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[Andir]

If there's no way for us to tell or understand, why do people insist on trying to pursue it, then?  You can't just blame it on an individual being erratic...   It's a well-established fact that people seem to seek out a religion or belief of some sort, though it seems to be less common nowadays.  What's the deep-running justification behind this?

For the same reason the question: "What's the meaning of life?" is asked.  People want to know why they are here to give meaning to their suffering.  People don't understand how to enjoy life because they are afraid to piss off something more powerful.

Edit: Also what Guy said, people want to know they lived for something greater than retirement and death.

[Golgath]

Which brings it to another topic..  Why do people fear death, specifically?  Obviously, not everyone thinks of it in the same way, but from my point of view, it's not particularly terrible except if you die young.  Even then, it's mostly a bad thing because of the pain you'll leave behind, though if you die slowly and horribly it's often a reason to want to avoid that particular fate.   
Ignoring that particular situation, though, is it really reasonable to fear death, despite the fact that it will always catch up with you eventually?

[Guy Montag]

Well, because death is instinctually avoided by EVERYTHING thats alive (excluding 12 year old emo kids that got a mean comment on their myspace).

Death is the lack of existing, and its the worst alternative to being alive that there is.

People don't want to die. Its pretty much the only goal there is in life. Everyone knows they are going to die and its something most people would like to delay a bit.

Also, there is obviously a bit of superstition in people's mind about "what happens to you after you die? is there an afterlife?" I'm certain there isn't, but some people REALLY would like to experience something else once their heart stops beating and their body is cold-cuts in a grave somewhere.

Its a defense mechanism. That suicide bomber blows himself up because he believes the afterlife will be a heaven compared to the poverty and hardship he's known in his life. A belief in the afterlife is simply a psychological self defense mechanism to circumvent that idea that "when you die, you are srsly dead".

People know they are going to die, they want to mitigate their worries about it.

[Onlyhestands]

I don't want to die of course, but I feel that since I won't be able to even comprehend that I'm dead(As a dead body can't do, think, or feel anything) I don't worry about dying.

[Angellus]

Hi,
I see so many topics concerning atheism or proving that no god exists or reasons to be atheist or whatever...
I just don't get it. When I was young I was teached about Jesus and God and I believe in a God until today. I have had a experience that I'd describe as meeting God (it was not a near-death experience) but even without it I wouldn't be able to understand how you think you're alone in the universe. Everything is so perfect, there's a reason for everything and there are so many "coincidences", how's that? How did everything start?
I understand religion has been transformed in a non-sense thing these days, with people making religions to earn money or to have fun.
In my opinion religion should be the way to find the truth about all those questions. In this point of view, an atheist would be religious too.
So, how do you atheists, explain all these above?

I want to bring a constructive discussion, please don't discriminate atheists or religious people, just say your reasons and why. Thanks ;]

Atheists do not think they are alone in the universe. They are people who do not believe in the existence of a god.

I personally do not know whether I would be an atheist or not with my state of mind.
My view of things is that there is no 'god'. I believe however that there is something that people can believe in, thus creating it. It might sound hard to understand. You might want to see it like an inmaginary friend who to you really exists and can talk courage into you.

If any-one could tell me whether I'm an atheist or not, please do so  I can't seem to figure this one out for myself as I do and do not believe in a god.

I personally believe in scientific explanations of the start of everything and other questions. I am like the unbeliever Thomas (how he is called in my country), if I cannot see it, it probably does not exist.

[Sordid]

I don't want to die of course, but I feel that since I won't be able to even comprehend that I'm dead(As a dead body can't do, think, or feel anything) I don't worry about dying.

Yeah, that. You experience death every night, you go to sleep and your mind turns off until you wake up a few hours later (assuming, for the sake of example, a dreamless night). In the meantime you're just not there, you have no recollection of that time. I imagine death is very much like that, only you, y'know, don't wake up.

[Jreengus]

I don't want to die of course, but I feel that since I won't be able to even comprehend that I'm dead(As a dead body can't do, think, or feel anything) I don't worry about dying.

Yeah, that. You experience death every night, you go to sleep and your mind turns off until you wake up a few hours later (assuming, for the sake of example, a dreamless night). In the meantime you're just not there, you have no recollection of that time. I imagine death is very much like that, only you, y'know, don't wake up.

And that doesn't terrify you?

[Angellus]

I don't want to die of course, but I feel that since I won't be able to even comprehend that I'm dead(As a dead body can't do, think, or feel anything) I don't worry about dying.

Yeah, that. You experience death every night, you go to sleep and your mind turns off until you wake up a few hours later (assuming, for the sake of example, a dreamless night). In the meantime you're just not there, you have no recollection of that time. I imagine death is very much like that, only you, y'know, don't wake up.

I feel likewise, though dreams are played in the last part of your sleep, just before you wake up. Mostly the dreams take place within the two seconds of waking up.

I don't want to die of course, but I feel that since I won't be able to even comprehend that I'm dead(As a dead body can't do, think, or feel anything) I don't worry about dying.

Yeah, that. You experience death every night, you go to sleep and your mind turns off until you wake up a few hours later (assuming, for the sake of example, a dreamless night). In the meantime you're just not there, you have no recollection of that time. I imagine death is very much like that, only you, y'know, don't wake up.

