Is the reason Atheists and Christians attack each other really?

Question

that the CHRISTIANS are afraid there is no god, and their life is a lie...
and the ATHEISTS are secretly afraid there is a God, and theyre missing out on eternal life.

I would say that this is probably not a conscious fear in us, but everybody has doubts, even those who have blinded themselves so fiercely and won't even question their belief, do this to overcompensate for those doubts.

So looking objectively, do you think this could be true?

(and dont just say 'god exists/doesn't 100%' because you don't know and I know you are telling porkies)

Answer 1

No, I am defending my Lord! There is NO doubt in my mind that Jesus loves Me! Just please leave us alone. You will not convince us that our God does not exists. You are waisting your time why even bother?

Answer 2

Well, the thing is, I'm AWARE that I have doubts, so the atheists "attacking" Christians doesn't bother me at all. As a matter of fact, I LOVE it.

But other than that, generally speaking, I believe you may be right. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part...yes.

Edit: I also agree with John F to an extent. Religious people usually can't IMAGINE someone not believing in God unless they've been an atheist.
An atheist can't imagine someone believing in God...even if they were raised with a religion.

Answer 3

Objectively, I dont beleive that true christians fear that there is no God and that atheists fear there is. I think they are just on opposite sides of belief and whenever you have two groups that totally disagree with one another there is always conflict. That is the human side of us.

The question I would ask the unsure would be.....Would you want to go through life beleiving in no God to die and find out there is, or go through life beleiving in a God to die and find out there isn't? I think its best to study hard and come up with an answer on your own rather than listen to other people and then blindly beleiving what they tell you.

Answer 4

Okay- Heres my opinion - you asked for it... yeah I believe in a God. I believe that God is different for all. I was married to an atheist but I participated in church as a child 3 days a week. My problem is with organized religion. Tell me why we have these big elaborate expensive churches that xtains dress in their best and drive their Lexus to while children down the block have no food or loving adult in their life to help them? Jesus himself was homeless, a nomad, and nowhere in the Bible does it stress, you must have the best of everything. Where 2 or more are gathered.... What about the Golden rule....It's do onto others as you would have done to you..... Not do onto you as you would have done onto you. I can see both sides of this argument. But I do love my God, as I believe. And I have that right as you have your own. It's not my job to change your mind to step away from the dark side. It's my job as a christian to be kind, non judgemental and loving in life. Have you all forgot??

Answer 5

I think anytime that people attack each other vehemently about their views on anything, inclusive of religious beliefs there's a problem on the attacker's side.Whether it be the Red Sox(sniff, sniff what's happening with my home team??)vs. the Yankees, for the war in Iraq/against the war in Iraq, atheists vs. Christians. My question would be "who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?". So I feel that your supposition about doubts being the cause of these I believe you are correct. If one argues enough they have to be right....well in their mind have to convince themselves. I'll forego saying "God exists"(oops just said it) which is my belief and yes I can't prove it, I walk by faith and not by sight. A healthy give and take discussion would serve everyone better. "you catch more bees with honey than vinegar". I think if anyone came on strong to me and challenged anything, my first reaction would be to defend myself vs. a mild question from an atheist or vice-versa. But let me say this THE RED SOX ARE THE BEST, ... even though we lost 2 to those darn Yankees.

Answer 6

I do evaluate myself an Atheist yet i do no longer attempt to push my ideals on each physique and ask for the comparable attention. end employing the considered ALL.... i'm particular some participants of the Christian community feels the comparable...

Answer 7

God exists independent of what people think or believe. So my belief in Him, whether it wavers or not, has no impact on His existence, any more than my disbelief in gravity would make it cease to affect me.

I was actually pondering something along the lines of your question just recently. News has come out that Mother Theresa had serious doubts during her life, that she felt separated from God. A lot of people are saying this proves Christianity isn't real, because if it was then why would so many Christians have doubts? Of course i think that argument is an argument from ignorance. One can doubt something that is true. My mother can love me and this can be the truth, but i can still doubt it.

