One for the atheists only, please.?

Question

Why do you care so much about God and religion? No one seems to care if Little Johnny is told that Santa Claus is real, but some atheists get real worked up if Little Johnny is told that Jesus is real. Why? Why get involved?

Intelligent answers only, please - not just "Because there is no god, so there!" And if it is at all possible (and for some of you (I've read your responses) I realise that is almost impossible) no abuse such as saying you are intelligent and all theists are stupid/less intelligent/mentally incompetant/suffering from a mental illness - or (to quote a responder who shall remain nameless) a "brain-dead Muppet."

I only want answers dealing with the question as well, not "Why are you an atheist?" or "How superior do you feel your atheism makes you?" And try to keep it concise - I don't want a thesis either.

Hmmm – 12 answers, and only 7 are off-topic. I’m impressed. Keep it up!

@ Southpaw – I only give thumbs down to stupid, abusive or off-topic answers. So what makes you think I gave one to you? I do give thumbs up to atheists if their answers are intelligent and answer the question.

@ Turd Ferguson – I’m not a hippie. For a start I have very short hair.

@ Captain Atheism – you’ve changed your name! Great film – again, I agree with a lot of what you say (not all, but a lot). Just the sort of intelligent answer I like!

@ R U TH I E - Funny as it was, that was so off-topic

@ Borna F- So why is it necessary to mold the child later? Answer this and your answer will be even better.

@ Henbob – So?

@ Hynergy – please take your bad temper elsewhere, it’s not needed here.

@ A Marie – It was not intended as an attack on atheism – I respect other people’s personal beliefs, so long as they respect mine. The question was asked because I wanted to know why some atheists cared so much about religion. I don’t follow a specific football team (to use a very bad analogy) but I don’t care about football. Yeah, I know, very bad analogy, but I hope it made sense.
I don’t seek to mock, I don’t seek to attack – I only seek to understand.

@ tammiedee – Don’t blame the organisation(s) for the actions of individuals. Would you blame all Americans for Bush?

@ Razor Girl – I’m sorry, but as a non-atheist your answer was off-topic.

@ 006 – No, not really. I’m an Aussie, so I don’t know what’s happening in Kansas. But thank you for an on-topic answer.

@ Scott M – I think you mean there is no proof. There is actually a lot of evidence to some of the things in your closing statement if you wanted to seriously research the topic.

@ Bigbaddad – I am glad to see that you want your children to see both arguments before they decide for themselves (I can’t believe just because you believe – it doesn’t work that way) and I hope both you and your wife can respect their (future) belief(s) (or disbelief, if you will). And as a free-thinking theist, it helps me understand the free-thinking atheists.

Answer 1

Glad you asked...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4fQA9mt-Mg

This explains it quite well.

Edit - Hmm? Changed my name? You sure you mean me? :)

Answer 2

I followed religion as a child because I was told I had to go. I prayed and went to church and did all the normal "follower" things. Then one day, I started to ask questions of the pastor. All I ever heard was, you must believe. Well, I tried all that and then started thinking for myself. I found that "God" is not all knowing or all powerful. Peoples lives don't change the more they believe. I am an athiest and my wife and children are Catholic, but I have not told my children what I believe because I want them to see the theology side and then learn the scientific side when they are old enough to truly understand. I hope they become open minded thinkers and make their own decisions about what they truly believe. Kids learn about Santa themselves through school and finally from their parents. Jesus is completely different, people are taught about jesus and god year round, Santa is one time a year. People also fail to use common sense in their life and just follow. Hope this helps you understand the free thinkers in this world.

Answer 3

It all depends on who is doing the telling. I suspect you're refering to the evolution issues that have arisen in kansas and other places. The issue is that general people elect politicians, and these politicians are responsible for determinine what goes into a schools curriculum, including science class. Wanting to be re-elected, these politicians will do what is popular, instead of consulting with the scientific community and doing what is scientific. There's no problem with teaching religion, but not in a biology class because religion has no scientific basis. Teaching religion as fact in public school lends the authority of the government to the subject matter, which violates the first amendment. It's state sanctioning of one religion over another, which is impossible in a society where freedom of religion exists.

Imagine, a child in science class must answer questions on an exam stating (christian belief XYZ) is true or face failing grades. That's simply wrong.

Answer 4

I care because religious extremists keep trying to ligislate their morality on to everyone else. They try ro rewrite history and even science to somehow make the world confrom to their views instead of accepting the world for what it is.

