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Imagine a world with no objective values. In this world, people who get away with horrific crimes such as child abuse, rape, and murder never find justice. It is a world in which there is no meaning over and above individual or societal whims. In this world, people seek their own pleasure without boundaries. If sex between men and men, between women and women, or between people and animals satisfies someone, there is no law in this world that could condemn it other than someone’s individual moral whims. And if something inconvenient gets in the way of one’s pleasure, such as a pregnancy, in this world a woman can find a “doctor” to murder her baby under the full protection of the law.
All that ultimately exists in this world is matter and energy. Human beings evolved not under God‘s guiding or planning or creating the evolutionary process, but through chance and necessity alone. They are an accident in a meaningless universe. Death is annihilation. Any good someone does for mankind will ultimately dissolve, as Bertrand Russell noted, when this meaningless universe ceases to be. Or as the American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft recognized, this universe is similar to one ruled by a blind god of cosmic chaos, with monsters dancing to dissonant music around a mindless center.
This is the world more and more Americans are living in. It is the world of many academics, the world of many East Coast intellectual elites, and the world of many who work in Hollywood. It is the utterly empty world of atheism.
Although books on atheism abound these days, they mainly mock the excesses and evils of religion without recognizing the greater evils caused by atheistic systems. Nazism and Communism reeked havoc on Europe before both were defeated. But in their place has arisen a consumer society that values “the sweet life” that only ends in nothingness. How, then, is it “sweet.” The atheistic existentialists such as Sartre and Camus were at least honest enough to admit the loss of objective meaning in atheism. They tried to make up for it by saying that a person should find his own meaning in life–but this will ultimately end in coming to naught. So one is left only with Sisyphus and his rock, making his own meaning out of meaninglessness. Even the atheistic existentialists, then, remain in denial–what good will “finding one’s own meaning” do if it all ends in cosmic emptiness?
In the world of atheism there is no ultimate justice. Mass murderers and torturers die in peace, then only face the same nothingness that a saint such as Mother Theresa will face. Is this world fair, or is it one, as Nietzsche said, that is “beyond good and evil”?
I am amazed at atheists saying that they do not fear the annihilation of death. It is not just the annihilation of the self, not being conscious at all that is the issue–it is the annihilation of all beloved family members and friends. But if there is an all-powerful and all-good God who loves us enough to grant us an undeserved eternal life, all will be redeemed and made good. Without such a God, without an afterlife, what is left? “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” as St. Paul put it. If I were an atheist, I would be a moderate hedonist, gaining as much pleasure as I could while not doing things destructive to my health. I remember a liberal Protestant once becoming furious at me for saying that–but his fury means nothing–if there is no God, no afterlife, no accounting for one’s deeds other than for illegal actions for which we are caught, why not seek all the pleasure we can? “Live for today,” “Eat, drink, and be merry,” “You only go around once in life, so grab for all the gusto you can.” The only problem is that “gusto” will end, perhaps peacefully, perhaps (sadly) in pain and agony, but if atheism is true, humans are ultimately nothing but bits of second-hand stardust who will recycled in the meaningless processes of nature.
For an intellectually honest person, atheism is a road to madness and horror. I choose to believe in God, in a universe that is ultimately good, a universe in which there is cosmic justice, in which good will triumph over evil, in which there is real, objective meaning in life, and in which God will grant us–out of sheer grace–the gift of eternal life.
Gratiaetnatura's Blog 
Dec 21, 2010 @ 17:15:01
It’s very sad that you have such a ridiculous attitude about people who have a different view than your’s.
All of the heinous crimes by the criminals you mentioned can be forgiven by
your imaginary god. You probably believe in heaven and hell and seem disturbed by the fictional idea that all of these monsters of society are in fact atheists. Your hell should be full of catholic priests and your imaginary heaven will be filled with the very people you despise as long as they get saved.This whole idea makes no sense to thinking people.
Two thirds of the population of this planet don’t acknowledge your world view. I guess they all be down in your imaginary hell with the priests.
