All atheists are depressed

[c4ts]

From what I understand, the argument goes something like this:

1. Belief in god is a part of human nature
2. (scene missing)
3. Therefore, if you don't believe in god, you must be depressed

From what I've been able to determine, 2 is supposed to be "If you are missing a part of human nature, you must be depressed," which on some level, can make sense. My counter:

1. Warfare is a part of human nature
2. If you are missing a part of human nature, you must be depressed
3. Therefore, if you never go to war, you must be depressed

Although I can't be sure of it. Nobody mentions step 2, which is frustrating, especially when others expect me to be convinced by a missing argument (or, for that matter, convinced of my own depression and its singular cause). What's the entire argument? How did psychology get into this in the first place?

[Lonewulf]

I never even heard of this argument. I'm supposed to be depressed?

I'm certainly depressed that I'm making bad grades this semester, but that has nothing to do with faith.

What, no Christians are depressed? None of them have Chronic Depression?

[Monkey Napoleon]

I'm depressed. Who wouldn't be when the world is full of religious weirdos suppressing the advancement of civilization as hard as they can possibly manage?

[c4ts]

What, no Christians are depressed? None of them have Chronic Depression?

Somehow I don't think they mean the reverse is also true.

[logical muse]

I'm depressed! :D

Let's see:


I'm an atheist.
I'm depressed.
Therefore, atheism causes depression.


Don't like that one? Try:


I'm depressed.
I'm an atheist.
Therefore, depression causes atheism.


How about:


Women are a part of nature.
Not being a woman, I'm missing part of nature.
Missing part of nature causes depression.
Therefore, I'm depressed.


I think this one is more likely:


Women are a part of nature.
I miss women.
Missing a part of nature causes depression.
Therefore, I'm depressed.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I'm feeling depressed. I think to myself "If only I believed in god, I'd feel so much better." ...

...

... No matter how long I wait, the belief doesn't materialize and fix the depression.

~~ Paul

[fuelair]

I'm not depressed.
I'm no True Atheist?

[hgc]

I never even heard of this argument. I'm supposed to be depressed?

I'm certainly depressed that I'm making bad grades this semester, but that has nothing to do with faith.

What, no Christians are depressed? None of them have Chronic Depression?
On the subway this morning, some woman was preaching a load of the usual nonsense to no one in particular. She made the claim that non-believers get sick and have to go to the hospital.

Since I long ago gave up harrassing lunatics in public, I was left to ponder the question: Does this person not know anyone personally who has the true faith and also has been laid up in the hospital? Of course she does (I'll assume). The cogdiss is blaring, earth-shattering. Why do people believingly make statements that, on the surface, are blatantly impossible? How do they accommodate these ideas?

Look, I'm not saying this about belief in general (at least not right now). For instance, many believers would never say anything as absurd as "if you don't believe, you'll get sick." They know from direct experience that faith has little to do with health or appearance of health.

[Malachi151]

#1) Belief in "God" is not a part of human nature.

The majority of civilizations in human history had no or little god beliefs. They often had beliefs in spirits or demons or some form of magic, but belief in "gods" is below average.

Belief in "GOD", is even more rare, as not even the Jews had belief in "GOD", they worshiped THEIR "god", whom they called "God", but even to them it was not THE ONLY GOD, it was just THEIR god.

"GOD", really comes from Greek philosophy, hence when the Jewish belief system integrated with the Greek belief systems via Christianity, the Greek and Roman theologians, who came from an already Greek pantheistic or monotheistic background, couldn't abide the general sloppiness of the Jewish religion as compared to Greek Stoicism, etc., and they converted the Jewish anthropomorphic god, basically just a lone Zeus, into the Stoic "prime mover", who was omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, we see this with Augustine, etc.

So, to claim that the Christian concept of "God" is "natural" couldn't be farther from the truth. That concept developed over thousands of years through a combination of traditional tribalism and high level philosophy, it certainly isn't a concept that pops into people's heads automatically. If it were, then it would have been more common, but instead this concept only arise within the Roman Empire.

