An atheist’s guide to the good lifeBy PZ Myers, Published: August 21
A curious thing happened to my thoughts on the way to composing this essay.
It was supposed to be about how to be an atheist, but I realized that that wasn’t right. Atheism is the default position. You don’t have to do anything to be an atheist, but you have to work awfully hard to not be one — atheism strips away a lot of superfluous nonsense, rather than piling on remarkable requirements and strange creeds and bizarre pointless rituals that you need to obey. So instead, I thought I’d address the believers and tell you what baggage you can throw off ol’ Conestoga Wagon of life, the stuff that we know is completely unnecessary because atheists have traveled the trail without it, and come out just fine.
Ditch the Sunday church services first thing. Hanging out with friends and neighbors is great, we atheists do it all the time, but guess what? We do it without a boring dude in a dog collar droning away at us, without sitting in those uncomfortable pews, without snoozing through the same old homilies. It’s like church where you skip the tedious bits and cut straight to the coffee social or the Sunday picnic.
The imaginary threat of hell and promise of heaven aren’t needed to keep us in line. We do good because we’re happy to help our communities and see our fellow human beings thrive. Telling us we’re going to be set on fire by a malicious god if we don’t behave isn’t just unbelievable, it’s insulting — we don’t need extortion or offers of imaginary paradise cookies to do the right thing. Why do you?
No more prayers, no more worship of an unresponsive invisible man. Believers seem to spend a lot of effort rationalizing the silence at the other end of the line: God will give you what you need, not what you want, he’ll answer in surprising ways, not answering is sometimes the best answer, he’s got a plan that you just don’t see yet. Atheists have the simplest answer: no one is listening. It fits just as well, even better, than all the convoluted explanations you might come up with. And it means you can stop the futile babbling, hang up and do something productive.
The guilt! The pointless guilt is gone! Oh, sure, you still feel guilty if you harm people — and that is right and appropriate. But you don’t need to feel guilty about not appeasing a deity, or not following archaic dogma. Most importantly, you never have to feel bad about reciprocating love with another person, because medieval rules to govern relationships have all lost their divine foundation.
Speaking of medieval rules, throw away the hierarchical view of society. Rulers aren’t better than those they rule, priests are not above the congregation, women are not man’s helpmeet, your tribe is no longer the chosen people. Wake up to equality, realize that every single human being on the planet is on the same plane, and respect everyone’s rights as the same.
Have you ever lost someone you love? You know what churchy people will tell you: They’re in a happier place, God needed another angel, they’re having strawberries and waffles with Jesus right now. Atheists won’t do that: they’ll tell you that it’s OK to grieve. We’ve lost a good person, the right and good thing to do is to mourn and honor the memory of the dead. We don’t make people feel guilty for failing to appreciate the kindness a god has done by destroying a good person.
You may have needed a book of rules and a master to put on the shackles of faith, but you don’t need a guidebook to live a life of liberty. Do you know why atheists are so happy? Because they’re the freest people on Earth, and their only responsibilities are to their fellow human beings, not phantasms.
Myers is author of the recently-released book, ‘The Happy Atheist.’
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