Would You Deny Your Atheism if Your Life Were Threatened???
2009 January 7
Have you ever been threatened because of your disbelief?
Hopefully, it would not come to this. Just think of it as a situation question.
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Of course I would- because there’s absolutely no harm in denying my atheism to a lunatic threatening my life. No god is going to smite me for suddenly proclaiming his or her existence- that’s one of the beauties of atheism.
I agree with Mark (above). That’s the whole point of Atheism, I think; it is rational and practical. I’d instantly “deny” it, at least verbally, or claim to do so. I’d also happily “convert” to any other religion to avoid torture, or even for a sandwich if there was bacon involved.
Jokes aside, I make exception for some state mandated against Atheism. In such a case, then no, I would not renounce anything.
Just imagine if the Jews and Muslims in Israel/Palestine all said, “f-ck it” religion’s not that important. Whatever the worth of religion, consider what they have to gain.
The above guys are very sensible. Part of the reason I am an atheist is because I like using my powers of reason to confront problematic situations. If some murderous lunatic wants to kill me because of his fairy-man, I’ll tell him, sure, I’m on board, then try to get out as quickly as possible and return to the land of the sane.
Atheism is not a religion. It does not require any oaths. It is not even a position; it is an anti-position.
My life is more important than an oath to a madman. The oath means nothing. My life is my only one.
Good points made so far!! Atheism isn’t a cause.
Of course… but what if my interrogators do something like this?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/06/60minutes/main4702505.shtml
Then I’d be screwed.
Yeah, but i wonder what the converse rankings of “would you deny god if your life was threatened.” Scary thought.
Peter denied knowing Christ 3 times in 1 day!!
Later, they named him the first Pope of the Catholic church and a Saint!!
How’s that for hypocrisy??
I vote yes as well. Gods (and lack thereof) are pretty inconsequential. Definitely not worth losing my life over, especially since there’s nothing else afterwards.
If yer gonna die for an idea, then it had better be a killer of an idea! Anything less would be a bit of waste, eh?
I’ve already denied my atheism and it kinda saved my ass one time outside of a bar in Belfast.
Basically he asked if I believed in God and I said “Yeah definitely!” and he backed down soon after that for some strange reason. He was with a group of scary looking people too…..
It’s a shame we can’t be more open in the world, but things are the way they are and sometimes you just need to survive!
For anyone interested I’ve written the whole story down on my blog at http://www.thedeathofgod.com/blog/
Great question by the way!
Yes, Of course !
Atheists are intelligent people.
This reminds me of the christian claim that atheists with terminal diseases often turn to god. Does that mean that a god magically poofs into existence every time an atheist gets really sick?
It depends on the threat to my life. If renouncing my atheism we tied to continuing my life (aka, admit you believe in god or I will kill you), then of course I’d renounce it. I’d say any crazy bullshit to someone threatening my life if they asked for it. if however we are saying my life were just being generally threatened by no one in particular, perhaps from cancer, war, a long fall, whatever, then of course I wouldn’t renounce my atheism.
Interesting poll.
You do realize that if let´s say Fox news and Bill “the butcher” O´Rwhatever gets his hands on this poll it will be taken out of all proportions.
“You see, according to a recent internet poll, over 70% of Atheists would denounce there Atheism if push came to shove, which goes to show that there really is no such thing as not believing in god and Atheism holds no water as a life style choice.”
Sure hope we can keep this poll to our selves ;o)
“Good people do good things, and evil people do evil things, but for good people to do evil things, that takes religion!”
Just look at Gaza today . . . . .
Yes because atheism is not a religion and so fleeting denial to preserve one’s life is without consequence.
In the same way I would deny my belief in a teapot orbiting Mars, I would refuse to be identified by a word which means I am not something.
If the question was, “would you deny being a human, if your life depended on it”, then I think that would tell you everything about the mental capacity of whoever was asking such a demonstrably ridicules question, than my simple inability to answer it either correctly or incorrectly.
If my life was threatend I would definatly pretend to be religious. There’s that girl, Cassie, who lost her life in a school shooting (because she was religious), when all she had to do was tell a little white lie!
If I had to become a nun or get killed I would choose the nun…then find a way to escape.