Atheism and the meaning of life

In Japan, researchers found that Japanese children see the world as designed. See: Atheism and children and Atheism and purpose

As far as atheism and the meaning of life, Avery Foley and Ken Ham wrote:

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“Why am I here?” is a question that every human wants answered. We innately know that our lives have some kind of meaning. But where does it come from and what is it? Does atheism give the answer? Well, some atheists will say the meaning of life is found in helping others or making humankind better. Now this seems admirable—after all, who doesn’t want to end world hunger, cure cancer, or clothe the orphaned?—until one asks, “Why?” You see, in an atheistic worldview, we are animals headed for the grave, and our universe is spinning each day toward the end. Why does it matter if we help anyone? Why does it matter if we make humankind better? We will die, and they will die.

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Pew Research reports that 35% of American atheists often think about the meaning and purpose of life (see also: Atheism and purpose).

As adults, children who attended religious services regularly are 47 percent more likely to have a high sense of mission and purpose.

In December 2003, the University of Warwick reported:

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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.

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Eric Lyons wrote about atheism and the meaning of life:

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I wonder how many casual atheists (and agnostics who teeter on the brink of atheism) have actually thought through the fact that atheism implies that life ultimately is meaningless. One of the world’s most celebrated atheistic, evolutionary writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Dr. Richard Dawkins, confessed in a 1995 Scientific American article, “The Universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom…no purpose…nothing but pitiless indifference.” More recently, in September 2016, Graham Lawton, Executive Editor of New Scientist magazine, penned a one-page article titled, “What is the Meaning of Life?” What answer did this leading evolutionary agnostic give? Here was his heavy-hitting first line: “The harsh answer is ‘it has none.’” “Your life may feel like a big deal to you,” he wrote, “but it’s actually a random blip of matter and energy in an uncaring and impersonal universe.” Other than subjective feelings of meaning and importance, unbelief implies “we will never get objective data on the matter.” Atheism and agnosticism simply fail “to capture a ‘true’ or ‘higher’ meaning... The best atheism can do is to ask people to choose for themselves what the meaning of human life is. But such meaning is entirely subjective. One person could just as easily conclude that the meaning of life is to reduce the population of human beings on Earth by any means possible in order to “save mother Earth,” as he could decide that the meaning of life is “to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones,” including having sexual relations with anyone, at anytime, anywhere. On the other hand, Christianity offers the world real, objective meaning. The Creator of mankind has informed us that we exist on Earth for the purpose of choosing (by the grace of God) where we want to live eternally (Matthew 7:13-14). As we prepare to meet our Maker (Ecclesiastes 12:7), He has instructed us to “[f]ear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

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