Do you ever feel envious of those with Faith?

[Yakshini]

I consider myself more athiest in the sense that I do not believe in any god or gods with omnipotent powers over Earth, but in a way I do believe in an afterlife. I've talked to many athiests who claim hatred against Christians or anyone believing in a god. Many will accuse Christians of stupidly accepting everything they hear as truth and the only evidence they have is Faith, and that the only goal of Christians is to try and convert everyone they meet.
I have known a few crazy fundamentalists, but more often I have met perfectly kind and compassionate Christians. They can happily accept that God loves them no matter what they do, and if they live their life right they will be able to enter the gates of Heaven.
I find myself feeling jealous in a way that they can have absolute faith in that there is a powerful being that will always love them and that they are destined for complete happiness when they die. I wish I believed that there was a God, and that the afterlife is a loving place where I will meet with all of the loved ones I had in life and spend an eternity happy. I WANT to believe that so much, but I just don't.

Does anyone else feel a similar sadness or envy regarding a lack of faith? If so, what do you do or say to yourself in order to keep those feelings at bay?

[tekla]

Thanks, but no thanks.  Given the choice - as we all have - between reason and faith, I'll take reason.

[lisagurl]

It is not good that people have to connect values, morals, ethics and virtue to a promise of an after life. Christian culture that came from Europe is culture and not necessarily a religion.  Most American atheists still hold christian like values and not because the believe or are promised an after life. It is pure reason to treat your fellow human with respect.

[Arctic Kat]

I am more agnostic. I tend not to care if there is a god or afterlife.
To me, having faith in the bible is about following the examples of Jesus to have a fulfilling life on earth, so you can feel good about yourself.

I might not believe bible stories are literally true, but that doesn't mean I can't read the bible for guidance on how to cope with life's problems.

[Yakshini]

Many Christians don't really even pay attention to the bible or even practice the religion. Heck, before my "falling from grace" all I thought was that there was a God that loved me and a Heaven to go to when I died (pretty much ignored the bible all together under the assumption that it was crap written by guys putting in their own agenda and calling it "the word of God"). Now that I don't believe in God, when I'm depressed and hopeless I wish I believed that at least I had someone who always loved me.
As for Athiests and agnostics generally holding Christan values, the same christians would probably still have the values they held as Athiests as well. You're right, it is reason that makes people respect one-another. Christians are just as likely to be jerks as a person in any other religion, people won't follow the commandments if it isn't convenient to them. Rarely have I ever seen a person say, "It's a sin to lie, so I'm not going to".
But as long as people actually ARE being perfectly decent to each other, does it really matter what they think is going to happen when they die? Just as long as they can be respectful, the motive isn't important. As long as the person is content in their belief in God, why hurt them by saying, "Reason is greater than faith!" when they would be the same kind person even if they were an athiest?

[tekla]

I don't see the same outcomes at all.  The world has progressed much more through reason than it has through faith, matter of fact, the great age of faith is also known as The Dark Ages.

[jussie]

I used to feel like this but then I realised that I don't actually believe in religion so why would I feel envious of something I don't believe is real or logical.

[RachelH]

Not at all. 

[Yakshini]

But what I am seeing is Athiests being cynical people. I am a cynical athiest, and sometimes I just wish I could give up just a little bit of reason if it meant I could be happy. I'm sick of being sad and cynical, I want to feel like no matter how much Hell I go through on Earth, I will still have a heaven to go to. I want to feel that no matter how few friends I have, God will always love me. There is nothing happy about dying, being buried in the ground, and that is the end. Granted, once you are dead you wouldn't be capable of caring what your state of being is, it's a sad thought to know that is the end. If I were on my death bed, I would want the comfort of knowing I'd soon be in Heaven.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just different. I don't personally think it's stupid or weak to desire faith.

[VeryGnawty]

But what I am seeing is Athiests being cynical people. I am a cynical athiest, and sometimes I just wish I could give up just a little bit of reason if it meant I could be happy.

