how do atheists justify having children?

[jobhunter7]

Sorry if the question sounds banal... but it seems easier to rationalise having children if you think your children do the right thing mostly in life they'll end up beyond the pearly gates...

What a bizarre way of looking at life. By your way of reckoning, people of faith only behave well in their lives because they’re scared of what will happen after they die.

Atheists, by your way of reckoning, are much better people, because they behave well purely because it’s the right thing to do, with no anticipation of a reward in heaven.

Not much of an advert for religion, is it?

What?! Only True Believers should have children? It's not a banal question. It's an idiotic and offensive one. What's 'anything after' got to do with anything? By your batshit logic no animal should breed because they don't believe in any religion.

If that is the OPs question, I guess its true you do have to accept your children will die one day.
But I've already accepted i will die, as will everyone I love.
So thinking about it particularly in relation to my children isn't that different I suppose.

Is that what you meant OP?

The sex was great.

Unlike the poor Virgin Mary - imagine just having a baby without the sex! I'd feel a bit miffed tbh.

Quite a weird question, is having kids a "must do" element of religion? I genuinely don't remember if it is from RE lessons and all the singing we did every day in assembly at school. "The apples are ripe, the plums are red, the broad beans are sleeping in a blankety bed."

I like the thought of the elements making up our bodies returning to the earth/air, bye bye hydrogen atoms, thanks for being part of me for a while.

>Perhaps OP means how do atheists feel about producing a child that they are condemning to death? Because all our children will eventually have to face death - that is inescapable. Whereas Christians believe that is simply their passage to eternal unity with God.

more or less...

Interested in OP's answer to this.

OP?

Read The Selfish Gene! Biology is a strong urge.
Also, as an atheist I’ve never spent much time worrying about an afterlife
what a strange question

Whereas Christians believe that is simply their passage to eternal unity with God

And what if those children are atheist? Even after being (Indoctrinated) brought up with a religion?

OMFG that's hilarious!

Eh? I had children because I wanted children. It's very simple really. I don't need to rationalize or justify it. And I certainly don't need a faith either. I'm perfectly ok with their being 'nothing' after this. I intend to make the most of my life while I'm alive not on the promise of something 'after'. And I would hope my daughter will do the same.

Why do you risk having kids and sending them to hell?

Why does believing in an afterlife mean believing in god? People can believe there's something more without believing that something is god. That's your belief. Not mine. I don't need to believe in god to have a child.

This is an incredibly sad thread.

I can't imagine thinking that the only point in any human life is to get to some sort of mythical idea of a heaven that may or may not exist. To feel that there is no joy or purpose simply in a life well lived. I guess it's no wonder that people turn to religion if that's how they look at things.

You do know, surely, that people can live good lives without anticipation of a reward?

”perhaps nothingness” 😂

Yes, nothingness! The same nothingness as before any of us were born. An absence of consciousness, nothing to be afraid of. The chances of any of us being here at all are billions to one and driven entirely by biology and hormones. The fact any of us get a life at all is a privilege. There’s fuck all before or after, and what you make of it while you’re here is down to the individual .

Are you American?

As a Christian, a belief in an afterlife played no part in my decision to have a baby.

I assume that an atheists non belief in an afterlife also pays no part in the decision to have a baby.

Natural selection innit.

Those that couldn't be arsed to have kids didn’t have them. And so their non-arsedness died out. Those that could be arsed to have kids did have them and so their naive, misplaced and quite frankly idiotic enthusiasm for kids got passed on to the next generation.

I really feel that if religious people truly understood how evolution worked they would become atheists.

I exist, until I die. Memory of me exists, until they die. Perhaps they will speak of me, so I live on.

Who the fuck knows, but we all die. Focus on living.

😂

For us it was a natural/emotional urge I guess. We didn't feel a need to justify it.

What the what now? I mean, yes everybody dies and then they're gone but for the most part people get to have quite a few years and a bit of fun and fulfilment in between birth and death. It might not be enough for some, but it's what there is so might as well make the most of it.

I'm Agnostic...... Just in case 😉..... But nothing to do with my decision to justify my child!

Personally I think it’s better for people to have children who don’t intend to brainwash them into some exclusionary club like their parents

Historically how many people have led miserable lives slaving to serve a church made up of people in it for the money and power, or died for said church because they are sold a crock about eternal joyous life along with a thousand other abuses of faith?

I prefer to enjoy what life offers in a tangible and non-tangible way by spending time with people I care about and making them happy and supporting them to also live a fulfilled and happy life. In the meantime causing as little harm to others as possible. Not because I'm scared of hell but because it's obvious society works best that way and i want to live in a good society.