How Does Atheism Answer Our Most Important Questions?

Post Author: Bill Pratt

Old-school atheists like Friedrich Nietzsche recognized that atheism utterly failed to answer the most profound of human questions, and thus atheism, he believed, led inexorably to nihilism.

Nowadays, most atheists are very uncomfortable with nihilism and want to distance themselves from their intellectual forefathers. Just because God doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that life can’t be vibrant and meaningful, right?

Well, it seems that not every atheist has abandoned Nietzsche’s insights. Atheist professor Alex Rosenberg provides the following summary of atheism’s answers to life’s most profound questions (as quoted from the Reasonable Faith website):

Is there a God? No.

What is the nature of reality? What physics says it is.

What is the purpose of the universe? There is none.

What is the meaning of life? Ditto.

Why am I here? Just dumb luck.

Is there a soul? Are you kidding?

Is there free will? Not a chance!

What is the difference between right/wrong, good/bad? There is no moral difference between them.

He concludes, “So much for the meaning of history, and everything else we care about.”

Rosenberg left out other depressing atheist answers like the following:

Will there be justice for all those who have been wronged? No way.

Is there life after death? Are you joking?

Where did mankind come from? A prebiotic slime.

Wow! What a positive outlook on life! No wonder more people don’t become atheists. It casts such a stunning vision for mankind, doesn’t it?

Tags: Alex Rosenberg, Friedrich Nietzsche

This entry was posted by Bill Pratt on Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 at 9:00 am and is filed under Atheism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Bill Pratt

Comments

http://sandwichesforsale.blogspot.com/ DagoodS

Do we determine truth and reality by our personal preferences? Or by what actually is? Whether a particular claim—theism, atheism, naturalism, etc.—is “positive” or “negative” or “neutral” in a person’s eyes should not be the question.

The question is whether it accurately reflects reality. If there is no after-life, then whether belief in such is positive, negative or neutral does not answer the question of existence. If it does not exist, it does not.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Ryan/511764596 Andrew Ryan

“Rosenberg left out other depressing atheist answers like the following”

There are depressing answers in the Christian worldview too, such as many of your loved ones potentially being sent to eternal hellfire.
staircaseghost

Err, I thought we atheists only lack god belief because of our emotional attachment to a view of life which is full of freedom and pleasure and happiness?

Which is it?

Bonus round: why did Nietzsche write a book called ‘The Gay Science’ in he exuberantly tells us to “say yes to life”?
Andrew Ryan

“Where did mankind come from? A prebiotic slime.”

As opposed to being made out of dirt…
http://twitter.com/Pandeism Pandeism Fish

Well then let us be thankful for Pandeism, which fully accounts for all theological and scientific beliefs with no unnecessary assumptions. Pandeism offers an enlightened answer to these questions, derived from reasoned examination of our Universe and discovering that it is one which lends no credence to the bigotry and violence of theistic faiths and their mad claims of revelation and demonology.
Ryan

Haha, I’m sorry the truth might seem depressing to you. Making you happy is hardly a qualifier for it. Maybe you should man up and face facts instead of whining about how the real world is scary and sad.

Tough Questions Answered

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