Most of the tribal cultures of the world had no real gods, they just had spirits, etc., and of the cultures that developed gods, almost none were monotheistic or pantheistic, so that should tell you something.

Plus, several tribes were noted in the 18th and 19th century that had no concept of gods at all. No words for gods, no idols, no ceremonies, no religion of any kind. Of course, they were quickly killed or converted to Christianity.

[grayman]

I was felling pretty good about myself until I read this thread. :(




Thanks c4ts.

[The Atheist]

God, these christians must think we're REALLY stupid!

Of course atheists are depressed! How could we not be? We have no purpose in life, no meaning and no chance of going to heaven. We hate god, thanks to having been disappointed by him in the past. We are all secret servants of Satan and undoubtedly possessed by evil spirits. We all take mind-altering drugs to keep us happy since we miss getting "high on Jesus".

Hopefully, all the good christians will go home and pray for us.

[skeptifem]

From what I understand, the argument goes something like this:

1. Belief in god is a part of human nature
2. (scene missing)
3. Therefore, if you don't believe in god, you must be depressed



its more like this:

1. belief in god is part of human nature
2. if you dont believe in god, you must be depressed
3. ????????
4. PROFIT.

hey it makes about the same amount of sense :D

[flume]

Wasn't there some study that said pessimists had a more realistic view of their situations than optimists? So maybe people who are realists are more likely to be depressed and vice versa, and realists are more likely to see the flaws in belief, so they are more likely to be atheists.

(There are many ways to look at this, but whatever, I'm stuck with Paul's dilemma. I think I'd be a lot more cheerful if I believed in eternal life for me and the people I love, and I would be happier if I thought an all-powerful being cared about me and was paying attention to my every thought. Less lonely. less frightening. But dang, I'm stuck on the believing part - it just doesn't work for me. No placebo effect either. I'm stuck with gloom.)

[Lonewulf]

(There are many ways to look at this, but whatever, I'm stuck with Paul's dilemma. I think I'd be a lot more cheerful if I believed in eternal life for me and the people I love, and I would be happier if I thought an all-powerful being cared about me and was paying attention to my every thought. Less lonely. less frightening. But dang, I'm stuck on the believing part - it just doesn't work for me. No placebo effect either. I'm stuck with gloom.)

I wouldn't be cheerful. I'd be outright frightened that there was some guy up there playing a chess game with us as pawns, with the killed pawns going to be TORTURED for ALL ETERNITY.

I mean, really. TORTURED. FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Yet, we don't want our own government to resort to torture or abuse.

Yet it's okay if God does it.

FOR ALL ETERNITY.

[Big Les]

I think a certain degree of ignorance of one variety or another can help one breeze through what is often an otherwise harsh and difficult existence. As Woody Allen put it:

You know it's easy to be happy if your one concern in life is figuring out how much saliva to dribble.

Obviously that's an extreme, but I think the more one thinks about and analyses the difficulties and injustices in life, many of which can't be blamed on anything in particular, the more likely one is to succumb to a measure of depression. I'm sure that's true of many atheists, and many Christians alike. The ones that aren't dribbling, that is.

[Tacita]

I'm agnostic and I'm depressed. Since I am pretty sure that I'll go nowhere when I die, I think about death all the time. And it terrifies me that I'll suddenly stop existing.

Rather burn in hell than cease to exist.

(Sorry, I said I was depressed.)

[slingblade]

I've always been depressed, ever since I can remember. Most of that time, I was a Fundie. Now, I'm atheist. My depression has deepened recently (I know--no one could tell), and frankly, I blame a lot of it on religion.

But I'm not depressed there's no afterlife. Frankly, I've always been certain of going to hell, so the non-existence of same is actually cheering.

Just not cheering enough. Nothing is cheering enough when you're depressed and cannot secure any relief.

[Achán hiNidráne]

From what I understand, the argument goes something like this:

1. Belief in god is a part of human nature
2. (scene missing)
3. Therefore, if you don't believe in god, you must be depressed


So in other words....

