Dear Atheist?

Question

I have always wanted to ask this but dont know of any atheist in my personal life.

I was just wondering, as an atheist have you ever held a reasonable conversation with a believer in God about things
biblical or of God in some way , and the conversation was
respectful all the way around. Do you know what I mean?

Doug , its sad that it rarely happens isnt it.

P.S. Thanks guys for the answers.
And for being polite.
I am not in anyway talking about a conversation of attempted conversion, just a level conversation.

please see thread entitled
Another Question and why I asked, Dear Atheist/Agnostic?

Answer 1

I have had several. The key is both sides must respect the other point of view. The minute someone calls the other point of view "wrong", the gloves come off.

I've found that the best way to get your point across and have a reasonable discussion instead of a heated arguement is through Socratic Method. QUESTION the other person, and allow yourself to be questioned. This way, you'll either learn or you'll teach.

So, don't tell people, "Jesus died for your sins and you need to believe in him!!!" Ask, "Why don't you believe in Jesus?" and LISTEN to the answer. Ya just might learn somethin.

Also, you're going to fight an uphill battle if you're of faith. Athiests / Agnostics argue their side with reason...you're arguing your side with faith. Its far easier to convince using logic rather than opinion.

Answer 2

Sometimes, but many times I ask legitimate questions and some people get the wrong idea and think I"m being nasty, which I am far from.

I"m interested in learning as I didn't know much about religion before I started using this site.

The strange thing is I asked a question yesterday, which was not offensive at all, and religious people answered with information I didn"t know about , yet another atheist told me I was "a bigot" and "unchristian" (?). I actually found that quite upsetting and confusing. I had no complaints off any Christians for asking the question. I did apologise to the atheist,and deleted the question. First time for everything I suppose.

Answer 3

I actually went to a four day conference about this about how faith influences in some other things (sorry I can't go further into that because it would compromise my privacy), which encouraged people from all backgrounds to attend. I went hoping to get some interesting debate about the topic on neutral ground, yet the framework was anything but! The whole premise for the conference which was supposed to the starting position for us all to start with was a Christian one, which I don't agree with. All the guest speakers were fundamentalist Christians except for two, who didn't profess any religious views and every meal was started with prayers to God! I was offended by this, because doing things in this way is not a show of good faith in providing a neutral forum. And so much for diversity!

My work-mate, who also attended with me (it was for work), and I and all the other non-Christians there I spoke to felt like we were stuck at Christian Camp and felt very frustrated as there was no debate going on, just mutual agreement amongst the Christians (who made up the majority). I considered the conference hijacked by a Christian agenda, although they were so sincere about a neutral, safe ground..

I don't like discussing these things with Christians because I rarely find they understand how not to subconsciously proselytise subversively and even when they think they are being very accommodating, they are unconscious that they are discriminating against other beliefs.

So in my experience, no, this isn't possible, because you are asked to respect and respect yet receive only empty platitudes promising respect and delivering none.

PS. And no, they haven't stopped inviting me to their 'get-together' since then, and that was a year ago.

Answer 4

Yes, I have. In fact I have a very good friend who is a Christian. He doesn't try to convert but he sets a good example. He's mostly open to knowledge gained through science, including micro-evolution, though he denies macro-evolution is possible. We used to work together and would frequently run together for exercise and often would spend that hour or lunch hour talking religion, philosophy, science & politics. We get along really well and respect each other. One key reason we get along is that he has never once even hinted that he thinks I'm "going to hell" for my views. Another reason is that he supports the 1st Amendment separation of church & state. Too bad all Christians aren't like him.

Answer 5

Yes, absolutely. My family are still Christians, and my best friend is Christian. I used to be Christian, and when I became atheist, I spent a lot of time explaining why to my family and friends. They were very civil conversations, and while my family and friends are still believers, they understood where I was coming from and have been respectful of my NOT believing in the same things they believe.

Answer 6

I know exactly what you mean. You mean, after a brief conversation with you or any other Christian, has an atheist ever said, "Oh my God, I've been so wrong all this time and now I believe in the monotheist - three-in-one-God that always was in the permanent form but begat himself of a virgin but did not commit adultry or sin even when he killed himself to sacrifice himself for sins like Eve's discovering she was naked even though nobody asked God to even create sin or kill himself for our benefit." Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. And Christians want to talk about reason? Give me a break, the only thing Christians have going as an epistemology (method of knowing) is blind faith in the teachings of guys with personal bones to pick and a group of religious bureaucrats who selected a few books out of many to support their claims to power.
Is it something like that? Or do you mean that FIRST we establish clear ground rules about what data is admissible in our "reasonable" discussion.
A couple of questions: Why is it that God stopped talking after Jesus, Mohamed, or some other guru? Why is it that God is so damned inarticulate that "his word" is so ambiguous and needs so much interpretation that religious sects and denominations spring up like rats at breeding time. If there was a God, don't you think that he would have been smart enough to make his word clear and he would have communicated His word directly to each and every heart and mind in the world at birth?
Oh heah, and the Satan myth. Look in the Bible, any Bible out of the hundreds of interpretations, and research Satan's felonies. Then look at God's felonies. Satan was a smartass kid who was disrespectful to his parent. In return he gets burned for eternity. Child Welfare needs to be called on that one. Doesn't God have any parenting skills at all.
Sorry to ramble but I really liked your question about reasonable conversations.
Christians are dangerous bigots who would never allow an atheist to be elected to any public office. The even kill reasonable scientists to prevent the communication that the earth is not the center of the universe.
Can we have a reasonable conversation?
I know what you mean: convert or die. Just look at the new Christian video game. If they don't convert, the Christian can kill infidels for game points.
I just have to stop. But yes, I know what you mean.

Answer 7

Yes. All the time. Most of the people I work with believe in some religion. Plus I used to be religious. Of course, my co-workers aren't the insane drooling irrational lunatics you meet online.

And I was hoping by your screenname that you were an atheist too - because if you actually don't put any stock in reason, you should throw away that computer and cell phone and car and indoor plumbing and go live in a tree. Because reason gave you all of that.

Answer 8

Sure. I've had loads of great conversations about religion with people of all sorts of faiths. Frankly, I refuse to have any other kind. If a conversation turns nasty or becomes an argument, I get up and leave. The whole point of conversation should be to find the truth, not to score points.

Unfortunately, the anonymity of the internet breeds all sorts of incivility in forums like Y!A. It's fun to spar back, occasionally, but I try to steer clear of it.

Answer 9

Yup. I've even held conversations here, inasmuch as you can converse here, with Christians about religion where all parties came away feeling pretty positive about it. Or at least they acted as if they did.

Mostly, the believer has to agree that it's okay for the non-believer to not believe in god and the non-believer has to agree that it's okay for the believer to believe in god. Both parties have to agree that the other side is neither bad nor stupid for believing the way they do and pick language accordingly.

Answer 10

Yes, many times, when I was supposedly a Christian... But even then , I had questions that no one could answer, and I had an awful time trying to stay a Christian.. The time finally came when I stopped trying to be, and I found another religion that does not believe in a creator God...I'm glad I found out about Buddhism... I'm happier than ever...