A friend of mine who knows that I’m an atheist kept asking me what I think is the purpose of life. Because I chose to became an atheist, I must have an answer, especially since I rejected Christianity’s answer. This really frustrated me. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be seeking at our stage in life? What’s the point of being young and in college if you can’t ask questions about the meaning of life without knowing what the answer is?
He kept pressuring me: “I think you would be happier if you felt like your life had a purpose.” Whoa, there. I’m not even going to touch that. (However, this friend was “very surprised” to hear that I am happier now as an atheist than I ever have been.)
Christians are obsessed with answers. Most of the professors I’ve had seem really intent on imparting their own answers to students and not giving us the opportunity to think for ourselves. In the 4 required bible/theology classes I took, I had 4 professors who each had completely different views and tried to convince us that his was the right one. e.g., “I really believe that infant baptism is essential”; a semester later, in another class, “I really believe that only adults should be baptized”. And so on. If we say, “well, Professor X says otherwise,” Professor Y will say, “well, I think that’s wrong.” Every professor wants to be the influencing factor on their students’ views. (I don’t know what it’s generally like in other schools, but I took a few summer classes at a regular university where this was definitely not the case.)
My classes this semester are very discussion-heavy. We talk about issues to which there are a variety of possible responses, supposedly to survey all the possibilities and formulate a Christian response. What actually happens is that the professor tells us what the Christian response is, i.e. what we are supposed to accept, and we discuss why the other ones are wrong. For example, we could be talking about something as benign as why we should aid people in developing countries after a crisis. Obviously, Christians help people because they view everyone as having the image of God. Obviously, atheists don’t think people have the image of God, so we have no motivation for helping them. It’s all so stupid I want to slap myself.
Of course, Wheaton values intellectual exchange, so other ideas are always given a chance. The professor will ask, “can anyone think of how atheists would justify helping people?” while sitting there with this stupid little grin on his face, most of the class smirking about those ridiculous atheists who can’t justify anything they say. I can’t even think of a response fast enough. So we move on, satisfied that we’ve considered the alternatives and found that only Christians have an answer. (That was a little more sarcastic than strictly necessary, but as an example it’s not far off the mark.)
Wheaton students are encouraged to question Christianity to an extent, but someone always tries to reign you in and direct you back to the Christian answer before you’re within spitting distance of Doubt. Even if they themselves are doubting, and don’t quite know why that answer is the right one. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle. But what good are answers if you don’t know why they’re right? What good are they if you don’t even understand the question?
I went through this same exact thing for a while with friends and family. What’s the purpose of life?
I eventually came up with a standard reply:
1) Who says there needs to be a purpose? Just because you think you need a purpose, doesn’t make it true. Just because it would make you happy doesn’t make it true either.
2) Why do I need an answer? Why is ‘I don’t know’ not acceptable? Do I have to be all-knowing in order to be happy? Do I have to have all the answer? If you think you have all the answers, life is boring. There is nothing to do. Discovering new things - that brings happiness. Learning about the world.
People are surprised that I’m happier now that I’m an atheist. They think it’s fake, or that I’m just putting on a show. I don’t know how to explain this, except perhaps as some form of cognitive dissonance. Christians can’t conceive of a happy atheist (I know I couldn’t until I became one.).
There are several answers to why atheists help people. Helping people by itself is rewarding. Do they need more reasons than that? Game theory can show mathematically how helping people can be beneficial to the whole.
I found one of the best ways to defend my own stances as well as effectively replying to others is to really learn about logical fallacies. Christians especially tend to rely on arguments from authority, lack of imagination, and straw men. Especially about atheism. They’ll construct the worse straw men about atheism, and then show how wrong they are. If you prevent the straw man from being constructed, then they can’t use it.
Ok, back to work now.
Hey LE,
I came over from the Friendly Atheist site and wanted to say hi. Love the blog.
I hate the “meaning of life” question from Christians. I usually ask them what they think the meaning of life is and often get a response that is really the meaning of death (aka eternal life). Either that or I say the meaning in life is to live it the best you can. Who can really argue with that?
“can anyone think of how atheists would justify helping people?”
