Why do atheists join a Christian forum?

I am assuming because they are trying to evangelize their beliefs And I have read that some want to educate and save us from our illogical beliefs.

When I joined, I was a Christian.

I joined after stumbling upon several sites full of humorously ridiculous quotes from Christians--it seemed like there were no intelligent reasonable Christian people on the internet I knew, so I decided to seek some out and see what they had to say. So here I am.

Some of the people here take their beliefs seriously and treat others with compassion and understanding, which I respect and which gave me some hope for the religiously minded. But it seems like for every person who chose to believe in god but not let it make them a jerk, there are half a dozen idiots spouting the same phrases over and over, thoroughly brainwashed and despicably ignorant. (I am not saying Christianity is bad, just that mindless adherence to anything is not only detrimental to society, it's downright annoying).

So I stuck around for the lols. All the funniness of those quote sites, but slightly more authentic, and every now and then I read a post from some gem of a person who changes the way I think or challenges one of my pre-conceived notions about religious people, so it's all good in the end.

Why did I join a secular humanist forum?

To get a different perspective and to get a real idea of what people who held this ideology were all about.

I found atheists/humanists are very diverse in their beliefs, and an atheist here will have found out the same if they paid any attention, which I think goes a long way to gaining respect for Christianity as a whole, which is a good thing.

So I'm not opposed to their joining, unless they become overly abrasive and start trolling a lot, which goes for Methodists, Catholics, Mormons, and Muslims, too.

My reasons are almost identical to JadeMargery's.

I appreciate a different point of view from atheists. I think the only real people that see them as a problem are those that are out-Christianed by the atheists.

I got tired of seeing lies and misinformation being spread by those who claim to be Christians. Also, when I joined I was an agnostic.

It's not like we can have gay sex abortion parties all the time. What else are we going to do?

Initially I joined CF to get some help with a college thesis paper. I stick around for a number of reasons. Which reason is prevalent varies on any given day, and may include:

- I genuinely like some of the people here, and like interacting with them
- Christianity is the dominant religion in my country, and I visit CF as one source for understanding contemporary popular Christian thought
- If I hung out only at message boards with other atheists, I wouldn't ever hear alternate viewpoints and would stagnate intellectually
- I'm looking for fodder for my feminatheist blog
- Personal entertainment
- Phase of the moon
- Etc.

Incidentally, I wasn't an atheist when I joined CF either. I was a neopagan.

I was on a gaming forum that also had a "more serious discussions"-section, and one day somebody started a thread about evolution, and how he didn't believe in it.

I was like "!?!?", since I had never heard of people still disbelieving in evolution in this day and age (we have a few of them in Holland, but they're all hidden in their own remote villages ).

The thread went on, more people agreed with the OP, and then somebody posted a link to the CreVo section here..

..I clicked the link just to see what this weird "creationism" was all about; I stuck around for the interesting discussions that take place, and that often were of a better quality than those on gaming forums.

I find that talking with people who agree with you most of the time is boring.

That's why I'm here to talk to people who will provide actual discussion.

Morcova said:

I find that talking with people who agree with you most of the time is boring.

That's why I'm here to talk to people who will provide actual discussion.

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Yeah, that. ^^

Being surrounded by people who agree with you on pretty much every issue makes the chance of learning anything new or of finding out that you might be wrong about something - well, ridiculously small.

I first came here because the pagan forum I used to visit was increasingly trolled by Christian hit-and-run proselytizers of the rather embarrassing sort. So I decided to meet them "on their own turf", and also to dispell the notion that all pious Christians are essentially fundamentalists of the "foaming at the mouth"-type.
Well, in the five years I've been here, I've encountered quite a few rabid evangelicals whose POVs were virtually indistinguishable from an over-the-top parody. Discussing with these can be TREMENDOUS fun, even if it doesn't exactly contribute to my learning anything new. At best, it helps to hone my discussion skills.
HOWEVER, I've also met highly intelligent Christians who helped me to grow as a person and to challenge my own perspective time and again. They might be few, but they do exist.

When I first joined there was lot more scope for discussion between Christians and non and every section wasn't just dominated by a few trolls. I stick around because atheists correct flaws in each other's reasoning and help me move toward a position which is closer to true. And to feed trolls. And to answer this question every couple of months.

I also joined the Richard Dawkins forum, but I got tired of agreeing with people all the time. I mean, it's not very fun when someone says something and the responses are all "I agree!" and "Right on!"

Echo chambers are boring. So by being here, I both challange myself with the views of those Christians who aren't dishonest or demented and hopefully your experience here is also improved by not turning this forum into an echo chamber either, the sort of place where some idiot says "The Bible is true because men have one rib fewer* than women!" and everyone just nods.

*I have actually heard someone try to use that argument without a trace of irony. Not on this site, luckly.

Polycarp_fan said:

As you can see, it is to bash. And always with the same old canard carried by the same old guide on.

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Seeing this reply makes me wonder whether you've actually read any of the replies made on this thread.

Jane_the_Bane said:

Seeing this reply makes me wonder whether you've actually read any of the replies made on this thread.

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Polycarp_fan's faith tells him what we've REALLY written, not what mere secular words strung into sentences and paragraphs say.

Jane_the_Bane said:

Seeing this reply makes me wonder whether you've actually read any of the replies made on this thread.

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Why would he need to read replies? He already knows our true intentions...to bash people! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!

I disagree with everyone! OK! Now that we are in agreement; I joined because I like a good debate! Although I am an avowed atheist I still believe in the basic principles of the historical human Jesus.

What really gets me going is the strong tendency of the fundamentalists to mix politics with their faith. This is the epitome of hypocrisy and makes for good debates!

Morcova said:

I find that talking with people who agree with you most of the time is boring.

That's why I'm here to talk to people who will provide actual discussion.

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This.

I was a Christian when I registered, though. Since then, I've also met people on CF I genuinely like, which is why I am still here.