Disclosing atheism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To genuinely engage with Christian’s is to accept that faith is a reliable source of truth to them without resorting to insults

Seems like Christians who really believed in their faith would not be insulted by accurate comparisons to Santa and the Easter bunny. All three are believed by children, correct? Only adults are encouraged to believe in God, correct?

Clearly God, does much more than the other two, and there are whole, and numerous, belief structures built around God, but they are all supernatural and it requires faith to believe in them.

I can see how some people would be swayed by the similarities among these beings, but if your faith is strong, no problem. You can reject what you no longer believe in and continue believing in what you want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just say I’m not religious

True, but it's the easy way out -- sort of like a gay guy saying he's not the marrying kind (in the old days -- now people bring up their same sex spouse like it's no big deal.)

And it does nothing to help change the perception of atheists as nasty, bad people.

You know what would help with that? If hundreds of DCUM readers didn't click into the Religion forum every day to see atheists trashing faith and showing bigotry towards certain faiths. I mean, if you want to change the perception of atheists.

It's in recent topics

+1

Maybe Jeff should hide religion forum threads from recent topics if the believers don't want people posting on them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

Being “a devout” isn’t an excuse for being rude.

Devout people don't think they're being rude, they think they're being helpful -- helping people find Jesus and thus be happy eternally in heaven after their earthly death.

In this case, it seems like the devout neighbor was sincerely seeking help -- finding a church in a new area. But upon learning that his seemingly nice neighbor is an atheist, the Christian may indeed now have a mission to help their neighbor find Jesus.

Regardless of her beliefs, the neighbor's visible reaction was rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see the atheists here trying to genuinely engage with the mission of Christians.

What is "the mission"?

[Anonymous]

I think the neighbour war rude to ask about the faith of OP. It's nothing you discuss with newly met neighbours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To genuinely engage with Christian’s is to accept that faith is a reliable source of truth to them without resorting to insults

Is questioning the validity of the belief or asking for evidence of it an "insult"?

And comparing your god to other gods neither of us believe in - is that an "insult"?

Those are two questions and I genuinely would like them answered.

Still hoping for a response here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the neighbour war rude to ask about the faith of OP. It's nothing you discuss with newly met neighbours.

The new neighbor didn't ask about OP's faith - they asked about churches, assuming that OP went to church, and OP then said she was an atheist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see the atheists here trying to genuinely engage with the mission of Christians.

What is "the mission"?

+1 also, do you expect people of other religions to engage with the Christian "mission"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To genuinely engage with Christian’s is to accept that faith is a reliable source of truth to them without resorting to insults

Is questioning the validity of the belief or asking for evidence of it an "insult"?

And comparing your god to other gods neither of us believe in - is that an "insult"?

Those are two questions and I genuinely would like them answered.

Still hoping for a response here.

I'm guessing that pp has been thinking about answers and hasn't come up with any that they think you'll find acceptable - or that even makes sense to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Equating religion to Santa and the Easter bunny is an example of not genuinely engaging with Christians.

I've seen no "equating" --The only thing that Santa, the Easter bunny and God have in common is that they are supernatural. Belief in God usually entails whole system of beliefs (e.g., Catholicism, Hinduism, etc.), not found with Santa and the Easter Bunny who just bring gifts/candy/colored hard boiled eggs to small children on Christmas/Easter.

It sounds more like Christian pp doesn't like thinking that God, Santa and the easter bunny have anything in common, despite the fact that they are all supernatural.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To genuinely engage with Christian’s is to accept that faith is a reliable source of truth to them without resorting to insults

Is questioning the validity of the belief or asking for evidence of it an "insult"?

And comparing your god to other gods neither of us believe in - is that an "insult"?

Those are two questions and I genuinely would like them answered.

Still hoping for a response here.

It is insulting to jump to the Santa/Easter bunny when discussing religious belief without recognizing how very different a childish belief is from a person’s faith. It is insulting to continue to ask for evidence when faith has already been given as the answer. It is not insulting to discuss religions with the accepted premise that one believes based on faith and one disbelieves based on lack of evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see the atheists here trying to genuinely engage with the mission of Christians.

What is "the mission"?

+1 also, do you expect people of other religions to engage with the Christian "mission"?

The mission of Christianity is to spread the good news. Did you go to Sunday school? It is fundamental to the very essence of Christianity. World history has been shaped by this mission. To ignore this fact is to to ignore reality. It is what it is. To genuinely engage in discussion with Christians is to accept what they have been taught over and over again throughout time. You cannot genuinely engage with a Christian in debate if you ignore this about them. No matter how frustrating it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see the atheists here trying to genuinely engage with the mission of Christians.

What is "the mission"?

+1 also, do you expect people of other religions to engage with the Christian "mission"?

The mission of Christianity is to spread the good news. Did you go to Sunday school? It is fundamental to the very essence of Christianity. World history has been shaped by this mission. To ignore this fact is to to ignore reality. It is what it is. To genuinely engage in discussion with Christians is to accept what they have been taught over and over again throughout time. You cannot genuinely engage with a Christian in debate if you ignore this about them. No matter how frustrating it is.

Sorry, but I can't really believe that Christians expect people of other religions and no religion to engage with them if it only can mean becoming a Christian. Seems to me that in the US people are taught to respect other religions but not taught to expect others to convert to their religion. Slowly, that respect is being extending to people who do not practice any religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To genuinely engage with Christian’s is to accept that faith is a reliable source of truth to them without resorting to insults

Seems like Christians who really believed in their faith would not be insulted by accurate comparisons to Santa and the Easter bunny. All three are believed by children, correct? Only adults are encouraged to believe in God, correct?

Clearly God, does much more than the other two, and there are whole, and numerous, belief structures built around God, but they are all supernatural and it requires faith to believe in them.

I can see how some people would be swayed by the similarities among these beings, but if your faith is strong, no problem. You can reject what you no longer believe in and continue believing in what you want to.

DP
The universe began from nothingness, something came from nothing or any explanation you have is as much faith as my belief in a Creator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see the atheists here trying to genuinely engage with the mission of Christians.

What is "the mission"?

+1 also, do you expect people of other religions to engage with the Christian "mission"?

The mission of Christianity is to spread the good news. Did you go to Sunday school? It is fundamental to the very essence of Christianity. World history has been shaped by this mission. To ignore this fact is to to ignore reality. It is what it is. To genuinely engage in discussion with Christians is to accept what they have been taught over and over again throughout time. You cannot genuinely engage with a Christian in debate if you ignore this about them. No matter how frustrating it is.

Sorry, but I can't really believe that Christians expect people of other religions and no religion to engage with them if it only can mean becoming a Christian. Seems to me that in the US people are taught to respect other religions but not taught to expect others to convert to their religion. Slowly, that respect is being extending to people who do not practice any religion.

We might be arguing past each other. I am talking about those who wish to not insult Christians. You would start by respecting what they believe, nothing more. And I didn’t say that Christians “expect” others to concert.