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For Believers, Talking to Atheists Is Like Confronting Death
I remember when I “came out” as an atheist to my mother and grandmother; their initial response was denial. I'll never forget what they said to me, “You'll change your mind when you get older.”
What they didn't realize was I had already confronted the notion of death — that this one life was the only one I would get before the lights went out forever. I had struggled with that fact two years prior, dealing with panic-inducing anxiety and depression trying to accept the lie told to me since my birth: that, if I was good, I would live on in heaven.
Tom Jacobs from Pacific Standard writes that atheists are not well-liked among believers. Derek Beres says that in his conversations with believers, they think atheists are arrogant, while Jacobs says that others believe that non-believers don't have any morals. However, a recent study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science provides a reason for this antagonism: "Among believers, the mere contemplation of atheism can arouse intimations of mortality."
There's that seed of doubt that nags, saying, “What if they're right?” It's a terrifying notion, and this “uniquely human awareness of death gives rise to potentially paralyzing terror that is assuaged by embracing cultural worldviews that provide a sense that one is a valuable participant in a meaningful universe.”
The researchers believe that “anti-atheist prejudices stem, in part, from the existential threat posed by conflicting worldview beliefs.”
http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/atheists-threaten-believers-with-mortality?
What they didn't realize was I had already confronted the notion of death — that this one life was the only one I would get before the lights went out forever. I had struggled with that fact two years prior, dealing with panic-inducing anxiety and depression trying to accept the lie told to me since my birth: that, if I was good, I would live on in heaven.
Tom Jacobs from Pacific Standard writes that atheists are not well-liked among believers. Derek Beres says that in his conversations with believers, they think atheists are arrogant, while Jacobs says that others believe that non-believers don't have any morals. However, a recent study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science provides a reason for this antagonism: "Among believers, the mere contemplation of atheism can arouse intimations of mortality."
There's that seed of doubt that nags, saying, “What if they're right?” It's a terrifying notion, and this “uniquely human awareness of death gives rise to potentially paralyzing terror that is assuaged by embracing cultural worldviews that provide a sense that one is a valuable participant in a meaningful universe.”
The researchers believe that “anti-atheist prejudices stem, in part, from the existential threat posed by conflicting worldview beliefs.”
http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/atheists-threaten-believers-with-mortality?
29 replies
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This is what they see when I tell them I'm an atheist.
