Athiests that hope their wrong

shadowcomplex

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

Links234

no I don't know of any. but if I was wrong about the existence of god, I'd be a maltheist.

Improbable

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

There may be. But I am not one of them.

Dave!

I'm not mad about the idea of a tyrannical deity that I'm supposed to worship, but I'd certainly be happy to discover that after my ~80 years are up, there's something else to look forward to.

Sadly, that's not likely to be the case.

smokingman

I don't "hope" I'm right, I know I am.

CerebralCortex

Dave! wrote: »

I'm not mad about the idea of a tyrannical deity that I'm supposed to worship, but I'd certainly be happy to discover that after my ~80 years are up, there's something else to look forward to.

Sadly, that's not likely to be the case.

I know it's a fringe concept but why do people assume that's what their going to get in either direction like it's some axiom? Anyway I agree with Dave! I do find the idea of a cosmic dictator quite depressing.

dlofnep

It isn't a matter of hoping, because it's a clear cut issue for me. God does not exist, and there is no evidence to suggest that he/she does.

I would gladly love to live eternally in paradise. So in that respect, I'd be happy to be wrong. However, I'm 99.9% sure that I'm right.

Penn

Dr. Gregory House: Personally, I choose to believe that the white-light people sometimes see, visions this patient saw. They're all just chemical reactions that take place when the brain shuts down.
Dr. Eric Foreman: You choose to believe that?
Dr. Gregory House: There's no conclusive science. My choice has no practical relevance to my life, I choose the outcome I find more comforting.
Dr. Cameron: You find it more comforting to believe that this is it?
Dr. Gregory House: I find it more comforting to believe that all *this* isn't simply a test.

Pretty much sums up my opinion. I take greater comfort in hoping that all the trials and tribulations, ups and downs, relationships, friendships, hardships, love etc, many of which which are born out of circumstance and factors outside our control, isn't a test or a determination on what kind of person we end up as for all eternity.

shadowcomplex

smokingman wrote: »

I don't "hope" I'm right, I know I am.

Your as bad as those on the other side of the fence that say the same thing, actually your worse now that I think of it, they base there opinion on faith you base it on science yet you claim to know something which science has not proven

Humans eh!

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

Personally I don't waste my short time on this earth thinking about it. I think that the notion of an afterlife was created to soothe our anxieties about oblivion and has been co-opted by organised religion as a route to power and social control.
Certainly would prefer oblivion to spending eternity worshiping the so called god of the book religions.
He just sounds like a right wan*er.
Live a decent humane life and allow other people and creatures to live theirs and thats all you can do. Then its back to the stars from whence we came.

CerebralCortex

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Your as bad as those on the other side of the fence that say the same thing, actually your worse now that I think of it, they base there opinion on faith you base it on science yet you claim to know something which science has not proven

Science, logic, reason, rationality tells us there's no difference between worshipping their god and worshipping the FSM.

Dave!

CerebralCortex wrote: »

I know it's a fringe concept but why do people assume that's what their going to get in either direction like it's some axiom? Anyway I agree with Dave! I do find the idea of a cosmic dictator quite depressing.

Not sure what you mean there? AFAIK around 75-80 years is the average life expectancy for a male in developed countries!

fatmammycat

I don't hope I'm wrong or right. It makes no sense to me to worry about a deity I don't think exists.

oldrnwisr

Why should I hope that I'm wrong? Should I hope that I'm wrong about leprechauns because then I'll get a pot of gold? So far I haven't seen any religious picture of God or an afterlife that I would hope to be correct, certainly not the Biblical God or afterlife. Hope is just like faith, it can be comforting but it's just wasted effort.

strobe

I definitely hope I'm wrong about there being no after life. Something like you become an energy being that can transport itself anywhere in the universe instantly so you get to travel to a load of strange alien planets and live amongst their weird ass civilizations as intergalactic tourists, that would be cool. Or even something like the Disney version of heaven where you go to a cloud city and meet up with all your dead mates, then just party non stop for a few hundred years and form a band with Hendrix, Bonham, Mozart and Lennon and rock out at the weekends downing pitchers of Nectar and Ambrosia. That would be fun.

I wouldn't mind there being a god somewhere. Would probably be interesting to have a chat to assuming it would be willing and capable of communicating with me. That's on the condition that it's friendly or at least neutral of course. If it is anything like crazy narcissistic sadist Abrahamic god I'd probably rather not spend my time talking to the tetchy git. It's all "me me me" with that guy. I get enough of that childish nonsense in this life from humans thank you very much.

Galvasean

dlofnep wrote: »

It isn't a matter of hoping, because it's a clear cut issue for me. God does not exist, and there is no evidence to suggest that he/she does.

I would gladly love to live eternally in paradise. So in that respect, I'd be happy to be wrong. However, I'm 99.9% sure that I'm right.

