Atheists and Death

That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins--all these things, if not quite beyound dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built.

Bertrand Russell.

Currently I feel that belief in God is better for mental health than atheism. It's easy to see why atheism can lead to cynicism and lack of hope.

Hoping that there is an ultimate purpose is perfectly rational, even if there is no evidence, because being optimistic is more productive than being pessimistic and hope is better than hopelessness.

See this article:

Atheism and Death: Why the atheist must face death with despair

Comments

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Reason Prostituted

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