Atheists, What's the point?

[madaz]

Last April we had two theist groups show up and started yelling abuse and pushing their beliefs while we were enjoying our lunch at an atheist convention.

What would have happened if us atheist attended a venue of theirs and did that to them?

 

[Tiberius]

The point of atheists is that they believe in Godlessness. They think nothing came from nothing. They believe that and they want to SPREAD the lessness around.

And, pray tell, what is your source for this claim?

Because I'm an atheist, and what you said doesn't reflect me at all.

I have met atheists online that have been really sweet to me, even defended me when some other christians wouldn't about my stripping and peep shows but sadly I havent met any atheists in real life that werent mean to me, really mean to me: including saying I am not christian because I did a bikini car wash with my girlfriends and that they have the power to cast spells on our church. I hope to meet more atheists in real life like the ones I've met online.

Atheists have told you they have the power to cast spells?

 

[keith99]

Probably both but they were from an atheist of the month club or something weird we have in the neighborhood. I didn't care really if they wanna get together on Friday night and have cookies.. I don't care if they wanted their car washed. I LOVE the business. What I didn't like was them coming at us representing themselves as atheists and pointing to our outfits and saying "Look at you, you call yourself Christian, you all look like your practically naked in the church parking lot doing all this nasty stuff for your so called "flock," I am sure you would agree that these are the atheists that give atheists a bad name?



I don't wanna tell u what to believe. I am christian, you are atheist, thatss fine, like I said I like to be friends with a lot of different types of people. I don't wanna impose my religion on you if you dont wanna try to convert me to atheist. I love my Lord.

I'm not at all sure they were athiests. There are plenty of 'christians' and others of faith who seem to have no problem lying for what they consider a good cause.

The vast majority of Athiests are NOT people pushing their beliefs on others. Though there are many who will push back. I guess I fit in that group, though I'm more incliend to push back and push back hard when people besides me are abused.

 

[Sectio Aureo]

What would have happened if us atheist attended a venue of theirs and did that to them?

The Islamic's would probably decapitate you. The Christians are more compassionate these days.

 

[madaz]

The Islamic's would probably decapitate you.

That thought did cross my mind.

 

[madaz]

I'm not at all sure they were athiests.

I'm not convinced either.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I'm not convinced either.

Yea...I'm not so sure either. Let's consider a hypothetical situation that IN NO WAY reflects what happened in this thread.

Let's suppose a proud Christian read the OP, then mistook it as an opportunity to bash atheists. This Christian makes up a story that never happened, includes some rather unlikely things that atheists would never say, all the while thinking most everyone posting on the thread is like-minded. To this Christian's surprise, the thread is full of atheists who jump all over this blatant attempt to mischaracterize atheism. At this point our Christian realizes her mistake, then begins to back-paddle...hard.

It's just a hypothetical situation of course, any resemblance to anyone posting on this thread is entirely coincidental.

 

[Carmella Prochaska]

Your opening sentence was funny. I know God is real because I find the scientific & theological evidence for Him quite overwhelming. Including knowledge of certain supernatural events I have read & seen for myself that cannot be explained on the basis of naturalism. The common objection is that the person's brain was playing tricks on them, not so when there are several eyewitnesses. I wouldn't call Jesus a zombie though lol cause he wasn't undead, had a beating heart & blood pumping through his body too. I do believe He was God & Mashiach incarnate. I also went through a period like you but I find it logically inconsistent to be an atheist.

I have a problem with blind faith in God. Personally, I think you should have evidential faith. Whether through experience or research. You should know God personally. Not just tread water. I think converting people to atheism is converting people to a false, hopeless religion of secularism & purposelessness. They either have really bad God hate, hate God's morals & don't want people to observe them, want everyone to be liberals who do what they feel, don't want to be alone in their views or have some kind of personal unknown agenda. Jesus Christ's divinity brings hope to people. So many people in various parts of the world have found hope, righteousness, morality & love through evangelism & the work of missionaries. Where are the atheist charities & mission organizations? What does an atheist get out of making other atheists? Company I guess.

Without religion, I think suicide rates would be a lot higher. I think pure science & the study of nature is a lovely way to draw oneself closer to God. For me, the study of everything created is beautiful & faith-building.

