Happiness and Atheism

[ThinkAnarchy]

Sorry, but I think you are approaching this ass-first.

The first question is: Are happy atheists happy because they are atheists? Could it be that some are happy because they have an ok job, a good family and a whole mess of things to look forward to, with their world view being a by-stander to the whole thing?

In every life philosophy I know of, you can find happy and miserable people. Yes, I suppose some are more attractive to the happy bunch while others appeal to those who revel in misery.

While being an atheist can help with your sense of self worth and make you appreciate life a little more, when you exclude the factor of the outside bigotry, which is varied depending on your location, I think atheism and happiness are no more than loosely related.

So my thought is that probably the main relationship between atheism and happiness is the removal of the guilt and fear that can accompany religion.  Atheists don't worry that they (or others they love) are constantly being judged and facing the possibility of eternal damnation by an omnipotent being who can hear their every dirty thought.  It's kind of like the old joke "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."  "So stop doing that."  Atheism isn't happiness per se, more like the removal of (one source of) unhappiness

That is where my happiness as it relates to atheism comes in. I was a depressed child because I thought I was going to burn in hell for making my penis excrete a fluid it naturally released in my sleep. Especially when I did so while imagining my young female friends nude. Those instances were two moral sins in one.

So I'm happier in that regard, by not having the Christian guilt looming over me, but my other philosophical ideas also play a part in my overall level of happiness. Just as Asmoden suggested.

[Asmodean]

Asmoden

Sounds Swiss...  ???

... ...

Ooh! I like it. Picture Grandpa Asmoden with a pipe and a brown cap and white mustaches. Poyfect! 

[The Magic Pudding]

Asmoden

Sounds Swiss...  ???

... ...

Ooh! I like it. Picture Grandpa Asmoden with a pipe and a brown cap and white mustaches. Poyfect! 

We've been through this before, a moustache looks weird without a nose.
Maybe a goatee would work.  No perhaps not, that probably requires a chin.

[Asmodean]

We've been through this before, a moustache looks weird without a nose.
Maybe a goatee would work.  No perhaps not, that probably requires a chin.

No, has to be SWISS moustache. Thick and wide. And curly at the ends. 

[xSilverPhinx]

Yeah, I can see a Swiss mustache on there...IMO a Hitler one would look weird without a nose, but a Swiss one...yes, I can see it happening.

[Ali]

Yeah, I can see a Swiss mustache on there...IMO a Hitler one would look weird without a nose, but a Swiss one...yes, I can see it happening.

Someone who is much better at the graphic arts than me....please make this happen.   

[xSilverPhinx]

Yeah, I can see a Swiss mustache on there...IMO a Hitler one would look weird without a nose, but a Swiss one...yes, I can see it happening.

Someone who is much better at the graphic arts than me....please make this happen.   

I second this motion!

[Sweetdeath]

Yeah, I can see a Swiss mustache on there...IMO a Hitler one would look weird without a nose, but a Swiss one...yes, I can see it happening.

Someone who is much better at the graphic arts than me....please make this happen.   

I second this motion!

I third it!

[Guardian85]

Yeah, I can see a Swiss mustache on there...IMO a Hitler one would look weird without a nose, but a Swiss one...yes, I can see it happening.

Someone who is much better at the graphic arts than me....please make this happen.   

I second this motion!

I third it!

Moton passes! Somebody get on it!

[xSilverPhinx]

Yeah, I can see a Swiss mustache on there...IMO a Hitler one would look weird without a nose, but a Swiss one...yes, I can see it happening.

Someone who is much better at the graphic arts than me....please make this happen.   

I second this motion!

I third it!

Moton passes! Somebody get on it!

The people have spoken.

Now, who's gonna do it?