What is the best way to deal with militant atheists?

Question

I'm just kind of tired of having these people try to convert me to their worship of dawkins. they constantly push their darwin's evolution book in my face as if it were full of facts, but i am non-confrontational and do not wish to argue with them about the many contradictions and obvious miscalculations their "scientific" evidence has. Most of these people can barely pronounce the theories they believe in and are pushing on me, so should I confront them about it and embarrass them? I dont want to do that really, I just want to live my life and worship my own way in peace. It is bad enough that my tax dollars have to go to schools that teach the pseudo-science of evolution as a fact with no counterbalance of creationism. Why are they so scared to let a preacher come in for one day and give an alternative opinion? To me, their fear of giving both sides of the debate clearly shows that they don't put much faith in these theories at heart.

JAT, I remember quickly being called an idiot and other typical atheist terms, but debated academically, no, that never happened and atheist rarely, if ever, do that. They are about silencing people, not debating and your exampled proved that to me. Thanks for your answer.

Answer 1

I GUESS IT WOULD ONLY BE FAIR TO HAVE SOMEONE FROM AN ABORIGINAL GROUP ALSO TELL THE CLASS HOW EVERYONE WAS BORN FROM A TURTLE, OR MAYBE ANY ONE OF A THOUSAND OTHER FOLKTALES ABOUT CREATION. WHY PICK ONE CREATION MYTH OVER ANOTHER? "WHY ARE THEY SO SCARED" TO LET A MEDICINE WOMAN IN FOR ONE DAY AND GIVE AN ALTERNATE OPINION.
OH, OR WE COULD JUST TEACH THE SCIENTIFIC TRUTH AND LET THE MYTHS BE TAUGHT AT HOME. WOULD THAT WORK?

Answer 2

Do you mean that I am now engaged in warfare or combat, or just aggressively active? Atheists do not worship, so we don't try to convert - thats a religious trait.

If you are tired of discursive questions, and want to lead a quiet and peaceful life, where you can worship in peace, then - if you cant stand the heat, get thee out of the kitchen -

or in plain english, this site is not the place for avoiding discussion, and this section is rather discursive, so you better retire gracefully.

Just because you do not understand science, does not therefore make you a good judge about the levels of understanding within others, or a reliable critic of any theory yourself.

I am quite happy for a preacher to come into a school and give a religious lesson, but I am not happy to waste my childrens time by letting the idiot talk in a science lesson - a subject he /she knows notheing about. And it is the church which is trying to ban science theories, not scientist who are banning preachers! We just get a little upset when religions create sudo-scientific facts and try to pass them off as research.

Answer 3

You're not tired at all. First you tried a bit pseudo-math in the R&S religious section and foolishly took up the challenge to ask the same question in the Science section - where you were creamed by people who actually DO study these things.

And if you want to see how "both sides of the debate" do, why don't you just read the Pennsylvania case decided by a conservative judge as to why creationism ISN'T SCIENCE! There they were, scientists from both sides, and what happenned? The same thing that happenned to you when you ventured into the science section.

Answer 4

Wait, don't tell me. The Earth is only 12,000 years old...and God buried dinosaur fossils in the ground to test our faith, right? Your premise is wrong...evolution is not a "theory". Evidence of adaptation and selection exist all the way down to the molecular level. There is zero--zero!--argument in the scientific community concerning the basic tenets of Darwinism.

In regards to "counterbalance" from both sides of the "debate", it's interesting that you didn't state your position. There's a very wide chasm of degree between belief in Intelligent Design (or Theistic Evolution if you prefer "ketchup" over "catsup") and literal believers of the Creation Fable. I can have an intelligent and enlightened conversation with the former and not begrudge them their belief...but to actually consider teaching children in an intellectual context that we are direct descendants of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and their apparent rabidly incestuous clan is bordering on criminally reprehensible.

Answer 5

Both sides of the debate? There is no debate. Evolution has been observed, its existence if fact, and as an explanation for higher forms of life it is a very strong theory. Biblical creationism has been proved to be false.

Answer 6

Well, I used to be a preacher, so I don't have any use for preachers coming in my house. What I would recommend instead is that you Ask God through Prayer to strike down these atheists dead with a spectacular display of lightening and brimstone. Since God hears all prayers, and God hates infidels, this should be really easy to accomplish. Then everyone will marvel at God and believe in God and you won't have to waste any time explaining all the obvious miscalculations of science.

Anytime you want to embarrass me using your magic imaginary friend who created the universe (all 70 trillion stars) with a single spoken word, go right ahead.

