I'm wondering what this attitude is about, and if the people stating it have ever met and spoken with an atheist, or if it's some insidious part of (some) religious conditioning...
2007-07-10 03:51:14 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Persons who have a relationship with God have a hard time believing there are people who don't even believe He exists. He is more real to me than you are, so it does not matter to me that you don't believe.
2007-07-10 03:58:39 · answer #1 · answered by babydoll 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I don't give a flying leap what you religious cats believe in, if you wanna live your brief life awash in stupidity, you sure as shoot ain't gone be the first--nor the last. If you wanna sacrifice kitty cats, drink the 'blood' of a man that's been dead for over 2000 years, roll around on the floor talking gibberish, play with rattlesnakes, wash each other's feet, well, darlings, believe it or not, I've seen stranger human behavior. I sure as shoot don't want to, er, confuse you, but I AM AN ATHEIST. Since the age of 9 I have been an open atheist. I am perfectly at home with it, I'm not tortured in any way, I do not fear any gods, I do not fret endlessly that I have 'sinned,' I do not chatter away about BS whose sum and substance is of the First Century. I do not hate the god to which you ascribe such tricks of magic. What the hell is there is hate? Ain't nothing there, sweet ones, so why should I 'hate' it? It's like saying I 'hate' the Tooth Fairy or the 'little people' in the west of Ireland. Well, strike that...all I need is to be pestered by a gaggle of angry leprechauns.
2007-07-10 04:20:03 · answer #2 · answered by Yank 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The belief is that we are all really agnostic. It is based on the idea that we don't know everything. The question then becomes "is it possible that proof for god is in all the information you don't know?" Some may think it is possible, and therefore, they are an agnostic, not an atheist. They don't know if there is a god.
The argument has a few problems. First, theist who care about these things, will tell you "proof is all around you." So it is not possible that evidence for god exist in all the information I don't know. Second, ask the theist "Is it possible that evidence for the Tooth Fairy exist in all the information you don't know?" This argument is not going to change anyone's mind about the existence of the Tooth Fairy. Third, why would a loving god hide?
There are other responses, but I find these work most of the time.
2007-07-10 04:02:45 · answer #3 · answered by atheist 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
EVERYONE, with the possible exception of a hermit or two, and some closed societies, knows an atheist, probably several. They just don't know that they do. Why? Because it is unusual for atheists to announce it, just as most believers don't announce there religions in casual conversation.
That nice young man who mows his elderly neighbor's lawn in the summer, rakes the leaves in the fall, and shovels the snow for then all a winter, Your children;s babysitter, who is so loved by your kids, the brave fireman who rescued the baby and the cat from the that burning house last week, your high school English teacher, who opened the world of poetry to you, your favorite cousin---any of these people may be an atheist!
2007-07-10 04:05:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
It's just awful logic, not religious conditioning. I never heard it in all my years of Sunday School, etc.
And all people do it. There was a guy on here earlier claiming that there's no such thing as Christians, but rather we're all agnostic.
2007-07-10 07:56:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It often stems from the ridiculous belief that to be an atheist one must have complete knowledge of the universe in order to say something does not exist. Of course, this is redefining the term atheist to include an impossible level of certainty. The irony is that the one making has no problem stating the non-existence of an atheist without having complete knowledge.
2007-07-10 04:01:43 · answer #6 · answered by Eleventy 6 · 6⤊ 1⤋
What a silly notion that is, eh?
I've heard it said again and again and I've even seen someone who tried unsuccessfully to make a logical statement of it - LOL Ha ha ha - That was one of the most flawed bits of thinking I've come across in a long, long time.
And for those knuckle-heads who think I'm not real... Think again! Here I am and there are plenty just like me, all of us with the same clear and logical understanding that gods do not exist in any way shape or form other than in the minds of some very illogical people... and perhaps that includes you.
Good question... Thanks. You get a star.
[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.
2007-07-10 04:43:54 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
they refuse to believe that somebody dosen't believe. they are ignorant. it's some insidious part of (some) religious conditioning
2007-07-11 03:45:51 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's an insidious part of religious conditioning.
2007-07-10 03:55:06 · answer #9 · answered by punch 7 · 6⤊ 2⤋
To vilify atheists, some churches teach that the only reason people claim to be atheists is that they hate or are angry at their particular god.
It's ironic that they believe in an invisible monster, but refuse to believe *I* exist.
Should we go around telling them that there's no such thing as theists, and they just claim to believe because they're afraid of death?
2007-07-10 03:55:06 · answer #10 · answered by Dreamstuff Entity 6 · 9⤊ 1⤋