Why do some atheists recruit people of faith to be atheists?

Question

1. Atheists cannot prove that there is no God.

2. Why in the world are you trying to recruit people to not believe in God? Athesism isn't a religion.

3. I know there are some atheists out there who don't belittle people because of there faith. I'm sure that each Athesit has his or her own belief system.

4. I imagine that most Athesits believe in the Big Bang and The Theory of Evolution. These are beliefs widely held by Atheists but as with all scietific inquiry if better evidence came along for something else I'm certain you would accept it. As with all theories they are just that theories an explanation of what was thought to have happened.

Answer 1

Nobody can really prove anything. That's hard for anyone to cope with, but our five senses are really pretty limited.

We find comfort in beliefs - whether they are in faith or science - they help us feel better about our environment. We feel even better if other people see things the same way we do - and so we seek those people out.

For every truth there are approximately 6.5 billion perspectives. It will be a pretty amazing world if we ever figure that out.

Answer 2

"1. Atheists cannot prove that there is no God."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot

"2. Why in the world are you trying to recruit people to not believe in God? Athesism isn't a religion."

Exactly. Religion isn't doing anything good for the world. It's getting involved in things it shouldn't be, like scientific reasearch.

"3. I know there are some atheists out there who don't belittle people because of there faith. I'm sure that each Athesit has his or her own belief system."

And vice versa for religious people, however atheists have been "belittled" and even killed for centuries because of their beleifs.

"4. I imagine that most Athesits believe in the Big Bang and The Theory of Evolution. These are beliefs widely held by Atheists but as with all scietific inquiry if better evidence came along for something else I'm certain you would accept it. As with all theories they are just that theories an explanation of what was thought to have happened. "

Anyone who is critical of evolution likes to say "it's just a theory, a guess, not a fact" when that is not true. A scientific theory is not "an explanation of what was thought to have happened", it's backed by scientific evidence, viewable examples, etc. You should read up on scientific theories.

Answer 3

[1. Atheists cannot prove that there is no God.]

So? You can't disprove that invisible Unicorns live on Mars but no one's going to believe it anyway. The burden of proof is on your hands. Additionally, throughout history gods have been used to explain or personify natural phenomena. Why should your god not be exiled to the realms of myth and legend with the rest of them?

[2. Why in the world are you trying to recruit people to not believe in God? Athesism isn't a religion.]

I'm not trying to recruit anyone, as you said atheism isn't a religion. I will continue to question the beliefs of those that people would have forced upon me though. If your beliefs are allowed to have place in modern day society then I'm allowed to question them.

[3. I know there are some atheists out there who don't belittle people because of there faith. I'm sure that each Athesit has his or her own belief system. ]

*claps* But what are you asking or trying to prove?

[4. I imagine that most Athesits believe in the Big Bang and The Theory of Evolution. These are beliefs widely held by Atheists but as with all scietific inquiry if better evidence came along for something else I'm certain you would accept it. As with all theories they are just that theories an explanation of what was thought to have happened.]

Actually theories are just scientific models , such as the theory of gravity (how gravity works) etc. They aren't "just theories", surely you've got the intelligence to see that.
And yes, if something else is proven to be true then that's what I'll accept. I don't "believe in" the answers that science provides any more than I "believe in" the existence of the computer on my desk. You're confusing religious belief - "the belief in something regardless of evidence, usually based on faith alone" - with the other meaning of believe - "to accept that something is correct/accurate" - which in most cases is based upon supporting evidence.

Answer 4

There isn't really that much of that happening.

Sure if a religious person asks about it they'll get told the arguments and may end up losing their faith in the process and some of the more annoying religious people might find themselves forced into a debate (although they usually have to be pushy).

Some atheists who have only recently lost their religion or who are angry over something a religion did recently (and there's a lot to be angry about) can become very hostile to religion, I know I'm hostile to it but most atheists realise that people aren't going to lose their faith easily and don't really bother converting others.

Something about having better things to do.

As for your four points:
1. Whilst we can't prove that there is no god the fact is that no one has proved that there is a god despite people trying for thousands of years. This gives us good reason to suspect that a god really doesn't exist and that we are right to demand that theists put up some evidence that god exists or shut up and stop bothering us. The burden of proof also falls squarely upon the theists who need to prove that god exists while atheism is the default if there is no such proof.

2. Atheism isn't a religion but religion itself is quite harmful so reducing the number of religious people is in our interest although there is a limit to how far we should go for that. We don't need to kill all the religious, as much as that might solve the overpopulation 'problem' because we're already winning as pretty much the only belief that is gaining adherence. If current trends continue we'll eventually dominate without needing any special action.

3. Most atheists don't bother discussing religion all that much, they usually learn not long after losing their religion that discussions about religion tend not to result in any winners and that they aren't worth entering. It's usually only a areas designated as for discussion about religion (like here) or when theists get annoying and start shoving religion in peoples' faces that the belittling happens.

4. Most atheists accept the scientific evidence just like most educated theists do and if better evidence came along we'd probably be among the first segments of the population to accept it (remember that most of the elite scientists who are likely to discover the better theories are atheists). Also what we've got right now is at least a decent approximation to reality so even if they were wrong they'd still be useful.

Answer 5

Why do some deists recruit people of science to be religious?
1. Deists cannot prove that there is a God.

2. Why in the world are you trying to recruit people to believe in God? Deism isn't a science.

3. I know there are some deists out there who don't belittle people because of their faith. I'm sure that each Deist has his or her own belief system.

4. I imagine that most Deists believe in Creation and Intelligent Design. These are beliefs widely held by Deists but as with all religious inquiry if better evidence came along for something else I'm certain you wouldn't accept it. As with all theories they are just that and have to take a back seat to faith.

Answer 6

"1. Atheists cannot prove that there is no God."

Huh? So what?

"2. Why in the world are you trying to recruit people to not believe in God? Athesism isn't a religion."

You answered the question yourself. Appealing to reason and logic and evidence is not 'converting'. And no, atheism isn't a faith. And questioning a mythology that is claiming to be The Absolute Truth is not 'converting'.

I did not 'convert' my kids from believing in Santa, nasty evil anti-santa-theists appealed to their reason, y'see? Same thing.

"3. I know there are some atheists out there who don't belittle people because of there faith. I'm sure that each Athesit has his or her own belief system."

So what?

Answer 7

i do no longer attempt to get rid of human beings's faith. i do no longer pass to human beings's properties and tell me to resign believing in god like oh assorted theists do. we are on an open communicate board we talk issues here. We talk the specialists and cons of religion. Why the Bible is termed "holy." =P Morality and all that jazz. I talk my edge of the tale. this could nicely be a communicate board the place we talk faith (no longer purely the helpful aspects of religion yet faith in an entire). and prefer that guy mentioned, it is the guy's option to believe or no longer believe on the top of the day.

Answer 8

1. Wrong, we ARE our own Gods (so the Christians tell us) - so we want recruits to worship us.

2. It IS a religion (so the Christians tell us), so we need recruits to give us their children for sacrifice.

3. Haven't you heard of Hitler and Stalin? They wanted everyone to worship Atheism so they killed those who didn't believe in it (so the Christians...)

4. We need recruits because planting fossils takes a lot of manpower.

Answer 9

Athesism is certainly not a religion. I couldn't agree with you more. I have no idea what athesism might be, but it's certainly not a religion.

Neither, of course, is a Chaucerian approach to spelling.

Answer 10

Probably for the same reason that evangelicals try to recruit others to their way of thinking. They believe that they're right and want to share "the good news" about it.