Answer 7

But their books ARE. filled with facts,to an extent. Just as much as the bible is.

Creationism is a -religious- belief,not a scientific one. Evolution is science. If you want to brain wash your kids a certain way? Send them to a christian school. That's what they -do-.

Personally? I'm an evolutionist. The only reason we shove is because for years we've been slammed by your people. It's tiresome and we got sick of it. Maybe you guys shouldn't have brought it to push and shove in the first place.

Answer 8

I suggest you either ignore them or point out their hypocrisy (the fact that they're behaving just as badly as missionaries), if they're truly doing what you described. Hopefully they'll stop pestering you if you give them a bit of time. (Note the "hopefully.")

But, if you're monotheistic (I don't want to assume anything, but monotheism is the most likely kind of religion for someone to have), I'd just like to point out that contradictions also exist within religion (mostly within religious texts), so you might not want to point out scientific contradictions in the arguments of atheists. Both parties will end up as hypocrits (if the scientific data in question is contradictory, of course), and neither will probably back down. But you shouldn't run into this problem if you just ignore them.

Answer 9

“Militancy”, if one can really call the mere dogmatism about a position that, is far more pervasive on the Christian side of the spectrum than the atheist side of things. Atheists generally don’t proselytize. If they speak vehemently about something, it is generally a reaction to unfounded assertions made by many Christians. Maybe what you construe as “militancy” is merely your own disappointment at not being able to address the propositions propounded by atheists.

And contrary to your skewed perspective on things, no atheist worships Richard Dawkins, nor do they require anyone else to worship him, or to take any of his prose as the Gospel truth. I don’t think you should be reticent to address atheists, and to find supposed holes in evolutionary theory. Atheism, of the true and rational variety, has no qualms with contradicting rationales as long as they are well founded. If fact atheism, based on rational premises, welcomes and thrives on new evidence, even if that new evidence completely subverts a previously subscribed to paradigm of thinking.

Show me the last time an atheist burned someone at the stake, beheaded someone, or hanged them for not subscribing to evolutionary theory. You cannot find one instance in history. Now show me, in our history, where Christians have tortured and killed those who don’t subscribe to their patently absurd notions about reality? The instances of Christian barbarism and narrow mindedness are too lengthy to recount on this forum. So who is truly the militant group?

If you are encountering many atheists who put forth childish insults, and don’t debate in an academic sense, it is probably because you are going to forums that attract juvenile people. Most academic atheists – Dawkins being one of them – will address your contentions reasonably and not emotively. Just look at Dawkins numerous debates on YouTube. Not once does he resort to name calling.

As far as teaching Creationism in school – why should we? It has not proven itself to have the very foundational elements that make science what it is. Furthermore, Creationism being promoted in public schools, and using public funding, violates the establishment clause in our Constitution, because Creationism doesn’t merely teach an alternate theory of how we came to be, it has, as its underlying premise the centrality of God, and at that, a very specific God – that of a Judeo-Christian deity. The public funding of Creationism in our schools is tantamount to a breach of the establishment clause.

Ultimately, Creationism isn’t a science because it assumes its conclusions before evidence is present lending credence to those conclusions. True science, on the other hand, only arrives at conclusions after the evidence yields a result in favor of one conclusion or another. In Creationism any research done about the physical world automatically concludes that such and such phenomenon indicates a God “designed” it, before one even proves that such and such object necessitates a designer, and a very specific Judeo Christian designer at that.

Creationism isn’t a science simply for the fact that it asks the question of WHY something exists or works the way it does, where true science only asks HOW? To inquire WHY something is the way it is imputes to that phenomenon a purpose and an intention behind it. That, my friend is not science, but falls within the realm of philosophy and theology. So keep Creationism where it belongs.

Answer 10

You can't argue with anyone who is militant. They'll express their beliefs, you can either agree or you don't. You aren't going to change their mind, and they can't change yours. But if you can't handle having your faith challenged by those who would like to discredit your beliefs, then a Religion and Sprituality forum isn't the best place for you. If you see flawed logic or a mistake in their arguments, call them out. They wouldn't think twice about doing the same to you!

And by the way, I'm a Christian too, don't get me wrong ... but your logic about teaching creationism in schools IS flawed.

Answer 11

Fairy tales can confront fairy tales. It is obvious that you should stay in that section.
To discuss science and scientific theories one needs education and knowledge. You freely chose faith and superstition. That's fine but it means you have to stick to that otherwise you rapidly make a fool of yourself.