research and questioning.

St. Augustine had it right: "Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee"


Atheism is a restlessness of the mind, heart and soul.  It cannot rest until it finds God.

Let us pray for all those who call themselves atheists.  They too are on a spiritual journey.  May God assist them in their search.   God will reveal Himself to each in the way He planned it.

















19 comments:

  1. What an idiotic post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You simply don't understand atheism if you really think atheists are actually "hungry for god". Atheists may seem more knowledgeable about god/religion because they have read the bible/studied religion or used to be religious. They simply want to be informed. It has NOTHING to do with wanting so badly to believe. Idiotic indeed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have just given us an example of something I wrote on. :)

      Delete
  3. Atheists spend time debating Christians and thinking about God because we, in general, think that religion and belief in the supernatural is bad for society, hinders education and creates far more problems than it solves.

    We study religion, like anything else that we debate. In order to educate ourselves about what the opposition believes in order to provide better, more focused counter arguments.

    It seems like almost every post you like to create a straw-man argument by insisting that atheists think a certain way or believe a certain thing that is simply not true.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your first point makes no sense.
      1) How is religion bad for society? It is one of the building blocks of society. The Catholic Church created the educational system as we know it in the west. In America, it was Christianity which developed the public school system in the early colonies.

      2) You obviously do not understand what atheism is and do not know basic history. Atheism has many views within itself. Your view of atheism is not the general view. There is no straw-man because I argue from an academic point of view. Moreover, I used to be atheist so I know very well what it is composed of.

      Delete
    2. 1) Religion is bad for society because lies are bad for society. We need to know how the world works. If we go with lies, and take actions based on lies, we can do terrible harm to others (and we do). Religion is not a "building block of society". People are and secularism is. And no, people created the school system - not a "religion".

      2) It's you who have already demonstrated that you don't know what "atheism" is. It is the position where one is without belief in a god. You obviously think it's something else - which is ridiculous.

      And yes, EVERYONE used to be (or still is) an atheist - so telling us you "used to be an atheist" is not something we didn't know already.

      Delete
    3. Welcome Ted!
      1) What makes you think religion lies? Religion doesn't exist to explain the natural, but to think about the supernatural. Learning what this world is about is fine, but we are obviously not meant to stay on it for long. What happens after? Is there an after? This is what religion deals with and why it is important. Granted some people abuse religion, but other facets of humanity are often abused. This does not discredit either.

      2) Apisteuo is "without belief or lack of belief." Atheism is simply the rejection of the concept of God. Atheists often confuse the terms and this is due to Dawkins' chart of the "different types of atheism." However, in academia, we understand the terms and define them correctly.

      Delete
  4. Why do atheists care about god? Why do fireman care about people trapped in burning buildings?

    Why should a fellow member of our species care about another’s thoughts, feelings, and actions? Not only will they affect us, affect others, but they could affect the person themselves. I am an atheist and speak of it loudly not because I care more about myself, but because I care about the well-being and education of other people. I am an atheist because it also strengthens me in knowledge on life, people, and the multitude of all things in this world. I am an atheist because I do search and seek for a god, and when results come back negative, I share them with others so they too can learn and grow, and I can with them. I am an atheist because I believe that the truth should be heard, and lies and deceit should not riddle our society anymore. I am an atheist because the world I live in is not, and this is something I intend to change.
    Why do atheists care about god? Because it’s the greatest question of the universe? Because it determines everything else?
    Because I care about people. Being an atheist, reaching such an understanding, and sharing it with all hits the highest epiphany of human nature. The largest act that can be conceived and carried through by man.

    Compassion.

    Expect me,
    Speaker of the Nones
    @TalkofNones

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment. I understand very well where you are coming from. Your comment pretty much aided my blog post "I am an atheist because I do search and seek for a god..." This was the main idea of my post. Atheists are not these evil people out to spoil religious fun. They are hungry. They want answers.

      Delete
  5. I was pondering the very same question posed in your post. It's funny that what "Speaker of the Nones" refers to is strikingly similar to Christianity. The core of Christianity is love and compassion. What is lacking from his/her approach to compassion however is humility.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not a very well thought through piece...

    Your definition of atheism is flawed and takes away your credibility in the first chapter. If you get that wrong what else is wrong?

    I don't like carrots but if you kept forcing them down my throat I might take an interest in them!

    You claim to know the mind of god and the mind of atheists. This is not possible and makes you sound foolish.

    Technically lots of atheist do become theist but this is because everyone is born without a belief in any god. Indoctrination of children isn't something to be proud of but I'd be interested in the evidence for your claim. I can't think of any of my religious friends, from Mormon to Muslim who weren't hooked from childhood.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On the contrary, I think you did not read it carefully. My definition of atheism is not flawed. The problem is that each atheist defines atheism in a manner that will suit him/her. I have to be true to the word and how academia defines it.

