You know, it really is only the religious who believe life has no meaning. If you thought life inherently had meaning, why would you repeat so often that it is only belief in God that gives it meaning? As far as you are concerned, no God, no meaning. Well, I’m sorry for you if that’s how you view your life, but please don’t project your own nihilism onto others.

I don’t know any atheists who think their life has no meaning. We create our own meaning in the work we do, the interests we pursue, and the relationships we build and sustain. Our lives also have meaning for the people around us, our colleagues, our friends, our families: the people who are affected, for better or worse, by our existence. And the same will apply to atheists’ children too.

Why would Christians reproduce, come to that? If you honestly believed there was a hell, and that those who didn’t believe in Jesus were destined to go there, surely the safest thing would be not to have children, because by having them you run the risk that – despite your best endeavours – they could end up there. What reasonable person would bring a child into the world, honestly believing that to be even a possibility?

Posted: July 23rd 2010

See all questions answered by Paula Kirby

This is a really common theistic mistake.

You are making the assumption that since you derive meaning from your religious beliefs, the only way of deriving meaning is from religious beliefs, and therefore atheists must believe that life is without meaning.

In fact, if there is no meaning imposed on your life from the outside (I do think it’s sad if the only meaning you have in life is what somebody told you the meaning was), then the meaning of life is what you think it is. I happen to think that you create your own meaning of life, but there is no reason for all atheists to believe that way.

At that point, atheists are no different than theists.

Posted: July 22nd 2010

See all questions answered by Eric_PK

Quite often people don’t decide to reproduce – it’s an accident. But if you are doing it intentionally, there are dozens of different, valid reasons, and most of them have nothing to do with “meaning.”

Your readings are incorrect. Children are individuals from the day they are born – there is no one else quite like them. My identical twin daughters were born prematurely and went right to the incubators. Within a couple of days they were reacting very differently to stimuli.

Atheists have all the meaning they want in their lives because they get to pick what that meaning is. They get to pick multiple meanings that may change as they grow and mature. It’s a wonderful way to live, far better than having one meaning: “you are here to worship an egotistical god so that when you die you get to worship him some more.” Pffft. You can have that meaning, if you want it. I and my atheist kids have no need of it; we’re too busy perusing lives that mean something to us.

Posted: July 22nd 2010

See all questions answered by Dave Hitt

Life is not meaningless to non-believers. My atheist in-laws have about 7 young children amongst themselves. For them, the motivation is to love their children and they do.

A viable infant is an individual—each infant develops individually according to its genetics and external environment. Focusing on each individual child is one of the more rewarding aspects of parenting. You need to use everything you got to pull that off—to recognize each child’s individuality so they have a solid opportunity to fulfill themselves in their lives.

Young individuals do not have the experience to decide certain things like choice of religious belief or not, marriage, enlisting in the army, drinking alcohol, holding down a job, etc. They will have to reach the age of maturity to decide/do those things or do those activities like working in a restricted sense. But their lack of experience does not lessen their individuality or their human, civil, and legal rights.

Posted: July 22nd 2010

See all questions answered by logicel