Do Atheists Have Hope?

Hope is a word humans use to describe the innate feeling that, what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. For instance, sports fans often hope that their favorite teams win. Or we hope that we make it through the day as healthy as we started it. Hope is a human feeling that cannot be given or taken away based on a person’s belief or disbelief in a god. Every human has hope, so the obvious answer to this question is yes, atheists certainly have hope. But I am often reminded, as a nonbeliever myself, that I live a life void of any real hope. I am essentially hopeless. Perplexed Christians wonder how non-believers, no matter how happy they appear to be, go on living without hope in an afterlife. How non-believers can feel safe and secure without the hope of divine justice. There is a fundamental error in this reasoning as I think most non-believers do hope for these things. They just don’t base their lives on it because they do not have substantial reason to believe they will ever come true. Hope against hope as they say.

Religion makes claims to many things, but it does not have a monopoly on hope. There is no doubt that religion depends greatly on the hope of individuals to sustain its dogmatic power. Without the promise of something better, what does religion have to offer? Some people find comfort in believing a god will give them eternal life, or that they are being watched over in times of darkness. While these ideas are appealing, there are others who find comfort in knowing they have control over their own life. That their future is not written in stone. That the trail they blaze belongs to them and not some facilitator in the sky. So just like anything else in this world, we choose the things that make us most comfortable. Because isn’t that what we all strive for? To be comfortable?

In relation to how we deal with adversity, there are two philosophies at work in the world: 1) When times get tough, turn to someone (or something) else to work out your problems. Shed the responsibilities of the world from your shoulders and let someone else take the credit or the blame. Or 2) you can face reality, take responsibility for yourself and endure. Atheists fall in to this second category. As a person who does not believe in the power of God, I can say that in many ways I have an easier time dealing with adversity than someone who does believe. Let me explain: I never get disappointed when my prayers aren’t answered. I never have to wonder why God, the person I trust the most in this world, decided to ignore my pleads for help. I never have to feel like I did something wrong or that I didn’t pray hard enough for Him to care. No, I simply work at making things better and rationalize my successes and failures as products of my own decisions. The believer, on the other hand, will undoubtedly feel the disappointment of not having prayers answered. They might wonder if they were living righteous enough to warrant God’s favor. The mental reconciliation must be tough. Its like a father who promises to be there, but never is and you have to justify why he doesn’t show up time and time again. The feeling of abandonment is very strong and can have lasting effects.

My hope is rooted in what I know. I can take solace in knowing my past was written in my own words, my present is what I make of it, and my future is a blank canvass ready to be painted by life’s glorious colors. So don’t feel sorry for me. I find life very much worth while. If you take a closer look at your atheist neighbors, and there are more than you think, I believe you will discover that what they want most in life is a lot like what you want the most. To make this world a better place- not only for them, but their children, their family, their friends and yes, Christians too.