My exact feelings on the subject.

clever_name

If the god that I have been told about exists then I really do not want to meet him because from what I have been thought... well he sounds like a right pr1ck.

Do I hope I am wrong, no. Do I think I am wrong, there is a universe of possibilities out there so who knows.

I would much rather live what I consider to be a good life and be lucky enough to end my days knowing that I did most of what I really wanted to do.

mikhail

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

I kind of hope Adnoartina exists. Who doesn't want a giant lizard overlord?

Failing that, I'll go for the Greek pantheon, who seem to like a bit of craic.

Barrington wrote: »

Dr. Gregory House: Personally, I choose to believe that the white-light people sometimes see, visions this patient saw. They're all just chemical reactions that take place when the brain shuts down.
Dr. Eric Foreman: You choose to believe that?
Dr. Gregory House: There's no conclusive science. My choice has no practical relevance to my life, I choose the outcome I find more comforting.
Dr. Cameron: You find it more comforting to believe that this is it?
Dr. Gregory House: I find it more comforting to believe that all *this* isn't simply a test.

Pretty much sums up my opinion. I take greater comfort in hoping that all the trials and tribulations, ups and downs, relationships, friendships, hardships, love etc, many of which which are born out of circumstance and factors outside our control, isn't a test or a determination on what kind of person we end up as for all eternity.

Yay, it's my sig!

branie

If you asked this question to Richard Dawkins, you'd get this type of response -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmskXXetcg

Zillah

I would be very very upset (and I mean wailing in terror and despair upset) if it turned out I was wrong about pretty much any religion on earth. That said;

You know the way you can have a nightmare, and awful things happen in the nightmare, and you think nothing can make it ok, like its the end of the world or the total devastation of your life, and then you wake up and suddenly your new perspective makes it all ok again? Or how about when you were a kid and some trivial issue (like someone taking a toy or not being allowed to go somewhere) was the most intolerable injustice, and only now looking back at it do you realise how silly you were? Or, the same thing with pretty much everything you felt as a teenager?

Well, that right is there is basically the only way I can imagine any sort of positive afterlife making any sort of sense. This planet, society and ecosystem are so full of suffering, rape, exploitation and callous indifference that the only way I can imagine an afterlife is that it is on some level so vastly different or greater that it is like waking up from a nightmare and seeing it all from an entirely different perspective.

That's the only thing I hope I'm wrong about. And I have no reason whatsoever to suspect I am. Assuming I'm not overcome by dread, my last thought shall be "Ok, here we go, the great experiment. Hypothesis: I will continue to exist. Attempting to falsify..."

shadowcomplex

branie wrote: »

If you asked this question to Richard Dawkins, you'd get this type of response -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmskXXetcg

Jesus man use a bit of intelligence ffs,No I wouldnt get the same response, my question and her's are 2 very different questions

shadowcomplex

Zillah wrote: »

I would be very very upset (and I mean wailing in terror and despair upset) if it turned out I was wrong about pretty much any religion on earth. That said;

You know the way you can have a nightmare, and awful things happen in the nightmare, and you think nothing can make it ok, like its the end of the world or the total devastation of your life, and then you wake up and suddenly your new perspective makes it all ok again? Or how about when you were a kid and some trivial issue (like someone taking a toy or not being allowed to go somewhere) was the most intolerable injustice, and only now looking back at it do you realise how silly you were? Or, the same thing with pretty much everything you felt as a teenager?

Well, that right is there is basically the only way I can imagine any sort of positive afterlife making any sort of sense. This planet, society and ecosystem are so full of suffering, rape, exploitation and callous indifference that the only way I can imagine an afterlife is that it is on some level so vastly different or greater that it is like waking up from a nightmare and seeing it all from an entirely different perspective.

That's the only thing I hope I'm wrong about. And I have no reason whatsoever to suspect I am. Assuming I'm not overcome by dread, my last thought shall be "Ok, here we go, the great experiment. Hypothesis: I will continue to exist. Attempting to falsify..."

You see I didnt ask that though did I, I specifically said just god and an after life and not subscribing to any religion

Zillah

Ok, but you see how the rest of my fairly large post addresses exactly what you were asking?

kylith

I would be annoyed if I turned out to be wrong about the afterlife. I really cannot conceive of anything worse than existing until the end of time; talk about mind-numbing boredom.

