Atheism and motivation

Brain researchers have conducted a number of studies focusing on the differences between atheists and the religious. See: Atheism and the brain

According to Scientific American: "Research also suggests that a religious brain exhibits higher levels of dopamine, a hormone associated with increased attention and motivation." See also: Atheism and the brain

Atheism, depression, suicide and dopamine levels in the brain

See also: Atheism and depression and Atheism and suicide and Atheism and health and Atheism and mental illness

As noted above, research suggests that religious people have higher levels of dopamine in their brain.

Atheists have a higher suicide rate than theists. Please see: Atheism and suicide

According to Scientific American:

“

While you often hear about serotonin in studies of depression (serotonin is, after all, a target of many current antidepressants), there are many other neurotransmitters and systems that are also under investigation, and many of them are bearing some fruitful results. Ketamine, for example. And of course there is the role of dopamine. We usually think of dopamine linked more with things like reward or drug-addiction, but what dopamine actually does is more complex than that. Dopamine is involved in movement, for example, but it is also involved in, for lack of a better word, "motivated behavior". I often think of dopamine in terms of "salience", helping to determine how relevant something is to your interests, which encompasses motivated behaviors for food, sex, drugs, etc. And dopamine could also be important in major depressive disorder. People with depression often exhibit reduced motivation, anhedonia (a decrease in pleasure from usually enjoyed things), sometimes motor decreases as well. All of these are linked with dopamine. So targeting the dopamine system is one of the ways in which we can look at potential mechanisms and treatments for depressive behaviors.

”

Concerning atheism and depression, a University of Michigan study involving 19,775 individuals found that religious people are less likely than atheists to suffer depression when they are lonely. See also: Atheism and depression

In December 2003, the University of Warwick reported: "Dr. Stephen Joseph, from the University of Warwick, said: "Religious people seem to have a greater purpose in life, which is why they are happier. Looking at the research evidence, it seems that those who celebrate the Christian meaning of Christmas are on the whole likely to be happier." See: Atheism and Christmas

The website Adherents.com reported the following in respect to atheism and suicide:

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Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman compiled country-by-country survey, polling and census numbers relating to atheism, agnosticism, disbelief in God and people who state they are non-religious or have no religious preference...In examining various indicators of societal health, Zuckerman concludes about suicide: "...According to the 2003 World Health Organization's report on international male suicides rates (which compared 100 countries), of the top ten nations with the highest male suicide rates, all but one (Sri Lanka) are strongly irreligious nations with high levels of atheism."

”

In addition, in many atheistic cultures in the developed world, there are considerable problems with loneliness (see: Atheism and loneliness). Furthermore, many atheists feel isolated within theistic cultures (see: Atheism and social outcasts).

Atheism and hopelessness

See also: Atheism and hopelessness and Atheism, agnosticism and pessimism

The Rev. Dr. Robert Stuart MacArthur was an early proponent of atheism being a causal factor for suicide. See: Atheism and suicide

On March 8, 2013, Damon Linker wrote in The Week:

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If atheism is true, it is far from being good news. Learning that we're alone in the universe, that no one hears or answers our prayers, that humanity is entirely the product of random events, that we have no more intrinsic dignity than non-human and even non-animate clumps of matter, that we face certain annihilation in death, that our sufferings are ultimately pointless, that our lives and loves do not at all matter in a larger sense, that those who commit horrific evils and elude human punishment get away with their crimes scot free — all of this (and much more) is utterly tragic.

”

Although Bertrand Russell was an agnostic, he had favorable views of atheism. Bertrand Russell wrote in 1903 about entropy and the universe:

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That man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins- all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. "Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding dispair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built."

”

In a letter to Lowes Dickinson, Bertrand Russell wrote:

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We stand on the shores of an ocean, crying to the night and the emptiness; sometimes a voice answers out of the darkness. But it is a voice of one drowning; and in a moment the silence returns” (Bertrand Russell, Autobiography, p. 287 as quoted by Leroy Koopman, “Famous Atheists Give Their Testimonies,” Moody Monthly, Nov. 1975, p. 124.)

”

Atheism and happiness

See also: Atheism and happiness

CNN reported that Christians are happier than atheists - on Twitter.

