Why is it that atheists talk so much about religion? It strikes me that they are always going on and on about religion, sometimes more than the Christians. It further strikes me that many of the atheists I encounter are actively angry, getting quite emotional about their atheism. Still further, far from being a mere lack of belief, their atheism is often stridently anti-theism, or else they would not be so active in refuting theists. Even further still, if they merely had the logical, cold-blooded intellectual approach that they so often claim to have, they would be proactively trying to give the benefits of atheism rather than spend so much time trying to defeat theism.
If they truly believed that God does not exist, why do they spend so much effort trying to defeat the idea of Him? A myriad of social and psychological beliefs are supported by proponents who are trying to foist their solutions on the rest of us through government programs, yet we do not see armies of a-psychologists and a-sociologists running around trying to show these solutions are without merit. Yet when it comes to religion, the atheists are quite active. Perhaps is because psychology and sociology do not make moral demands on us or remind us of the holiness that we do not have.
If Christian nuttery didn’t adversely affect things like Scientific progress, stem cell research, intelligent design garbage, the despicable attitudes toward the gay community which frequently lead to bullying and even suicide, the despicable condemnation of contraceptives, particularly among impoverished nations, women’s reproductive rights, the rights of women to be leaders in their own churches, etc.,etc. then I believe most atheists, like myself, would have little interest in whatever Stone Age lunacy that you decided to waste your life with.
So, if you would just keep your asinine religious nuttery to yourselves, we wouldn’t have a problem with you at all!
Oh, so that’s why you talk so much about religion. I never would have guessed.
Of course, I would have guessed the non sequitur and ad hominem, which is rampant in atheist circles these days, and reinforced here.
And then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “What’s this bullshit I’m hearing about a human sacrifice? What are we, living in the fucking Stone Age!!?’
And his disciples responded “Umm, say again?”
Well, what an insight. Now I’ll have to re-think my entire position.
It’s easy when they so blatantly make your point for you, isn’t it, eh Smith?
Stem cell research? Are you talking about embryonic or adult stem cell research? Christians are not against adult stem cell research, because for one, it doesn’t destroy a life, and two, from a scientific and medical standpoint, adult stem cells are already being used successfully to treat a wide variety of things. On the other hand, embryonic stem cells have shown little hope, even with all the money poured into research.
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Why Does Religion Talk So Much About Atheists?
Why is it that religion talks so much about atheists? It strikes me that they are always going on and on about atheists, sometimes more than the secularists. It further strikes me that many of the Christians I encounter are actively angry, getting quite emotional about their Christianity. Still further, far from being a mere abundance of belief, their religion is often stridently pro-theism, or else they would not be so active in refuting atheists. Even further still, if they merely had the logical, cold-blooded intellectual approach that they so often claim to have, they would be proactively trying to give the benefits of religion rather than spend so much time trying to defeat atheists.
I would continue on, but I think my point is clear. You enjoy talking about atheism quite a bit; I guess it works both ways.
Atheists get a lot of mileage out of telling us that they are purely reasonable, and declaring all faith-related decisions as mostly, if not exclusively, emotional or non-logical. I have had conversations on this blog with atheists who have denied that they ever met a theist who made any reaonsable religious decision whatsoever; they seem to be especially bothered by the idea that someone could make a logical decision for Christianity. Further, the most common explanation I get when I ask “why do you believe atheism?” is that atheism is not a belief, but a lack thereof. Therefore the atheists are the ones taking the poistion that they are purely reasonable, and accusing theists of being mostly, if not purely non-reaonsable. My post here was pointing out that if this were truly the case, atheists would not act the way they do. Theists do indeed admit that we have a positive belief and have supporting reasons; when these reasons are attacked, we defend the position. Thus we admit up front that we have a justification for dealing with atheists, for they are attacking the most central point of what we hold most dear. My point was that, contrary to what atheists claim, theism must be a threat to what they also hold dear, or they would not be acting the way they do. Being pro-theist is what we admit up front; the atheist denies up front that he is pro-atheist, saying he merely has a lack of belief. Besides being a logical impossibility, his actions show otherwise.
Further, I submit that Christians do not act with the same level of anger as the new atheists today. Sure, an isolated example can be found for most things; but a large percentage of atheists today major in emotional vitriol and ad hominem, as can be supported by the comments to this blog post.
In fact, we are indeed trying to proactively give the benefits of religion, which is the major thrust of all Christian speech in this age or any other. I have quite a hard time convincing most of my Christian friends that responding to atheist attacks is even needed, let alone getting hardly anyone to say anythibng about it.
we’re so very worried at the direction that the religious seem to want to take us. (See Prohibition, genital mutilation, suicide bombing) In that light we view religion as evil..also, religion seems to be the vehicle of choice for misogyny worldwide. (Islam, Buddhism, Judaism/Christianity ie. Ezekiel 18:6, Leviticus 15:19-20)