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Coming from a moderate muslim family, my life actually got a huge upgrade when I realised God doesn't exist (at least the way religions describe it).

As a lifelong atheist and critic of organized religion, I congratulate you on your improved frame of mind.

Thank you!

I know what it's like growing up in a religious atmosphere. Since you've been trained to think inside the box, you realize the box is nonsense. The problem is thinking that the only valid alternative is that there is no creator and everything is just random (the opposite extreme.) Look into other philosophies like advaita vedanta, buddhism, or progressive science like another commenter mentioned about nassim haramein.

I didn't say there's no creator. I'm pretty confident that the God defined by these religions doesn't exist. Since then, I have lived comfortably with knowing enough that I don't know and might never know.

Regarding organized religion, a quote attributed to Diderot [0] goes as follows:

    Le genere humain ne sera heureux et libre que quand on aura étranglé le dernier roi avec les boyaux du dernier prêtre.

Or, in plain English:

    Man will be happy and free only when the last king has been strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

However, I like to complete it with a quote from Voltaire [1]:

    L'univers m'embarrasse, et je ne puis songer - Que cette horloge existe et n'ait point d'horloger

Or, in plain English:

   The universe baffles me, and I cannot conceive - That this clock exists, yet has no clockmaker.

[0] https://www.persee.fr/doc/rde_0769-0886_1991_num_10_1_1097

[1] https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Voltaire_-_%C5%92uvres_c...

Nice to see your experience. Finding a good church (note: very very difficult) and small group is the right answer for anybody OK with engaging with christian faith. For those who don't believe, it's harder to find a consistent community unfortunately - I wish there could be more secular equivalents of a church small group as I'd join one and would highly enjoy.

I agree 100% with this

> I would NOT recommend dating apps, you will most likely not find a real connection

Plenty of people found real connections on dating apps. They can be frustrating but remain a good way to meet people. That being said, different people have vastly different experience there, and it can be very frustrating and demoralizing.

I agree with the Christian group sentinment with certain caveats. They can be clique-y, but if you can find your niche, and it'll be the best time of your life. Also, most "non-denominational" groups do funnel into an ideology, mainly Pentecostal, so be aware about that.

The rabbit hole goes deep, and it will be a fulfilling journey, with all its ups and downs. I won't claim it to be your particular panacea, so I won't force it, and won't judge your response. After all "you know how judgemental christians can be!" - Moral Orel

So many replies about doing the religion group thing, and op saying “great psychiatrist put me on bunch of antidepressants”, obviously this is U.S. centric. And optimistic in this way. I don’t see anyone not from U.S. replying and maybe it’s irrelevant, but think about it - maybe this is the end and you just counting the days until the end and nothing is coming, you will not meet anybody.

Advising that OP believe in an imaginary friend to combat their loneliness is a hell of a take

Completely agree. I found freedom, truth, comfort in Christ. From that relationship with God stems everything we need. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and “the truth will set you free.”

Most of my friends have either joined religious groups or running teams. I never realized that, besides the philosophical and health components, there was also a social one to it.

I met my partner of 10 years on a dating app and know a lot of other couples who have as well.

You wouldn't know it though because we don't go online to say what a good experience it was.

The God thing is only temporary though. At some point you will seek Truth and the world will collapse on you.. Not only will you have an existential crisis, but your friend group will begin to shy away from you.

But otherwise I basically agree. I think God is great for you in the psychological short term. Machiavelli to Dostoevsky agree.

This statement is based on a surface level (if that) understanding of Christianity. Machiavelli and Dostoevsky aside, whose criticisms are somewhat deeper but still misguided, there are many thinkers who question the existence of God but acknowledge the benefits of a God-centered society.

> God-centered society

Need not be Christian.

You're right.

But society where the basis has a liberal perspective, individual sovereignty is held in the highest regard, private property is protected, and the nuclear family is the underpinning of it, I'm okay with. Judeo-Christian societies have this, and maybe aside from Sikhs and some Buddhist sects I don't know of any other religion that does this.