Because it is a nice thing to do. Most answers to questions like this are really quite simple. Most actions people take are because they are people in the current society, not because of their religion. Is the only reason Christians help the poor/needy to score points for heaven? No, they aren’t that petty, it is a nice thing to do and it feels good to help a fellow human.
The Buddha said that these kinds of questions did nothing to educate you or anyone else. When asked he would say nothing. When asked why he said nothing he would explain that any answer would have prevented the interrogator from continuing to search. Keep searching. That is what makes life worth living.
…all I can say is, “I am sorry,” not all of us are that way…
With all of my heart, be blessed…
I can’t see anything less meaningful than life as god’s immortal pet.
Why bother learning if everything is already known? Why bother improving when perfection is just beyond your last breath?
I would bring up all the negatives about xianity as often as possible. What possible meaning can there be in a universe run by a being that drowns a world full of animals and human beings? …who sends the vast majority of people to Hell?
Where’s the meaning in living forever if your only function is to feed the ego of an all-powerful being that has no need for you and has probably condemned many of your friends and relatives to Hell?
Hahahaha. It is a good job I’m not at Wheaton otherwise that professor would suddenly have a much harder life! I don’t think I would be able to resist a challenge like that.
I’m a christian, but I don’t think the point of life is about eternal destiny. Funnily enough nor did Jesus. Maybe you could try asking your professor about Kingdom theology, play them at their own game. For Jesus, who claimed the Kingdom ‘is here’ or ‘is at hand’, life was more about giving oneself, denying oneself, taking up the cross than ticking the right boxes on some entry form to heaven.
There is nothing I hate more than leading questions - ie asking questions with a ‘right’ or a ‘wrong’ answer. Especially when the mindset and worldview behind the question is total nonsense.
I think this article has some good responses to typical Christian comments about life having no meaning for atheists.
“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”
~Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland
Here’s a purpose that fits well with an atheist viewpoint, taken from the Boy Scout rule for how to leave a campsite -
“Leave the world a little bit better than how you found it.”
For one who doesn’t believe in an afterlife, the closest we can come to immortality is to be remembered - and for those of us (that is, MOST of us) who are not sociopaths, we’d like to be remembered for the good we’ve done. If not by the world, then at least by our families.
As for your prof’s challenge - modern society is a cooperative effort. Helping others benefits society as a whole, and encourages help to be returned. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is just a valid to an atheist as to a Christian.
I think this article, which I first read a number of years ago, includes good responses to Christians saying atheists have no meaning. It’s actually a book review - the author (Ravi Zacharias) makes that charge and so the reviewer addresses it.
I tried to post a link to an article which in my opinion addresses the charge that atheists have no meaning to their lives well - I think the spam catcher ate it
Here’s my answer for that: The purpose of life is to live it. What other purpose does it need?
Leavingeden, may I ask how many philosophy classes have you taken? As a philosophy prof myself, and someone who taught at Wheaton once, I really am curious about your perceptions of how open inquiry is in the philosophy department.
Pax tecum,
Steve Lake
Christianity is always looking backwards. The purpose of life is to create a purpose.
Or not. Take your pick.
And come on, people, the answer to helping people isn’t “in the long run it benefits society as a whole.” I’ve never once thought that when I saw someone in trouble. And the Christians don’t think “Oh boy! Heaven points!”
You have to call them on their faulty logic. Turn it back on them. Say, “Good heavens, you mean the only reason you help people is because you think it will get you into heaven?!” And then look at them warily as you back away.
In response to Steve Lake’s question, I actually was a philosophy major for awhile. I found my philosophy classes to be similarly one-sided and closed to discussion, but not necessarily pushing the Christian line– they were just always biased towards the professor’s opinions, like most other classes I’ve had at Wheaton. History of Philosophy, for instance, was highly biased and it was difficult to distinguish fact from the prof’s opinion. This is a very common occurrence in many classes at Wheaton, which is very unfortunate when you just want to learn the facts and be guided to reach your own conclusions about them.
I actually found the philosophy classes surprisingly devoid of any “Christian college” flavor. That was one of my complaints at the time, one of the reasons I dropped the major, since at the time I was a Christian and really wanted to integrate faith and learning. Even so, the classes were bad, as I didn’t learn anything except how to recapitulate the professor’s opinions.