Underpants.
???
Profit.Damn it I see nails beat me to that joke.

I've dealt with life-long depression. Hell I deal with it every day. However my emotional problems started long before I became an atheist. I got a feeling some decent psych drugs may do me far more good than wasting a Sunday morning in church.

[Tanstaafl]

This reminds me of part of a John Hagee sermon I heard a few years ago. I was only watching for the unintentional humor aspect, and he rarely disappoints in that department.

Anyway, he said he hates it when a Christian says he is unhappy, and he hates it when a non-Christian says he is happy, because both are a lie.

Apparently in his twisted little world, a Christian is by definition happy, and a non-Christian is by definition unhappy. I'm not surprised someone extended it to "all atheists are depressed".

[Achán hiNidráne]

I wouldn't be cheerful. I'd be outright frightened that there was some guy up there playing a chess game with us as pawns, with the killed pawns going to be TORTURED for ALL ETERNITY.

I mean, really. TORTURED. FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Yet, we don't want our own government to resort to torture or abuse.

Yet it's okay if God does it.

FOR ALL ETERNITY.


Not to get political, but that's what always confounded me about conservatives, some libertarians, and other proponents of "limited government" who embrace religion. If tyrannical governments--or even just intrusive government--are so evil (and, as an atheist small-l-libertarian, I agree it is), then why do you worship a being that makes Hitler look like a boy scout, makes demand ridiculous that infringe upon your individual rights, and horrendously punishes you if step out of line?

Isn't God just the ultimate form of "big government" that you claim to despise so much?

[Big Les]

I'm agnostic and I'm depressed. Since I am pretty sure that I'll go nowhere when I die, I think about death all the time. And it terrifies me that I'll suddenly stop existing.

Rather burn in hell than cease to exist.

(Sorry, I said I was depressed.)

I actually look forward to it in many ways; it's being alive in the meantime that tends me toward melancholia and depression. I don't so much fear death itself as the likely slow deterioration in my physical and mental health. :(

[Number Six]

I think the order is:

1. Athiests are outcast due to their lack of belief.
2. It's human nature to be depressed when you feel like an outcast.
3. Therefore, athiests are depressed.

[insomneac]

Not to get political, but that's what always confounded me about conservatives, some libertarians, and other proponents of "limited government" who embrace religion. If tyrannical governments--or even just intrusive government--are so evil (and, as an atheist small-l-libertarian, I agree it is), then why do you worship a being that makes Hitler look like a boy scout, makes demand ridiculous that infringe upon your individual rights, and horrendously punishes you if step out of line?

Isn't God just the ultimate form of "big government" that you claim to despise so much?

But that God's job, not the gubmint's.

[Lonewulf]

I'm agnostic and I'm depressed. Since I am pretty sure that I'll go nowhere when I die, I think about death all the time. And it terrifies me that I'll suddenly stop existing.

Rather burn in hell than cease to exist.

(Sorry, I said I was depressed.)

You won't be when you're dead. :D

If you die when dead and go nowhere, you won't be depressed. You just won't care. If you go to hell, you'll not only be depressed, but tortured.

I guess it's a preference thing...

As Penn from Penn and Teller said, that's just all the more reason to try to make this life count. Instead of counting on an afterlife, we should try to make this world paradise. Instead of saving people's souls, you should try to help them while they're here, today.

I'd rather live 80 years of helping others and being helped myself, and having good moments on top of the bad ones, than to live 10 years, get molested as a child, and then get thrown into hell when I'm killed 'cause I didn't convert to Christianity.

[Number Six]

I'm agnostic and I'm depressed. Since I am pretty sure that I'll go nowhere when I die, I think about death all the time. And it terrifies me that I'll suddenly stop existing.

Rather burn in hell than cease to exist.

(Sorry, I said I was depressed.)

I'm not crazy about ceasing to exist but I'd greatly prefer it to burning in hell. If you think otherwise try putting your hand on a hot stove for three seconds.

