I just wanted to know how exactlly does Atheism help you in your life? I mean how does it make you feel better to belive there is no God?
This is not meant to insult anybody but I'm just facinated about how some people can live without any kind of faith.
First of all, let me say that I think this is a very interesting question.
As to how atheism helps people, it seems people can be largely affected by their religious views. For instance, the very notion of "sin" may make someone look down on particular behavior they tend to recognize as "sinful." If someone of great influence and power (such as politician) appeals to particular religious sentiments in order to help pass a bill or win public office, many people will naturally react positively to such appeal. Yet this is politically dangerous, because rather than using impersonal logical reasoning and "independent thought," such decisions made on the basis of religious values or viewpoints really can result in the cheap deception or manipulation of otherwise intelligent people, so that they are essentially conned into ridiculous choices they perhaps would not otherwise make. Not to mention the fact that religious persons of one group often disagree with religious persons of other groups, so that some level of conflict can arise from time to time. Lastly, there is very little logical support (philosophy) or empirical validity (science) for most religious views, so that atheists are often more open to "higher knowledge" or "higher understanding" than those who perhaps struggle to overcome particular personal religious convictions, in which perhaps they have been indoctrinated to believe, or socialized to accept.
With atheism, none of these problems exist. Generally, if an atheist is concerned with someone else's behavior, it's usually because (a) a law's been broken, (b) a social rule has been broken, (c) or some ethical principle, or other analytical moral awareness, has been violated. For instance, someone has cheated on their partner (an act any human can clearly understand to be an act of betrayal). Or, someone has passed a red light. Or someone has found a way of exploiting the poor. In either case, there's often some actual "reasonable" violation when most atheists consider something "wrong" or "wicked." For clearly, atheists do not ascribe to highly questionable metaphysical moral viewpoints often written in some religious book or another. We instead reason ethical dilemmas on our own. Moreover, given the religious are often seduced into "religious ethnocentrism," atheists tend to lack prejudice towards others, given we do not ascribe to any particular system of "right/wrong" (at least none that are religious in nature - e.g., Kantian ethics is philosophical). So we won't go around saying, "Person X is wicked and sinful, because he was caught masturbating in a public restroom." Secondly, atheists aren't open to any form of "religious appeal." Given we are largely independent thinkers, it's a lot more difficult for any politician to easily appeal to our views, so that rather than easily "marketing votes," a politician - in most atheist's eyes, I'd imagine - would actually have to "work logically for his/her votes." In other words, speaking about "getting rid of abortion and making things right with God" won't win votes. A politician will instead have to actually remain logically consistent and appeal to REASON. Thus, atheists are less susceptible to political trickery and more likely to think their way through the political process analytically rather than emotionally. Moreover, atheists do not tend to hold prejudices or "conflict" other many other groups (other than perhaps, religious persons in general, as the lack of belief in God has largely been seen as a sign of wickedness or corruption in our history). But regardless of the conflict between atheists and the religious, atheists do not generally have a problem with other irreligious persons (such as agnostics). Given this, if society were a lot less naturally opposed to atheistic viewpoints, I'm sure atheists would not have much of a problem with anyone, given atheists do not necessarily claim to know anything as true (as most atheist are probably agnostic in some respect). And lastly, atheists seem to have very little reason to close off their minds to "new ideas, thoughts, or truths." This can easily be seen when most religious persons oppose evolution, while most irreligious persons do not.
In sum, atheists are often a lot more "intellectually uninhibited" than the religious (though this is not always the case). This, I think, is a very powerful and important sense of freedom that really does liberate people from the horrible chains of mental tyranny often resultant of religious indoctrination. This freedom of mind empowers people to make their own decisions, to see others as equals who are not necessarily "different in the eyes of God," as people who merely see the world differently, rather than "people who need to be saved," or who "have gone astray from the righteous path." I think this freedom is very "helpful" in life, because it really prevents one from being so easily susceptible to the natural corruptive forces of society (as I really do think religion plays a very important part in really enslaving people to particular patterns of "false consciousness" or "bad faith"). It's probably the most important aspect of "ideology," beside political orientation, and that makes it very fundamental, and yet, very dangerous.
And with respect to how atheism makes me feel better (believing in no God), I think it's a matter of seeing the world "as it truly is." What I mean by this is that there's many ugly aspects of the world which we often do not wish to acknowledge or accept. For instance, when the Nazis murdered so many Jews during the Holocaust, many of the highest war criminals fled to South America, where many eventually died, buried and treated with Nazi burial ceremonies. Now I don't know about the rest of you, or anyone in particular, but I think it's hard to see any "Universal Justice" in the world after something like that. (In philosophy, this is specifically known as "The Problem of Evil," and it's a major reason as to why many atheists do not believe in God, or any deities whatsoever.) At any rate, when we no longer "veil our minds," so to speak, by discontinuing belief in seemingly fictional entities for which there is very little logical support (philosophy) or empirical support (science), we then become open to viewing the world in any fashion which it may be presented to us. Thus, we tend to see the world as the naturalistic, unpleasant, unsympathetic, neutral, hostile, not-so-human-friendly place that it really is. With this awareness of the world "as it really seems to be," we become freed from any notions of "religious illusion." With this freedom, we tend to see the world as a whole new place, where we can use human reason to make things better for ourselves. Instead of an afterlife, we see this world and this one life as utterly important and significant, worth our full attention/devotion. With this, we become more responsible for ourselves and the world in which we live. Instead of relying on some "metaphysical skygod," so to speak, we instead rely on ourselves -- on all humanity itself. With this freedom and responsibility to see the world in this fashion, we become more empowered as free agents -- free individuals capable of growing and learning in this world without reliance on any particular ideas, notions, or entities -- without dependence on any deities to come and save us from the "hostile world." In bearing this awareness, many of us often feel "clam and serene in mind." It's like reaching a state of Nirvana, having realized the truth, and having accepted the world as it is. We become at peace and see the world naturalistically.
Lastly, we do not feel unnecessarily guilty by pounding ourselves with notions of "sin" (which anyone who's read Nietzsche's "The Anti-Christ" would easily know). Instead, we simply take honest responsibility for unethical actions we have taken in a natural world where we can rationally decide if our actions are right or wrong from a philosophical/analytical perspective. With this, we do not have to "feel bad" for simply masturbating, for instance. We do not have to feel afraid for simply engaging in behavior many consider "social taboo." We can be free to a larger extent, where reason is largely involved in drawing the lines of acceptable/unacceptable behavior.
Now, again, I don't know about the rest of you, but this is why I feel atheism has truly benefited me in my personal life, and I'm glad religious perspectives do not personally bog my own mind. But to all those who are in fact religious, I know atheism is not necessarily "better." Many religious persons can avoid the many problems I have listed here. I just enjoy the fact that atheism has truly removed me from any contact with those problems entirely.
Thanks for the opportunity to give my personal take on this matter.
Peace.