CNN reported about atheism and happiness:

“

The study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tapped Twitter as a research tool and compared the messages of Christians and atheists. The conclusion: When they are limited to 140 characters or less, these researchers say, believers are happier than their counterparts. Two doctoral students in social psychology and an adviser analyzed the casual language of nearly 2 million tweets from more than 16,000 active users to come up with their findings, which were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. The team identified subjects by finding Twitter users who followed the feeds of five prominent public figures. In the case of Christians, those select five were Pope Benedict XVI, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, conservative political commentator Dinesh D’Souza and Joyce Meyer, an evangelical author and speaker. In the case of atheists, the five followed feeds included Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Monica Salcedo and Michael Shermer - the latter two respectively being a self-described “fiercely outspoken atheist” blogger, and a science writer who founded The Skeptics Society. With the help of a text analysis program, the researchers found that Christians tweet with higher frequency words reflecting positive emotions, social relationships and an intuitive style of thinking – the sort that’s gut-driven.

”

Happiness: British non-religious vs. British religious

1.5 million elderly English men are expected to suffer from loneliness by 2030. See: England and loneliness

Compared to deeply religious cultures where an extended family and a sense of community often exists, secular countries are often lonelier societies.

A Eurobarometer poll in 2010 reported that 37% of UK citizens "believed there is a God" (See: British atheism).

See also: British atheism and UK and secularism

The Telegraph reported:

“

...new analysis of findings from Britain’s national happiness index suggest that religion really can make people more content with their lot. According to figures published as part of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) “well-being” research programme people, people who say they have no religious affiliation report lower levels of happiness, life satisfaction and self-worth than those who do. Yet, conversely, non-religious Britons also report lower levels of anxiety than adherents to the main faiths. The finding emerges from figures which also show a link between age and happiness... A typical Briton scores their life satisfaction as 7.53 out of 10 and their happiness the previous day as 7.38, when the figures over the first four years of the scheme are averaged out. But those who describe themselves as having no religion typically score their happiness slightly below average, at 7.22 out of 10. That compares with 7.33 for Muslims and 7.37 for Jewish people, rising to 7.47 for Christians, who were just ahead of Sikhs on 7.45.

”

Atheism, motivation, exercise and sedentary lifestyles

See also: Atheism and sedentary lifestyles and Atheism and obesity and Atheism and physical fitness

Numerous studies report that athletes to be more religious than non-athletes. See also: Sports performance: Religious faith vs. atheism

According to WebMD:

“

You know exercise is good for you. Doing it, though, is another thing. To stick with an exercise routine, you need to get out there when that little voice inside you says, "I'll do that tomorrow. Or the day after -- maybe." Motivation does that, and it's not about just powering through.

”

The journal article Spirituality and Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior among Latino Men and Women in Massachusetts which was published in the journal Ethnicity and Disease declared: "There is a significant negative relationship between spirituality and sedentary behavior."

In addition, numerous studies report that athletes to be more religious than non-athletes. See also: Sports performance: Religious faith vs. atheism

Sedentary lifestyles reduce life expectancy. Religion/spirituality is positively correlated to greater longevity (see: Atheism and life expectancy).

Sloth in atheistic communist countries vs. Protestant work ethic

In the former Soviet Union, a popular joke was that the workers pretended to work and the Soviet Union pretended to pay them.

See also: Atheism and sloth and Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Atheism and economic prosperity

Atheism is a part of Marxist-Leninist and Maoist/Chinese communist ideology (See: Atheism and communism).

Widespread sloth in the former Soviet Union helped cause much poverty. A study performed in the former Soviet Union found that over 50% of the work force admitted to drinking alcohol while on the job (See also: Atheism and alcoholism). In the former Soviet Union, a popular joke was that the workers pretended to work and the Soviet Union pretended to pay them.

In 1982, the website Foreign Affairs indicated about the Soviet Union and food production:

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What has changed during these two decades? How is it possible that the Soviet Union has almost exactly the same area of arable and permanent crop land per head of the population as has the United States, namely 0.89 hectares (2.2 acres), and cannot feed its population adequately, whereas U.S. agriculture not only supplies the population with one of the richest diets in the world but in addition supplies more food for export than any other country?

”

On the other hand, the atheist and Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the Protestant societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history." See: Protestant work ethic

In China, the growth in religion has accompanied China’s fast economic growth over the last twenty years. Christianity is seeing rapid growth in China and the historian Niall Ferguson attributes this recent economic growth to the Protestant work ethic being more incorporated into Chinese society. See also: Growth of Christianity in China

Atheistic communism and forced labor

See also: Atheism and forced labor and Religion and abolitionism

In atheistic communist regimes forced labor has often played a significant role in their economies and this practice continues to this day.

The black conservative author and commentator Thomas Sowell wrote in an essay entitled Ending slavery: "The anti-slavery movement was spearheaded by people who would today be called 'the religious right' and its organization was created by conservative businessmen." See also: Religion and abolitionism

Decline of the atheist movement and the morale of the atheist movement

See also: Morale of the atheist movement and Secular leftists and psychogenic illness

David Silverman, in his 2018 address to the American Atheists organization convention, said: "We are suffering a level of defeatism that I have never seen before...".

