Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You've been accosted. Many times. Uh, huh. Just where is this happening? Are the atheists coming out of the bushes when you're on your way to Starbucks?
Believe it or not, I've had it happen on street corners. But more commonly, it happens on internet message boards, because most atheists I know of usually don't have the guts to talk about their faith in public.
Believe it or not, I've had it happen on street corners. But more commonly, it happens on internet message boards, because most atheists I know of usually don't have the guts to talk about their faith in public.
Maybe they are scared of Muslims?
I've never had an Atheist stop me on the street. It is fairly easily for people to see I am a Muslim. The Beard and funny looking hat are usually a give away.
However I have had men come up to me and make comments like "How dare you force your wife to dress like this, you are in America now. She can dress any way she wants to."
Little do they know if I ever tried to get my wife to take her Hijab off, my scalp would be hanging from her belt.
I've never had an Atheist stop me on the street. It is fairly easily for people to see I am a Muslim. The Beard and funny looking hat are usually a give away.
However I have had men come up to me and make comments like "How dare you force your wife to dress like this, you are in America now. She can dress any way she wants to."
Little do they know if I ever tried to get my wife to take her Hijab off, my scalp would be hanging from her belt.
But more commonly, it happens on internet message boards, because most atheists I know of usually don't have the guts to talk about their faith in public.
If you think people disagreeing with you on an internet message board is "being accosted" you live a very sheltered life. You're getting accosted by atheists on street corners? Must be rough on you. All those atheists choosing you to accost. Horrible. BTW: The single mother who gets held up on the subway going to her job cleaning bathrooms wants your life.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 05-06-2014 at 12:20 PM..
I am not asking if it is a command to do so, I am asking if it is wrong to do so.
My personal opinion is that it is very obnoxious, demeaning to the person doing the proselytizing and a very insulting form of arrogance.
It serves no purpose, insulting the intelligence and integrity of the "victim" on the receiving end of the rant.
Yes, it is wrong, very wrong and in my opinion quite evil.
If a person were to use the same tactics to advertize a fast food restaurant he would probably be thrown in jail as a public nuisance.
If the person doing the proselytizing has convinced themselves that it's the right thing to do morally and ethically I don't see how they would perceive what they do as demeaning or obnoxious
There is no victim if the proselytizing is performed free of pressure or coercion. At times it's the "victim" who goes on a rant rather than the one proselytizing.
I don't see proselytizing as necessarily evil when it's left up to the one who is approached to reason out for themselves and decide what action to take. Some people may be curious and/or dissatisfied with their belief system yet not know how to search for the answers they seek. It may be that the one proselytizing may supply the answer(s) that have eluded them.
If the person doing the proselytizing has convinced themselves that it's the right thing to do morally and ethically I don't see how they would perceive what they do as demeaning or obnoxious
True, people can and will convince them self, what ever they do is justified.
It is probably a very rare person that has not convinced them self that their actions are morally and ethically right. The person doing the action is a very poor judge of their own morality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hd4me
There is no victim if the proselytizing is performed free of pressure or coercion. At times it's the "victim" who goes on a rant rather than the one proselytizing.
It is usually not free of pressure or coercion. Most can not see the emotional blackmail and threats they are using out of "Love". They would not be doing such if they had not convinced them self their tactics are justified.
I do not believe you will ever find a promoter of any ideology that believes it is wrong to promote his ideology.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hd4me
I don't see proselytizing as necessarily evil when it's left up to the one who is approached to reason out for themselves and decide what action to take. Some people may be curious and/or dissatisfied with their belief system yet not know how to search for the answers they seek. It may be that the one proselytizing may supply the answer(s) that have eluded them.
An excuse that can be used to justify anything. It goes by the assumption people do not have the ability to learn on their own.
If one loves his neighbor, he will teach him to be a searcher and tell him to evaluate all things.
If a man loves his neighbor he will become a guide, not a teacher pointing out A is right B is wrong. He will instead teach both A & B with equal ethusiam and tell his neighbor that C & D probably also exist and he has to take personal responsibility for his beliefs, by questioning all things, Never to believe without verification.
Just my opinion. Astagfirullah (May Allah forgive me if I am wrong)
Believe it or not, I've had it happen on street corners. But more commonly, it happens on internet message boards, because most atheists I know of usually don't have the guts to talk about their faith in public.
Or maybe it is that such peopel recognise the different between public - and a message board setup for the purposes of discussion and debate? Your post sounds about as sensible as complaining that whenever you go into a restaurant - waiters keep asking you what you want. Clearly they do not have the guts to ask you what you want when you are on a public street therefore!
