Atheism in Comparison to Christianity 

Currently, there are roughly 4,200 validated religions present on Earth, each of those with a large following, some smaller, some larger and highly regarded as sacred. Atheism is the disbelief in god or gods rejecting them completely. Initially in the early 1800’s the word atheist was used at an insult towards someone who didn’t believe in god, it wasn’t until recently that people described themselves as atheists pushing that word from insult into fact. Christianity is widely regarded as one of the most possible and true religions in all of the world however Atheism may be just as strong even though its following may not be as large as Christianity.

Their huge differences cause major tensions between the two followings however in comparison even though the two beliefs are different they still don’t change human life as a whole, one person may be an atheist and still be able to live their life normally the same as Christians would.

Introduction

Atheism is the position that affirms the non-existence of God or gods. Atheism will be defined in the contemporary western sense: not just the lack of belief in a god, but the assertion about the non-existence of any gods, spirits, or divine or supernatural beings. Atheists in this sense are metaphysical naturalists, and as will be shown, they do follow a religion. It proposes positive disbelief rather than mere suspension of belief , meaning they reject all other religions and thoughts of god or gods. Atheism is a different sort of following because they don’t have any particular practices that they are set to follow they simply live and ignore the beliefs of other people, they follow logical conclusions to questions concerning life and death, they strictly follow tangible evidence.

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Many people are atheists because they think there is no evidence for God’s existence – or at least no reliable evidence. They argue that a person should only believe in things for which they have good evidence. Many atheist do practice ‘secular rituals’ such as their birthday or ritual holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Atheists celebrate of Darwin Day in which they celebrate Charles Darwin and his contribution with his theories of evolution they even state that “Charles Darwin is second to god” which is interesting since they don’t believe in god. This being because of Darwin’s theories regarding the evolution of creatures on Earth, defying thoughts of creationism and replacing those thoughts with the logic of evolution. Atheist Richard Dawkins said, referring to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution: “Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.” There are some atheist that practice teaching others about their religion for the implication that it provides a sense of community such as church would since they are missing out in socializing because they don’t have churches of their own . Atheists find their own answers to the question of what it means to be human. This discussion looks at the question from both theological and ethical viewpoints.

Christianity

Christians believe in justification by faith – that through their belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and in his death and resurrection, they can have a right relationship with God whose forgiveness was made once and for all through the death of Jesus Christ. Christians believe in “the end of the world,” they expect the final catastrophe, the punishment of others. With more than 2.1 billion followers across the world, Christianity is accounted as the strongest religion present on Earth. One of the most prominent beliefs in Christianity is the soul, they believe that we all have souls that live on and carry on after the physical body gives out. Christians beleive that God is the ruler and king of everything and we happily accept and appreciate his work on the world. But as G.K. Chesterton said a century ago: “Darwinism can be used to back up two mad moralities, but it cannot be used to backup a single sane one. The kinship and competition of all living creatures can be used as a reason for being insanely cruel or insanely sentimental; but not for a healthy love of animals. The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.”

In separate interviews with two atheists the first, who will remain anonymous, Hayk Rostomyan, and the Christian interviewee, Marvin Flores. They all had different perspective within their own religion and non-religion, such as the after-life, believing in God or gods, culture, rituals and etc. Atheists in their turn invent doctrines of salvation, try to give a meaning to life, work, the future of humankind, and refuse to believe in God because Christians believe in him and take no interest in the world. It’s an interesting thing to compare two opposing viewpoints when it comes to these religions, Atheists pay close attention to the world around them focusing on the joys and events that take place because of nature whereas Christians are focused on god and their personal beliefs.

