“It’s impossible for atheists to do this!” …but It’s Not

Believers can do it no problem, but atheists? There’s no way! ...Right?

Christian apologist William Lane Craig’s “The Absurdity of Life Without God” contains the claim that atheists can’t be happy and philosophically consistent - that if an atheist is happy, it’s only because they’re living inconsistently with their own views, so atheism is truly unlivable. But what does the actual data say? Can atheists be happy without stealing from god? Here, I respond to WLC’s claim while discussing actual research on atheism and mental health / happiness.

Listen to The Happiness Hypothesis with a 30-day free trial from Audible:


Paulogia’s video response to Dr. Craig’s presentation:

If you liked this video, check out "Atheists can't answer these questions... or Can We?"

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Sources:

WLC’s article

Are believers happier than atheists? Well-being measures in a sample of atheists and believers in Puerto Rico (Research I discussed)

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This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

[GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

Listen to Jonathan Haidt's "The Happiness Hypothesis" here: audibletrial.com/gmskeptic
Also, have any of you had the "atheists are miserable" trope thrown at you? How did that affect you, if at all?

[late]

I've always despised the idea that life has no value without a deity. Just the fact that there is no "divine purpose" doesn't make our lives not worthwhile living.

[SoldierOfGodwyn]

I was Christian until around 15 years old, I was miserable, always paranoid I was doing something wrong or born bad. Ever since I stopped following that religion I have been happier, giving my life meaning and purpose.

[Mt.Berry-o]

That's almost like saying adult life is unlivable because you no longer have your parents telling you to eat your veggies and do your chores. It confuses me how they fail to consider (or maybe disregard) the fulfillment most people find in independence and self-resposibility as a driving force in life.

[geddesthesea]

The funny thing is, when I was deeply Christian, I was consistently 𝘶𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺. I was constantly terrified of doing wrong. Constantly ashamed of myself when I “sinned”. Constantly shunned by my family/Christian society. Since I stopped believing in that stuff-(I am agnostic), I have been much happier. And way more consistently happy. Purpose of us means so much more because we choose to give meaning to ourselves and others. Not because some high being decides it so. That’s so much more satisfying!

[bruhmoment]

Kinda scary how the only reason these guys are moral is because they're afraid of burning eternally.

[KL-ltrc]

So his argument is "If God weren't real it would make me feel bad, therefore it can't be true". Wow that's compelling.

[camroe]

Reminds me of a quote, I think by George Bernard Shaw, “Saying that a believer is happier than a non-believer is no more to the point than saying a drunk man is happier than a sober one!”

[gregoryrau]

I can actually confirm this from personal experience. I was raised with no religion at all. Any of my interactions with it have only been as an outsider, but I have never had this crisis of hope/happiness that is talked about by apologists. The idea of needing a christian belief system to find that seems like putting the cart before the horse. As an outsider, religion, at least the socially traditional ones, seems like an attempt to explain things like "hope", "morality", and "creation", rather than a basis for these things. I have personally found better answers in my pursuit of science and philosophy, and accepting that I don't have answers to the questions I can't answer. It upsets me to learn that people might contemplate suicide after leaving their faith. Hang in there everyone! I've heard a saying once, I forget exactly how it goes, but the basic idea is that: "It's not about where we end up, but the journey taken to get there." I find fulfillment and happeniess in my growth as a person, and my personal search for truth. I don't know what happens when we die. That scares me sometimes, but giving up all that I have because I don't know what happens at the end does not seem worth it to me. I hope my contribution to this conversation is helpful.

[fridayhawks-spangenberg]

That's as absurd as me saying "Christians cannot be both happy and consistent. If they are consistent, then they must necessarily always be terrified that God will cast them into hell for a sin which they did not know they have committed, and would have any recourse for since anything God does is just. Since living in a state of terror and happiness are mutually exclusive, Christians must set aside their faith for periods of time in order to feel happy, abandoning consistency."