And as for paradise, it can't be paradise for everyone, can it? If my grandmother's idea of heaven is to spend every moment with me, and my idea of heaven is not to spend every moment with my grandmother then someone's going to be hugely disappointed, aren't they? And if I'm somehow changed so that I want to spend every moment with her then I wouldn't be me, would I? So heaven is, imo, completely illogical.

mikhail

shadowcomplex wrote: »

You see I didnt ask that though did I, I specifically said just god and an after life and not subscribing to any religion

How vague is that? Would you like it if an interventionist, vengeful, Jewish God were it, destroying cities, murdering the first-born children of the enemies of the Jewish state? An allegedly all-loving, all-forgiving, omnipotent, omnipresent, modern Christian God who will burn you in a lake of fire for all eternity if you don't telepathically declare your love for him? Or funny old Zeus and co, who treat humanity as their playthings? Ra? Odin? How about Cthulu, who will eat us all? Your question was loaded from the beginning with your biases about what God is.

ShooterSF

I'd much prefer to hope science makes leaps and bounds towards ending disease and replacing dying organs so myself and my closest friends and family can live a couple of hundred more healthy years together enjoying life.

Any version of the afterlife seems horrible. I'd have to spend eons with long lost relatives and meet ancestors I don't particularly care for if I'm honest.

pH

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

I find it strange that the question is always phrased this way, it's like when religious people talk about those who have died, there's only one possibility they consider, heaven, eternal bliss etc.

However that's not what Christianity (or indeed many of the religions which propose some fort of eternal life) says. Christianity only offers heaven to a select few, for the rest it's hell and eternal damnation.

It's always the "atheist" position which is seen as not-comforting, I'be never once heard a religious person say "I loved my wife so much, now she's either with God or starting to suffer horrendously in the bowels of hell."

Robert ninja

If it's the god of any monotheistic religions that are well known, then no I don't hope I'm wrong. In fact, I don't hope for anything about this kind of subject. I just wish to be correct. If a god really exists and there is proof... I want to hear about it and then become a theist. I just wish to believe in the truth and to be aware of what is real. The god of the bible... I don't think exists and I'm glad of it too.

But what about the gods people tell me about all the time (and can never cite any sources). All loving, caring, not a spec of evil within it. Sure... whatever, i wish that existed. I also wish for a lot of things like I had super powers and a dozen other things but I give them no weight of thoght because it's not going to happen. For example, I don't think I am going to be able to fly when I'm 35 years old. Do I wish I was wrong about that? Sure... I'd love to fly at any time in my life... but I'm not spending my days wishing or expecting that to happen. Wishful thinking is dangerous imo.

Galvasean

kylith wrote: »

And as for paradise, it can't be paradise for everyone, can it? If my grandmother's idea of heaven is to spend every moment with me, and my idea of heaven is not to spend every moment with my grandmother then someone's going to be hugely disappointed, aren't they? And if I'm somehow changed so that I want to spend every moment with her then I wouldn't be me, would I? So heaven is, imo, completely illogical.

swampgas

Personally I try to remain as objective as possible when figuring stuff out, whether it be trivial or significant. I am wary of being swayed by what I would *like* to be true, as self-deception is just so easy to fall prey to.

In fact whenever I seem to be coming to a conclusion which is to my liking, I get suspicious and double check my reasoning!

So, with a question like this, do I wish that there really is a god and an afterlife, my answer is pretty much that reality doesn't care what I want to be true, I just want to see the reality around me as clearly as possible, regardless of whether the conclusions appeal to me very much.

I guess it depends whether you prefer a bitter truth to a sweet lie.

MagicMarker

It would be pretty awesome if I woke up on a Cylon Base ship.

branie

MagicMarker wrote: »

It would be pretty awesome if I woke up on a Cylon Base ship.

From the original series or remake?

SirenX

I definatly hope I'm right, not the other way around. I don't believe that there is a god, it's depressing. I don't want to believe that there is a heaven and a hell, cuz that means that my Dad is going to hell as he's broken the 5th comandment in the line of duty.
infact, I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't broken any commandments in this day and age.

there is no scientifical proof of a higher being that for some reason, out of all the possible universes, and all the planets, and all the life-forms and species, he would choose us. one species that has existed for barely a fractionof the age of our planet. just sound a bit stupid and big headed to me. what makes us so special?

Undergod

I know a few people that don't believe in God, who wish they did have some kind of faith.

I find the idea of heaven a fairly appealing one, but that's no reason to believe in it.

robindch

MagicMarker wrote: »

pretty awesome if I woke up on a Cylon Base ship.

Sod the Cylons. I wanna wake up on a Culture GSV -- awsome with knobs on.

Undergod

Can it be a Culture GSV with Numbers Three and Six waiting for me?

Count Duckula

"Their wrong" what? Bananas? Teddy bears?

If you're going to try and tar atheists as baseless hypocrits through your infallible logic and reasoning, it generally helps not to make a major grammatical error in a five-word title.

Doesn't look good.

And yes, I'm aware that this isn't a constructive post, but it's hardly a constructive thread.

Irish Fire

None of this god and religion stuff washes with me but the person that started all this stuff.... I'd love to get his sales and marketing department working for me.....

