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I don't think it's true. There are those who like to debate about is so the learn about the subject of their debate. I'm sure there are many others that just don't care and have no interest. You will not know their religion or lack of it.
This is a rare bit of honest introspection from a believer and I commend you for it. One thing I can say in your own self-interest is that you'll get much further with unbelievers of any sort if you make them feel listened to, heard and understood and respected as fellow humans. This is something that some believers are incapable of, and I simply can't think of an explanation for that other than, they are afraid of us having an even somewhat valid point. It's all demonization all the time. And then they project this dehumanization onto us, when all we're generally doing is simply not agreeing with them.
Yes. In fact when Faith belief comes down to Faith -claims in the end, and Evidence is really irrelevant, any who simply concede that the atheists have the evidence (negative evidence of course) and Faith is based on Faith rather than evidence that isn't really there, have avoided the argument, hostility and recriminations and have reached accommodation and mutual understanding.
Of course for too many Believers, that won't do, as Faith is NOT enough and they have to try to lay claim to the evidence too.
Since they don't in fact have the evidence (They had the Bible, but that is sorta crumbling in their hands) they have to make it look as though they do. That means lying and cheating, frankly. And any who can avoid doing that, has got to have met us half -way.
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Originally Posted by johnd393
I don't think it's true. There are those who like to debate about is so the learn about the subject of their debate. I'm sure there are many others that just don't care and have no interest. You will not know their religion or lack of it.
(responses conjoined to save bandwidth...I have to Do Something to curry favour after a couple of Posts Outing fellow posters)
You may have some like that, but almost everyone who debates the subject (including myself) is arguing for a side and for definite agenda -reasons. You can't always tell which side they are on, though
One thing I can say in your own self-interest is that you'll get much further with unbelievers of any sort if you make them feel listened to, heard and understood and respected as fellow humans..
You are. We...all of us...are just staggeringly beautiful. I love sitting with an atheist (or someone from another religious tradition), and just listening, and learning. We all have something to give to one another.
Contentious thread. Matt Dillahunty hit the nail on the head - as he does repeatedly - when he said that he didn't get smarter when he became an atheist - he just got better informed.
I suggest that those who identify as atheist came to realize they were because they studied the Bible more - and pretty frequently (so I read in conversions stories) in order to believe better and refute disbelievers more effectively and found that the book made no sense.
They ended up as atheists because they now knew more about the Bible than they did before.
I became atheist because I had failed puberty and became afraid of the world, life and my own mortality. I see the same immaturity tell tale sign in almost All atheists.
I don't know much about the bible but I know how atheists lie to themselves about it.
Content without context is a pretext to a textproof.
I became atheist because I had failed puberty and became afraid of the world, life and my own mortality. I see the same immaturity tell tale sign in almost All atheists.
I suggest to you that it's a mistake to assume your experience has anything to do with the experience of all others.
The proximal reason for my deconversion, for example, had nothing to do with "failing at puberty" whatever that is exactly -- it happened in my mid 30s and had to do with religious faith neither predicting nor explaining experienced reality.
Other atheists never were religious or theists at any time.
Others were convinced by things that higher education or personal study made them aware of.
It's funny to me how theists so often feel it necessary to attribute atheism to immaturity, misunderstanding, rebellion, hatred, etc -- basically anything but having good reason to come to the conclusion they have. It's like at some level you guys know you don't have any actual, supportable basis for theism and so have to explain atheism in terms of "refusing" to do the correct / mature / moral thing and believe in god.
Interesting. It's funny to me how atheists so often feel it necessary to attribute theism to willful ignorance, lack of education, blatant disregard for scientific evidence, being lesser evolved, etc. We're all human and we all react to stereotypes, whether believers or otherwise.
I became atheist because I had failed puberty and became afraid of the world, life and my own mortality. I see the same immaturity tell tale sign in almost All atheists.
I don't know much about the bible but I know how atheists lie to themselves about it.
Content without context is a pretext to a textproof.
As Mordant says.
It is a kneejerk ploy to claim that atheists are such because of some personal or life problems. In fact the major reason people deconvert is through wanting to prove the Bible to atheists, reading it and realizing that we were right.
We ain't lying about it, no matter how much you accuse us of it.
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Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries
Interesting. It's funny to me how atheists so often feel it necessary to attribute theism to willful ignorance, lack of education, blatant disregard for scientific evidence, being lesser evolved, etc. We're all human and we all react to stereotypes, whether believers or otherwise.
It's so often the conclusion that we are forced to when we argue the case with the believers. In fact, some of our opponents know the Bible pretty well and the problem is not "willful ignorance, lack of education, blatant disregard for scientific evidence, being lesser evolved, etc..." (lesser evolved? ) but having their thinking processes skewed by Faith, and, rather than looking at the Evidence honestly, the select and fiddle the evidence to try to make it Fit the Faith.
Moderator cut: Portions of this post quoting a deleted part of a previous post, and the replies, have been deleted. Gratuitous political remarks have no place in the Religion and Spirituality forum.
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Faith in religion is not about knowing everything, but having faith in the principles of the respective religion.
Ok, but knowledge is generally considered to be good and beneficial.
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Why do atheists apparently like making off-base and irrelevant comparisons?
Says the guy who is talking about democrats and taxation.
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If you willingly like to argue with a person of religious faith then you are a bigot and the problem is yours, not theirs.
Not the case at all. I can discuss the merits of many things, including religion, while still respecting and supporting the person on the other side of the discussion. I do not bring in irrelevant judgments (like bigotry) merely when discussing an unrelated topic.
Last edited by mensaguy; 01-13-2018 at 11:42 AM..
Reason: Deleted parts of quoted post (and replies) have been removed
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) but having their thinking processes skewed by Faith, and, rather than looking at the Evidence honestly, the select and fiddle the evidence to try to make it Fit the Faith. 
