How to Make an Atheist's Head Explode

Originally posted by bluewaterrider
Probably because there's so little evidence that people truly do achieve happiness without believing in a higher power.

Nah, I know plenty of happy people who don't believe in a higher power. Every walk of life has unhappy people, both religious and not religious. You even have the truly crazy people who think that any atheist who is happy is only happy because they secretly do believe in God. Those people think happiness is impossible without God.

Another problem is I think religious people tend to be more dishonest about whether or not they are truly happy, they don't want to admit they aren't since it makes them feel like they are failing at something. Which would add a boatload of issues to any study that attempted to see who is happier.

The Idiot's over at HeroChat spreading his hate speech.
Ha ha ha he's got nearly every mod & admin on Ignore.

Ohhh Who is that?

Originally posted by bluewaterrider
Probably because there's so little evidence that people truly do achieve happiness without believing in a higher power.

Personally, I have not noticed a happiness gap between religious and non-religious people.

I don't recall any studies showing much of a difference either.

Originally posted by Esau Cairn
The Idiot's over at HeroChat spreading his hate speech.
Ha ha ha he's got nearly every mod & admin on Ignore.

So he got perma banned? Damn, my condolences to whichever mod's child he sacrificed on an altar in order to earn that.

Originally posted by Q99
Personally, I have not noticed a happiness gap between religious and non-religious people.

I don't recall any studies showing much of a difference either.

Exactly how hard have you looked?

Simply type in to Google, without quotes, the following words:

"studies show religious happier"

You'll find a variety of studies coming up as hits for this, from a range of years, and from sources as varied as BBC and Discovery Magazine.

Originally posted by Surtur
So he got perma banned ...? ... my condolences ...

Star428 has not, as I type this at least, been permanently banned from KMC.
However, and note this currently applies for most members only while they are on ACTIVE ban, his profile page does show him having received a temporary ban.

According to it, we should expect to see Star return shortly before Valentine's Day.

Originally posted by Surtur
Nah, I know plenty of happy people who don't believe in a higher power. Every walk of life has unhappy people, both religious and not religious. You even have the truly crazy people who think that any atheist who is happy is only happy because they secretly do believe in God. Those people think happiness is impossible without God.

Another problem is I think religious people tend to be more dishonest about whether or not they are truly happy, they don't want to admit they aren't since it makes them feel like they are failing at something. Which would add a boatload of issues to any study that attempted to see who is happier.

Any study that relies on self-reporting will have numerous problems, and it's important to note atheists have equal, if not greater, incentive, to be dishonest in cases like this.

It doesn't make much sense to sense an atheist would have more incentive to lie, it's as if you've never met a religious person. It's simply a nice little fairy tale religious people tell themselves, "oh those atheists just must be so unhappy without a higher power". In reality a religious person has *plenty* more reasons to lie. For them it's like something is at stake, for them it is like it possibly says something about their religion if they are unhappy. For an atheist it is what it is. There is no agenda or cause to keep in mind when thinking about your happiness.

They can't comprehend a person not needing some higher power to be happy. Perhaps it is jealously? I don't know. I mean I get it..of course they would want people to be under the false impression they are somehow happier. What better way to get people to join? So you see there are all kinds of potential motives for why a religious person would lie about their own happiness.

Like I said I have even seen people tell an atheist that no deep down they truly aren't an atheist and if they somehow are deep down an atheist then they definitely have little to no happiness. That is the level of wtf'ness you are dealing with. It's one thing to lie to yourself about yourself, but when you're lying to yourself about other people? Things get strange. It's the same reason any study claiming religious people are just happier is going to be bunk.

I mean hell I did a google search and literally within 5 seconds I found a study saying religious people get depressed more then atheists do. So you can type in "study shows religious people happier" and get some results and studies, but of course if you type in the opposite you will also get...results and studies that say the opposite.

So to me, whether a study says atheists are happier or religious people are happier..it means nothing other then those specifical people in the study had one group happier then another. I wouldn't trust any results unless every single person had been hooked up to some new lie detecting machine that never fails to detect a lie.

👆

Originally posted by Surtur
It doesn't make much sense to sense an atheist would have more incentive to lie ...
.

Atheists count professed Satanists among their numbers. Members in this very forum have admitted as much. And a simple Google search will confirm. Simply type in "satanists atheists" without quotes if you don't believe me. You will find even the famous Laveyan order of Satanists consider and call themselves atheists. That tells me that either a) such people are lying, or b) Satanists really do comprise a portion of the ranks of atheists. That fact right there would tip the scales of dishonesty to the atheists "advantage".
On the other hand, we're largely overgeneralizing with the term "religious" to begin with. A LOT of people can be termed "religious" who practice things not even remotely related to Christianity.
It would probably do us well to remember the context of all this IS supposedly the Christian God and how to present people who profess disbelief in Him with a rebuttal that counters their traditional understood/misunderstood arguments.

Originally posted by Surtur

They can't comprehend a person not needing some higher power to be happy. Perhaps it is jealously? I don't know ...

I seriously doubt jealousy enters in for most of those who aren't atheist.

More likely they see the benefits reaped by those who DO believe in a higher power and act in structured ways ON those beliefs. Immediately coming to mind for me, for instance, the very first time I saw the phrase "belief in a higher power" in this thread, was Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). That phraseology is a very well known portion of their creed for recovery. Joining together with others, believing that, through support and the aid of a power higher than oneself, and vigilance, one can regain, or, even gain for the first time, a life where true happiness, or at least a true and reasonable level of contentment, is possible.

A belief reinforced even by famous others, and so well known that it's not even necessary to mention AA by name.

Notice, for instance, Craig Ferguson, a popular late night talk show host many years running, refer to AA simply by saying "...they're very near the front of the telephone book ..." in the last minute of the following clip:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZVWIELHQQY

Nah, it's probably just jealousy. It's cool though. Fake deities forgive jealously.

Originally posted by Star428
https://youtube.com/watch?v=z0DT6uljSbg

Short little humorous video that will make you laugh good... unless you're an atheist, of course. 😉

As a Gnostic Christian, I am close enough to what most would call an atheist to reply.

I see both the scientific community and the religious community as both creating a God of the Gaps.

The scientific God of the Gaps is going to a brane and string theories that show we can never know what reality is and I also see the religious community and their God of the Gaps as supernatural.

Natural is more likely than supernatural.

Right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBxFXQy7-M

Regards
DL

LOL.

This thread is awesome, and that video is funny as hell. I've seen it before though.

*waits for Rob to b&tch about me bumping a several years old thread while he hypocritically ignores everytime pooty does it*