If atheism is not a relgion, why they want to convert everyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t think this is true. Suspect you are the one coming at people with religious expectations, and they reply to your trying to push your beliefs onto others. You then claim they are trying to convert you....no, they are explaining why they do not share your beliefs. I can’t think of any situations where my religious belief (or lack thereof) comes up in my conversations with others in general.

Here is a sample conversation I have had many times with atheists:

Atheist: Where do you live?
Me: In X, right near Y and Z.
Atheist: Really? Do you like it?
Me: Yeah, I can walk to the grocery store, the movies, my church, even my job...”
Atheist: Church? Inserts derogatory, stereotypical comment about Christianity.
Me: That’s uncalled for.
Atheist: You’re the one who brought up religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a deep enough conversation with an atheist about religion, they're going to tell you there is no factual or scientific basis for the magical aspects of religion. Lots of what religions asks of us is a force for good and motivating and beneficial, but we can have ALL of that without the supernatural elements. Believers, who "just believe" by definition, get offended by this...and I get that...and probably feel that that's atheists trying to "convert them." I think that in this case the line between voicing a belief and shitting on a belief is blurry for the believer, because it feels really confrontational. That's just the way it is.

I think it's oversimplifying to say that people are simply "offended" because you don't agree with them, and that they "mistake" this for conversion.

OP isn't talking about the "deep conversations" that are the premise of your (otherwise thoughtful) post. She's talking about the atheists who grab you by the collar--metaphorically on this board, or in person like pp's *whole BIL--to bring up their atheism and then harass you like a dog with a bone (doing well with the mixed metaphors today!) until you walk away.

I can't imagine this is common.

As for being easily offended, have you met my fundamentalist cousins in Alabama? They literally stopped talking to me because I posted an article about the ties between overt nationalism and patriotism (from The Atlantic, I think, a long time ago) and somehow misconstrued that to mean that I hate God, America, the military, the bible, and them. I tried reasoning, but realized I just didn't want to. It happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not every Atheist is without religion. There are several religions that do not require a God.

which ones?

UU for one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t think this is true. Suspect you are the one coming at people with religious expectations, and they reply to your trying to push your beliefs onto others. You then claim they are trying to convert you....no, they are explaining why they do not share your beliefs. I can’t think of any situations where my religious belief (or lack thereof) comes up in my conversations with others in general.

Here is a sample conversation I have had many times with atheists:

Atheist: Where do you live?
Me: In X, right near Y and Z.
Atheist: Really? Do you like it?
Me: Yeah, I can walk to the grocery store, the movies, my church, even my job...”
Atheist: Church? Inserts derogatory, stereotypical comment about Christianity.
Me: That’s uncalled for.
Atheist: You’re the one who brought up religion.

Filed under: never happened.

Hardline Christians seek out offense everywhere, and when they can’t find it, they resort to Persecuted for Mah Faith fan fiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t think this is true. Suspect you are the one coming at people with religious expectations, and they reply to your trying to push your beliefs onto others. You then claim they are trying to convert you....no, they are explaining why they do not share your beliefs. I can’t think of any situations where my religious belief (or lack thereof) comes up in my conversations with others in general.

Here is a sample conversation I have had many times with atheists:

Atheist: Where do you live?
Me: In X, right near Y and Z.
Atheist: Really? Do you like it?
Me: Yeah, I can walk to the grocery store, the movies, my church, even my job...”
Atheist: Church? Inserts derogatory, stereotypical comment about Christianity.
Me: That’s uncalled for.
Atheist: You’re the one who brought up religion.

Filed under: never happened.

Hardline Christians seek out offense everywhere, and when they can’t find it, they resort to Persecuted for Mah Faith fan fiction.

It has happened four different times. The wording is not exact each time, but the pattern is. The offensive comments are usually supposed to be humorous, I guess, but there’s nothing funny about pedophile priests or pastors with private jets.

I don’t feel persecuted, but it does make me wonder why any mention of religion is offensive to some atheist. If I’m just mentioned that I live near my church, how have I harmed you?

[Anonymous]

Two points: Atheists in this country might argue more with Christians than those of other faiths because there just are a lot more of them in the US.

Point two: most of the atheists I’ve met suffered some abuse at the hands of Christians. Ostracism, shaming, conversion camps, racism, constant guilt, ludicrous ideas about sex, the fear that we’d be tossed into lakes of eternal fire if we so much as forgot to pray before bed.

It’s emotional manipulation perpetrated on small kids, and, no, I’m sorry, Swim Day at Vacation Bible Camp wasn’t enough to compensate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t think this is true. Suspect you are the one coming at people with religious expectations, and they reply to your trying to push your beliefs onto others. You then claim they are trying to convert you....no, they are explaining why they do not share your beliefs. I can’t think of any situations where my religious belief (or lack thereof) comes up in my conversations with others in general.

Here is a sample conversation I have had many times with atheists:

Atheist: Where do you live?
Me: In X, right near Y and Z.
Atheist: Really? Do you like it?
Me: Yeah, I can walk to the grocery store, the movies, my church, even my job...”
Atheist: Church? Inserts derogatory, stereotypical comment about Christianity.
Me: That’s uncalled for.
Atheist: You’re the one who brought up religion.

Filed under: never happened.

Hardline Christians seek out offense everywhere, and when they can’t find it, they resort to Persecuted for Mah Faith fan fiction.

It has happened four different times. The wording is not exact each time, but the pattern is. The offensive comments are usually supposed to be humorous, I guess, but there’s nothing funny about pedophile priests or pastors with private jets.

