What would happen if EVERYONE became Atheist?

[bob bobato]

Let's say that something extremely unlikely happened- let's say that every single person in the world stopped believing in God or anything supernatural. Everyone became completely, completely atheist (no agnosticism, no 'life force', no lip service to religion). Religion has disappeared- the Vatican went bankrupt and every single church/mosque/synagogue/and so on has been converted to a brothel/casino/abortion clinic/money changer.
It doesn't matter how that happened, or whether or not it's true- but if you must, assume that a bunch of people who'd been cryogenicaly frozen were brought back to life and all said there was no heaven, so a lot of people took that as proof that there is no God, and within 50 years, there was no more religion.
So what do you think would happen, now that everyone was atheist? Unending crime sprees because no one was moral anymore, more happiness because there was no more evil religion, end/liberalization of marriage, etc? Don't just limit yourself to the poll options- they're there only to get a general idea of what people think, and are vague for a reason.

 

[Phlegmak]

Maybe the formerly religious would commit more crimes, but I suspect not.

I suspect the world would continue much the same as it is today, except perhaps with less socializing. Afterall, part of being religious is being traditional, and what are traditions for other than bringing people together.

 

[Bast]

It would destroy a lot cultures because some religions and cultures are tied together like Judaism and Hinduism. It's not a good thing at all.

And you can also be atheist and still believe in some aspects of religion like Buddhist philosophy or some other forms of spirituality.

The way I see it, I believe in a concrete, material world bounded by the laws of physics and also a supernatural world. I can't let either of them dominate my mind. It's about balance. I pity anyone who cannot broaden their mind to see different layers of the world.

 

[Tycoon101]

Everyone would join the CFCOT.

 

[Yoda Power]

I think some people need religion to survive, but the outome would be mostly good.

 

[Cato the Elder]

If we were to suddenly lose all feeling for spirituality, we'd probably move even more towards consumerism and materialism to keep ourselves happy, content, and balanced. Therefore, egoism and empty hedonism will be even more abundant, and in the end we'd probably end up depressed, bored, and potentially violent.

On the other hand, fanatical religiousness would no longer exist, and cause a lot less pain to a lot of people. Though I fear that in many cases this would be quickly replaced not by liberty but simply by transferring over to leader worship and other assorted nastiness.

So logically, I voted for "mostly bad"

If I understood the entire question wrong though and you're simply asking about the abandonment of organised religion, I'm not sure what the outcome would be. In a way good for the beforementioned reason of the eradication of religious fanaticism, but on the other hand if people can't form groups to teach other about spiritualistic things I fear that there won't be much spread of it at all.

 

[ParangBoi]

We wont have Christmas if everyone was Atheist.

Also, we would see a reasonable change in morals and values, affecting everyday choices.

 

[Yoda Power]

We wont have Christmas if everyone was Atheist.

Why not? My family is pure atheist, yet we celebrate Christmas.

 

[El_Machinae]

We'd gang up to enforce the proper spelling of atheist. Just like the horrible atrocities which caused the expungement of "Christain" misspelling.

Charity efforts would likely decrease. Crime would increase.

Relgious battles would obviously diminish a whole bunch, with massive benefits. I don't know if racism would just replace religion, though.

And cryogenically frozen people aren't necessarily dead. That's why they're frozen. They might be legally dead, but not actually dead.

 

[Gustave5436]

Religion has virtually dissapeared- the Vatican went bankrupt and every single church/mosque/synagogue/and so on has been converted to a brothel-casino-abortion clinic.

Because all atheists love prostitution, gambling, and abortions (though I only oppose the first two).

 

[Phlegmak]

We wont have Christmas if everyone was Atheist.

You've got to be joking! Christmas is a grand celebration of capitalism and consumerism.

 

[bhsup]

Wow, nobody has taken God's reaction into account yet. Remember, he's promised not to destroy us all by water again. Nothing has been said about fire, earthquake, poison gas, you name it. I'm going with the completely bad option.

 

[thescaryworker]

Things would be better than they are now in terms of how I see the world, as it would be easier to:

1. Make Scientific Progress

No superstition (I assume complete atheism means no superstition) would result in less time wasted appeasing religious fanatics morally and having to deal with the significant population of superstitious who blindly follow whatever their preachers tell them. This results in increased scientific output.

2. Accept Different Morals

With different religions comes different moral codes (sometimes violent differences). Eliminate religion and you will still have different moralities. The difference is that the remaining morals will be able to coexist peacefully (for example, there will be no superstitious beliefs about God telling people to kill homosexuals). Thus, disagreements will exist, but they will exist in a much more academic manner. (Yes, it is possible to have morals as an atheist. If you do not believe so, I recommend doing research.)

3. Adapt Society to the World

Religion causes conservativism (not all of it, but a significant portion). This prevents society from changing as it needs to in the modern world. With technology jerking (see link) as it is, we need to have as much versatility as possible. Otherwise, we will quickly become the hicks of the world of tomorrow.


While the above three are major benefits to the world, there are undoubtedly downsides that I do not have off the top of my head. As such, I will go with "mostly good".

As an immediate downside, religious holiday sales would be greatly reduced. Note that Christmas, however, is becoming less Christian (focused on Jesus) and more secular (focused on gift-giving and generosity). Non-secular holidays would vanish, and the commercial opportunities with them. However, this has little long term impact on society and is not a huge downside.

 

[bob bobato]

Because all atheists love prostitution, gambling, and abortions (though I only oppose the first two).

Nope, because most religious people hate them.

 

[El_Machinae]

Wow, nobody has taken God's reaction into account yet. Remember, he's promised not to destroy us all by water again. Nothing has been said about fire, earthquake, poison gas, you name it. I'm going with the completely bad option.

You can ask him when you see him! [/VRWCAgent]

 

[Gustave5436]

Nope, because most religious people hate them.

Religious people hate murder, does that mean murder would suddenly become widespread if religion disappeared?

 

[thescaryworker]

Crime would increase.

Are you sure about that?

Edit: just found this one:

Even more disturbing ...

 

[Rossiya]

Those who believed in God would effectively become atheists.

 

[Eretz Yisrael]

When the Communists planned their way into Communism, they envisioned a utopian society; in reality, things didnt work out so well.....
Religion is there for a reason; to completely destroy it would be of unknown consquences for many people.
An Atheist society might work in theory(Communists were theorectically atheists), but truth is, it never did.

 

[Perfection]

It's difficult to say. Atheism is only a philosophical stance regarding the existence of God. Under that mantle there are lots and lots of different belief systems, and wht those are are going to determine how things work out.

I do hope that if/when religion goes away that people still work to preserve the rich cultural heritage intertwined with it.

I would be concerned about radical rapid abandonment of religion by everyone though, something fishy would probably be going on.