Why do atheists come to this site?

Question

There are many, many catagories for people to ask questions. Why do people come here and ask questions that they know are insulting? Not believing in anything isn't a religion and it is not spiritual so what is your story? I have had people from other religions answer my questions and they may not have believed what I believe but they weren't insulting like you are as a group. It really gets old hearing the same old insults and degrading comments said about something as important as what you base your whole life on. Would any of you like it if people just walked up and insulted you for no reason? Of course you get to hide behind than anonymity of being online. Theres a big world out there, why not try asking inteligent questions and gaining real information? peace?

Cjunk- they don't "educate" they insult. by the way I live in AMERICA" home of the free. I have as much right to my views as you do. You still don't have a good answer to my question.

Sam21462- I think you are grouping all christians together. I would not dream of telling anyone who will go to hell and who won't . There is one big difference though, Christianity is a religion! You never would have been told that if you went to a different site for your insults..oh I mean questions.

If this question gets asked everyday then there must be many people who wonder about it. I don't take the insults to my own heart I just get tired of hearing all this nonsense when this is a great way for people to really have intelligent debates or just to hear different points of view. I am all for "respecting each other" . I just don't see it when someone wants to eat my Savior as a breakfast cereal. That is not the worst question I have read, though. At the time I didn't know how to report abuse. Now I do and I will. Peace.

Special Ed- (I love your name by the way) That is my point - this IS a religious site. I know there will be silly questions and I do ignore them but mostly there is just uncalled for insults. I see no double standard. I am a person who believes in religion answering and asking questions on a site that is called "religion and spirituality' Atheists on the other hand DO NOT believe in anything of a religious or spiritual nature so why come to this site? Why not learn about nature or gardening or what ever. They come here to be insulting and find that, that is entertainment. Really,pretty sad.

McAtterie- Sure I will have a go. I am in a fiesty mood. All the people you describe are not religious or spiritual thus why our site? To believe there is a creator of the universe is not stupid but that is your opinion and you are intitled to it as I am to mine. I could have a huge conversation about many things because I consider myself quite intelligent in many areas of life. It may surprise you to know that I lived most of my life without a religion. I actually had a religious experience. I don't abuse people with my beliefs. I have many friends who believe many things. When ever some one comes to my house they get a hug reguardless of what they believe. I have no idea who will go to hell when they die and if you met me a few years back I am sure that is where most would have thought I was going. I have a love of Jesus Christ that is the most strongest love I have ever known. I don't mind different points of view. I value intelligent comments. So, why this site?

markgarett- You still haven't answered my question. You have just justified why two wrongs make a right. You with a doctorite. You cannot intelectualize the spirit. Can you see love? You feel it. There is more to life than reading college books. Believing in Jesus is something that is personal for each person. If you don't feel it than okay but insulting others that do is not the way to go. My feelings aren't hurt - my brain is insulted with the stupidity of Jesus chex and the rest of it. I am not one of the christians who bash people. I believe if I have Jesus in my heart than I should love people. "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." " judge not lest ye be judged" "Take the log out of your eye before you inspect the speck in someone elses'" These are what I think of. I don't go to places where I know I won't like what I see or hear and then start insulting everthing in site and call that intelligent.

Char- I love how all of you put all these words in my mouth. I never posted that you have to belong to a religion to be spiritual and this is something I myself do not believe. No one has answered my question-just justified why it is okay to insult others beliefs. I have been told not to get upset but apparently all of you are upset enough to bash anyone who believes differently than you. That is your justification. We don't believe like you do and you are more inteligent. You have yet to prove your point. Oh by the way the site is still called "RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY'. Where is yours?

Answer 1

I believe that Atheists that come to this site are really
agnostics in athiest clothing. They actually doubt there own disbelief and have to constantly put religion down to make themselves feel good.

Answer 2

I agree that people are insulting but if you are secure in your religion then why are you looking for acceptance. People are people I have found some extremely intelligent atheist and extremely stupid fanatics.... so that does not mean I grab a rake and start fighting, unless someone insults me directly after knowing me for quite a while I do not let people ruffle my feather. I know what I am and what I believe in so why should I let others bother me.
This is a open arena for asking questions and answering them so chill out, educate others just because somebody is an atheist and does not agree with you does not necessarily mean that they are wrong! You believe in god and they don't it is a simple thing but worth thinking right. Humans believe in various religions and fight over who is better don't you think atheists are so much better in their views and do not judge people by their faith or their sets of beliefs. At the least they are not fanatics and are more truthful than the most!
Peace


