Atheists shouldn't care about Christianity, not non-Christians.
That's a very strange belief.
- A substantial proportion of the world's population are (at least nominally) Christian. It would be negligent of me to show no interest in such a major belief system.
- I was raised as a Christian. It would be odd not to retain an interest in what was once an important part of my life.
- Several of my friends are Christians. It would be elitist and uncaring if I were not interested in what is an important part their life today.
- I consider some aspects of fundamental Christianity to present potential danger to human society. It would be socially irresponsible if I took no interest in that potential threat.
What do you find to be faulty in that logic that leads you to assert that I "shouldn't care about Christianity"? I would definitely like to know. Understanding how you arrive at that conclusion is the kind of knowledge I hope to gain through my participation on this forum.
I say because if atheists do not believe, then either they care about Christianity as a threat . . .
I already told you that was one of my reasons - not the most important one, but nevertheless one of the reasons. And to be clear, it is only some aspects of one minor subset of Christianity that cause me concern, not Christianity as a whole. (Incidentally it is a concern shared my many Christians.)
. . . . the moral stance atheists make is that there is no objective morality so it shouldn't matter what people do or believe. Where am I wrong? Am I wrong about atheists and morality?
Yes, you are wrong about atheists and morality.
I don't think that all theists think alike. I don't even think all Christians think alike. (For that matter I know not all Roman Catholics think alike, or all Baptisits, etc.), so why do you think all atheists think alike? That is not a rhetorical question. I would really like to know your reason for holding that belief.
Anyway, to answer your question, here are three points for you to consider.
- There are atheists who consider morality to be obective. I have no idea how many. I think they are a small minority, but they are there.
- You seem to equate a subjective morality with a selfish morality. Is that the case? My subjective, atheist-like, morality demands that I take certain actions that are not to my personal benefit. You seem unwilling to accept that as a possibility. Would you comment?
- Subjective moralities are - in my experience - based upon respect for others (family, friends, colleagues, fellow citizens, people in general) and respect for the biosphere at large. The details of these moral positions are determined by attention to an evidence based appreciation of reality. i.e. they are obective. One has to be a psychopath, or a sociopath to adopt a utilitarian, self-centred morality. Here's an update for you: most atheists are not psychopaths, or sociopaths.
No, they just accused me of xyz.
I am not aware of accusing you of anything. I did the following:
- I asked you a series of questions in order to better understand your position. You chose to ignore these. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I should have made clear that they were not rhetorical.
- I provided a summary of why I participate in CF, since you had earlier expressed surprise as to why an atheist would come here. (IIRC you specifically asked that of another member.)
- I noted the irony of you starting a thread when you consider debate (something that goes on in threads on a discussion forum) to be destructive. Perhaps you are using the word "debate" as meaning "a heated argument". I took it to mean a discussion in which logical arguments and evidence are presented from two or more sides. Did I get that wrong?
At any rate, please point me to where in the above I accused you of "xyz", so that I may clarify my post, if necessary.
Side note: I am an agnostic. However, in relation to the conventional understandings of the Christian God I am atheist.