[FullmetalP]

The myth that Christianity makes you happy is something I had to come face-to-face with in my own life when my proper "Christian" beliefs led me to what was nearly my death. I had been made to feel that I was forced to live this way or else I was damned, I lived in constant fear of what would happen to me if I left my abusive husband, and eventually it led to nearly being killed by him. At that point, I began seeing my life much more clearly and I realized that the people who had pushed me to this point in my life weren't happy either. I received encouragement to stay with my husband anyway by women who were also abused by their husbands, and I was threatened by men in the church of what would happen should I leave (likely also abusers). I never felt more hopeless than being a Christian, and I never felt more misled because I had been promised that by living this way I would be happy, and I realized that I had never even known happiness. You're right when you say that Christians who think that life has no meaning without God already have no meaning, and how could they not? They're made to believe that EVERYTHING in life is either pointless or sinful, nothing is to be enjoyed *but* God, so people like me grow up with no sense of purpose or happiness because we aren't allowed to have any. It wasn't until I did leave my abusive ex-husband and the church that I ever felt hopeful, because for once in my life, I was allowed to be. I was allowed to decide what mattered and what didn't, what to live for and what not to, what to enjoy and what I didn't care for. Freedom gave me hope, not religious fundamentalism.

[mastergame]

Stating that not believing in a god leads to depression and meaningless life IS a reason why some people feel that way when they leave churches.

[laszlovida]

As an atheist ( born, grown and live as an atheist, who never needed any kindness or rage from any higher being )
I was shocked.
The theistic people really think that this world we live in... is terrible, absurd, meaningless and so on? Someone's basement where the junk and trash rot together in the stinking darkness? Really? Why they hate this world?

...glad I'm atheist...

Maybe it's new for them, but I must say:

This world is amazing, beautiful, lovely, funny and first of all LIVABLE! ( Hope we will not destroy the Earth. )
This world gave life to every ancestors you have, to your father and mother, and they gave you your own personal life.
This world is your cradle, playground, wedding bed, workplace, home, toilet and grave.
This world is not only livable, but lovable too.


Men of faith - I ask just a little respect! Please!

I myself love this world, and I feel sad if someone hate it.

[Bashfulsson]

"Can atheists do THIS?"
*sicknasty kickflip*

[leimmortalraven]

The biggest conflict for me when I hear the argument of “Atheists can’t feel meaning.” Is that when I was a Christian, life felt unbelievably meaningless and pointless. Why am I waiting to die? Nothing here matters, it’s the eternity in heaven that I’m looking towards. When I shifted to being an Atheist, I felt that weight off my back and my life is meaningful because it just ends when I die. If I believed in an afterlife, that meaning disappears.

[PrinceofQuarkness]

Even if the life of an atheist WERE inherently miserable and pointless, that wouldn't make God any more likely to exist. Maybe I'd feel more purpose and wellbeing in my life if I believed in Zeus & co, does that mean they are real?

[transhumean]

Drew, the weeks after becoming an Atheist, I was afraid I'd lost both meaning and morality. I remember in the weeks that followed... one morning, I woke up and the sun was shining through the windows. And that was enough. I love sunlight. Later, I was driving down the road. A Texas rain started pouring. There was a homeless woman begging on the side of the road. I ran out and gave her my umbrella, not for Jesus, because I, as a fellow human, cared. I cried afterwards. I realized that my meaning and my morality were superior to anything given to me an outside source.

Thank you for your videos. Sometimes, I need to remember that journey and I get to share it with you without the reactiveness I get elsewhere. I think we share this, I was a minister. A lot of my friends are in ministry. I don't hate them or look down on them. The ones who are still friends with me might disagree, but we still talk, we still seek truth together. That's what it means to be humans. A lot of my fellow Atheists don't understand that, like a lot of my Christian friends didn't. You said something in a previous video I often say to my Christian friends. You said something like, "And if it turns out I'm wrong and God is real, I feel like my current beliefs are justified with my current level of knowledge." I don't know if there's a God, but if there is, that God has to be smart enough to know that I'm a tiny human trying to figure out the universe. I don't know shit. Punishing me for that would be weird.

Anyway, love your channel. Thank you!

[braeduin]

WLC demonstrating how being a Christian is like being in an abusive relationship. "You leave me and you'll be sorry, miserable, and unhappy." "Without me your life is meaningless."

[cupoftea]

WLC is like saying: "How can you enjoy the meal you chose when no one told you objectivly what to eat?"

[BlackAtheistRants]

When they say without god there is no purpose, I can’t help but to think about all the people who’s purpose was to be enslaved, raped, terminally ill, etc. they love to talk about god given purpose until it comes to people who according to them were destined to live severely painful lives and die horrible deaths. They are so self centered and closed minded. It’s so sad.