I've been both. I can tell you now that being cynical, but knowing how to achieve results, is twice as good as having false hopes.  The catch is that if you have false hopes, you don't KNOW that they are false.

There is nothing envious about faith.  It is like a drug.  Like any drug, it feels good when you are on it, but it ruins you.  With faith, you get to believe in anything you want, despite the fact that it's probably not true.  With realism, you get to believe in what is most likely to be true, but the truth of the universe is very ugly to look at.

Faith feels good, but there is no practicality to it.  Realism is the only practical way to approach the universe.  But looking at everything realistically isn't very good for optimism.  In fact, I've noticed that most people who are optimistic have a tendency to ignore the real evidence of the situation at hand.

[Yakshini]

Isn't it possible to be reasonable and have faith at the same time? Even when I was Christian myself (despite the vagueness of my Christianity) I still had reason. I didn't ignore the fact that evolution is real, I didn't think God had any real influence in my life, just that he was there and that he loved me. I was sad when I stopped believing in God. Humans are quick to abandon others, but I was happy when I thought at least there was one being that would ALWAYS love me. Without that, I had to come to the reality that the simplest thing could cause the people that matter to me to outright abandon me and that I could literally end up with nobody.
When I believed in God, all I thought was that I was loved and that I would be happy after death. Nothing else mattered to me, in fact I thought just about everything else about the religion was B-S. All I'm saying is that I miss thinking those things, even if to some people, just having faith meant I was being ignorant. It made me happy.

[RabbitsOfTheWorldUnite]

The only faith you need is faith in yourself. You need to be able to know that what small role you have played in your life has in fact changed the world we live in. And never have any regrets for there are no good actions and there are no bad actions, there are merely actions.

[Yakshini]

The only faith you need is faith in yourself. You need to be able to know that what small role you have played in your life has in fact changed the world we live in. And never have any regrets for there are no good actions and there are no bad actions, there are merely actions.

That's a really nice way of thinking. Maybe that's the type of thing I need to remember when I'm feeling down.

[Arch]

I don't see the same outcomes at all.  The world has progressed much more through reason than it has through faith, matter of fact, the great age of faith is also known as The Dark Ages.

Maybe, but the "Dark Ages" is something of a misnomer.

[tekla]

And never have any regrets for there are no good actions and there are no bad actions, there are merely actions.

Rape and murder, or building hospitals and teaching literacy.  Yeah, I sure don't see much difference in actions at all.

[RabbitsOfTheWorldUnite]

And never have any regrets for there are no good actions and there are no bad actions, there are merely actions.

Rape and murder, or building hospitals and teaching literacy.  Yeah, I sure don't see much difference in actions at all.

Unfortunately, it is a proven fact that the most significant advances of society come during times of war, and not during times of peace. Those who can make it through times of despair, learn to thrive when it's pleasant!

[tekla]

Typically those who live though war are broken.  It tends to take a generation for any real social stability to return.

[Padma]

In order to get out of the line of fire of atheists vs. theists, I'm inclined to call myself a non-theist. I don't have a problem with experiencing strong faith (which is something healthier than "certainty" to me) without needing anyone to have made anything. The cosmos rolls on, and how I treat it and its inhabitants (of which I am one) affects how happy I am.

I'm inclined to believe not in an afterlife, but in rebirth - I find it hard to believe that a little thing like death will stop some of my stronger habits from hurtling along into another life! I don't know, but that's how it feels to me. I'm definitely not envious of people who seem to have faith of the "certainty" variety - it seems to breed rigidity - but I'm envious of people who seem to be better people than me (or who have less facial hair...) .

[lisagurl]

There is nothing happy about dying, being buried in the ground, and that is the end

There are things more important than life. Ask Socrates. The trouble with today's culture is it puts life above everything else, the world was not always that way.

[VeryGnawty]

Isn't it possible to be reasonable and have faith at the same time?

It's possible to have faith in reason (that is, faith that the rules of logic can uncover the truth of the universe)

But then, that would be getting into philosophy.  If you were a philosopher, you probably wouldn't be an atheist to begin with.