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Why do you care so much? You spend an inordinate amount of time talking about something you don't believe in. For the life of me I just can't fathom that.
That's actually a comment I've seen a lot of theists make regarding atheists who care so much about religion. I think a lot of the time it's an attempt to deflect or to put an atheist on the defensive but I also think that a lot of theists really don't get it. If you've been indoctrinated into a religious echo chamber then it might be hard to understand. In case you're actually interested in knowing (I suspect you've been told more than once) or some other lurking theist wants to know I'll attempt to explain why some atheists care so much.
I'm an atheist and I care a great deal about all kinds of things people believe in (such as pseudoscience), but especially when it comes to gods. When you believe in an extraordinary claim such as an omipotant, omiscient, invisible, consious being who created everything and is concerned about how each of us lives our lives it tends to impact how people act. It's amplified when books that are thousands of years old, translated multiple times are the basis for such belief and followers of the same book can interpret it in totally different ways. It can and does lead to harmful and unfair laws being passed, poor health decisions, scamming the gullible, supression of scientific advancement, exclusionary thinking and in extreme cases terrorism and war. Basically, it impacts the world around us a lot even if we don't believe in a god.
Those are just some of the practical reasons we care. I also happen to find peoples belief in gods fascinating. Much like you can't fathom why we would care about your religion, I have a hard time fathoming anyone thinking a god exists for the reasons I've heard. Especially one of the specific versions people interpret from the Bible, Koran etc. The whole thing is just interesting. In a time where we can launch satillites into space and almost eliminate terrible diseases with vaccines, most of the world still believes in magic.
So is blind hatred of religion. You know...the kind that causes people to go posting on religious message boards when they claim to be atheists themselves...
Why are you afraid to think openly about religion?
Why do you keep asking inane questions?
ETA: And I have no problem with how most of the religious-believing folks on the planet operate. My sole beef is with the narrow-minded bigotry and hatred taught by fundamentalists of all stripes.
Last edited by TroutDude; 03-11-2015 at 05:26 PM..
Reason: Above
That's actually a comment I've seen a lot of theists make regarding atheists who care so much about religion. I think a lot of the time it's an attempt to deflect or to put an atheist on the defensive but I also think that a lot of theists really don't get it. If you've been indoctrinated into a religious echo chamber then it might be hard to understand. In case you're actually interested in knowing (I suspect you've been told more than once) or some other lurking theist wants to know I'll attempt to explain why some atheists care so much.
I was raised Roman Catholic. I'm now a pastor in an Evangelical church. I was not "indoctrinated". I'm not Catholic, but I don't go trolling religious message boards to tell them how wrong they are, or call them names, or insult their intelligence for not being able to see things as I do.
Quote:
I'm an atheist and I care a great deal about all kinds of things people believe in (such as pseudoscience), but especially when it comes to gods. When you believe in an extraordinary claim such as an omipotant, omiscient, invisible, consious being who created everything and is concerned about how each of us lives our lives it tends to impact how people act. It's amplified when books that are thousands of years old, translated multiple times are the basis for such belief and followers of the same book can interpret it in totally different ways. It can and does lead to harmful and unfair laws being passed, poor health decisions, scamming the gullible, supression of scientific advancement, exclusionary thinking and in extreme cases terrorism and war. Basically, it impacts the world around us a lot even if we don't believe in a god.
Oh...right. You're the benevolent atheist that just wants to look out for the the poor saps that get mislead by evil religion.
Quote:
Those are just some of the practical reasons we care. I also happen to find peoples belief in gods fascinating. Much like you can't fathom why we would care about your religion, I have a hard time fathoming anyone thinking a god exists for the reasons I've heard. Especially one of the specific versions people interpret from the Bible, Koran etc. The whole thing is just interesting. In a time where we can launch satillites into space and almost eliminate terrible diseases with vaccines, most of the world still believes in magic.
I have no issue with you finding it interesting and wanting to discuss it. But the OP's main schtick is to misrperesent what the Bible says, and then tell us how wrong religion is.
ETA: And I have no problem with how most of the religious-believing folks on the planet operate. My sole beef is with the narrow-minded bigotry and hatred taught by fundamentalists of all stripes.
You've got quite the fundamentalist bent yourself there, dude. It's a shame you don't realize it.
Is that the pastoral version of: "I know ya' are but what am I?"
I've been called a "fundamentalist" atheist several times. It's a common tactic to pin the "fundamentalist" label on someone regardless of whether the term is even vaguely appropriate.
Is that the pastoral version of: "I know ya' are but what am I?"
It's the Straight Outta Carmton (TM) version of a response. Most of which are a two (and that's being generous) on a scale of one through ten. Ten being a well thought-out theological argument.
I believe the aptly-named Matt Slick has an abode in the always exciting state of Idaho. Eat potatoes or die.
Hey now, don't knock Idaho. It's home of Napoleon Dynamite.
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