I used to call myself an Atheist - Atheist Hindu to be exact, yes one can be a Hindu and also be an Atheist - belief in God is not necessary
I mistakenly assumed that Atheists were rational down-to-earth people needing evidence before believing anything - over time I have discovered that I was mistaken
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To me, the hate against Atheists - they live in fear in countries like Pakistan - is not due to them not believing in God but they are seen as a threat to him. To me “God” is similar to Dictators like Putin - rewarding those who believe and support him and abusing the rest - the latest being Navalny
And those who have blindly supported these Dictators have been GIVEN the rich life, again similar to what religions promise their followers - Heaven is GIVEN, not earned & it is given to only those who believe
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And these supporters of Putin, Kim Jong Un, understand that they get the good life only as long as these men stay in power and hence they will do all they can to make sure their rule is long and brutal. They will actively hunt down any suspected threats to them & that is what we see in counties like Pakistan
It is not as if these supporters love Putin, or Kim Jong Un, they know he is evil, brutal, will turn on them on a dime, but it is the rich good life that they love and as long as this dictator stays in power, they will get to enjoy the good life
Similarly, religions promise the good life in Heaven for believers - morals, values, who we are as people does not matter - the only thing that matters is belief, support and “God” will reward/punish accordingly
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The after life for billions of Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists will be like being Jews in Nazi Germany - set apart based on belief, religion and callously dumped into gas chambers in hell!
And these are the top 2 religions of the day - OPENLY promoting Nazi ideas!
And so it is the prospect of Heaven, the good life for eternity that is behind the hate, and not the concept of God!
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But every time I have tried to knock down the concept of Heaven, I have found Atheists reluctant to back me. The most devastating question against Heaven - What does one DO in Heaven? Can one describe a DAY? ONE DAY?
Has resulted in theists running away from this question time and again!
The reason is obvious - what work would an al-mighty being who created this vast universe need to get done? And that too need our help?
Of course I get the usual “working hard”, “won’t be bored”, “there will be something to do” & the classic “the most satisfying work ever done” - but every time I have pressed for DETAILS - that is where the devil lurks, right? - these people run away
Heaven becomes one vast Charity Retirement Home - billions in a lazy, idle, useless and pointless existence for eternity!
A shameless existence of freeloaders
This is one devastating question for theists!
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But amazingly I can’t get any support!
And slowly it dawned on me that maybe Atheists, for all their railing against God, ARE in favor of Heaven
They too hope that this life is not the end, that there is something better after it
Ran across a post from an Atheist saying though he does not believe in God, his good works will get him into Heaven!
And of course Buddhists do not believe in God but yes they do believe in Heaven! Hello!
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And the reaction to a post of mine - that the story of Adam and Eve was about a young man growing up and leaving the safety and comfort of home, the nest, and venturing out into a cruel and harsh world - was met with objection from Atheists!
They prefer the religious view - an out of this world, fantasy view of Adam being kicked out of a “perfect” world - when we know there is no such thing as a “perfect” world
And now we see that Heaven is actually full of shameless freeloaders running away from real life and hiding in this fantasy - “perfect” indeed!
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All the above made me uncomfortable with calling myself an Atheist - I now prefer to call myself a Rational down-to-earth person who looks for Rational explanations to religious ideas
For eg - Heaven is the idea that we can run away from real life and hide
And Reincarnation is the opposite - that there is only ONE world, this one!
If one wants life, it is only here, running away won’t work
Do you live in America or Russia???
Seriously? I have never met a single atheist who supports the concept of heaven. Strange post.
What do you call a nun in heaven?
Nun of the above!
Boom boom
OK so with all the Hindu gods- Hanuman’s my favourite, but there’s Ganesha, Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, etc etc etc How does one be an atheist in the Hindu religion? I understand how one can be an atheist and a Buddhist or an atheist and Taoist, but a Hindu? Please elaborate.
Broadly, an atheist does not believe in any god. A Buddhist can be an atheist, yes, not an Hinduist.
But atheism does not mean materialism.
Broadly, materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions of material things. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are caused by physical processes, such as the neurochemistry of the human brain and nervous system, without which they cannot exist.
Supernatural do’es not exist.
In West, most atheists are materialist. They don’t believe in Heaven.
What do you call a nun walking around the office??
Nun of your business!!! 
Well, what’s wrong with trying the rational route of science?
The one that leads us to the inescapable conclusion that our gods, like all our other concepts are creations from within our own minds, or more specifically of our body/brain interacting with its environment.
That doesn’t make sense to me. If one is still pining for an eternal heaven, one simply hasn’t thought it through. IMHO
Fearing one’s death is natural and we come up with our rationalization to ease that fear. I’m fine with being a fiber in the pageant of evolution and that this time is mine. Then my constituents will meld back into Earth’s biosphere - it ain’t heaven but it’s eternal enough for me, and it works for me.
Then of course, there’s that old joke some can get some solace out of: I don’t mind the idea of my death, just don’t want to be there when it happens.