You are not being "accosted" aon debating internet forums. You are being treated in the correct way for the purposes of the message board.
Believe it or not, I've had it happen on street corners. But more commonly, it happens on internet message boards, because most atheists I know of usually don't have the guts to talk about their faith in public.
We're not in the business of converting souls.
But I would have absolutely NO fear of admitting my atheism and defending my position to any and all challengers.
Let's face it, though. We're not likely to enter into a discussion about religion with the stranger in line ahead of us, or through open car windows with a stranger waiting at a red light, or with the grocery store cashier.
No, these kinds of discussions often happen among friends and family - and sometimes the discussion can be a little too contentious. To keep the peace and preserve our friendships, we atheists often just let things go. If we got bent out of shape every time someone on the street mentioned God, we would look like frothing lunatics and - I think I can safely speak for the majority of atheists here - WE don't want to be the ones standing on a corner with a wooden plaquard over our shoulders telling the world that The End is, in fact, not anywhere close to being nigh.
However, I have given speeches in front of several city councils in an effort to keep religion out of local schools, defending the right of public libraries to carry certain books, and to stop an effort by a few zealot preachers to ban secular music in all educational buildings. I had no qualms about admitting my atheism in front of hundreds and using my atheism as part of the argument - that as an atheist I have the Constitutional RIGHT to be free from someone else's religious decrees.
Believe me, Vizio, I would engage you or anyone else in a televised debate in front of the entire world. I wonder how many people would actually tune in to watch two essential "nobodies" arguing with each other? Heh.
Maybe not you, personally, but there are a lot of atheists that spend a lot of time doing it. They go to conventions, where they celebrate what a speaker has to say. They advertise their worldview on billboards, protest for "equal rights". They write books, etc...etc.
Quote:
But I would have absolutely NO fear of admitting my atheism and defending my position to any and all challengers.
Let's face it, though. We're not likely to enter into a discussion about religion with the stranger in line ahead of us, or through open car windows with a stranger waiting at a red light, or with the grocery store cashier.
No, these kinds of discussions often happen among friends and family - and sometimes the discussion can be a little too contentious. To keep the peace and preserve our friendships, we atheists often just let things go. If we got bent out of shape every time someone on the street mentioned God, we would look like frothing lunatics and - I think I can safely speak for the majority of atheists here - WE don't want to be the ones standing on a corner with a wooden plaquard over our shoulders telling the world that The End is, in fact, not anywhere close to being nigh.
However, I have given speeches in front of several city councils in an effort to keep religion out of local schools, defending the right of public libraries to carry certain books, and to stop an effort by a few zealot preachers to ban secular music in all educational buildings. I had no qualms about admitting my atheism in front of hundreds and using my atheism as part of the argument - that as an atheist I have the Constitutional RIGHT to be free from someone else's religious decrees.
Believe me, Vizio, I would engage you or anyone else in a televised debate in front of the entire world. I wonder how many people would actually tune in to watch two essential "nobodies" arguing with each other? Heh.
Maybe not you, personally, but there are a lot of atheists that spend a lot of time doing it. They go to conventions, where they celebrate what a speaker has to say. They advertise their worldview on billboards, protest for "equal rights". They write books, etc...etc.
Having a convention isn't necessarily proselytizing. Writing a book might be considered proselytizing. But the difference here, I suppose is that no one is forced to read an atheist's book or attend an atheist convention. They aren't using sneaky, underhanded tactics like slipping Creationsim disguised as Intelligent Design into the classrooms, and I dare say, protesting for equal rights is something Christians and atheists SHOULD be agreeing on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vizio
But you don't "prosletyze". Gotcha.
I'm debating, not proselytizing. If I were proselytizing, the mods would be deleting my posts. Simply stating one's beliefs during a back-and-forth conversation is NOT proselytizing.
Proselytizing is a one-way preach-fest that doesn't involve answering questions or hearing alternative or contrary opinions.
I would NOT go out and proselytize and I never have - again, speaking at city council meetings is not proselytizing. I'm not up there telling everyone how great it is to be an atheist and why they should be one, too. No, I was making legal arguments from the standpoint of atheism because we do have the right to be free FROM religion; only then can we practice our own beliefs (or lack of them). When religion seeks to impose itself onto everyone - usually in some ultra-fundamentalist way - all of us our diminished should they win. Because I can guarantee you that sooner or later someone with a religious view you do NOT share will seek to impose it on you, and then you'll understand where we come from.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