[flume]

I wouldn't be cheerful. I'd be outright frightened that there was some guy up there playing a chess game with us as pawns, with the killed pawns going to be TORTURED for ALL ETERNITY.

I mean, really. TORTURED. FOR ALL ETERNITY.
I'm not worried about hell. I was raised as a plain old Methodist in a non-fundamentalist church, and hell was never a big issue. I worried a lot about disappointing Jesus, but never about going to hell. In the unlikely event that I revert to my childhood faith, it will be a comforting faith.

[Mr Clingford]

This reminds me of part of a John Hagee sermon I heard a few years ago. I was only watching for the unintentional humor aspect, and he rarely disappoints in that department.

Anyway, he said he hates it when a Christian says he is unhappy, and he hates it when a non-Christian says he is happy, because both are a lie.

Apparently in his twisted little world, a Christian is by definition happy, and a non-Christian is by definition unhappy. I'm not surprised someone extended it to "all atheists are depressed".Who the hell is this guy because on the face of it he talks crap?

[Tanstaafl]

Super-fundie preacher from TBN television.

Really pours on the homo-phobia whenever he gets the chance.

And he talks crap through and through. I wouldn't have bought one word of it when I was a believer, any more than I do today.

[Mr Clingford]

Super-fundie preacher from TBN television.

Really pours on the homo-phobia whenever he gets the chance.

And he talks crap through and through. I wouldn't have bought one word of it when I was a believer, any more than I do today.He should get together with Fred Phelps and see if they can produce a child. If these televangelists is what one can receive from cable, or digital then I feel like sticking to just the 5 terrestial channels here in the UK.

[Lonewulf]

He should get together with Fred Phelps and see if they can produce a child.

1) That child would be the antichrist.

2) I'm pretty sure that God would kill them both as soon as they tried.

[Achán hiNidráne]

He should get together with Fred Phelps and see if they can produce a child. If these televangelists is what one can receive from cable, or digital then I feel like sticking to just the 5 terrestial channels here in the UK.

Hey! That reminds me, Phelps is alleged to be a VERY abusive father, most of his kids are just as bigoted and fanatical as he is. As far as I know, none of his kids are atheists.
(http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=76120)

[Beerina]

I'm depressed. Who wouldn't be when the world is full of religious weirdos suppressing the advancement of civilization as hard as they can possibly manage?

1. Depression is a part of human nature
2. If you are missing depression, you are missing part of human nature
3. Therefore you are depressed


At this point, it occurs to me that, if, when we all die, "nothing happens" doesn't happen, due to a technorapture, or this is a virtual reality, I wonder if that larger world will consider religiosity to be a dangerous meme that might escape from here to there. After all, nobody could convince a religious person that that larger world itself wasn't created by God. Or, in the case of a technorapture, that the science of the future was in unholy alliance with the Devil, doing Things That Man Was Not Meant To Do.

[Lonewulf]

Hey! That reminds me, Phelps is alleged to be a VERY abusive father, most of his kids are just as bigoted and fanatical as he is. As far as I know, none of his kids are atheists.
(http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=76120)

Didn't some of his kids run from home, though? And speak out against him?

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Wasn't there some study that said pessimists had a more realistic view of their situations than optimists? So maybe people who are realists are more likely to be depressed and vice versa, and realists are more likely to see the flaws in belief, so they are more likely to be atheists.

(There are many ways to look at this, but whatever, I'm stuck with Paul's dilemma. I think I'd be a lot more cheerful if I believed in eternal life for me and the people I love, and I would be happier if I thought an all-powerful being cared about me and was paying attention to my every thought. Less lonely. less frightening. But dang, I'm stuck on the believing part - it just doesn't work for me. No placebo effect either. I'm stuck with gloom.)

As a pessimist in just about everything in life I find that I am rarely dissapointed but sometimes, just sometimes, very, very surprised and pleased.

Keeps me going!

[boloboffin]

More like:

1. I'm a believer.
2. Thinking about being an atheist makes me depressed.
3. Therefore, atheists must be depressed.

[AmateurScientist]

Forget about the syllogism.