Dec 21, 2010 @ 17:27:39
Actually I think it is possible for non-Christians, including atheists, to be saved, but I do believe if they are saved, it is through Christ. As far as the sins of Catholic priests, you are right–probably many of them will be in Hell. I don’t believe in a literal fire; I accept C. S. Lewis’ version of Hell as a place where those who reject God will be left to themselves to do what they want. They may even enjoy it–for a while.
I admire the piety of people in other religions. While I don’t believe they have the full truth of Christianity, I believe there is some truth in all the great religions and that Christians can learn from them. Buddhism reminds us not to focus on the transient wants of our ego. Hinduism has a great tradition of mysticism and devotion.
Of course there are atheists who are good people. My question for them is, “Why would you say you HAVE to be good? From where does moral obligation arise?” As for Christians who are bad people, first, you would admit, I’m sure, that human beings are not what they ought to be–with all the murders and other crimes in the world. So all people have the roots of evil within themselves which they can resist or choose to follow. Second, Christians who commit atrocities or harm children have no excuse.
I respect an atheist far more than I respect a theologically liberal Christian who tries to pick and choose what he believes about the Christian faith.
Dec 21, 2010 @ 21:22:15
You speak of a world of which you know nothing. You are still in the cocoon of religion. You have yet to be born (or you refuse to be born) in this existence. In this nature.
You fear being human. You are afraid of yourself. Of your repressed temptations. You cannot conceive that the natural being is endowed with a “guiding” compass. When you talk about the natural being, you are lookingin a mirror. All you see is the reflected ugliness in your mind. I seek life and for myself and for others. It is not a choice I make because I fear a god… or because I fear for my afterlife’s existence. But because “life” is the ingredient that brings joy, peace of mind and happiness… as I dream, think , and act. Now.
Also I (as well as everbody else) have the inner potential to destroy, to maim, to kill… and to wage war. I don’t (at least try not to) because nature’s dispenses with these acts sorrow, sadness, and tears.
And I am cognisant of the difference.
http://www.ANaturalPhilosophy.com
Jan 03, 2011 @ 08:09:56
What you find out when you leave religion is that the world without religion is pretty much the same as the world with religion, except that you can’t use any of the gods as an explanation or an excuse for anything. Other than that, bad people do bad things and good people do good things, just like in the world with religion.
It’s true that the world without religion has the downside of not promising an afterlife. People die, and no, you won’t ever see them again. That’s a serious bummer. But you get used to it. If anything, it gives you a heightened appreciation of what you can do for people while they’re still alive.
The empty world you describe isn’t what the world without religion looks like at all. I think what you’re describing is the world we are taught to fear as our punishment for leaving religion.
Jan 05, 2011 @ 22:29:23
Pragmatically, for some people, it may make little difference in how they live their lives in a world without religion. Religion should not, by the way, be an excuse for bad behavior–and atheists could also use their lack of religion as an excuse for bad behavior. Religion does not have a monopoly on excuse-making. I do not know how anyone, though, can live a normal life without believing in something transcending the self, whether that be God or gods, Platonic Forms, the Buddha-nature, Brahman, or something else outside the self. If a person believes in an abyss and looks down into that abyss, does it not change that person?
Jan 08, 2011 @ 07:31:13
Yeah, that abyss… I can relate. The abyss is the belief we cannot fathom, whose very existence threatens to suck us into eternal grief and despair. Back when we believed the earth was flat, the abyss was where you’d end up if you sailed too far away. Back when we believed we had a right to own the slaves we could buy, the abyss was the abomination of slaves laying claim to our privileges. Back when we believed our species had only one skin color, the abyss was the disgust of miscegenation. Back when we believed women were but helpmeets of men, the abyss was the humiliation of women being our bosses or our elected officials. These are the abysses that wrenched the guts of men before us, yet today, they are merely history. Which of the abysses that horrify us today will turn out to be the history lessons of tomorrow, I wonder?