I don’t feel persecuted, but it does make me wonder why any mention of religion is offensive to some atheist. If I’m just mentioned that I live near my church, how have I harmed you?

I bet it’s almost as annoying as new neighbors trying to work out what church you attend, and then hitting you up - or, more offensively your kids - with constant invites to their own church. And then gawping like yokels when you say your family’s not religious.

Really, believe in whatever illogical sky spirit you like. Just quit trying to make laws and shape society based on the loosely translated and multiply revised writings of Bronze Age peasants.

[Anonymous]

Just think about it
We tell children that Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, he tied him up and was ready to burn him, but then an angel told him not to, therefore he was rewarded for obedience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do atheists attack Christianity exclusively? Sure, there have definitely been some bad events under Christian governance. But that's not exclusive to Christianity. Palestine, anyone? ISIS, anyone?

Find me one Atheist who says their lack of belief applies only to Christianity.

I'll wait.

No, I don't need to wait because it isn't true. We don't believe in all of them, equally.

The question was, why do you atheists only *attack* Christianity. Reading is everything.

Go ahead, tell me about Palestine and ISIS.

I'll wait.

You make no sense.

All religions have not met their burden of proof equally. That’s it. It’s not political.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I think--oh! there's the doorbell again! Oh! It's those goldarn atheists going door to door with their pamphlets again!

Nope, never happens. And when I have gone to their services I have not been squeezed into a corner to hear someone tell me that it's ok I was raised Lutheran, I can still get saved from my ignorance. Wait, they don't HAVE services (well, there are Unitarians who may be atheists, and there are some secular humanism organizations that have a weekly fellowship, but the worst I've ever dealt with at my own Unitarian church is the goofy lady in her 70's who believes in crop circles, I don't even bother to steer her right).

Now, if you mean the people who post on comment forums and whatever sneering about the magic old man in the sky, I find them annoying as well.

No, they just proselytize in dorm rooms, at cocktail parties, in classrooms, at family events, and of course, on the Internet.

where "proselytixe" means acknowledging their lack of belief. THis is certainly not unlike people talking about whatever religion they are.

We can benefit from more of this. People should not hesitate to express their beliefs just because they fall outside the norm.

And the norm is changing -- there are fewer and fewer religions people everytime a survey on the subject is done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do atheists attack Christianity exclusively? Sure, there have definitely been some bad events under Christian governance. But that's not exclusive to Christianity. Palestine, anyone? ISIS, anyone?

Find me one Atheist who says their lack of belief applies only to Christianity.

I'll wait.

No, I don't need to wait because it isn't true. We don't believe in all of them, equally.

The question was, why do you atheists only *attack* Christianity. Reading is everything.

Go ahead, tell me about Palestine and ISIS.

I'll wait.

You make no sense.

All religions have not met their burden of proof equally. That’s it. It’s not political.

Your inability to understand the question--why do you attack only Christians--let alone answer it, is so telling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t think this is true. Suspect you are the one coming at people with religious expectations, and they reply to your trying to push your beliefs onto others. You then claim they are trying to convert you....no, they are explaining why they do not share your beliefs. I can’t think of any situations where my religious belief (or lack thereof) comes up in my conversations with others in general.

You're in complete denial. There are plenty of atheists like the dick brother-in-law above, who shove their atheism in peoples' faces and bring up religion with the express purpose of trying to show it's ridiculous.

If you're thoughtful about all this, and you may be, it would be more helpful for you to acknowledge and call out the jerks in your own tribe. Pretending they don't exist just makes people suspicious of even the "moderate" atheists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can, listen to Christopher Hitchens. He has summarized clearly how religion does thwart thinking, has been harmful, can be harmful and used to oppress
I believe religion should not be above criticism, religious private schools are dogmatic

^ I loved the guy, but I think his crusade, if you will, to publicly denounce religion and write books about it, along with Dawkins and Sam Harris (who I also love) are the type of thing OP is talking about. If you don't believe that's one thing, but why go out of your way to make a whole career of telling others how deluded they are? This is why most people don't like atheists.

Something has to make up for all the publicly denouncement of non-believers and the public pushing of religion to the point of expecting people to believe they will burn in hell for eternity if they don't believe your non-scientifically-based stories about a supernatural world where a supreme leader lives. This leader loves you, but will send you to hell for eternity if you don't believe in him. This is pretty hard to swallow for some people.

[Anonymous]

They don't want to convert you, they want you to accept the science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can, listen to Christopher Hitchens. He has summarized clearly how religion does thwart thinking, has been harmful, can be harmful and used to oppress
I believe religion should not be above criticism, religious private schools are dogmatic

^ I loved the guy, but I think his crusade, if you will, to publicly denounce religion and write books about it, along with Dawkins and Sam Harris (who I also love) are the type of thing OP is talking about. If you don't believe that's one thing, but why go out of your way to make a whole career of telling others how deluded they are? This is why most people don't like atheists.

I’m a believer and practitioner. I have no trouble having a calm and respectful debate about whether or not religion has done more harm or good. The problem is that atheists interested in this discussion generally only want to focus on Christianity as if there are no other religious traditions to examine and eventually devolve into calling religious beliefs stupid. It’s unnecessary. Cogent debate can be had over democracy, the nuclear family, and many other topics with an eye toward recognizing there are both pros and cons. If theists can recognize that religion has sometimes had harmful effects, why can’t atheists acknowledge that there are some benefits?

I'm an atheist and I know other atheists, including myself, who do acknowledge the benefits of religion.

There are a growing number of humanist communities now -- augmenting the already existing Unitarians and Ethical Societies that started over 100 years ago. They are compassionate communities without the requirement of believing in the supernatural.