By the way I believe in God not a religion ....... religion is something that a lot of people only use for their benefits.
Hats off to McAtterie for a great answer!!
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Sprituality is to do with the soul and also of being sacred......
an atheist's belief that truth is sacred is also being as spritual as a religious person following his/her religion's doctrines. So nothing wrong in posing question in Religion and Sprituality. Again your believeing in Christ is as spiritual as my believing in my spriituality of honesty and sincereity. People might/might not ask intelligent questions why are you getting worked up and losing 5 points to ask the same question again nobody is insulting you personaly are they and if they are they do not know you in person.... so what causes you to despair? Let everyone post whatever they want ....... you answer people with your faith and let the ignorant throw insults, you have got to move on right! You can not have only similar thoughts being posted question after question can you? there needs to be some difference in opinion to learn about something new.
The Jesus Chex question according to me was just for fun I think .... so ignore it and reply to a question that intrests you.
Another thing is people who do not believe in religion would want to know what the religious minded are talking about and hence would post questions here, so try to get your point of view without u losing cool.
By the way if you are not mad at anyone why did you use 5 points to pose this question? You did pose a similar question about a month ago....

Answer 3

Many Christians would argue that atheism is a religion, but I think that's wishful thinking influenced by the fact that they mostly believe atheists worship the devil whether atheists know it or not.

But to directly answer your question, I suspect my interest in religion and spirituality far exceeds most, since I bothered to get a graduate degree in sociology (this is the society and culture section after all), went to seminary for a theology degree, pastored a church, and was in the first year of doing doctoral research in Biblical literature when I became convinced that my own religion's claims were irreconcilably false, that I had accepted them without any real critical inquiry as to whether they were true or false, that I had been culturally conditioned from birth to accept the fantastic claims without examination.

As important as it seems to many theists that we accept their views or go to hell and burn for eternity, it's important to some atheists that such claims, claims which have no provable basis whatever, that prompt such wild condemnation of people who don't share your peculiar beliefs, i.e. that God will damn us all to eternal torment for our evil, that these baseless claims which have no substance outside of superstitions of ancient peoples who had no scientific understanding of the world, that these stories, which appear in all cultures and contradict each other and themselves, not go unchallenged.

This is not your house, nor your church. Nobody has walked up to you on the street and insulted you. This is a place where people come to state their beliefs, some very forcefully and abusively, and they are responded to, sometimes forcefully and abusively. If it hurts your feelings to be told you've based your life on a fraud, or that the things you believe are baseless and silly, then don't go anywhere where you are likely to meet someone who doesn't agree with them. There are Christian chats rooms all over the internet where you can be reassured that everything you think is right and true and good, but this isn't one of them. A lot of intelligent questions get asked/answered here, a lot of faithbot responses get given and a lot of abuse gets heaped from both sides. But I haven't seen any atheists here telling Christians they are evil and going to hell. Telling them they and their beliefs are stupid certainly, being just as condescending as the believers here can be certainly, but not asserting it makes you evil and damned.

And since you already have all the answers in your magic book, are you really here asking intelligent questions and gaining real information, or are you just here to be smug and sing the praises of what you already believe and express your condescension toward those who don't share your belief? I don't know, since I haven't read your posts, but that's why an awful lot of believers come here.

And by the way. I'm not hiding behind anonymity. Are you?

Answer 4

You need reasons do you? Rather odd, for a christian to be in need of reasons, but I like an opportunity to help my lesser fellow.

First of all, Yahoo is a public domain. Anyone with a Yahoo ID gains access to any service Yahoo have to offer, including this site. That makes Yahoo Answers a public site. Unlike a forum, this site does not require registration, it is not actively moderated (apart from spam and abuse) and there is no room for debate: 1 question will always beget 1 answer per user. Therefore, don't compare this site to a forum. As a public website, it is also a public place. And if you stood in Hyde Park, openly asking questions about god or anything else, you could find sympathisers and hecklers alike. It's the same here. If you cannot deal with this, I suggest you shy from public places and seek the alternatives - there are plenty.

Secondly, I resent that you refer to 'atheists' as a group, while in truth a wide variety of people are active on this site, each of them with their own beliefs or lack of them. Any of them should be allowed to discuss their religion and spirituality, or other choices. Also, whom you refer to as atheists, usually aren't a-theists thus anti-godly. Most believe in 'something' and do seek a meaning of life or siclike, but question the ways of the bible and church. As such, they are agnostics. True a-theists do not look for answers or meaning and might poke fun at those that believe - but why should they be stopped? If you truly believe in god, surely you can defend this and possibly turn a few - save us from purgatory.

So in short, when you feel offended by the heckling, you should realise you are in a public place while there are other forums to debate amongst peers. And you should also realise that the inherent stupidity you must be blessed with, expressed through your faith in a deity (an intelligent mind does not need such guidance) is offensive to heathens, agnostics, atheists and daemons. As it has been for thousands of years. Should you have read none of this but scan it for a conclusion, I'll oblige in saying you're naucht but a pretentious fool - and I for one am not anonymous online, so have a go at me if you like. That said, I doubt I'll bother with questions as daft as this more than once a day.

