Irenaeus, Siteadmin, Check users, oversight, Administrators
351,627
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 125:
Line 125: + + + + + + + + + + +
→Atheism and ultimate meaning and purpose
''Discover'' magazine wrote about Cook's study:
''Discover'' magazine wrote about Cook's study:
{{cquote|These death thoughts help trigger a subconscious dislike of atheists, said study leader Corey Cook, a social psychologist at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Not only do thoughts of death put people in a negative frame of mind, Cook told Live Science, but they also prompt people to hold more tightly onto their own values.<ref>[http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/atheists-inspire-thoughts-of-death-in-many-americans-150523.htm Atheists Inspire Thoughts of Death in Many Americans] by Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience, ''Discover'' magazine, May 23, 2015 09:25 AM ET</ref>}}
{{cquote|These death thoughts help trigger a subconscious dislike of atheists, said study leader Corey Cook, a social psychologist at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Not only do thoughts of death put people in a negative frame of mind, Cook told Live Science, but they also prompt people to hold more tightly onto their own values.<ref>[http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/atheists-inspire-thoughts-of-death-in-many-americans-150523.htm Atheists Inspire Thoughts of Death in Many Americans] by Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience, ''Discover'' magazine, May 23, 2015 09:25 AM ET</ref>}}
== Ravi Zacharias International Ministries on atheism and death ==
''See also:'' [[Atheism and purpose]] and [[Atheism and meaningless]]
Cameron McAlister of [[Ravi Zacharias]] International Ministries wrote about atheism and death:
{{Cquote|What is the chief appeal of atheism? In a word, death. This story begins and ends with nothingness. Carbon-based life is a brief reprieve between two absolute abysses. We have our minute sliver of time on this minute patch of existence, both of which will be swallowed by oblivion in the long run. Seen in this light, suicide—“denying our programming”—is the most potent and naked expression of human free will on display, a great cosmic revolt against the material upheavals that accidentally produced us in the first place.
This is why atheism is a zero-sum game, a philosophy of death that can offer nothing but death. This is why the rising tide of secularism in the Western world is fostering an indefatigable culture of death. Forged in a crucible of nothingness, we wander as cosmic orphans back to the yawning void from which we were so tragically ejected. In such a stark context, anything more than death, or on the side of life, or even minimally optimistic must be regarded with either pity or callous derision because it is obviously deluded, naïve, or dishonest.
The existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said “existence precedes essence.” In other words, we have no stable or fixed identity that precedes us. The burden of identity, selfhood, and meaning rests solely on our shoulders. But, again, if we came from nothing and are returning inextricably to nothing, life is a temporary accident, and death is the only authentic currency at our disposal. Why is death authentic? Because it is life that is artificial and nothingness that is essential. It is not that this worldview tries to be especially morbid—in many cases it makes a valiant attempt to be life-affirming—it’s simply that it has literally nothing else to offer, or, rather, it has precisely nothing to offer.<ref>[https://www.rzim.org/read/just-thinking-magazine/the-glamour-of-atheism The Glamour of Atheism] by Cameron McAlister</ref>}}
== Atheism and ultimate meaning and purpose ==
== Atheism and ultimate meaning and purpose ==