In a crowd of rescue volunteers ,how would you distinguish the Atheists from the religious ??

Question

I am a regular blood donor ,animal rescuer ,disaster volunteer and numismatic educator .

Answer 1

Unless the individuals are personally and identifiably marked I don't see how it would be possible to decipher religious conviction.

As you have taken the time to list your interests I feel it is quite clear that you like me are an atheist, bordering on humanistic tendencies. We clearly have a view that the person on earth is more relevant than a false belief in a spiritual being to whom we must all live our lives in the hope that we will be rewarded after death.

Whilst writing this, it strikes me how pathetic a belief system must be to suggest that you are rewarded once dead and whilst alive you can act in the most abominable manner and can be forgiven if you repent of your sins before you die.

If there is a maker, I'd rather make my peace with him by my actions and deeds to my fellow human whilst alive.

I hope you will agree. btw. Your hobby would go against the Christian belief of giving onto Caesar's what is Caesars and the Lord's the Lord.

Dan S's answer is quite to the point in my view.

Answer 2

Since you made a point of telling the world that you are a nice guy, I bet you are one of the religious folk who feels that they need to prove that they are nice people to the atheists., so you may not like this. (I have no idea why you think your being a coin collector has anything to do with this question, which also leads me to believe that you are one of those religious folk.)

Firefighters:
The Atheists would go to fight the fire while the religious would pray first.

If asked by a News Reporter for a quote the religious people would quote some old obsolete text, why the atheists would quote the Fire Fighters Handbook.

The religious folk would try to put out the fire by throwing bibles at it, while the atheists would use water.

If the fire was going to overrun their position the atheists would hide under their protective reflective shield, while the religious folk would rely solely on their faith.

The atheists would dig a fire trench with shovels while the religious folk would use bibles and pray for the trench to dig itself.

After the fire was over then the atheists would look for a cause, while the religious folk would claim it was all in God's plan and mere mortals couldn’t understand it.

Flood Rescuers:
The religious folk would want to use their bibles to row the boat, while the atheists would use oars.

The atheists would look for someone like Moses to hold back the waters, while the atheists would resort to something like a floodwall.

Paramedics:
Would use a defibrillator to shock someone in cardiac arrest while the religious folk would just beat them soundly on the chest.

Instead of using drugs to help the patient the religious folk would want to just pray for the person, while the atheists would be setting up an IV Drip and lay out the other medication.

To contact base the atheists would use a radio while the religious folk would want to use the power of prayer to contact the base and when they didn't get through they would all say it was a part of God's plan and not understandable by mere mortals.

Police:
In the case of an automobile accident the religious folk would put it all down to being a part of God's plan and not understandable by mere mortals. The atheists would be looking for road debris and skid marks.

The atheists would wear body armor while the religious folk would just strap a bible to their chests.

There are a million of them if you just think about it. By now I probably have the religious folk fuming mad and wanting to destroy me, and do other mean and nasty things to me because that is how they are; they can’t tolerate people who aren’t clones of them with their minds lock-stepped into their religion. The atheists will read it, get a few chuckles and go on to next answer. Because, we atheists have taken the time to become adults and put the need for the beads and rattles of our ancestors behind us; our faith is in science and the physical world, while the religious folk put their faith in a book that is almost 2000 years old and sadly out of date.

Most of us are normal humans don't wear our faith on our arms or faces. It isn't necessary to go into a rescue situation and yell out "Hey, everyone I'm better than you all are because I belong to (enter the name of the church of your choice)." 99% of people will just do their best to solve the problem and help to evacuate those people in need as fast as possible. I include both religious and nonreligious people in this 99% because to most people their religion is a private thing and doesn't have to be dragged out into the open everywhere they go.

And please don't send my any email to try and convert (pervert) me. I told you that I out grew the need for religion a long time ago.

Answer 3

I don't think that you could tell, unless one was a fanatic Christian or a fanatic Atheist. Most of us Christians don't push our beliefs down the throats of others. If I am volunteering, I help everyone I can - I don't just sit there and "pray for them" as some of the other posters seem to think.

Not every Christian pushes their views on others.

Answer 4

The religious don't care about death after all they are going to a better place the athiest will try to perserve life

The religious will always think god did it and if you get the right type of Christian they will tell you the didaster was your fault god wanted you to learn a lesson the athiest will assume it was a random act.

The religious guy needs a god to tell him to be nice to other people the athiest did it because he felt it was the right thing to do not because he was going to hell for not doing it or heaven for doing it .

So if there is a thing as alturistic motive strangely the commited athiest is always going to be closer to it than the religious guy can imagine being .

Answer 5

You can't distinguish among a group of volunteers or among a group that need help. Isn't that great? The good deed transcends pettiness.

Answer 6

Why in the world would it matter?? The more volunteers the better in such a situation. If you would reject help from certain people based on their religious tendencies, why would you expect help from anyone?

Answer 7

The religious Thank God. The Atheists thank themselves. Those that need help thank all the volunteers.

Answer 8

If all you were going on is the outside works of the individuals involved, I highly doubt you would see any difference.

Its not about what is on the outside, for if the inside does not belong to God, than the outside certainly doesn't.

We change from the inside out, not the outside in.

Answer 9

Indeed. I'm sure people would probably be shocked at how many atheists they know and are around every day...maybe even love! Most of us (atheists) don't shove our beliefs (or lack thereof) in people's faces. =)

Answer 10

You wouldn't...many atheists are all those good charitable things to.