Here's what I hear invariably from devout Christians who learn of my depression.

"Do you have a relationship with The Lord? If you just accept Jesus into your heart, he will take all your troubles away."

So, there it is. Jesus is Prozac.

AS

[Lonewulf]

Forget about the syllogism.

Here's what I hear invariably from devout Christians who learn of my depression.

"Do you have a relationship with The Lord? If you just accept Jesus into your heart, he will take all your troubles away."

So, there it is. Jesus is Prozac.

Except that Prozac works.

[Kopji]

More like:

1: Atheists are evil
2: If you are an Atheist we hate your evil nature
3: We will stay up late working to eliminate your kind
4: And why are you so depressed?

[Dr Adequate]

Didn't some of his kids run from home, though? And speak out against him? Fred Phelps

He mis-states the truth about his own behavior, about others, about the Bible, with apparent ease and regularity. He behaves with a viciousness the likes of which I have never seen. He accepts no genuine accountability in his life and is subject to no one. I also realize that my father is a very unstable person who is determined to hurt people ... He simply wants to hate and to have a forum for his hate ... He experiences no moral dilemma when it comes to doing what he wants to do. --- Mark Phelps

[Lonewulf]

Fred Phelps

He mis-states the truth about his own behavior, about others, about the Bible, with apparent ease and regularity. He behaves with a viciousness the likes of which I have never seen. He accepts no genuine accountability in his life and is subject to no one. I also realize that my father is a very unstable person who is determined to hurt people ... He simply wants to hate and to have a forum for his hate ... He experiences no moral dilemma when it comes to doing what he wants to do. --- Mark Phelps

Yeah, I thought so.

Good for them. Fred Phelps was godawful (no pun intended). He would beat his kids, put them in danger, rip up the house... ugh. I read through a list of his history on wikipedia, and assuming that it was reliable (and it seemed like a decent article to me), he was just someone I would never ever like to meet. Period.

[Solus]

I'm not, actually I'm very hopeful of my future. I'm sure the answer I'd get from the fool who wrote that would be: "you really are depressed but you don't know it'.

:dl:

With my mental health issues in the past I know that torment very well.

[Achán hiNidráne]

You also don't want to be anyone's family pet who happens to wander within shotgun range of him.

[Solus]

You also don't want to be anyone's family pet who happens to wander within shotgun range of him.

I would NEVER shoot an animal! :mad:

I capture them and lock them up in tiny cages. I then perform painful experiments on them that serve no real purpose (think Mengele (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengele)). ;)

[Dark Jaguar]

Well at any rate I'm not depressed. Sure there's a lot of bad things going on, but I have a special ability to not let that affect me emotionally when I'm not actually thinking about the situation, and my "default" state, I guess, is pretty much happy with life. Sure it could be better, but it's done well by me so far. I'm generally an easy going sort of person anyway.

Optimist? Pessimist? I'd say I'm a realist so sometimes one, sometimes the other, but again I seem to be easy going and enjoy the moments. Sure total oblivion at the end is not desirable, but hey, I'm not there yet and right now I'm doing good. No particular logical reason I can think of to dwell on it.

So no, not all atheists are depressed. Personally, I don't see the point of it.

[Dorian Gray]

I don't understand. How could atheists be depressed when they have no moral compass and act as selfishly and hedonistically as they desire (or should I say as we desire).

[grayman]

I don't understand. How could atheists be depressed when they have no moral compass and act as selfishly and hedonistically as they desire (or should I say as we desire).

Because it's a wee desire.

[Foster Zygote]

Well bloody Hell! I was feeling pretty damn good today after coming home and having my two year old son come running up to me for a hug all laughing and giggling and literally jumping for joy to see me (I'd been gone all of an hour). But then I read this thread. I thought "Wait a minute. I'm an atheist". It was just like the coyote running off the cliff and then standing in mid air unaware of his situation until he looked down. We're doomed. Doooooooooooooomed!

[RandFan]

Is there any scientific evidence to support the idea that all atheists are depressed?

