Consistent Atheistic Worldview?

Tuesday November 9, 2004

There is something about atheism that seems to encourage confusion in religious theists. I'm not sure what it is, but I consistently see them misunderstand it, misrepresent it, and completely fail to correctly deal with it in even the smallest way.

Donalgrant writes:

I'm sympathetic to healthy skepticism, but while atheism can be made self-consistent, I don't think a completely consistent atheistic world view will be found to be livable.

What is an "atheistic world view"? Any world view that has atheism in it. Many forms of Buddhism would qualify. Secular and religious humanism would qualify. Objectivism would qualify. There are more, but these will do for starters.

Guess what? There are millions and millions of people who manage to find those world views to be quite livable. They don't go moping around, wondering what is wrong with themselves and seeking out religious theists to help them out of their "unlivable" conundrum.

Why? Because there is absolutely nothing about atheism that makes a world view unlivable. You don't need a god to have morality or ethics. You don't need a god to have a reason to live. You don't need a god to have a reason to love or enjoy yourself. You don't need a god to be a good citizen, neighbor, husband, mother, or third cousin twice removed.

Believers may find that their theism plays an important role in such things, but it requires monumental arrogance to assume that their god (or some god) is necessary for everyone — and, therefore, atheists must have some difficulty living or constructing a "livable world view." It's a common mental virus: "Everyone who isn't pretty much like me must have something pathologically wrong with them." It's a dismissal of the very conception that people can be different on fundamental issues and yet still manage their lives just fine.

There is an update to this issue here.

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