I think many atheists think doubts disprove Christianity, so a lot of Christians are afraid to talk about their doubts. They don't want to be accused by the non-believers of being a fellow non-believer, as quirky as that sounds. That would seem to me to be the reason most Christians are silent about their doubts. Possibly vice versa for atheists.

Most atheists don't realize, and an increasing number of Christians don't realize, that in Christianity doubts can be a good thing. Doubts show us the parts of our Faith that we do not know, and prompt us to go searching for answers. So after a doubt, a Christian ends up with a stronger Faith than before they had the doubt.

I suppose this could also be true for atheists; i.e. by having doubts they are prompted to go learn about their "faith" more, but there are several points that seem to argue against this. If atheists knew doubts paradoxically made a person's belief stronger, why would they say Christians' doubts disprove Christianity? Wouldn't they then say that doubts were a good thing to Christianity?

And in other questions here, sometimes Christians will ask atheists if they ever have doubts, etc., and most of the responses typically say no. Of course, that would be a "hostile" situation for an atheist, prompting them to say no, but still it seems rather blind to me. Maybe "blind" isn't the right word, though it would technically be right theologically--perhaps "immature" would be a better word. Like a teenager who acts as if she knows everything, because hey, she's a teenager who can "think" for herself. The same would be true for Christians who would answer that they had no doubts.

I have been wondering if the reason why atheists think doubts make a person's Faith weaker might be because they themselves never have doubts. Of course that is rediculous. We are all human and all doubt, except for when we drown out those doubts with the chant of "I'm right I'm right I'm right!" Which is why i was relieved to find your question: I await with eagerness other people's opinions on this.

Ultimately doubting or not doubting doesn't matter to reality. If God doesn't exist, no amount of Christians believing He does will make Him exist (exist outwardly, of course, for inwardly people can delude themselves however they wish). The converse is true: if God exists, no amount of disbelief will make Him cease existing. Here is where the Christian typically has the upper hand. If God does exist, then those who don't believe in Him are in big trouble. But if He doesn't exist, those who do believe in Him aren't in any trouble at all. Further, atheists continually say there is no meaning and so we have to make up meaning for ourselves, and what's to prevent that meaning from being God? Which is to say, even if God isn't real, one can still find meaning in Him. If He doesn't exist, then there's no difference whether God is believed in or not: whether one believes or not, one still pops into nonexistence after death.

This would seem to make the score Christians: 2 to Atheists: 0, for it would seem as if God existed, Christians won, and if God didn't exist, Christians still didn't lose. But as St. Paul says, "If Christ is not died and risen, we above all people are to be pitied." That is, God and the eternal life He gives is so wonderful, that even nonexistence without Him would be as bad as going to Hell. Of course, we would not be there to be disappointed to find there's nothing after death, and we still would have happy lives expecting to have peace after death, but to expect something and get nothing is still terrible. Even when you are not around to be disappointed at not receiving what you thought you would.

Of course, i am mixing the Christian worldview with the atheist worldview in saying this, which might be why it doesn't make total logical sense. XP

Answer 8

Did not! Did so!Did not! Did so! The point is theres two ways to go,1.) Either we believe and are disappointed when we get there or 2.) We don't believe and were disappointed when we get there. I think I know which group I want to belong to.

Answer 9

Its a typical drag queen catfight between Ms goodie two shoes(Christians) and Ms Slut(Atheist ) for the ultimate title of Ms Drag Universe aka Ever so knowing Queen of it all.

Answer 10

Not at all. I am a Christian.

When someone runs out of valid arguments, they start calling the other side names. What do you see in the answers presented so far?

I think it's because each side is convinced they have the truth, and want to share it.

Answer 11

I think it's really about intolerance.
I have atheist and christian friends who all get on really well and don't start attacking one another over beliefes.

When people can hide behind an avatar they start getting nasty.

Of course everyone has doubts had some stage over their beliefs - we wouldn't be human if we didn't.