Andrea asked:

Assume, as some existentialists do, that there is no God. Does this make life absurd?

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Suppose you're a creature with great powers, sitting in the middle of nothingness. Is your life absurd?
Ok, now suppose that you decide you want company and you create a universe with conscious
beings. You could control them, like puppets, but you decide not to. Is your life less absurd than
before? The same? More?

Steven Ravett Brown

It wouldn't follow at all, just because of atheism, that life is absurd. Whether it is or isn't absurd needs
to be discovered independently of that issue. But the theist's belief does suggest some absurdities —
e.g., that something can come from nothing, that an all good, all powerful and all knowing being
would stand by while horrible things happen to innocent beings (imagine even an ordinary human
standing by watching as a child starves to death even though he or she could easily step in with some
help).

Tibor Machan

There are many who believe that there is no such entity as God, including an increasing number of
atheists. Do atheists lead absurd lives? Indeed, atheists are likely to believe the opposite, they might
ask: Are religious people leading absurd lives by believing in a God for which there is no proof?

It could be claimed that your question arises from a religious belief that sufficient evidence from
history and mystic experience exists to indicate the probable existence of God. Ask yourself whether
your life would be fundamentally changed if it was announced tomorrow that it has now been officially
proved that God does not exist.

Belief in God depends on faith: established faith is difficult to break down, even by the most
convincing arguments. This is because the belief becomes a firmly established concept, and
fundamental to a preferred world view. From this position it is quite likely that a believer in God might
consider that a life which does not include a deity at its centre is somehow suspect. It may also lead
to the view that life without God is meaningless and aimless.

A non-believer may, however, centre faith in the ability of humanity. He/she may point to the progress
made by humanity throughout history, and what appears to be a powerful self reliance on knowledge
and intellect. They may point also to the horrendous wars and human and natural tragedies, that are
not only revealed in history but continue in the present. Then, there is injustice, unfairness, uneven
distribution of wealth, creating massive poverty on the one hand, and great affluence on the other. All
this, they may say, proves beyond doubt that there is no God. Believers will, of course, counter this
by claiming that man having been given freewill by God chooses to use that freewill in pursuit of self
interest, power and greed, leading eventually to his own downfall. God can only look on and weep for
the demise of his creation.

In conclusion, there is some absurdity in both the lives of believers and non-believers, but neither
provides a convincing argument for or against the existence of God. Happy is the agnostic who
enjoys the full benefits of life whilst waiting for the answer to the question.

John Brandon