I'd strongly disagree with this. Since becoming serious about my faith as a 15 year old from a non-christian background, my life and my friend group has gotten progressively better. I had an existential crisis that helped bring me to faith - basically what is the point of anything if there's nothing beyond this world of matter? I've not had one since, as I don't believe this world of matter is all there is.

Yeah... Don't read philosophy. Don't seek truth.

And if you do, you better have a new game plan for happiness and your friend group.

How about the truth that most communities are built around some kind of nonsense, and maybe you can deal with a bit of nonsense to enjoy the benefits of community?

I can't think of a way to feel more hollow like the OP describes. Not making any claims or suggestions for others just pointing out how different that would make me feel compared to the suggestion. Different strokes for different folks apparently.

This is my personal opinion. I think it doesn't have to be a short term fix. If you are curious enough and open minded you can find a long term relationship with God that doesn't contradict verifiable truth as long as you are willing to question collectively accepted "truths". For me, Natural theology has been one of the main foundations in my path to get closer to God. Understanding that physics stumbled upon the Spirit of God (the aether / zero point energy) and decided to look away has been super important in this journey. If you look at the recent work from physicist Nassim Haramein you'll see that Creation was not an event in a remote past after which God retired to his throne (Haramein doesn't mention God, but he explains how zero point energy sustains all matter at all times). If you agree that there is a Creator entity and you approve Haramein's theory, then zero point energy is the active force by which the Creator operates, and then creation is happening everywhere, always, and the same force that created everything is actively sustaining everything, everywhere, forever.

I've read 9 years of philosophy. Its never happening.

It gets worse than you know. Not only is the doctrinal god not real... not even the Stoic thiest god more valid than agnosticism. (Epistemology)

It gets worse: There is nothing that says the words of human are more valid than looking to nature. There is 0 way to factually chose between them. (Epistemology)

It continues to get worse: Circles aren't real, they are a construct of human language. Even our knowledge of material things is subject to the same limitations. Organic molecules see the world, and different organic molecules turn this into logical thought. Then we vibrate some air particles as we explain to others. (Ontology)

Anyway, its much worse than you think. Do not read philosophy if you want to continue being happy like you are. All paths in philosophy lead to nihilism.

You will be better served investigating alternative definitions of God, such as the pantheistic god; the panentheistic god (encompassing not just the physical universe but the intellectual one as well); or simply the Aristotelian "first cause" proven (non constructively) to exist of necessity by various cosmological arguments, rooted in ex nihilo, nihil fit and rejection of infinite regress (preferring axiomatics in the Munchhausen Trilemma).

It should be noted that even the late Hitch was unable to defeat the Kalam version of the cosmological argument in debate against Dr. Craig at Biola University.

With 9 years of philosophy reading it should be trivial for you to prompt-expand this comment into its full ramifications.

I'm agnostic, not atheist.

There can be a God, but I don't see him writing any messages in the sky. I def don't think the doctrines given to us by old men are god.

(Also, I try really hard to stay away from contemporary philosophy because most people are academia, and academia is awful. I genuinely think they are subpar, but mostly because they are indoctrinated with platonic realism and that permeates/infects them.)

You should work on your reading comprehension skills. Everything you have written is a complete non sequitur.

It's useless to copy/paste words from an LLM when you barely understand what they mean, and you are fooling nobody with your self-professed "9 years" of knowledge.

Perhaps yesterday's commenters were right, and HN should just bar all new accounts from posting entirely.

You just mad that I already knew those ideas. I didn't even disagree. You know what the word agnostic means right?

Just go back to pouring my beers, please. I'll take a Labatt 50.

>All paths in philosophy lead to nihilism.

Well, I'd say any serious non-delusional thinker would be a nihilist to some degree.

I would say that the empirical data of the number of people who die with a belief in God may contradict your assumption. I'm not religious but I have many religious friends and family members.