[Lonewulf]

I don't understand. How could atheists be depressed when they have no moral compass and act as selfishly and hedonistically as they desire (or should I say as we desire).

Because while we're having a great time on the outside, on the inside we're a hollowed-out shell of self-loathing and hate.

Just look at Augustine's books as proof.

[SirPhilip]

The truth is no mature, life-affirming and progressive secular outlook, the heights of gadgetry, the heights of gadgetry invention, the heights of astronautics, the relief of being surrounded by hundreds of people - all sane, or watching a televangelist go bankrupt, or even the rare company of a shapely, very intelligent Skepchick with normal estrogen levels; none come close to a one night stand with a hot sexually repressed Baptist.

[clarsct]

The truth is no mature, life-affirming and progressive secular outlook, the heights of gadgetry, the heights of gadgetry invention, the heights of astronautics, the relief of being surrounded by hundreds of people - all sane, or watching a televangelist go bankrupt, or even the rare company of a shapely, very intelligent Skepchick with normal estrogen levels; none come close to a one night stand with a hot sexually repressed Baptist.

What you say may be true, as my own empirical experiments indicate, but what about being an atheist prevents this?

[Achán hiNidráne]

...a one night stand with a hot sexually repressed Baptist.


Well, while she wasn't a Baptist (she was a bit of a new ager), my ex-girlfriend was VERY "sexually repressed." It's extremely hard to have fun in bed with a woman who thinks her privates were "filthy" and that sex is something that "higher beings" would not do.

[RandFan]

Well, while she wasn't a Baptist (she was a bit of a new ager), my ex-girlfriend was VERY "sexually repressed." It's extremely hard to have fun in bed with a woman who thinks her privates were "filthy" and that sex is something that "higher beings" would not do.I'm with you there. One of the worst things religion has done in this world is to put sex, a basic human function, in such a bad light.

[Lonewulf]

I'm with you there. One of the worst things religion has done in this world is to put sex, a basic human function, in such a bad light.

Actually, this is what interests me... these are some of the basic tenets of many Judeo-Christian beliefs:

1) Sex is awful and sinful and dirty. (Which, at the time period, was certainly true on the dirty part, thanks to disease and lack of cleanliness).

2) Be fruitful, and multiply. Have lots of babies.

3) You cannot "waste seed" through masturbation or homosexual activities.

4) Having sex outside of marriage is a sin. A marriage can only be made by the relevant officials (under our control).

Does anyone else see something somewhat... Orwellian about this? Get this: You have to have children, you cannot be allowed any means to "relieve yourself" outside of sexual activities (forcing you more and more into having children), and you have to declare a specific allegiance to the church that marries you in order to have children. So, naturally, the children would (I assume) be brought up with that church's views, especially if the church handles any part of their education.

[RandFan]

1) Sex is awful and sinful and dirty. (Which, at the time period, was certainly true on the dirty part, thanks to disease and lack of cleanliness).So we can perhaps understand prohibitions and backward views from a survival perspective. Good point. But that is a significant problem with religion. It is very slow to adapt to changes.

[Lonewulf]

So we can perhaps understand prohibitions and backward views from a survival perspective. Good point. But that is a significant problem with religion. It is very slow to adapt to changes.

Exactly. Most of the laws and rules printed out into the handbook that has become the Bible, we do not follow ourselves, precisely for that reason; it's outdated.

The irony is that many people of faith do not realize this, even as they themselves discard those old, ancient rules and favor only those which can be said to be applicable today.

[SirPhilip]

I'm with you there. One of the worst things religion has done in this world is to put sex, a basic human function, in such a bad light. I totally disag...oh who am I kidding.

http://www.nightcharm.com/imagesblog/2006/09/090506_tbn2.jpg

[Achán hiNidráne]

Actually, this is what interests me... these are some of the basic tenets of many Judeo-Christian beliefs:

1) Sex is awful and sinful and dirty. (Which, at the time period, was certainly true on the dirty part, thanks to disease and lack of cleanliness).