I think the theist has an advantage in proving the existence of God. Because I could find many ways to convince someone, granted they're not ridiculously closed-minded. An atheist cannot convince me of His non-existence. I've never seen atheism solidly backed up. Most times they make fun of the Creator ... In a world where everyone is an atheist, & evolved people are worth no more than evolved flies, I can smell a Hitler or Stalin government again.

 

[madaz]

It's just a hypothetical situation of course, any resemblance to anyone posting on this thread is entirely coincidental.

Of course.

 

[mandyangel]

Yea...I'm not so sure either. Let's consider a hypothetical situation that IN NO WAY reflects what happened in this thread.

Let's suppose a proud Christian read the OP, then mistook it as an opportunity to bash atheists. This Christian makes up a story that never happened, includes some rather unlikely things that atheists would never say, all the while thinking most everyone posting on the thread is like-minded. To this Christian's surprise, the thread is full of atheists who jump all over this blatant attempt to mischaracterize atheism. At this point our Christian realizes her mistake, then begins to back-paddle...hard.

It's just a hypothetical situation of course, any resemblance to anyone posting on this thread is entirely coincidental.

Sure I could be making the whole thing up to make atheists look bad or even for my own sick, twisted pleasure. But thats not even what I said or how I feel about the atheists that have been nice and defended me. This group is about 5-6 people that have some kind of Friday night house meeting about how they petition stores to not say Merry Christmas in our neighborhood. At one time my cousin was a member but they seem to be really freaky folks who lose members and then get weird people to play card games, I dunno, just like combine atheism, withcraft, and harrassing Christians. I'm just sharing my experiences here with you, take em or leave it I really don't care.

 

[JGG]

Sure I could be making the whole thing up to make atheists look bad or even for my own sick, twisted pleasure. But thats not even what I said or how I feel about the atheists that have been nice and defended me. This group is about 5-6 people that have some kind of Friday night house meeting about how they petition stores to not say Merry Christmas in our neighborhood. At one time my cousin was a member but they seem to be really freaky folks who lose members and then get weird people to play card games, I dunno, just like combine atheism, withcraft, and harrassing Christians. I'm just sharing my experiences here with you, take em or leave it I really don't care.

Yeah folks, let's not forget: Emo kids, for instance, are weird. I've marked papers by some. Think of the combination of believing in witchcraft, while claiming to be atheists, and giving a hard time to Christians. They're probably just rebelling against Christianity, and know which labels will get the best response from Christians.

I mean atheist witches? That's just screaming for attention. It's surprising they didn't go straight for atheist satanists.

 

[madaz]

Where are the atheist charities & mission organizations?

Secular charities are the majority.

What does an atheist get out of making other atheists? Company I guess.

Atheists dont make atheists, everyone is is born that way.

Without religion, I think suicide rates would be a lot higher.

Not where I live, there are many suicides by victims of catholic sexual abuse.

I think pure science & the study of nature is a lovely way to draw oneself closer to God. For me, the study of everything created is beautiful & faith-building.

I agree, in a deistic kind of sense.

I think the theist has an advantage in proving the existence of God.

Of course they do, they are saying that god probably exists.

Because I could find many ways to convince someone, granted they're not ridiculously closed-minded. An atheist cannot convince me of His non-existence. I've never seen atheism solidly backed up.

Try and convince me. Lack of evidence is the evidence of absence. How do you solidly back up a negative? It is up to the positive claim to be proven.

Most times they make fun of the Creator ...

If you were exposed to other faith groups of different cultures would you take their god myths seriously?

In a world where everyone is an atheist, & evolved people are worth no more than evolved flies,

We share only about 60% of our DNA with fruit flies so we would be at least 40% more.

I can smell a Hitler or Stalin government again.

Stalins dictatorship can not be attributed to his atheism anymore more than Elton Johns stardom can be attributed to his sexual preference.
Hitler promoted Christianity.

 

[Davian]

...
Without religion, I think suicide rates would be a lot higher. I think pure science & the study of nature is a lovely way to draw oneself closer to God. For me, the study of everything created is beautiful & faith-building.

We do not see higher rates of suicides in counties with higher percentages of non-religious people.

I think the theist has an advantage in proving the existence of God.

I have yet to see any theist use that advantage, if it exists.

Because I could find many ways to convince someone, granted they're not ridiculously closed-minded.

Ridiculous, as in asking for testable, reproducible evidence?

An atheist cannot convince me of His non-existence.

I see that you are close-minded on the subject yourself.

