what's the best thing about being an atheist?

[Solitary]

Freedom from religious dogma, and to be who you are without guilt or shame.

[NakedTracyBlack]

Not having to feel guilty about the things I do that society feels is 'wrong' for no good reason.

Another would probably be not having to justify the actions of a cruel and capricious god.  I can't imagine twisting logic to justify flooding the earth and killing everyone except for 8 people.  Or finding someone's keys, but not finding someone's lost child.

[Feral Atheist]

Freedom from irrational fears based on the ignorance of men that didn't know where the sun went at night.

[Atheon]

Not having to waste time, effort, energy or money worrying about god or the devil.

[1liesalot]

Not having to give mindless, sycophantic thanks and praise for nothing.

[MagetheEntertainer]

Secretly worshiping Satan by corrupting the minds and vaginas of Christian women.

[SGOS]

Nobody ever asked me either, but I get to make rational choices without having to conjure a spirit apparition out of the misty aether.  I am an adult.  I take responsibility for my own decisions.

[Munch]

The wonderful thing about being an atheist is that my views and observation of the world are no hindered by fear and regret, unlike religion that hinders a persons knowledge, understanding and view of the world.

I was watching a program on tv the other night, about the advance of christianity across the ancient world, and it reminded me of the interview Stephen Fry had with the catholic priest, how he said if we were to believe in a deity, why not believe in many instead of just one, the greek gods were all more human and relatable then the god of the bible, because they were flawed like people were.

This got me thinking about the fact that the reason why Christianity is the powerhouse religion it is, is because its so massively simplified a cult, only having 1 entity they need to follow, and everything else can be bent and twisted around the belief in this 1 entity, that they are all effectively cattle.  As Fry said, at least with the ancient greek and norse gods, people followed certain gods in relation to belief and location, making them seem more varied instead of one single mind following the Shepard.

Thats whats great about being an atheist, christians and muslims think being an ancient is like some dark alternative version of themselves that we're some void following heathens, but thats just not the case, we don't follow anything they do, and there is no substitute, it is simply casting off the rope and seeing the Shepard leading the mass of sheep.

I honestly think the internet brought about this amazing advance in casting off ancient beliefs in fairy tales, the spread of information and freedom of discussion on what actually matters now.

[Baruch]

Monotheism is more useful to empires than polytheism.  Also the idea that the Roman Emperor was a god, got lots of contrary evidence quickly.  So a monotheism that wasn't about the Emperor himself, but can be controlled by the Emperor ... fit the bill.  This is why you had Buddhism under Ashoka and Christianity under Constantine and Islam under Umar.  At one point some Zoroastrian heretics got together during Roman times, in Persia, to try to make their dualistic religion more monotheistic.

Monotheism was also useful to Judah, small though it was, to try to politically unify a diverse population.

[trdsf]

Best thing about being an atheist, or at least being an atheist of Polish extraction?  PÄ...czki being marked down drastically after Ash Wednesday.  :D

[Termin]

 Superpowers :)

[hrdlr110]

Things that I know are subject to change with new information.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

There's nothing great nor bad about atheism. It just is. It's like asking what is so good or bad about having not being born before you were born. By the way,  what's so wonderful about not believing in the tooth fairy?  Is there some plus/minus list out there I'm completely unaware of? I don't actually believe in the tooth fairy, but I think it's funny as hell. .