Improbable

Irish Fire wrote: »

None of this god and religion stuff washes with me but the person that started all this stuff.... I'd love to get his sales and marketing department working for me.....

I'd rather have the salesman who managed to convince the first blind man to buy sunglasses.

Pygmalion

If there is a god (s)he either completely ignores us and wants nothing to do with the planet, or hates us with a passion.

Turtwig

Whether God exists or not doesn't actually bother me to me honest because he/she/it gave us free will to do what we want. What does bother me is the number of religious nutter honchos who I really hope I'm wrong about how they delusional are. At least, that would justify their idiocy and extremism a wee bit.

Beruthiel

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

In order to 'hope' there is a god/afterlife, you would have to doubt your atheism.
I don't doubt the way I view the world. IMO, I see clearly. Therefore, there is no room for this kind of hope.
I will never understand this obsession that religious people have hoping there is more than one life. Do they ever realise how unbelievably lucky they are to actually exist once?

If we're talking about places where we would like to wake up, I'm voting the planet Risa.

Zombrex

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering are there any Athiests here that actually hope your wrong about the existence of a God or afterlife and im not subscribing to any religion when I ask this just a God and afterlife fullstop or do most of you that are athiests hope your right?

An after-life would be nice. I see no reason to hope for the existence of a god.

Also "hope" is he wrong word. It would be silly to say I hope Jessica Alba was going to walk into my office and say Take me home right now and do me. That is never going to happen. Hope implies you wish something unlikely but possible might happen. You might say you hope you win the Lotto when you enter. Few though hope they magically for some reason win the Lotto without actually entering, since that for all practical purposes is not possible. An afterlife is not possible. Hoping for it therefore is rather nonsensical. I hope far more for a long life and a peaceful quick death that catches me unawares. That may not happen. But at least it is something that might happen.

Are you a theist Shadow, because your question is very theistic in that it seems to accept as reasonable and likely the existence of these things in the first place.

liamw

Why do we assume that a deity would particularly care about humans, an evolved species at an arbitrary moment 13.7billion years post Big-Bang?

Everyone talks about afterlifes, do bacteria get to have an afterlife too? Do oak trees?

Dave!

Yeah oak trees do

seamus

As my brother said at the weekend, "I'm not necessarily afraid of dying, I just don't wanna miss anything that happens afterwards".

I don't specifically want an afterlife, this life will do just fine if I can keep it, please.

ShooterSF

Malty_T wrote: »

Whether God exists or not doesn't actually bother me to me honest because he/she/it gave us free will to do what we want. What does bother me is the number of religious nutter honchos who I really hope I'm wrong about how they delusional are. At least, that would justify their idiocy and extremism a wee bit.

The sad thing is we'll never get to say "I told you so"

:pac:

Canis Lupus

Dave! wrote: »

Yeah oak trees do

I think you'll find heaven is only open to Sugar Gliders:

thirtythirty

Improbable wrote: »

I'd rather have the salesman who managed to convince the first blind man to buy sunglasses.

Pshh, that'd be an easy sell: "you're eyes are freaking people out. You can look normal and have people treat you less different if you wear these".

To be fair I'd probably have sold them these, purely for comedic value:



On topic, OP "hope" is the wrong word.

Everyone here understands the fallacy of deitys, but unlike believers who fold their arms, turn their head, close their eyes and shout "no no no no no, I'm right and always will be, even if you show me different", the people here have minds open enough that *if* something presented itself post-death (be it after life, aliens, Gods, ice cream) , we'd probably say "oh, cool, there is more. That's a nice surprise", and get involved however that may be.

legspin

robindch wrote: »

Sod the Cylons. I wanna wake up on a Culture GSV -- awsome with knobs on.

Definitely along those lines but I think I'd prefer a GCU. Smaller and with slightly quirky operational parameters.

smokingman

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Your as bad as those on the other side of the fence that say the same thing, actually your worse now that I think of it, they base there opinion on faith you base it on science yet you claim to know something which science has not proven

I base my thoughts on my own thoughts.
I've never claimed that science proves my point and never will.

I choose to "know" this as opposed to be agnostic about it for several reasons, most of which have been covered in this forum time and time again.
Ironically, some of my friends have described me as an atheist with a god complex and in one respect, I do sometimes pretend to be THE god. (Hey, what's wrong with having an ego?)

I do this to ammuse myself after soaking in all the lies as a kid and turning it around in my head. I sometimes "come out" as god at a party or two and no-one can disprove what I'm spouting on about for the same reasons deists repeat ad nausium. I would highly recommend this to anyone here who has tried to debate with deists and met brick walls - it is wildly amusing to argue from the other side of the fence with the caveat that you, yourself are the deity in question.