an atheist and a christian....?

Question

will never agree . this makes the whole topic such a waist of time . why don't both side just shake hands and say i don't understand you but i respect you enough to say good luck on your ventures and i hope we can be friends

Answer 1

That's a very good suggestion.

By the way, it's "waste of time."

Answer 2

So, you have finally figured out the atheist position then.

As far as I know, the vitriol comes from the "right" if you get my drift. I and any atheist I know, have always been willing to do battle so that religious people can indulge themselves in any idea, no matter how completely bizarre, they find works for them.

I would literally do this if it came to it.

Why? Not because I can find one shred of evidence that religion is actually valid, it is, after all, a stone- age invention. It is because the RIGHT to choose for oneself is the singularly most important exercise of freedom. This choice must STOP, however, when it involves assumptions, at the very tip of one’s nose. It is with this caveat that many fundies, all fundies, really, who give normal Christians a really bad name, insist on causing the irritation so mind bindingly irritating by Christian fundies.

So, we care not one whit what you choose to believe with your time and education, such as it is, we just want fundies out of our respective faces. PLEASE!

It’s possible that the one thing that irritates fundies about atheists is that we like to do our own thinking.

Answer 3

I'm a Christian, and I already do. Actually, I can understand how some people can't believe in God because they can't see Him. I don't and wouldn't encourage someone to be forced to believe; that's pointless. I just tell people how I feel, that I believe in God because I have faith, and the Holy Spirit is in me. That's all I can do. But I do have great respect for non-believers -- who are courteous and respectful also. We don't have to agree on every point to get along.

But when someone starts bashing, ridiculing, or spouting hateful comments about God or Christianity, I won't just sit back and do nothing. I will defend God and my faith with (what I hope is!) a courteous, but firm response, sometimes with scripture if it's called for.

Answer 4

That would be great, if it wasn't for the fact that right-wing Christians are vigorously trying to use their Fairy Tale Book as a justification for hijacking the United States Government. Many conservative Christians I have met, maybe even the majority, have been decent, friendly people, but they subscribe to a narrow-minded, superstitious world view which leads to devastating consequences in such areas as civil rights for gays and women, foreign policy for the middle east and, worst of all, any serious approach to issues like climate change. The economic elite has made it a deliberate tactic to use these duped masses of Jesus Camp drones as political shock troops.

Many Americans who should know better get sucked along because they have been raised to believe that Christianity=Nice, respectable and decent. Most Americans, being borderline illiterates, don't even actually know what the Bible says. They haven't even really considered how absurd and contrary to the Founding Fathers and spirit of the Enlightenment it is to treat religious superstitions as a serious basis for civil law. They just think it's "nice" to go along with the Christians because, well, Christians follow Jesus, right? And Jesus is nice, right? He's, like, friends with Santa Clause and stuff, right?

This has to be stopped, or the future of the USA and the world are in peril. Mocking the buffoonish, hypocritical and dangerous ideas of Christianity is important, as long as Christians are going to insist on trying to force those buffoonish, dangerous ideas on the rest of us in the form of public policy. For the record, I don't consider "testifying" forcing their ideas on me--as long as they drop it when I politely ask them to leave me alone, I don't have any problem with that particular aspect of Christianity. But the Christian political agenda is dangerous and is actively destroying our world. So as a responsible member of society, I can't just shake hands and say good luck in your ventures. Their "ventures" are destroying the future for humanity.

Answer 5

Your thinking about it incorrectly - especially the "sides" thing.

Its not like you can get all the Atheists and Christians to agree on all things amongst themselves - much less between each other.

It really is a matter of temperament and internal psyche: Some people have done as you asked...

...Others refuse and intend to enforce their point of view at all cost - and in effect dehumanizing their opposition by essentially labelling them as sub-human (via the pejorative comments of being evil or being stupid).

Answer 6

Because it's fundamental to Christianity to go out and spread the Word. But there's no point in trying to force feed it. It's their problem if they refuse to listen, not get uptight about it. If they don't believe in Heaven and Hell, then what's the atheist's problem?

Answer 7

I have atheist friends; we avoid about talking things that would makes us argue. There's a lot of topics out there other than our beliefs.

Answer 8

I'd be more than happy to do that but many theists (not just xians) want their beliefs to be treated specially and given importance over everyone elses.

Answer 9

What a believer sees through the eyes of his/her Faith, I see through they eyes of my Conscience; as long as we both pursue good we walk on the very same path. That's how I see it, that's what allows me to get along wonderfully with my fiance who's Christian.

Answer 10

Only when the fundys stop trying to set up brainwashing for children in schools.