Do you think atheism is bad for mental health?

[nood11]

I'll do a comparison between two belief systems. One is atheism the other Christianity. With atheism there is no God and no afterlife, so life really is meaningless and pointless. I think you could make a strong argument for suicide with atheism. With Christianity there is the possibility of suffering forever after death and of course suffering in this life too. So they both kind of suck in their own ways. Whatever you believe this life is extremely difficult.

 

[sserafim]

So, cult of Cthulhu should do.

Or the Satanic Temple better yet, the Church of Satan. Sign me up!

I think lack of belief in anything is unhealthy, else you become just a cold, calculated machine. You need to believe in SOMETHING. Whether that be in humanity, love, or hope. I am a complete hypocrite as I write this because I am an atheist that can't seem to get themself to believe in anything but I am fully aware that atheism, while I think is the truth, has many psychological drawbacks. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

Why is the lack of belief in anything unhealthy? Why do you need to believe in something?

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I'm agnostic so I'll be miserable and depressed regardless of whether I decide to switch over to either atheism or any religion.

Until I know for sure whether a God or gods are real or not real I can't say I'd be happy at all spiritually.

I have a lot of paranoid reasons to be believe God might be real and trying to mess with me though so I'd probably be pretty disheartened finding out my conspiracy is correct.

 

[sserafim]

I'm agnostic so I'll be miserable and depressed regardless of whether I decide to switch over to either atheism or any religion.

Until I know for sure whether a God or gods are real or not real I can't say I'd be happy at all spiritually.

I have a lot of paranoid reasons to be believe God might be real and trying to mess with me though so I'd probably be pretty disheartened finding out my conspiracy is correct.

That's why religion is bad for mental health (paranoid delusions). Atheism is actually good for mental health. Honestly, religious people sound schizophrenic to me

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

That's why religion is bad for mental health (paranoid delusions), not atheism

I think if I was fully atheist I'd still be equally mentally unwell but I can't completely explain why. Maybe it's more comforting for me to believe that an omnipotent force is the active cause of all my misery and woe rather than just having to accept that randomness and quantum mechanics just happened to align perfectly in all the right ways to screw me over. My dad was also atheist so I'd hate for him to be right.

 

[attheend13]

I know I make so many angry. But my mental health was much better when I believed in god. Sometimes I think god is punishing me for not believing in him and it's all my fault

I'm struggling with this too. I have been baptized into 4 different denominations of the Christian faith. Yet I have lost my faith. I clung to the belief that God was real I guess I still do, because the absence of that belief leaves a giant hole in my life like a yawning giant cavern that I fall into and the feeling is so dark, so meaningless that I grab ahold of belief because it hurts so much I can't breathe. I am so alone, I want to believe there's meaning to it, if for no other reason, then just to endure the day. But as the veil has fallen from my eyes I can't find in myself the rational belief of God. Am I so indoctrinated that fear of not believing is really holding me here? Religion is the worst thing that happened to me. I believed so completely and even though I couldn't understand why life was so bitter and sharp, I believed there was a plan. I had to endure. That was my purpose. But then the veil was lifted. I wish it was true, that there was some great father figure who doesn't see me as a failure, who sees me as beautiful. But that's what the oligarchs tell the masses to keep them in line. It will be better on the other side. No it won't. If there's anything at all on the other side resembling consciousness how do I CTB from that? lol maybe I'll pray on it, talking to the sky is the only way I can find a willing listener

 

[Linda]

Fantasy might make you feel better. But I prefer to accept reality, even if its less comforting. I'm atheist.

 

[ForgottenAgain]

I think it depends on how you rationalise reality. For me personally, I was miserable when I believed in God. Made me fear for every action I took as I could go to hell for it. When I decided to leave faith I felt much better, like I have my free will back.

Having said that, some people need to believe that there's some spiritual guidance or something else out there in order to live more comfortable. It's whatever makes sense to you and let's you live in peace.

 

[noname223]

I think this is individual. I met people in clinics schizophrenics who thought they could communicate with God when they heard voices inside their head. I also noticed believing in God can lead to delusions in my case. I was pretty desperate recently and prayed and it sort of made me delusional. In general christianity was very bad for my mental health. Or religions in general scare me and increase my anxiety. When I had my first major depression with severe suicidality I was so anxious about hell and had many nightmares. It made everything worse. I got better when I lost my faith. However, I also noticed that nihilism is not good for me. So I searched for pillars to build my life on. And one of them is seemingly to post myriads of threads in the biggest suicide forum in history. What a sad story. But that's my life.

 

[3/4Dead]

Isn't this literally what the religion itself preaches though? The people are just abiding by their own religion

I can mainly only speak to Christianity, as that's what I'm most well versed in.
Short answer: kinda, but no not really, at least that shouldn't be your take away I don't think.

The idea of the NT is that everyone has an equal opporotunity to become a good person, regardless of your actions, because what is most important is that you eventually make up for them (different denominations argue about what that really means, some thinking prayer and guilt is enough, others taking the OT word for word and thinking that physical punishment is the only option). That's the whole point of Jesus dying, that you can now, if you were bad before, make up for your wrong-doings because Jesus suffered enough for the rest of humanity forever. He suffered on your behalf for the sins you will commit, so that you can be forgiven. It just requries that you wanna be forgiven really really badly, and seriously put the work in to do so. You're human, you'll fuck up and commit a "sin" but as long as you mean well and do good in the long run you are /supposed/ to be forgiven.

I think sometimes Christians get lost on somewhere between "you'll go to hell if you were a horrible person so you should do right by those actions" and take a wrong turn at "you'll go to hell for doing the slightest thing wrong"

 

[groucho]

It sadly has for me, the emptiness of life is much more all consuming when you don't believe in a god or higher power, or that a higher power is actually just very basic general will to continue that all living things share. But I can't close that particular Pandora's box, once you've seen the magician slight of hand the trick no longer inspires amazement.

Best I can do now is laugh at how absurd it all is, I'm trying to be better at living to help others in little ways to make our combined journey at little easier to deal with.

 

[Franken_1517]

I think so, because faith at least gives you a reason to keep going. You can be delusional but happy that way. I wish I could become religious and find some happiness in my life.

I know I make so many angry. But my mental health was much better when I believed in god. Sometimes I think god is punishing me for not believing in him and it's all my fault

 

[Alex Fermentopathy]

If I believe in some sort of reincarnation (or, as one person said here, it's not a reincarnation, it's rebirth) -- am I atheist or not?