=== PS 1 ===

You ask 'why our site'? Did you not read my answer at all then? This is not your site. Yahoo is a company, not a church - and this site is open to the public. Should you think of something more intelligent to say, let me know.

=== PS 2 ===

I see you update your question all the time, so here's my two pence on your reply to Char. You say you have not yet had an answer on 'why is it ok to insult others beliefs'? You must be easily insulted then. I've been damned to hell and back, but I'm never insulted as my 'faith' is strong. You're asked to debate your faith intelligently. If you can't, why blame another? Should you need an answer on why 'we' 'insult' others 'beliefs' though: insulting someone's intelligence will lead to insults being returned. It is that simple.

=== PS 3 ===

I am 'spiritual' because I am alive and have a spirit of sorts. Do I not exist if I am not categorised as 'spiritual' or 'religious'? For all I care, you can post a question under 'Bicycling' even though you might never have touched a bike - I value opinions. You value people.

Answer 5

Sometimes a question is so absurd, so arrogant and so ignorant that NOBODY can resist answering.

To assert that atheists don't believe in ANYTHING because they don't accept YOUR God is arrogant. Atheists have very solid beliefs, but they come from within rather than having their beliefs given to them.

Why do I get the feeling that Christianity comprises a huge majority of questions in a category open to ALL beliefs? Why is it insulting to ask questions denying Christianity, but not ones that disrespect any other belief?

I might also counter your snip about "hiding" in online anonymity by pointing out how often questions in this category are answered by people hiding behind bible scriptures.

While I do agree that in many cases the questions in this category are answered by complete idiots, you must remember that if you don't like the answer, don't ask the question. Respect goes both ways, you know.

Answer 6

They come to this site for the same reason you do - TO ANSWER QUESTIONS.

I have seen lots of ridiculous questions from your side also, along with ridiculous answers. What you don't seem to realize is that there are a lot of people on this site that give silly answers/questions on a myriad of subjects - not just 'YOUR' religious questions.

It kinda sounds like you want to persecute people for their non-beliefs. Hmmmm... I smell a double-standard.

I as a general rule of thumb try to ignore both sides of the discussion, and if I decide to respond and I don't like someones response/comment I give them a thumbs-down and move on.

Maybe you should try being part of the solution instead of part of the problem by posting a silly question yourself. Maybe you should try going to a religious discussion site if you can't handle other peoples opinions. Just a thought.

Peace out.

**Edit - I agree with you for the most part. I always get silly answers to my questions as well. You just got to take it with a grain of salt and not so personally.

But, I think you are getting site and category confused. This is NOT a religious site. It has a religious/spiritual category on this site.

Answer 7

I may not be able to answer the question as to why but I am offended that you think you should have exclusivity. I am offended that you presume that to be spiritual one must subscribe to a prescribed religion. I am offended that individuals practicing any religion which worships a god consider that I am 'wrong' and will go to hell.
I am insulted that I must be judged by a god which I consider a figment of under-developed individuals imaginations.

Some times I like to dish some insults out, because I've swallowed enough...

Yet again, I have to commend McAtterie and his eloquence.

Answer 8

This question gets asked almost every day. There are many nice people here in this category of all belief systems. On the same side, there are many not-so-nice people here of all belief systems, including those claiming to be Christians. We all need to learn to respect each other and have friendly debate! :)

There are some people asking silly questions, but you'll get that in any category, and if you hang around here long enough, you'll know who those people are and not take their questions to heart, they are mostly just trying to have fun :)

Answer 9

We come here to voice our opinion for the same reason you answer ours with a religious answer. Once you stop trying to force your beliefs on us we will gladly do the same for you. Until then, respect the fact that we have different points of view. You might not like ours and we might not, so just accept that. I'm glad that you can accept the beliefs of other religions, so why not show us the dame respect?

Answer 10

Tell me, Theresa, why do christians shout their mouths off in the science category? What about the gay category?? Why don't THEY all go elsewhere, hmm?

You seriously need to realise that spirituality does not depend on religion. That assumption simply shows us all you have not come close to discovering your spiritual nature.

As for not insulting you, you're lucky I'm in a good mood so can manage to tolerate your bigotted and arrogant attitude, child.

Peace off.

Answer 11

I love how christians call others "insulting" while preaching that unless you believe like they do you will be tortured for all eternity.

How insulting is that? Christians insult non christians just about as bad as one can be insulted but then whine when it comes back their way.

I have an idea .. stop telling 3/4ths of the people on earth that they are going to hell and maybe people will get off your back.