I’m still new to atheism, even though I haven’t believed in God since I was 10, and I heard about Atheism, Existentialism and Nihilism 7 months ago. In my film studies class, he had us do a test or discussion thing. i Don’t remember what it was because I have a bad memory and I don’t remember the questions. But I know it was the bear basics. Of all of those subjects, though but He said I was an atheist. But I don’t think “A real 10/10 atheist” — that’s what he calls himself — could ever be or want to be a conservative, because I read somewhere it was deeply frowned upon in the atheist community , but I think I have the other requirements to be an atheist. I don’t know. I’m so confused. The reason why I am a conservative is that. My whole family is filled with conservatives, but I think I might just stop being a part of any political party because I think they are both equally terrible. And they’re full of liars, but I don’t know anything about politics because I’m only 15. I know a little bit about atheism, existentialism and nihilism.
and I know that there’s no god, and i have no essence or Purpose or whatever, and i know that no Magical force or whatever created me to do something. And i know the true reason why I’m here in this world is because I was born, and the only reason I get out of bed is that I know, someday I will eventually die
And sorry in advance if this post doesn’t make any sense
Atheism is one thing and one thing only – a lack of belief in even one god. That’s it. There’s nothing else to have to understand.
As such, atheism is independent of, for example, politics. While conservative or libertarian-leaning atheists are relatively uncommon, they exist and I encounter them online.
What godlessness tends to produce is an empirical / more objective / rational mindset with a science-based epistemology, because the failed epistemology of religious faith is no longer imposed or encouraged. Science is a system that controls for bias, motivated reasoning, and wishful thinking. It isn’t a perfect system, but it’s the best that we have.
The reason that atheists seem more “liberal” is really just a byproduct of them being less illiberal, controlling, and authoritarian. Non-conforming thoughts or behaviors aren’t so threatening.
I come from a conservative background and a lot of conservatism depends on what exactly you’re trying to conserve. I was raised with the idea that conservatism is just avoid change for the sake of change, and doing change at a rate that society can properly absorb and adjust to. But here in the US at least, today’s conservatives have a very different agenda: avoid ALL change, control everyone’s behavior and thinking in order to destroy all deviation from their norms. They have also become for all practical purposes indistinguishable from Christian nationalists. Anyway – my point is that there’s a philosophically defensible conservatism that’s different from all that nonsense, even though over the decades I have come to be pretty progressively liberal, politically, I can respect that.
I hope this helps! Feel free to ask all the questions you have
Hi @lifeofmycrazyworld
Being 15 doesn’t preclude you from learning about it. When it’s time to vote in a couple of years, you won’t magically understand it. My recommendation is to start learning about it now.
(And btw, all sides or politicians are NOT the same )
You already know what atheism is: you lack belief in gods. That’s it. Everything else folks say to describe atheism is just bagel toppings.
The other things you mentioned (existentialism & nihilism) fall into the category of philosophy. Atheism isn’t a philosophy. That said, it can be a component of some philosophies. “Sophie’s World” by Jostein Gaarder might be a great intro for you to the subject.
Depends what you mean by Conservative. In USA there seems to be a large Evangelical Christian aspect to the Republican party, lots of Christian based religious positions, policies and laws. Many USA atheists would probably find that off putting. But the idea of being worried about change, or change happening too fast or thinking that trickle down economics works, or thinking that government shouldn’t interfere in commercial enterprise, or the worry that progressive taxes might scare off wealthy investors, there are atheists on both sides of that isle.
Welcome, and honestly your post makes plenty of sense. At its core, being an atheist just means you aren’t convinced a god exists - there’s no required reading list or political party attached to it. People arrive at that view from all sorts of backgrounds, so don’t feel you need to pass some purity test. Being 15 and already thinking carefully about meaning and where you stand is a good sign, not a problem. Take your time, stay curious, and let your views settle on their own.
My immediate reaction was that not only do I constantly question things, but that my experience says other atheists also commonly question things. To make matters worse, I never question things out in the open. I do that in my mind, tossing over all the possibilities, and do that repeatedly until I feel confident I have thoroughly answered the question at hand. So how does this person know what anyone is really thinking.
I’m not saying theists do ALL the same things atheists - or in the same way, but questioning one’s beliefs is not something I think people do outloud.
In other words, I totally don’t understand the perspective. What say you??
right. I told some “conservative” people the other night that they were liberals because they weren’t in favor of rule by royalty (like say: King Charles). They were a little stunned that they had been bad mouthing themselves for years.
When someone tells me they’re conservative, I always ask them what exactly they are trying to conserve. That virtually always gives them pause. They haven’t even thought about it.
When it comes to modern “conservative” Christians in the US, what they are conserving is their “way of life”, their “values”, which are so un-muscular and fragile that they are threatened at every turn by the mere existence of people who don’t share them. They want dissent to disappear entirely, as it’s the bane of their existence. They never want to be challenged or questioned, or have to give any reason for anything beyond “the Bible says so”*.
The way I see it. When a person wants their culture, their values to dominate then they are forced into a position where they need to rule by force.
They need to make sure that the leader, the president is white, is Christian, so they need to be very strong on immigration, to the point where they are ensuring whites and Christians are coming in at a much larger rate than non whites and non Christians. They resent other “Americans” having another god, having another culture, they resent people speaking languages other than American English. Their position becomes necessarily racists, and protectionist. They can’t stand democracy, where a leader might eventually get chosen that doesn’t represent them i.e White, male, Christian. They don’t want separation of Church and state! They vilify people not in their group, they live in constant fear of the others.
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