Yeah, but this is the 21st century. We have soap, clean water, the social expectation to shower daily, and--best of all--condoms. The Fundies have to know this, so why continue the stupidity?

[Lonewulf]

Yeah, but this is the 21st century. We have soap, clean water, the social expectation to shower daily, and--best of all--condoms. The Fundies have to know this, so why continue the stupidity?

Tradition. Scripture. Getting rid of outdated ideas is more difficult than it sounds. In fact, much of modern day society (outside of nifty technology), including basic cultural values, norms, gestures and the spoken language, all have their own outdated principles.

(Though to be fair, AIDS is something to worry about...)

[Achán hiNidráne]

Tradition. Scripture. Getting rid of outdated ideas is more difficult than it sounds. In fact, much of modern day society (outside of nifty technology), including basic cultural values, norms, gestures and the spoken language, all have their own outdated principles.

That's never been a very good excuse. All the more reason we secularists need to take the offensive in this "culture war" and start taking on the traditonalists rather than letting them dominate the debate.

(Though to be fair, AIDS is something to worry about...)

Yeah, but it's also something that can be easily avoided with communication and protection. As we are all well aware, the abstinence that the right advocates 1) only works when it's used, 2) isn't much fun, which is the reason why it fails so often.

[Lonewulf]

That's never been a very good excuse.

No, it isn't.

All the more reason we secularists need to take the offensive in this "culture war" and start taking on the traditonalists rather than letting them dominate the debate.

To be too aggressive may cause even less change and more hatred towards us. That doesn't accomplish much. Not that I'm saying what we should or should not do (I don't really know the answer myself), but too much aggression can put off the "fence-sitters"; and there are plenty of fence-sitters.

Yeah, but it's also something that can be easily avoided with communication and protection. As we are all well aware, the abstinence that the right advocates 1) only works when it's used, 2) isn't much fun, which is the reason why it fails so often.

I have a better solution: Sex-bots.

[RandFan]

I have a better solution: Sex-bots.Cherry 2000 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092746/)

[Lonewulf]

"And then he discovers that the perfect woman is not made of chips and diodes, but of flesh and blood!"

Yeah, didn't see that one coming.

I want to see a story where it's the exact reverse.

[grayman]

"And then he discovers that the perfect woman is not made of chips and diodes, but of flesh and blood!"

Yeah, didn't see that one coming.

I want to see a story where it's the exact reverse.

They had an episode like that on Love, American Style (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063925/) back in the early 70s.

[Foster Zygote]

They had an episode like that on Love, American Style (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063925/) back in the early 70s.

Damn you! Now I have the opening theme stuck in my head.

[hubbub2]

Atheist are depressed? Gee, I'm an atheist...I guess I'll go cry now.:bwall

[jimmygun]

I am an atheist. Sometimes I get depressed. Do I need god at those times? Or do I just need a hug and a there-there?

I never heard of anyone getting a hug from god so I think I will stick to the hugs and there there routine. And maybe some drugs.

[Corpse Cruncher]

Baloney! I would argue more religious folk are depressed more.

[bruto]

Is there any scientific evidence to support the idea that all atheists are depressed?

No, but I think there's some anecdotal evidence that people who sign on to cults and fundie sects (as adults - religious upbringing is a different matter) started out depressed. The ones I've heard talk in terms of having been empty, searching for something they couldn't identify, in the dark, miserable sinners and nobodies, etc. etc. Doesn't that sound kind of depressive? So you join a sect that gives you all the answers in one fell swoop, makes you feel like somebody special - you've cracked the code and God loves you for it, and now instead of being a poor miserable worm, you are not only saved and basking in grace, but entitled to preach to everybody else!

Some people think that's a pretty good deal. Of course you have to sign over your brain as well, but it was broken anyway.

[Foster Zygote]

The ones I've heard talk in terms of having been empty, searching for something they couldn't identify, in the dark, miserable sinners and nobodies, etc. etc.

Of course the leaders of the cults/fundie sects usually tell members "You were empty, searching for something you couldn't identify, in the dark, and a miserable sinner and a nobody, etc. etc".