Fear and Atheism

[ShadowComplex]

I was thinking the other day that I seem to fear a lot less things now as an atheist than I did as a christian. For instance, during my teenage years, as a christian, I used to have this deathly fear of the dark (I know it sounds really stupid and childish, but it was partly a religious fear from my early childhood) that would always manifest itself by a fear of sleeping in any position other than on my back. In fact, as far as I can remember, I had never slept on my stomach or side since I was a little kid. Strange neurosis, I know. But the day that I "formally" embraced my atheism, I was able to sleep on my stomach with no problem. I remember being very surprised at that fact.

Of course, I shouldn't have been surprised. Embracing a rational view about deities should have an effect on other areas of my life that aren't rational, too. Many other of my irrational fears have gone through a similar transformation, notably my fear of heights.

Have any other deconverts gone through a similar situation? For instance, has embracing rationality allowed you to live a less irrationally afraid life, or has it improved your life in any other way? I'm interested to know.

[MarcelLionheart]

Moving to SL.

[Scifinerdgrl]

Oddly, I'm less afraid of death.

[Mizled]

Oddly, I'm less afraid of death.

We share the same attitude.

[Cunning Linguist]

Oddly, I'm less afraid of death.

Same here. I was deathly afraid of dying and going to hell when I was a Catholic. I don't know where I'd be now if I'd never left.

Also, I think that most of the time, becoming an atheist means not only loss of a god belief, but also loss of a lot of supernatural beliefs/superstitions. At least it was for me. That means no real fear of the dark or ghosts or anything like that (except for a certain incident where a toad fell into my window well one night and was jumping up against the window for far too long...). Hell, I've been reading H.P. Lovecraft right before bed for the past week, and I'm still sane, at least by my standards. :cool:

[Revolutionary]

I'm not less afraid of death. I'm just not afraid of hell, so death is just eh.

In general, my fear level isn't any lower. It's just that hell was a major, major, major fear for me and that's all gone.

[Hydra009]

Have any other deconverts gone through a similar situation? For instance, has embracing rationality allowed you to live a less irrationally afraid life, or has it improved your life in any other way? I'm interested to know.Yes, it has helped in allowing problems to be dealt with in a more direct and rational way, without the constraint of religious baggage. A good metaphor for it is that it's a lot easier to clean out the spiders in the basement if you don't believe that there are ghosts down there too. :)

[LoneWolf]

I could sleep in a so called "haunted" house and as long as I had a pillow I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep.

Also, I have episodes of sleep paralysis. I will wake up paralyzed, unable to talk, unable to control the rate of my breathing, but still able see. Many people who get this also have VERY vivid hallucinations during these episodes. I used to see some pretty spooky stuff. But now that I am a skeptic the worst I will hallucinate during those episodes are some leaves blowing across my ceiling or bedroom floor (depending on which direction I am stuck looking).

And like others have said, I have zero fear of death now. I'm still not crazy about the actual dieing process, but death itself is nothing to me.

[fviegas]

Hi,
I was thinking about this the other day, and I am quite
impressed by it.
Although I never believed in hell, it was a source of anxiety
for me, after I had children, that I could die and "live" on
without them. How could that be a "heaven" if I couldn't touch
them or talk to them, but could see them and would miss
them so much.Especially if I would see their and my husband's
suffering for my loss.
This was a major fear for me that does not exist anymore.

Also, as I believed in the supernatural, I was very afraid
of spending the night alone in a house, or wake up during the
night and feel terror that something might be watching me.
It is a good thing I stopped believing since I live alone now :-)
and "miraculously" the nightmares stopped after I deconverted.

This has been a huge relief for me, and I can say it is a major
benefit of being a skeptic.

[dettus]

Being dead is like being before you were born. There is quite literally nothing to be afraid of.

[Alter]

And like others have said, I have zero fear of death now. I'm still not crazy about the actual dying process, but death itself is nothing to me.

Exactly, well said.

[MHF]

I've been a non-believer most of my life, and I think I was genuinely not afraid of death.

A couple of years ago I agreed to start going to Church, and this increased my
fear of death (what if the Church is right, and I'm halfway between believing and
not believing? Well, then I go to hell. Not a nice thought).

