Fellow Atheists - Is this a losing battle?

Question

I mean, seriously faced with such incredible ignorance doesn't it make you feel like giving up - people who are only interested in faith are immune to reason and logic - Yahoo forbids ridicule but often that's the only sensible response to statements like 'evolution is just a theory' or 'if we came from monkeys why are there still monkeys' - How can you win an argument with someone who is intellectually unable to understand anything more complicated than 'God did it.'?

Don't anybody say I'm pretending to be an atheist - the theists are just plain wrong. It's just frustrating they can't see it.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvBv8u8u5UFoKWZ4i66jjkHsy6IX?qid=20070127144606AAt3Dwu&show=7#profile-info-ef2f743b401fa6f55954b7abcc1c761caa

Look at the arguments from theists!

I can't tell you all how PLEASED I am that in a question about foolish arguments people said A) evolution is just a theory and B) you cant prove god does not exist - no, and you cant disprove the existence of unicorns, flying spaghetti monsters and so on, if you dont believe in them you might as well bin the god hypothesis, too.

I'll just be grateful nobody brought up Pascal's wager! lol

Answer 1

It's a battle we'll never win, but we won't lose either. Only when we STOP battling ignorance with reality, rationality and reason do we truly lose.

Answer 2

As an agnostic theist, I find your complaints shallow and unfounded. You are making the same mistake many theists do - you're assuming that you have the "right" answer about whether god exists. You don't, nor does anyone else.

Believe me, I'm not defending the poor logic and ridiculous arguments of many theists on this forum, especially the Christian ones. I understand your frustration. What you need to understand is that no matter how certain you feel that you "know" there is no god, you DON'T "know."

Until you can actually prove that there is no higher power, both you and the theists are equally ignorant. Atheists don't like hearing that, but it's the truth.

Answer 3

I used to be an atheist, but I had a spiritual moment that I can not explain. Is there a higher power, in my opinion based on my experiences yes. Is what main stream religion right about creation I doubt it. Evolution is just a plain fact. Ask yourself did the higher power design life to be that way? Is it possible for all of the human race to originate from two people? Well yes this was proved by the human genome project, that all men share a common mutation of the Y chromosome. In conclusion all religion is what we call a self-fulling belief system. Religion can neither be proved nor disproved, however it was proved to me so I believe.

Answer 4

Yep, it's pretty sad. But I have to think it can change someday - that people could be reasoned with. Because otherwise, I'd really find it hard to keep going, as a scientist and an educator.

Edit: MsTrust, evolution will ALWAYS be a theory. Theories are not elevated to facts, they CONTAIN facts and laws and constants and so on. If science were an operating system, theories would be the main folder everything else goes in.

Answer 5

I agree, but if your goal is to "change their minds" you are going to be one frustrated individual, and who wants to live like that? Here are your options:

1) Present your beliefs/arguments in a clear, coherent and non-judgmental fashion. If people are inclined, they may embrace them. Forget about the rest. This was Gandhi's method, and it WORKED.

2) Keep trying to force what you "know to be true" on to others. If you are lucky, you will convert 00001% of people with this method, and end up making enemies of the rest. Or they will simply ridicule you, like Tom Cruise.

Be GLAD there is such sweeping ignorance, and figure out how to put it to work for you. People have (and continue to) become BILLIONAIRES because they KNOW things other people do not. Think of how you can put your certainty to work for you, and take advantage of other people's ignorance. (hint - if you can't figure out a way to do this, it may be because what you are certain of is no more factual than what they are certain of.)

Answer 6

The only time I get frustrated is when someone makes a statement that is totally wrong, and even after being told that it's wrong, and being shown clear evidence that PROVES it's wrong, they still post it over and over and over again. I don't care if people believe that Jesus is the son of God -- I don't think he is, but you can't really prove that one way or the other, so if people want to believe it, that's fine. But when people say things like "evolution is just a theory", and continue to make that statement dozens of times on here, yes, I find that annoying. You can explain EXACTLY why that statement is incorrect, but many of them still don't care. Some of the people on here have deliberately locked themselves into a misinterpretation of the facts. THAT is what I don't like on this forum.

You can't prove one way or the other that God exists, but you CAN prove that the world is billions of years old. You can't prove one way or the other that Jesus performed miracles, but you CAN prove that evolution happened and is happening. When people still choose to deny provable facts even after being repeatedly informed about why they've got it wrong, THAT is the only thing I don't like on this forum.

Answer 7

They will not change my view of life any more than I will be able to change theirs, and as for "giving up" I did that a long time ago- to Christianity. I am now happier and stronger than I ever could have been under Christian rules.

If you think of this as a "battle" to be won or lost, you don't understand the true power of individuality. If you don't want to believe in something, they can't force you; therein lies the beauty and strength of making your own choices.

Answer 8

If you look at it objectively, it isn't a battle at all. It's only a battle if you engage in it.

Bear in mind that the human brain is hard-wired to believe, and that we can have no direct experience of that which we believe.

It is impossible to prove conclusively that God exists or does not.

Those who believe in God believe in God. Those who do not do not.

Believe what you believe and treat your fellow humans with love and respect.

The battle is an artificial one, and unwinnable.

Answer 9

What is the battle?

I mean why the innate need to "win".

In terms of your additional comments:
evolu\tion may be the best theory we have but of course its "just" a theory. Most scientists believe its essentiaooy correct but the details are much in debate.

Answer 10

Some people are just sticks in the mud - that goes for both atheists and Christians. This sort of person you probably won't be able to convince of anything.