Atheists have long been condemned to the idea of a meaningless existence. Religious people find the idea of atheism absurd and unbearable. Without a god to serve, what do you live for? If you believe that there is nothing after this life, then what point is there to living? What religion does not take into account is that this IS the atheists’ reason for living. An atheist believes in a single, finite life. This is the only life you get, so you had better make it count. And this is where the joy of an atheistic life stems from.
An Atheist is much freer
Speaking as a former Christian and current atheist, the life of an atheist is much freer. There is no god to serve. There are no sins to repent. I living according to my own set of morals and ask forgiveness of no one but myself and whomever I feel that I have wronged. I do not do it because someone else told me to. It is much simpler to live without worry of heaven or hell or whether I am following a heavenly doctrine or not. I am free to enjoy the world as I see fit, and I try every day to make the most out of the life I live.
Live life Happily
The only true goal of an atheistic life is to live life according to what personally makes you happy. This is where you stumble upon a search for meaning. I cannot honestly say that a life of serving a god would make me happy.
I would much rather focus on the important people in my life. I would much rather sit outside on a cold night and have a cigarette over an intimate conversation with my closest friends. Being without a god, I am free to concentrate on the people closest to me and build stronger bonds with them, where a need for God would have been instead. Even on my own, I can enjoy sitting by a lake admiring the *scientific* wonders of Nature and all it has to offer. It’s a simple enough life, right?
Not once has my belief in an absence of God made me feel meaninglessness or worry about what will happen in the future. Any struggling atheist needs to realize that there is a meaning for his or her life. They just have to find out what that is, and that is simple enough to do. Everyone should just go toward what makes them happy. In happiness, you will find your own salvation. That is where you will find meaning. When you have that, there is no need to develop a relationship with any god, whether there is one or not.