Now that I've done some more research it's now clear to me that there's plenty
of evidence to be certain that the Bible is false.
My fear of death has gradually disappeared again.

I think it's actually quite ironic: The Church is very good at using fear as a
selling point, but for me, its teachings increased fear.

[Raccoonzers]

Well, I'm not sure that all of my irrational fears are gone forever, but since embracing atheism after growing up in the church I feel I can see things in a far more rational light, i.e., going through everyday life knowing there is a rational explanation for the things that happen and the way people act.

No more wondering to myself, "What would [Big Imaginary Friend in the Sky] do? How am I even supposed to know his/her/it's will?"

Pretty darn liberating. If nothing more, adopting rational thought makes dealing with the irrationality that is human behavior easier. :rolleyes:

[Mizled]

Being dead is like being before you were born. There is quite literally nothing to be afraid of.

Mark Twain was asked if he feared death he responded "I do not fear death. I didn't exist for eons before I was born and never suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."

[earljail]

Oddly, I'm less afraid of death.

A few years ago, I revealed to a friend of mine that I was having doubts about xtianity. He admitted that the only thing that kept him doing the "christian stuff" was fear of going to hell.

I think lots of christians worry where they will stand on "judgement day."

[Vagabonder]

Also, as I believed in the supernatural, I was very afraid
of spending the night alone in a house, or wake up during the
night and feel terror that something might be watching me.

Same for me. When I was a Fundie, I was afraid of being possessed or crazy shit like that. Now that I'm an atheist, I don't fear the dark or anything supernatural. Although I still don't enjoy watching horror movies, because I know there's a lot of f'ed up people in the world who do that kind of crap and I'd rather not think about it. But Ghosts, Demons, burning in hell, no problems here.


I think lots of christians worry where they will stand on "judgement day."

It's why I was a praying agnostic for a year, until I had the last of my doubts eliminated and could fully embrace atheism. I think it's clear that a lot of people have that motivation for belief. I'm guessing that's why the two religions that propose such horrible places, combine for over 3 billion people.

[Hellcat]

.
Also, I have episodes of sleep paralysis. I will wake up paralyzed, unable to talk, unable to control the rate of my breathing, but still able see. Many people who get this also have VERY vivid hallucinations during these episodes. I used to see some pretty spooky stuff. But now that I am a skeptic the worst I will hallucinate during those episodes are some leaves blowing across my ceiling or bedroom floor (depending on which direction I am stuck looking).


I get episodes of sleep paralysis too, but I do get the vivid hallucinations accompanied by the sensation of a malevolent entity in the room, usually sitting right on my chest. I know there is no such entity, and that it's just the sleep paralysis again, but the perception is still there, and the irrational fear. Brain chemistry is a wacky thing.

[Unsavedsinner]

I was thinking the other day that I seem to fear a lot less things now as an atheist than I did as a christian. For instance, during my teenage years, as a christian, I used to have this deathly fear of the dark (I know it sounds really stupid and childish, but it was partly a religious fear from my early childhood) that would always manifest itself by a fear of sleeping in any position other than on my back. In fact, as far as I can remember, I had never slept on my stomach or side since I was a little kid. Strange neurosis, I know. But the day that I "formally" embraced my atheism, I was able to sleep on my stomach with no problem. I remember being very surprised at that fact.

Of course, I shouldn't have been surprised. Embracing a rational view about deities should have an effect on other areas of my life that aren't rational, too. Many other of my irrational fears have gone through a similar transformation, notably my fear of heights.

Have any other deconverts gone through a similar situation? For instance, has embracing rationality allowed you to live a less irrationally afraid life, or has it improved your life in any other way? I'm interested to know.


This seems logical, for me, I'm no longer afraid of the dead. :P

[Laurentius]

As a little boy, I remember being afraid of contours I could make in the dark, but not of the dark itself. Actually, after watching a scary movie I preferred to stare at the ceiling in the dark to closing my eyes and re-seeing the dreary images again. Fact is I've never been a believer or a superstitious guy. I haven't experienced a defining conversion or deconversion either, which makes my position quite uncomfortably unique among the people I meet.

[FuzzyNooners]

Unfortunately my irrational fear happens to be of clowns, and any amount of rational thought on the subject just convinces me more that I am correct in being terrified of them. :mad: