Atheist doesn’t mean depressed
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The word atheist only means a person that lacks belief in god, but people have always associated that word with something else, like being angry, or negativity, or sadness, but that’s not the case. Atheist are just people like everyone else. I may not be the best example for mental health in atheists, but I’m not the common denominator.
Just like there are sad atheists, there are happy atheists, that being proof that (like I was once told) “the key to happiness is accepting a higher power” is a wrong statement. For me that statement doesn’t encourage happiness, but accepting injustice and even slavery to the so called “higher power”.
Even though I understand the argument for theists being happier than atheists because they “have” an objective purpose in life and don’t really have to accept the consequences of their actions because of the “will of god”-argument, that’s nothing more than another way of saying “happy to be a slave”.
I’m aware that for some people realizing that there is no god can be devastating, and therefore they fall into depression. This people usually go back into religion, at least in my experience. they look for ways to fool themselves into believing again, but that doesn’t mean god has become any more real than a fairy-tale.
I was once told that believing in god was better than anti-depressants. I’m sorry for people that are in that situation, but their pain has its roots in other things outside lack of believe. Again, believing in god doesn’t make god any more real, and doesn’t banish the need for actual help.
Being an atheist doesn’t mean being a negative person either. Unlike Jon Meacham, I don’t think that “the word atheist is a negative word. It means you’re against something.” (1) in fact, atheism is just the default position, it doesn’t mean you’re against anything, it just means that you, personally, don’t believe. I would even argue that it is religion that is against something, against the other religions.
Being an atheist doesn’t mean you can’t see the beauty of nature, it just means you don’t think it was created by a supreme being. Being an atheist doesn’t mean you don’t feel lucky to have this life (at least I do), it just means you don’t think it was assigned to you by god. Being an atheist doesn’t mean you don’t value this life, it means you value it more because there is no afterlife, this is it.
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You're right, it does mean they are a slave. Slave to other people's ideas about how they should live their life. Some of those people claim they are just following Jesus or the Bible but in most cases that is such a preposterous claim it is ridiculous. The Bible is so chock full of contradictions it is impossible to follow it consistently - there is no consistent way, period. Jesus was such a penniless hobo that you'd need to live like a Buddhist monk to come close to following him. Even the Amish have way too many material possessions. Although being farmers, carpenters, and pacifists they are better people than most at it.
Anyway, I digress. Enslaving your thoughts and actions to some rule book may make some people happy, and it's not just religion I'm talking about. Some people claim to be happier in jail, some people claim to be happier in the army, and there is the claim that some literal slaves that are happier that way. Follow the rules you know what happens, don't and you know the consequences. But like all systems there are bullies and exploiters with power in those systems that pray on the weak and usually the system will do nothing to protect you.
Personally I prefer to be a free man. An emancipated mind free to use its powers to the fullest extent. I prefer society to be organised for the benefit of emancipated humans - this is a secular humanist society. I don't know if I'd go so far as to ban mental slavery as we supposedly did with actual slavery (arguably now we have wage slavery to replace it) but I would want to ban mental battery, kidnapping and extortion. People should join a religion free of coercion, in full knowledge of the facts and claims, and with no mental entrapment like "leave or speak about what we do and you'll be shunned or harassed forever". No claims that cannot be backed up should be allowed - promises of healing and health or wealth should meet the same truth in advertising standards that regular products and services have to meet.
I like your response, but a religion without faith-based claims is not a religion.
That's a good point - there's probably some degree of latitude to allow unsubstantiated claims that are mostly harmless. Maybe. Or maybe I'm just trying to envisage a society in which religion is so limited it is small enough to take into the bathroom and drown in the tub (to misquote Grover Norquist on the government).
By the way, you'd be surprised to know how many religious people claim atheism is just another religion. They so don't get it when you do perfectly.
I think you are alluding to deism and not theism.
And yeah, I know how many theists think that, I get a lot of it on Twitter.