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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 13, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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atheistic model still seems utterly devoid of motivation or purpose

Note, Asian religions are almost atheistic and don't give you a particular purpose either. Moksha and Nirvana hardly sound like an appealing motivation. Yeah, let's aspire towards nothingness. It's a hard sell.
As an atheist who derives his atheism by disassociating from an Asian religion (Hinduism) , I struggle to understand why followers of Abrahamic religions think that religion is essential to purpose or motivation.

Your life does not count, by your own definition. You will cease to exist

Yeah. That was still true when I was brought up in a religious household. Would you say that practitioners of Indic religions (hinduism, buddhism, jainism) similarly confuse you ?

drugs will surely make you more happy.

Do they ? In the short term sure, but it's pretty hard to find consistent happiness through drugs or idle consumption of any kind.

Is it possible for an atheist to think deeply about life without losing motivation to live well?

Haven't enough atheists done this already? We have decent stack of atheists around the world, who have thought deeply about life and continued to feel motivated to live well till their dying day. It's not exactly a new phenomenon.