I've found that most of the ostensible benefits to religion can be done just as well with atheism. Let's take a few here (thanks for providing this list, Lax.)
Gives a purpose in life.
Honestly, I would argue that religion devalues our life. Most religions believe in an eternal life after the life on earth, which would mean our life on earth is insignificant in the grand scope of existence. Compared to an infinite life, the life on earth is insignificant. How can anything matter when its importance, compared to the importance of the rest of your presumed life, is infinitesimal?
I may seem callous, but it was even worse when I was religious.
Why should it matter if someone suffers if they are going to be eternally happy after they die? Why do I care about someone's misfortune when they get to be happy forever once they're dead? Hell, why should I even care if they're dead? It just means they're in heaven.I think I'm a lot more caring as an atheist, with regard to both my own life and the lives of others. Given that life is finite, everything that happens has significance because our life on earth is the only form of existence we have and ever will have. Death gives an added pressure to make the most out of life and improve the quality of life for others, because they might not ever get that chance themselves.
Gives an end goal.
When I was still religious, the idea of afterlife was frightening. I was stressed to do everything perfectly in order to assure myself that I don't end up in hell, and the stress was unbearable because I couldn't ever be perfect. I suppose people get around this by convincing themselves that they're undoubtedly going to heaven, but then that just gives them an overly inflated ego, and that doesn't help anyone. If someone is convinced that they'll go to heaven (and others won't), then they inevitably feel a superiority they don't deserve. It's really scary when someone thinks that they have the support of a divine being; it means they think whatever ideals they have are absolutely correct.
Can answer many dilemmas.
I would look into the ethical theory of
Utilitarianism. It's a moral code, you could say, that yields MUCH more beneficial results than following religious morality. Utilitarianism is fairly simple: maximize the happiness of society and minimize suffering. Following utilitarianism is much better for answering ethical dilemmas.
Sense of belonging
Well, the idea that one's existence is a perfect divine decision, as opposed to the product of chance, is certainly alluring. But I feel like it gives people too much of a sense of entitlement. It's the idea that someone's life is something they deserve, something that absolutely must exist. I feel like this instigates a sense that people can do whatever they want because God gave them their life, as opposed to being a cog in the workings of the universe that needs to do its job properly.
Nevertheless, there are benefits to religion. I just feel like they are severely outweighed by the downsides of religion.
Besides the problems I mentioned above, religion inhibits morality. It skews the idea of what is right and wrong, what is beneficial or harmful to society. Religion has caused excessive hate over the years, targeting pretty much every minority at some point, often very violently. Even today, many people still despise gays and atheists in the name of religion. Plus, religion is the primary reason people want to deny women the right to have an abortion. But I think the worst part is that religion has convinced people that everything that happens
should happen. It creates the idea that whatever tragedies happen on earth are actually in our best interest because they are condoned, or even created by a perfect God. Religion has actually caused people to become callous to the sufferings of victims of crime and poverty.
No, we shouldn't let that rape victim get an abortion. If God didn't want her to have a child, he would have prevented her rape. We don't have to help the destitute, dying from malaria and AIDS; if they should be saved, God will do so himself. No, there is no need to educate the poor, God clearly does not want them to be informed.But atheism leads to a different attitude. Only when we accept that the world is not perfect do we have motivation to improve it. Only when we accept that we do not have perfect knowledge about the universe do we have motivation to learn. Atheism isn't absolutely required to improve the world and discover more about it, but it certainly helps. It would explain why atheists are significantly more likely to be scientists and less likely to go to prison.
TL;DR: Atheism causes people to care more about life because we don't have an eternal life after it. Furthermore, atheism causes people to care more about the lives of themselves and others because there is no God who has created a world where everything is perfect.