Hayk is an Arminian who is an atheist. He explained that since he was born he just didn’t believe in anything, “Its weird that I’m atheist since I’m Arminian and my grandpa is a pastor, my family was okay with it since they aren’t really an active religion family. I knew I was an atheist once I learned what the word atheist meant.” Hayk said, “Our belief is proof , tangible proof. Something you measure and you can test. I don’t have to think what it mean that’s the best part of being an atheist just look at things how they are and how they should function. Atheist just mean I don’t believe in a god, conscious being in who created everything and I care or about just actual rationalization for what things happen.”Atheists have reported feeling liberated after converting. Karl Marx said that the removal of the illusion of happiness by the removal of religion was a step towards true happiness. However, when it comes to Christianity, they believe the true meaning of happiness is serving God and being committed to the church.

In an interview with an atheist who decided to remain anonymous they stated that, “It’s not like I hate the thought of a god it’s just I don’t have any proof so relying heavily on someone else’s thoughts and beliefs is just a little too much for me.” This person discussed the importance of not having faith but understanding and appreciating the world around them while it’s still present. This person also stated, “ I don’t focus on my beliefs, I don’t wake up and have to do certain things because I’m an atheist, I just question a lot of things, I have debates with people who tell me about god or anything that just seems hard to grasp, I guess it comes from reassurance.”

Marvin became a Christian at the age of 10 in El Salvador. His sister, Norma, gathered other Christians to worship at her house and he was eavesdropping when the evangelist was asking Norma to accept God as her savior, Marvin was accepting him as well on his own. Ever since then he started going to church and preaching to people and guiding his friends to accept God. Marvin said, “ When I left from El Salvador, the church was different, compare to the one back home, in El Salvador during the worshiping (singing) we would just stand and listen, but here I met one of the biggest Spanish pastor, Tony Perez, and because of him I was directing the choir and I enjoyed it.” Little by little Marvin started to get more involved with the church, now he has his own church in Compton. “I was called to be a pastor, there was three signs God gave me, the last sign was; I prayed and told him, if I can get a place to preach and bring people in, I’ll do it. The next day, I went to church and a member of the church ask me if I knew anyone that is trying to open a church because he was renting out a place and that’s when I knew that was the sign and I started my own church.”

Between the two, when it comes to the afterlife, they had different opinions. Hayk said, “What I believe happens in the afterlife, is that we reincarnate, we start a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological death. But I also believe that when I die, I am dead and gone, my conscious life will end, my interactions with others will end, and I will be simply gone. I don’t know what causes consciousness but I expect that it will end. My afterlife will be in the memories of those I knew, those who loved me, those who carry me on in their hearts.” Marvin believes that our body leaves in three mconcepts. “ what I think happens in the afterlife is that our body stays here and rots, then our spirit goes straight to God because the spirit has no sins and it belongs to Him, are souls on the other hand, whatever we committed in earth would determine whether we go to heaven or hell, that’s why one should accept lord as our lord and savior in order to be safe.” With that said their beliefs emphasize forgiveness, repentance, and judgment after death. If people have properly repent their sins to God, their souls will spend eternity in Heaven, but those who have led a sinful life with no penitence may be sent to Hell.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, there is huge difference between both religion including the two atheist. One thing I didn’t know was that the two atheist had different views in many things, they both have individual beliefs in how the humanity was created and the afterlife. Christians believe in “the end of the world,” they expect the final catastrophe, the punishment of others. Atheists in their turn invent doctrines of salvation, try to give a meaning to life, work, the future of humankind, and refuse to believe in God because Christians believe in him and take no interest in the world. Also, one thing can be said about the religion and the non-religion is that they both are so passionate in what they believe. Even though Christians and atheists don’t understand each other’s concept or morals, their moral attitudes toward compassion for those who are suffering and ensuring justice and fairness for all can be shared with both followings, because no matter what humans are social creatures who rely on compassion with others.

Hayk said that each person is their own church since they don’t actually have a church or scriptures, they all believe in different things which makes them think and question things more. In order for them to believe in something, they need to know how it was made and if it wasn’t made by anyone it doesn’t exist or it isn’t real, which is why they believe in the Big Bang Theory instead of believe there is a God, because they believe something always have to be created but someone or something.