We live in a country with a government that is supposed to be NEUTRAL on matters of faith. Today we have a Christian Fundamentalist administration doing its best to tear apart the wall of seperation between church and state.

To cap it off, I am personally irritated by superstition and self-righteous prostheletizing about what God does and does not like (for some bizzare reason, God is intensly interested in human reproductive habits). I dispise idealized ignorance, and I regard many religious beliefs as just that.

The real world has no evidence of the wild claims made by most religions of the world: no worldwide flood, no exodus, no trace that the sun stopped for an entire day, no talking snakes, dogs or mules, and no record of any of the magical events supposedly surrounding the cricifiction. Show me proof, not quotations.

Answer 5

I am determined that my future children will not grow up in a society where religion is taught in schools and laws are based on religious influence. That is why religion is important to me, as an atheist. There are thousands of religions out there, some as big as christianity, many smaller, but the bottom line is a) we live in a secular society and b) there is no evidence that christianity is any more correct than hinduism, budhism, or atheist beliefs. Therefore I think atheists (and others) must speak out to protect our society from having religious beliefs pushed into public spaces.

Answer 6

As an Atheist I've oftened wondered the same things. While I admit to a fondness for yanking chains I really don't care what other people believe as long as they're not getting in my face about it or harming other people.

I have to wonder how sure they really are that there is no god. Another possible reason is they use to believe in god but something convinced them god doesn't exist and they're furious with themselves for ever having believed and now they they have to try to rain on believers parade. A sort of dog in the manger attitude. Or perhaps to be more precise.... I don't believe and you shouldn't either.

Answer 7

To begin with, I am not an atheist. I just believe that there is a purpose in our being there. And time is limited and not to be whiled away. But nor am I religious. I do things that I am comfortable with, and believe to be fair. This belief has come out of social system rather than religious upbringing. I do not see anything wrong with believers nor with atheists, as long as I am given enough space. I will try to bring up my upsprings this way too. Perhaps it is closer to "karma" than atheism than religion.

Answer 8

I believe that children should be taught all theories and allowed to decide which is right for themselves. I have done this with my son. He has heard all about the bible stories, and has even attended sundayschool with my mother and had those who DO believe tell him all about their faith. He will make up his mind for himself, and I will respect his point of view. But, once he is an adult, if he wants to debate religion with me, he will hear it like I see it. And, he learned early on that Santa was real but is now dead, and the other fairy-tale stuff is exactly that . I'm sure that all the fundie xians would think that he would be a nasty violent child, since an atheist set of parents raised him, but quite the contrary is true. We get compliments on his behavior often from teachers and other kids' parents. So we must be doing something right. Peace

Answer 9

In case you haven't noticed, religious people are trying to use their majority power to change laws and priorities for the country. They are listening to spirits and mythology which is telling them to take the world to war in the middle east.

They insist that the government change the laws so that the 10 commandments are ingrained into our laws (of course as non-believers you could see how we could have a big problem with the first three commandments), and they insist that public schools teach our children junk science because real science doesn't fit in with their ancient myths.

They are even trying to get the govenment involved in private family decisions such as end of life and healthcare such as the plan b contraceptive pill as well as the HPV virus distribution.

Athiests and all other moderates need to understand this "left behind" phenomenon and we need to do it fast, so we can properly defend our country against this attack by the fundamentalist fanatics. That's why we care so much about religoion and concepts of God.

Answer 10

You said:

"Intelligent answers only, please - not just "Because there is no god, so there!" And if it is at all possible (and for some of you (I've read your responses) I realise that is almost impossible) no abuse such as saying you are intelligent and all theists are stupid/less intelligent/mentally incompetant/suffering from a mental illness - or (to quote a responder who shall remain nameless) a "brain-dead Muppet."

I only want answers dealing with the question as well, not "Why are you an atheist?" or "How superior do you feel your atheism makes you?" And try to keep it concise - I don't want a thesis either."

Just tell us what you want us to say and we'll write it, if it's gonna shut you up.

Answer 11

To answer by way of responding to your example of Santa Clause; when children grow up, they realise he was only there for the purposes of making the event a little more exciting for them and due to nothing more than traditions.
Santa has not been the cause of war. Christianity has.
Santa does not seek to impose his ideals onto others for the rest of their lives. Christianity does.
Santa doesn't instill hatred in people through misinterpretation of his word. Christianity does.
The belief in Santa does not make people kill for that belief. Christianity does.

Personally, I care not for others beliefs. I DO however, care to not have someone else's belief pushed into my face, as is the way of christians. I also care when religions go so far as to imply superiority over others and use blatant hypocrisy.