      One might develop a taste for carrots; however, most likely one might be set in his/her ways and it will be difficult to cause extinction in such behavior.

      I cannot know the mind of God per se, but I can know based on what He has revealed. Atheists are not hard to read. Remember, I used to be one of them.

      When we are born, we are born without pretty much any applicable knowledge. This does not make atheist the default. We are genetically predisposed to belief.


      Delete
  7. Atheism is often described as a belief that there is no God/never was one.

    Atheism might often be described like this but it is wrong to do so. Atheists do not believe in god. They don't, by definition believe that god doesn't exsist. That's a different position and requires extra explanation. I'm atheist but I don't claim to have proof that god doesn't exist. I think you'll find it hard to find an athiest who fits your definition.

    Now you will understand that, as children are born without a belief in any god, the default setting at birth is atheist.

    Oh and certainly academia will agree with my definition.

    I also notice that you failed to provide any evidence for lots of atheists finding god. That's quite a claim and I wonder how you came to it.

    The biggest mistake you have made is claiming that atheist are easy to read. If all you know is that I am athiest you know nothing at all of my beliefs.All you can know is that I don't believe in any gods. If all I'm told about you is that you are Catholic I know considerably more about you and your beliefs.

    Do you now see that you have misrepresented the meaning of atheism?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I was brought up in a house without religion and have never, ever believed in a God. Atheism is the default position to start at, you're not born believing in a God. I would suggest that the reason people are concerned with religion is that it has the power to cause untold damage to society, not because they are partaking in a quest to find an entity they don't believe in.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am hungry for truth, but I am sure a Zeus not going to find it in your blog ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your answer isn't even close. It's so far from the truth as to be laughable. Atheists "care about god" because fundamentalist Christians keep trying to force creationism into science classes and other such nonsense. Plain and simple.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Actually, the only atheists I have ever met (myself included at one time) were those who had moral objections to what Jesus taught and hid those objections behind academic objections. Speaking only for myself, after I came to Christ in 1972 I realized John 3:19-20 was written specifically for me: "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. "

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading and for your comment. All comments are subject to approval. They must be free of vulgarity, ad hominem and must be relevant to the blog posting subject matter.

Labels

Catholic Church (742) God (399) Atheism (340) Jesus (327) Bible (299) Jesus Christ (275) Pope Francis (228) Atheist (226) Liturgy of the Word (192) Science (151) LGBT (145) Christianity (135) Pope Benedict XVI (79) Rosa Rubicondior (79) Gay (77) Abortion (75) Prayer (65) President Obama (57) Physics (53) Philosophy (52) Liturgy (50) Vatican (50) Christian (49) Blessed Virgin Mary (43) Christmas (43) Psychology (40) New York City (39) Holy Eucharist (35) Politics (34) Women (34) Biology (30) Supreme Court (30) Baseball (29) Religious Freedom (27) NYPD (26) Traditionalists (24) priests (24) Space (23) Pope John Paul II (22) Evil (20) Health (20) Racism (20) First Amendment (19) Pro Abortion (19) Protestant (19) Christ (18) Theology (18) Child Abuse (17) Evangelization (17) Illegal Immigrants (17) Pro Choice (17) Apologetics (16) Astrophysics (16) Death (16) Donald Trump (16) Police (16) Priesthood (16) Pedophilia (15) Marriage (14) Vatican II (14) Blog (11) Divine Mercy (11) Autism (10) Gospel (10) Jewish (10) Morality (10) Muslims (10) Poverty (10) September 11 (10) Eucharist (9) academia (9) Easter Sunday (8) Gender Theory (8) Human Rights (8) Pentecostals (8) Personhood (8) Sacraments (8) Big Bang Theory (7) CUNY (7) Cognitive Psychology (7) Condoms (7) David Viviano (7) Ellif_dwulfe (7) Evidence (7) Barack Obama (6) Hell (6) Hispanics (6) Holy Trinity (6) Humanism (6) NY Yankees (6) Spiritual Life (6) Babies (5) Cyber Bullying (5) Massimo Pigliucci (5) Podcast (5) Pope Pius XII (5) The Walking Dead (5) Angels (4) Donations (4) Ephebophilia (4) Gender Dysphoria Disorder (4) Pope Paul VI (4) Catholic Bloggers (3) Death penalty (3) Evangelicals (3) Pluto (3) Pope John XXIII (3) Baby Jesus (2) Dan Arel (2) Eastern Orthodox (2) Encyclical (2) Founding Fathers (2) Freeatheism (2) Oxfam (2) Penn Jillette (2) Pew Research Center (2) Plenary Indulgence (2) Cursillo (1) Dan Savage (1) Divine Providence (1) Fear The Walking Dead (1) Pentecostales (1)