And that doesn't terrify you?

No. It actually makes me feel safe.
After death there will be nothing to worry about anymore.
Should, however there be more, I can always worry about that later.

[Golgath]

And that doesn't terrify you?

No. It actually makes me feel safe.
After death there will be nothing to worry about anymore.
Should, however there be more, I can always worry about that later.

Sums it up pretty well for me, as far as my belief as to how death will be.

[Jreengus]

And that doesn't terrify you?

No. It actually makes me feel safe.
After death there will be nothing to worry about anymore.
Should, however there be more, I can always worry about that later.

Sums it up pretty well for me, as far as my belief as to how death will be.

Weird, you two seem to take comfort in the part that worries me the most.

[Andir]

And that doesn't terrify you?

No. It actually makes me feel safe.
After death there will be nothing to worry about anymore.
Should, however there be more, I can always worry about that later.

Sums it up pretty well for me, as far as my belief as to how death will be.

Weird, you two seem to take comfort in the part that worries me the most.

It doesn't worry me.  It's a natural part of life.  Does your dog worry about it's death?  The more you worry about it, the more it controls you.  I don't want to die yet, but I don't "fear" it in any way.  It's a cycle and we deal with it.

[Onlyhestands]

And that doesn't terrify you?

No. It actually makes me feel safe.
After death there will be nothing to worry about anymore.
Should, however there be more, I can always worry about that later.

Sums it up pretty well for me, as far as my belief as to how death will be.

Weird, you two seem to take comfort in the part that worries me the most.

It doesn't worry me.  It's a natural part of life.  Does your dog worry about it's death?  The more you worry about it, the more it controls you.  I don't want to die yet, but I don't "fear" it in any way.  It's a cycle and we deal with it.

This exactly

[Idiom]

Fear of death is an evolutionary mechanism. Obviously critters that don't die off rather easily, and so they're just not around. /that

Looking back over what has been said since my last post, is it just me, or can you spot an atheist automatically by his tendency to automatically respond "that's a logical fallacy"? Like he's got a printout pinned up in his computer cabinet or something?

Anywho, in a void of real evidence (religion or anti-religion anything) while it may be a bit of a fallacy to assume there is something beyond what you can see, it is ALSO incorrect to assume there isn't just because the 'invisible' and 'non-existent' look similar. Disregarding middle grounds, I personally have always leaned towards the first assumption on the grounds of caution and somesuch. I see many go the other way on the grounds of tangibility and whatnot. Both are a matter of personality and individualism.

For the middle grounds, I do not believe that is atheism. All the atheism I've ever seen or experienced is hardly 'mu'. It's not agnostic either, as that's more what I'm towards. In fact, I don't think you can really can have NO opinion whatsoever on a subject, but for the people that claim you do, that's something else entirely in my opinion.

[MrWiggles]

And that doesn't terrify you?

No. It actually makes me feel safe.
After death there will be nothing to worry about anymore.
Should, however there be more, I can always worry about that later.

Sums it up pretty well for me, as far as my belief as to how death will be.

Weird, you two seem to take comfort in the part that worries me the most.

I find it alien to be frightful of death.

There so many things which are in my control and out of my control that are happening right or in the foreseeable future. There so many things on my plate right now, that deserve my attention now.

Its called life. ITs wonderful, keeps me busy almost all the time. It gives so many joys, that I can hardly begin to count, it gives me so many woes that there to many to recall.

Everything that I care about, is now with me. Everything I can achieve and will is in the foreseeable future when my heart is still beating and my brian still able to grasp at the reality.

Death is something so very far away. There no comfort in it. I take nothing from death, save that it will come. Save that its there. That its nothinginess. And nothinginess, once I realize that I been mostly nothingness. Is fine. It took some time for me to cone to turn when I had that epiphany, it took almost a year for it to get used to it.

I find that dwelling on my mortality serves little if anything. I don't urge myself to succeed, or accomplish because I'm mortal, I do it in spite of it. It provides me with personal joy to accomplish my goals, and personal sorrow to see it not come to fruition. It provides me with joy to make those I care for happier, and I share in their grief when things sorta go the other way.

I do not fear the unknown. Instead I can find inspiration from it. From the unknown are possibilities. Not the infinite possibility that common idiom?, finite and vast number to sure.

The unknown, is just that. Unknown. Its not bad, its not good. We won't know until we delve in, with a tempered mind and intellectual honesty.
Now from my observation, theist seem to be the most fearful. Yet the unknown isn't for them. Or at least not suppose to be.

Extend life, in spite of cognitive ability. No doctor assisted suicide for terminally ill patences. They must suffer from their ills to the bitter end.
I find this incredibly curios and contradictory.

[MrWiggles]

Fear of death is an evolutionary mechanism. Obviously critters that don't die off rather easily, and so they're just not around. /that

Looking back over what has been said since my last post, is it just me, or can you spot an atheist automatically by his tendency to automatically respond "that's a logical fallacy"? Like he's got a printout pinned up in his computer cabinet or something?

The use of logic, and seeing its none use is not indicative of atheist. Not all atheist are rational. They can deny god but believe the ancient art of foot massage has some sorta secretive merit that befuddles those except the gullible.

If your argument is flawed in its statement, it make that statement of it invalid. Not deserving a rebuttal.