Atheists, do you feel you have to disprove the existance of God or do you hold the attitude of to each is own?

Question

I'm asking because I've noticed a lot of questions like this towards Christians and other religions. They usually ask if they(we) feel the need to 'recruit' souls or do they (we) believe in science... things like that.

I'm just doing a NICE, NON-BIASED poll of what atheists think and I guess what brought you to this decision. If you feel 'religion' is frivolous, do you have any friends that have a faith and how do you react to it?

People let TRY to keep it nice. Let's not disrespect eachother's beliefs.

Answer 1

An atheist can't prove God doesn't exist.

I can't prove God does exist.

I can only tell you what I believe, and what I feel.

And that is God does exist, and is within me.

Answer 2

My family contains atheists and mormons (two of the least endeared groups by mainstream Christians, etc. - so I guess we have that in common). There is some walking on eggshells, in part because there are neices and nephews that I shouldn't interfere with. Most of the time it's no big deal, but occasionally it's the elephant in the room. I always think that someday my siblings will want to have an open discussion about our strongest convictions, but I'm waiting for them to approach me about it.

The people that make us really proactive are the ones like Orest L above. How can anyone be at the same time so brazen and so uninformed? I'll stop here because you asked us to try and be nice.

Answer 3

I don't feel that I have to disprove the existence of God, because a) it cannot be disproven; and b) I don't have to disprove it.

Common sense brought me to this decision. I ask a contractor for proof that he is licensed before I let him work on my house. Am I to accept the claims of the church without question?

I don't feel that religion is frivolous, but I do feel that those with religious faith don't have much in common with me, so I don't have religious friends.

Answer 4

I am a deist. I believe there is a God. I believe that most souls cross over and religion has nothing to do with the eternal life of my soul.

I have no problem with any religion, per se. I do have a big problem when idiotic religious dogma is forced on me through the laws of this country. Like gay marriage, for instance. It is no one's business who marries whom! How dare any one decide who can make a legal commitment and who cannot. We are talking about a union between two (2), yes only 2, consenting adults.

For the record, my gentleman friend is a Christian, granted not a bible thumper. My 2 dearest friends, 1 is Christian and 1 is atheist. The three of us girls discuss religion frequently and we all agree on the seperation of church and state.

Answer 5

I am mindful that, for many people of faith, their belief in a god or gods is a significant part of their lives. I'm not a killjoy. I don't want to take that away from them. What I care about is protecting the right of every person to choose and practice his or her own path to fulfillment and truth. I am against any and all who would usurp that right even for the best of intentions. I am against atheists who would ban religion (which is a very small percentage) as well as religionists who would ban all religions and moral philosophies but their own. I am against laws which are biased in favor of one religion or religion in general to the detriment of the rest of us. I am against teaching religious belief as science or history in schools.

In short, I want to protect the essence of "to each his own."

Answer 6

I have no problem with people believing in god. I have a problem when they tell me I am wrong because I don't. And when they force their beliefs on me or approach me in a parking lot with literature. That is crap. Faith is a good thing. Organized Religion is one of the worst things ever.

Answer 7

Nope. It is up to the believer to prove the existence of a god. Most of my friends have a religious belief. We do not discuss religion.

Answer 8

I'm pretty much into "live and let live", to each their own. However, there are certain beliefs out there that are flat out dangerous because fanatics will harm others based on them. I feel like it's my duty to fight against fanaticism and to fight for freedom for all. I don't think fanatics should get away with harming others or dictating other people's lives based on the religious dogma they believe in.

A "normal" believer who believes whatever he believes without trying to excessively force it on others is fine by me. I don't hate or dislike people for being religious even though I don't agree with them. It's only fanatics who I can't stand.

Most of my family and many of my friends are religious and I'm fine with that. We respect each other's beliefs.

Answer 9

I respond when people arrogantly assume that people have no justification in disbelieving God and when people ask why atheists don't believe in God.

I have a link on my profile to my 360 blog that describes my rationale. And it's received some positive comments back via email. (In case you're interested, here it is.)

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-t0BORtswfacdeOuprS2h8mE-?cq=1&p=36

That said, when people try to use superstitious morals to justify restricting human rights, teaching religion as science, and preventing legitimate scientific research, then I will point out the pluralism in society.

Answer 10

They feel the need to justify themselves.
But hey, Dawkins is a hack, and his book is full of sloppy logic, so if you want to base your beliefs on that - more power to you.
Atheists always fall back on that "religion is violent and murderous" excuse. But they conveniently forget about Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Lenin, etc.
But anyway, who cares, according to Darwin, the strong should kill the weak to help develop the species of man - so I don't know what they are complaining about when people die. They have no moral basis for saying that murder is wrong. In evolutionary terms, its a good thing. Just helping evolution along.

Answer 11

During the many years I was agnostic, I never felt the need to prove anything to anyone -- including myself. I was very comfortable about not knowing what the future holds.

However, Christians made me very uncomfortable during public inter-faith events by imposing Jesus on others. Christians are more than welcome to praise Jesus in their own settings, but it is very insulting to pray through Jesus is public settings. Many people pray directly to God and are highly offended when their prayers are directed through an imposter.
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