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Question 77

Do you think that being an atheist makes you a better person or has radically changed your life for the better?

• Others would have to judge whether it has made be a better person. However, it definitely has made me a happier and more productive one. Life without religion is infinitely preferable to life with it. (George Ricker #146)

• It hasn't radically changed my life. I think that it makes me a better person, because I'm not lying to myself about life after death. Truth and honesty matter. I am better able to figure out what is moral and immoral. (Michael Alexander #18)

• Indirectly yes. Directly no. Before I was an athiest, I was confused. I was told that god existed, but it never ever made any sense to me. Also the thought that I would go to hell for not believing was a bit scary to a young kid.

  The day I finally gave up that fear and accepted that god was a fantasy like many other fantasies in life, I found the freedom to start discovering what life was really about.

  For me that discovery has led to a far more moral life than any christian I know and a true happiness and joy in life. I'm a better person and my life has radically changed for the better because of this discovery.

  Being an athiest doesn't make your life better. But giving up fantasies and searching for the truth can. (Michael Stanley)

• Well, like I've said before I don't have a lot of memory of the theistic time, but I am aware that I was ruled by terror. Terror of making some little mistake since I was a bug under a microscope.

  I shattered the slave chains, but it was years before I was able to exorcise the last vestiges from that insanity. (Stoney #9)

• I'm not sure about: being a "better person".

  At least I no longer have to live with nagging doubts that: my belief system may not be true, and that I must be a horrible person for having such doubts in 'God'.

  I feel that I'm now free to accept whatever we discover as probable 'truths'. (pan #1432)

• No. I am an atheist because of who and what I am, not the other way around. I was only able to maintain my religion until my early teens, and the only real difference since is that I am not puzzled about religion anymore.

  For me, trying to imagine what I would be like as an adult believer is like trying to imagine what difference it would make to my life if I was Batman. (Niall McCauley #36)

• Not particularly. Seeing as I never firmly commited to any one god-position or another for very long during my life I must conclude that my "being a good person" comes from my social awareness rather than any religious exploration. On the other hand, I can attribute my wandering into alt.atheism for expanding my understanding of what it means to be moral, ethical, and a member of a heterogenous society. (Elf Sternberg #1493)

• It certainly makes me more skeptical about outlandish claims in other areas, from medical quackery to UFOlogy. In general, I find that my bullshit detector works fairly well across the board. (raven1 #1096)

• I can't quite remember what it was like when I did believe in God, so I find it hard to answer your question the way it is put. I will say, however, that my life improved markedly when I admitted to myself that I was an atheist.

  Trying to force belief, because I knew it would please my parents, put me through hell. Once I gave up on that, and reconciled myself to the fact that I could never truly believe in God, my life underwent a radical change. It's had some negative effects, but overall it was a positive thing. (Carl Funk #1229)

• ) Some one else here said the same thing as I'm thinking: To be the person I am there is a level of questioning and analysis that lead me to question religion. As religions generally are not suited to questioning it has resulted in my being an agnostic. Well that and the things I've found in the process of questioning.

  I think the issue of "better person" is not specific to atheism. I think atheism is more an effect than a cause. For me those who are willing to question, willing to accept, willing to be wrong are the "better" people. They are the ones willing to be human and let other people be human. And alot of that goes into atheism/agnosticism. I don't think, then, that it makes me a better person. I try, and agnosticism is part and parcel of that attempt at self honesty. (Gyre Hart #1520)