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines morale as "the mental and emotional condition (as of enthusiasm, confidence, or loyalty) of an individual or group with regard to the function or tasks at hand)".

Numerous atheists have declared that the "atheist movement is dead" or that it is dying (see: Decline of the atheist movement)

Groups/organizations which unsuccessfully meet challenges and/or face future challenges which they believe they cannot successfully overcome, often become: dispirited, experience infighting, become pessimistic and also become less effective.

At the 2018 American Atheists National Convention, the ex-president of the American Atheists organization David Silverman declared:

“

It is a hard time to be an atheist activist. This has affected us. And it has affected our community... ...it has really affected us. We are suffering a level of defeatism that I have never seen before... We feel the loss. And we feel like we have lost. We feel like we lost the election... We see this cascade of attack coming down at us over and over from all different directions and we feel like it's over. I have heard so many times it makes me sick. It makes me sad. It feels like we lost. The apathy that follows. It doesn't matter. We can't win anyways. It's useless to fight. This apathy is infecting us. It's hurting us. And people are reacting to each other now. And so that is causing a division. Lots and lots of division in our movement. Hard, bad division... And that has resulted in a splintering and factioning of the movement that I have never seen before and none of us have. In other words, we're in a bad situation and it's getting worse.

”

From a global perspective, the world's percentage of atheists has been shrinking and many secular countries have experienced a significant amount of immigration from the citizens of religious countries (see: Desecularization and Global atheism statistics).

Eric Kaufmann, a professor at Birkbeck College, University of London whose work focuses on how demographic changes affects religion/politics, points out that that the atheist population has a sub-replacement fertility rate while religious fundamentalists have high rates of birth (See: Atheism and fertility rates). .

On December 23, 2012, Professor Eric Kaufmann who teaches at Birbeck College, University of London and whose academic research specialty is how demographic changes affect religion/irreligion and politics, wrote:

“

I argue that 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious. On the other hand, the secular West and East Asia has very low fertility and a rapidly aging population... In the coming decades, the developed world's demand for workers to pay its pensions and work in its service sector will soar alongside the booming supply of young people in the third world. Ergo, we can expect significant immigration to the secular West which will import religious revival on the back of ethnic change. In addition, those with religious beliefs tend to have higher birth rates than the secular population, with fundamentalists having far larger families. The epicentre of these trends will be in immigration gateway cities like New York (a third white), Amsterdam (half Dutch), Los Angeles (28% white), and London, 45% white British.

”

Various schisms occurring within the atheist movement and widespread infighting, has had an adverse effect on various atheist organizations (See: Atheist factions). Divisions within the atheist movement have caused a marked decline in the movement (see: Decline of the atheist movement). For example, atheist organizations have experienced large drops in donations to their organizations (see: Atheist organizations and fundraising).

Most atheists are apathetic when it comes to sharing atheism with others - especially when compared to evangelistic religions such as Christianity (see: Atheism and apathy).

Eric Kaufmann, an agnostic professor whose academic research specialty is how demographic changes affect religion/irreligion and politics, wrote in 2010:

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Worldwide, the march of religion can probably only be reversed by a renewed, self-aware secularism. Today, it appears exhausted and lacking in confidence... Secularism's greatest triumphs owe less to science than to popular social movements like nationalism, socialism and 1960s anarchist-liberalism. Ironically, secularism's demographic deficit means that it will probably only succeed in the twenty-first century if it can create a secular form of 'religious' enthusiasm.

”

In March 2015, the atheist philosopher John Gray in an article at The Guardian titled What scares the new atheists reported:

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Today, it’s clear that no grand march is under way...The resurgence of religion is a worldwide development...For secular thinkers, the continuing vitality of religion calls into question the belief that history underpins their values."

”

In 2018, the atheist PZ Myers quotes an atheist activist who declares: "It’s quite depressing that movement Atheism has turned into such a joke. I valued it so much once." Furthermore, Myers says the atheist movement is in "shambles" and this is "quite depressing" for him.

The new atheist Richard Dawkins was at the center of the Elevatorgate controversy which caused deep divisions within the atheist movement.

YouTube atheist Thunderfoot said about the atheist movement after the Reason Rally 2016 had a very low turnout:

“

I'm not sure there is anything in this movement worth saving. Hitchens is dead. Dawkins simply doesn't have the energy for this sort of thing anymore. Harris went his own way. And Dennett just kind of blended into the background. So what do you think when the largest gathering of the nonreligious in history pulls in... I don't know. Maybe 2,000 people. Is there anything worth saving?

