It's common for religious theists to argue that only theistic religion (and preferably their theistic religion) can provide meaning and purpose in life. Irreligious atheists can't possibly have meaning or purpose in their lives. Why does this belief exist? It seems likely that it's founded on the premise that this life can't be very meaningful in and of itself.

Darrell Cole writes in the Spring, 1999 issue of the Journal of Religious Ethics:

For Aquinas, the ultimate end of human life is otherworldly. Nothing can be the final end for human beings except that perfect state of happiness found in the beatific vision of God, which can take place only in the afterlife.

So, if the only “end” or “purpose” of human beings lies in an afterlife ruled by God, then it follows that nothing in this life can provide any real meaning or purpose. Ergo, irreligious atheists who dismiss gods can’t have any real meaning or purpose. Some religious theists might imagine that this says something profound and important about human existence; in reality, is says something about the ethical and intellectual poverty of religious theism.

If a person cannot find meaning and purpose in their lives without imaging the existence of a state of being after they are death, they fundamentally devalue and denigrate life itself. Such devaluation, in the long run, only serves to further the cause of violence — especially religious violence — because it encourages people not to value life, whether it is their own life or the lives of other human beings. When life has no value except when it is over, then in the end life simply has no value period.

Properly formed habits allow the person to act well consistently. Acquiring such habits depends upon properly governed passions—passions that operate in accordance with reason. When Aquinas talks about having passions in the right way, he means our passions need to be ordered not only by reason but also by our passion for God, since supreme happiness (union with God) is the final goal which all rational appetite apprehends and by which it is drawn.

In this way, religious theists can claim that their beliefs and their religious ideology are “reasonable” without having to do the hard work of using “reason” in the first place. Rather than orienting one’s passions against logic, reason, and facts about reality, they are expected to orient their passions against a goal of attaining something after they are dead — thus, one’s beliefs and behavior don’t have to be measured against facts in the world around them.

Instead, beliefs and actions are merely measured against one’s desired goal of attaining union with God. That’s the only meaning or purpose for life and it’s the only yardstick — ethical or otherwise — for evaluating what we do. It doesn’t matter whom we hurt or what sorts of harm we cause along the way; all that matters is that we do what we think God wants in our quest to be united with God.

 

Read More:

• Guide to Ethics and Morality
• News About Ethics