Disparaging Atheism By Attacking its Alleged Implications:
Theists who cannot defend theism or criticize atheism through logic or evidence are left attacking the alleged implications of atheism itself. Even if they cannot prove that atheism unreasonable, they hope to prove that the consequences of atheism are so abhorrent that no one will want to take the chance. Among the more popular targets are to claim that atheism leads to hopelessness and despair, that atheism makes life meaningless, or that atheism eliminates any reason to be moral. None of this is true, but even if it were that wouldn't make their theism or their religion more likely to be true.
Life for Atheists Must be Meaningless:
This is a very common claim heard from religious theists, especially Christians. It is also a very curious claim because it sidesteps the issues which most atheists would regard as central: does God exist? Is theism reasonable? Is atheism reasonable? By ignoring the important questions about the validity of theism and atheism, this claim is an example of the Red Herring fallacy, attacking an ultimately irrelevant issue. Even if atheists lives have no objective meaning, or no meaning at all, that doesn't make theism any more likely to be true or reasonable. Atheism & Meaninglessness...
Atheism Leads to Hopelessness and Despair:
For many people, their religion teaches that their god gives them purpose in life and offers them something to look forward to after they die — something that is important because, so often, these religions teach adherents that their actual lives right now aren't of much value. Therefore, anyone who doesn't follow that religion and who doesn't believe in their god must not have purpose in life and must not have anything to look forward to. All of this is wrong, not to mention arrogant. Atheism & Hopelessness...
Atheists Can't Appreciate Love & Beauty:
A popular belief among religious theists is that the only way to explain abstract concepts like love and beauty is through supernatural beings like souls or gods. Atheists who don't believe in gods or perhaps in anything supernatural supposedly have no ability to even acknowledge the existence of love and beauty, much less experience or appreciate them. Not only is this obviously false on an empirical level, but it also commits an obvious logical fallacy: the Fallacy of Division. Anyone who thinks carefully about this claim will notice these problems, so how can people repeat it so often? Atheism, Love, and Beauty...
Atheists Have a God-Shaped Hole in their Hearts:
The idea that we all have a "God-shaped hole" in our hearts or lives which can only be filled by God's eternal love, but which many try to fill with temporary and material things, has become popular with Christians. Ultimately, though, it's just a rephrasing the traditional argument from instinct: we all have an instinctual need or desire to believe in God, but this instinct wouldn't exist if God didn't also exist. Therefore, God exists and we should believe. This is not a sound argument. Atheists Do Not Have a God-Shaped Hole...
A Consistent Atheistic World View is Unlivable:
Most myths about atheism focus on just atheism itself and misrepresent it by attributing qualities to atheism that don't apply. Here we have a slight step forward in that we are dealing with a claim that at least involves beliefs beyond atheism — but it's still a myth because it attributes something to all possible atheistic world views. This is only possible by making assumptions about atheism itself; in this case, it's an assumption about materialism. The assumption is wrong because not all atheists are materialists and those who are do not experience these alleged problems. Consistent Atheism is Not Unlivable...
Atheists Can't Have Close Families:
The idea that there is anything about atheism which would prevent one from being close to family is bizarre. Perhaps even most religious theists recognize that there is something strange about this position and that's why it doesn't come up too often; yet it does appear and is representative of other misconceptions that are more common. In particular, it relates to popular assumptions about atheism being incompatible with genuine love and kindness. This is completely false but it does indicate just how poor people's assumptions about atheism and theists can be. Atheists Are Not Incapable of Loving Relationships...
It's Harder to be a Christian Than an Atheist; It's Easy to Not Believe:
Some religious believers, though mostly Christians in my experience, seem to have a need to perceive themselves as being persecuted and oppressed. Despite controlling all the levers of power in the American government, some Christians act like they are the powerless. I believe that this myth is a symptom of that attitude: the perceived need to be the one who is struggling the most and who is having the hardest time. The truth is that being religious in modern America is not a hard task because so much is set up to encourage or reinforce religious beliefs. Atheism is Not Easier than Christianity...
Abstract Concepts are Immaterial, Depend on God & Theism:
Most atheists are materialists and naturalists, which means that they only accept the existence of a natural world made up of matter and energy. This means not believing in the existence of supernatural beings or anything not produced by matter and energy. For some strange reason, this gives some theists the idea that atheists must therefore be unable to consistently or logically accept that abstract concepts exist because they are not made out of matter. Abstract Concepts Depend on God?
Atheism Fails to Provide the Comforts of Religion, Theism, God:
It's true that atheism does not dry any tearful eyes and does not relieve anyone's suffering. The problem with criticism of this lies with the fact that it inappropriately categorizes atheism as something which should be expected to dry tears and relieve pain. This is thus a myth because of the incorrect perception of what atheism is, what atheists believe, and what atheism should be doing. Atheism should not be expected to provide comfort or solace; atheist belief systems, however, can. Atheism Fails to Provide the Comforts of Religion