”

In 2011, atheist Jacques Berlinerblau declared: "The Golden Age of Secularism has passed."

In recent times, the number of people attending atheist conferences has grown smaller. Atheist David Smalley wrote: "And we wonder why we’re losing elections, losing funding, and our conferences are getting smaller."

In 2017, the atheist activist Lee Moore declared about American atheist organizations and their fundraising drops due to atheist infighting:

“

If you look at the major atheist groups right now, like the national groups, the ones that are doing the real activist work... They are not bringing in the kind of donations they used to. Most of them are starved for cash. They're downsizing left and right. Because people aren't just giving like they used to. And I talked to a lot of the major donors out there and they said, "Well, we're kind of tired of seeing the atheist community just fight amongst itself and not really get anything done. We'd rather not give money if we don't think it's going to go somewhere."

”

Atheism and inspiration

See also: Atheism and inspiration and Atheism and meaninglessness

John Updike

Atheist Francois Tremblay wrote: "One last problem that undermines any propagation of atheism is inspiration. Let's be honest here, "there is no god!" is not a very motivating call for most people."

Natasha Frost wrote in the guidebook website Atlas Obscura about the Soviet Union, which had state atheism: "...atheism was taught in schools, alongside history and geography, but in a 1975 survey, many people still professed to find atheistic dogma boring."

The ex-atheist Alister McGrath has repeatedly pointed out the uninspiring nature of atheism. According to McGrath, atheism is "stale", "dull" and difficult to believe.

There are a number of factors which causes atheism to be an unrealistic and uninteresting viewpoint (see: Rebuttals to atheist arguments).

John Updike wrote:

“

Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic un-interestingness as an intellectual position. Where was the ingenuity, the ambiguity, the humanity...of saying that the universe just happened to happen and that when we're dead we're dead?".

”

The British columnist Giles Coren wrote in The Times:

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But it’s not the nihilism, the soullessness, the lack of poetry, the moral and physical ugliness, the shallow iconoclasm or the vainglory of atheists that bother me most. It’s the boringness. Is there anything more boring in the world than an atheist?

”

Andrew Brown wrote in The Guardian in an article entitled You can't dance to atheism:

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...a religion is a philosophy that makes you dance. It pleased me because the book itself can be read as a history of how philosophy grew from dance... There aren't any overwhelming and inspiring collective atheist rituals... If I'm right, then liberal, individualistic atheism is impossible as an organising principle of society because any doctrine that actually works to hold society together is indistinguishable from a religion. It needs its rituals.

”

China has the world's largest atheist population. National Public Radio's article Chinese Turn To Religion To Fill A Spiritual Vacuum declares:

“

One young evangelical Christian missionary travels from rural village to village in the Protestant heartland in eastern China to proselytize. She attributed her own conversion to the overwhelming pressures of China's education system. "In high school, I felt very depressed," said the bright-eyed young woman, who gave her name as Nicole. "I felt people had no direction, and I felt life was dry and boring. I felt the pressure of school was very high. God helped me and liberated me."

”

Jerry Coyne

Atheist Jerry Coyne said about the atheist meetings which he attended:

“

But to me the speakers and talks have often seemed repetitive: the same crew of jet-set skeptics giving the same talks. ...a few things bothered me, most notably the air of self-congratulation (which I excused on the grounds of enthusiastic people finding like-minded folks for the first time), the “fanboyness” directed at some of the famous atheists (they hardly let poor Richard alone, and I’m not sure he liked that!), and the lameness of quite a few of the talks. Again, how much new can you say about atheism?

”

In 2018, the first major atheist conference to be held in New York City was cancelled. The Atheist Underground YouTube channel indicated about the cancellation, "Atheist Conferences are failing all over the place. People need to quite trying to run an event that is just the same old thing."

The American Christian Todd Strandberg said of atheism: "The ranks of atheists have always been small... The key problem with atheism is that it lacks a strong 'selling point'". See also: Unattractiveness of atheism and Atheist population

As a result of the unexciting nature of atheism, most atheists are apathetic when it comes to engaging in atheist activism and participating in atheist meetings/conferences (see: Atheism and apathy). On the other hand, in the United States, a significant amount of atheists attend church services (see: Atheists and church attendance).

See also

• Atheism and apathy

• Atheism and negative emotions/thoughts

• Atheism and social skills

• Atheism and joy

• Atheism and drug addiction

• Atheism and grief

• Secular leftists and psychogenic illness

• Atheism and gratitude

• Atheists and the endurance of religion