I've never seen atheism solidly backed up.

Atheism is not a truth claim, so requires no 'backing up'.

Most times they make fun of the Creator

No, I think they only mock ridiculous claims made by theists.

... In a world where everyone is an atheist, & evolved people are worth no more than evolved flies, I can smell a Hitler or Stalin government again.

To quote Sam Harris: "People of faith often claim that the crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the inevitable product of unbelief. The problem with fascism and communism, however, is not that they are too critical of religion; the problem is that they are too much like religions. Such regimes are dogmatic to the core and generally give rise to personality cults that are indistinguishable from cults of religious hero worship. Auschwitz, the gulag and the killing fields were not examples of what happens when human beings reject religious dogma; they are examples of political, racial and nationalistic dogma run amok. There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable."

 

[32k]

Atheism is not a truth claim, so requires no 'backing up'.

Except on the individual's part to justifiably hold it.

 

[madaz]

Yeah folks, let's not forget: Emo kids, for instance, are weird. I've marked papers by some. Think of the combination of believing in witchcraft, while claiming to be atheists, and giving a hard time to Christians. They're probably just rebelling against Christianity, and know which labels will get the best response from Christians.

I mean atheist witches? That's just screaming for attention. It's surprising they didn't go straight for atheist satanists.

I have met wicca's in atheist groups, I think they were lost...

 

[Ana the Ist]

Sure I could be making the whole thing up to make atheists look bad or even for my own sick, twisted pleasure. But thats not even what I said or how I feel about the atheists that have been nice and defended me. This group is about 5-6 people that have some kind of Friday night house meeting about how they petition stores to not say Merry Christmas in our neighborhood. At one time my cousin was a member but they seem to be really freaky folks who lose members and then get weird people to play card games, I dunno, just like combine atheism, withcraft, and harrassing Christians. I'm just sharing my experiences here with you, take em or leave it I really don't care.

It's the abrupt change of tone between your first and second posts that really cast doubt on the whole story. That and the whole "casting spells" bit. Well...that and no follow-up information so someone interested might be able to look into it themselves.

Why not just mention the name of the group and where they are based out of? It shouldn't be so difficult if your cousin was a member. Also, atheism and witchcraft don't actually combine all that well (from what I understand about witchcraft). Just because someone doesn't believe in the Christian god doesn't make them an atheist....you wouldn't call Jews atheists, would you? I would even consider it possible that they referred to themselves as atheists without actually being so or knowing what atheism is. Also, how old are they? How old was your cousin when he/she was a member? The more you say about this "group" the less they seem to be atheist. You certainly wouldn't want your opinion of atheism to based off of a group of people who weren't actually atheists...would you?

 

[motherprayer]

It's the abrupt change of tone between your first and second posts that really cast doubt on the whole story. That and the whole "casting spells" bit. Well...that and no follow-up information so someone interested might be able to look into it themselves.

Why not just mention the name of the group and where they are based out of? It shouldn't be so difficult if your cousin was a member. Also, atheism and witchcraft don't actually combine all that well (from what I understand about witchcraft). Just because someone doesn't believe in the Christian god doesn't make them an atheist....you wouldn't call Jews atheists, would you? I would even consider it possible that they referred to themselves as atheists without actually being so or knowing what atheism is. Also, how old are they? How old was your cousin when he/she was a member? The more you say about this "group" the less they seem to be atheist. You certainly wouldn't want your opinion of atheism to based off of a group of people who weren't actually atheists...would you?

Got a point there...

I've met many "unbelievers" but only a few who carry the label "atheist" and I did not give it to them, they identified themselves.

Sadly, some Christians DO automatically assign the label atheist to anyone who doesn't believe, which is not only inaccurate, it is prejudiced as well :-/

 

[Davian]

...
Atheism is not a truth claim, so requires no 'backing up'.

Except on the individual's part to justifiably hold it.

Atheism is the neutral position. It does not make a positive claim, and does not require justification.

As in, I do not have to justify why I do not believe the Earth is flat. I simply do not accept the claims of those that do.

 

[32k]

Atheism is the neutral position. It does not make a positive claim, and does not require justification.

As in, I do not have to justify why I do not believe the Earth is flat. I simply do not accept the claims of those that do.

I agree, until they (the individual) enters into dialogue.

 

[Davian]

I agree, until they (the individual) enters into dialogue.

Are you implying that belief is a choice?