Many atheists think that their atheism is the product of rational thinking. They use arguments such as “I don’t believe in God, I believe in science” to explain that evidence and logic, rather than supernatural belief and dogma, underpin their thinking.
But just because you believe in evidence-based, scientific research – which is subject to strict checks and procedures – doesn’t mean that your mind works in the same way.
When you ask atheists about why they became atheists, they often point to eureka moments when they came to realise that religion simply doesn’t make sense.
Oddly perhaps, many religious people actually take a similar view of atheism. This comes out when theologians and other theists speculate that it must be rather sad to be an atheist, lacking so much of the philosophical, ethical, mythical and aesthetic fulfilments that religious people have access to – stuck in a cold world of rationality only.
In 2018, Christian apologist and author William Lane Craig claimed that people cannot live “consistently and happily” if they uphold an atheist worldview, arguing that in a world without God, there is no meaning, value or significance to life.
Craig, who has authored several books including Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, compared what he considered a “meaningful” Christian theist view on life with an atheistic view of life.
“Confronted with the human predicament, the only solution the atheist can offer is that we simply face the absurdity of life and live bravely,” Craig said.
“The fundamental problem with the solution, however, is that it is impossible to live consistently and happily within the framework of such a worldview. If you live consistently, you will not be happy. If you live happily. It is only because you are not consistent.”
Craig went further to explain that the modern man living in the bottom floor “gives lip service to atheism” but “lives as though life were important and as if it really mattered what he does.”
“The human predicament is thus truly terrible. The atheistic worldview is insufficient to maintain a happy and consistent life. Man cannot live consistently and happily as though life were ultimately without purpose, value or significance,” he said.
“If we try to live consistently within the framework of the atheistic worldview, we shall find ourselves profoundly unhappy. If instead we manage to live happily, it is only by giving the lie to our worldview. Atheism, therefore, cannot support a happy and consistent life.”
Craig explained that even some of the world’s most renowned atheist philosophers themselves have described a world without God as “absurd.”
Well, a new study backs up Professor Craig’s claims as it also shows conclusively that atheists cannot be happy.
In the best case scenario, those who do not believe in the Almighty are destined to journey through this life in a malaise. Those atheists who are not that lucky will suffer from major depression and possibly psychosis.
The new research paper The Lack of Positive Affect in Atheists was published in the prestigious Journal Of Prevarication.
Professor Andrew Canard was its head author.
Canard has dedicated his life to studying the psychology of atheists. Past papers of his include a case study of a Christian becoming an atheist and a mass murderer, Atheists Block God’s Blessings, and The Brain’s Antichrist Center Discovered.
“We took MRIs [a medical examination performed using magnetic resonance imaging] of 3,023 atheists and found all of them have a God-sized hole in their heart,” explained Professor Canard.
“We know this hole is caused by their lack of faith because it’s in the shape of Jesus crying.”
Jesus wept in the Bible. He’s weeping in the hearts of atheists everywhere.
The Terrible Effects Of Atheism
This God-sized hole in atheists causes a variety of conditions:
Atheists are in denial:
Atheists refuse to admit they are unhappy. Even though they lack the comfort of being in a personal relationship with a deity who loves them enough to create Hell, the godless insist they are happy.
Reading:
“My research shows atheists read a lot of books that aren’t the Bible. And that’s sad. I’m praying for them,” Professor Canard stated.
Colouring outside the faith-based lines:
Participants on the study were given Evangelical colouring books. One hundred percent of subjects could not appropriately colour pictures featuring gays going to Hell.
Does Religion Make People Happier?
Some researchers are so confident that religion makes people happier, and healthier, that they want it to be prescribed by doctors. In religious countries, religious people describe themselves as happier, while in relatively godless countries, such as the Netherlands, or Denmark, religious people are not happier.
One of the best-known findings is that religion protects people against depression.
Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College, recently gave a talk, “Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness,” in which she described things that we think will make us happy but don’t and things that really do. It turns out that people who have religious or spiritual beliefs are happier than those who don’t, no matter what their beliefs.
Religious beliefs, she says, “give people a sense of meaning.” It also gives them a social network.
“It gives a sense of well being or comfort.”
Sanderson thinks it’s less about what you believe than the fact that you have a community, a church, a synagogue, a Bible study group. It’s the social support network that is fulfilling. You could well be working in a soup kitchen, joining a book club or belonging to a neighbourhood watch. It’s the sense that we are looking after one another that matters.
She also says that people who are believers have a certain mindset; the power of prayer, the belief in an afterlife, the sense that someone is looking after you, that there is a higher power, that things happen for a reason.
This mindset, she says, helps people make sense of tragedy, struggles and loss. One can believe, “I’ll see this person later,” or “God only gives you what you can handle,” or “There is a silver lining in the suffering.” “Religion,” she says, “is about helping other people and having others looking after you.”
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