a question for atheist?

Question

To all,
is it your experience that when someone challenges your position that they seem not not be able to understand that you did not come to your ideas without thought.

Sapient is a thinking person, read her answers. I added her as a contact so I could read what she says, even some of her short answers are sharp, concise and pointed.

although I'm putting this in R/S, i'm not asking for a theological discourse, just if you feel like people dont understand you come by your conclusions the same way everyone else does. you are using your brain and thinking things through

thanks

to all: I have posted some questions and took hits from christians who did not take time to read the question. I'm guessing all of you have gotten the same stuff.

my question is not to patronize anyone. I'm not in that business. What I'm hoping to find out is what your experiences are. While I believe in Jesus being God, and you may not, if I wanted to debate the existance of snow white, I would not ask about how you are treated when you ask questions.

like all of you, I learn from what people are willing to share, as well as what others have written.

Answer 1

My position is not a way of life. I don't even think or dwell upon the facts and or terminology's of any religion.

Nor do I make fun of or denounce any person for what they believe in. To each his own !!

But I do find humor in the fact that all men/woman will argue about it with all there will. Even to the point that they will kill or be killed for their faith. I personally have better things to do in this world than worry about a belief system.......Give it a name if you will, but it's a waste of time, energy and breath..........

But yes I do find from time to time a person who is hell bent over high water in convincing me that there is a god of some sort........and I Liston to them with respect and hear them out, but I will debate it with them and at the end they still insist that their way of thinking is the correct one and I will burn in hell for not accepting Jesus.............

What gives them the right to judge me.........let there so called god do it when my time comes.......If their judging and doing the job of there god aren't they the sinners in the eyes of there Almighty, alpha and the omega..............

Answer 2

Yes I see that. I think in most cases they are unable to understand what rationality is.

I mean they seem to have been raised all their life to believe and do just what they are told. First by parents then by their schools and then by Church and Govt.

Authoritarianism is a thinking pattern as well as a system. It can not survive unless it is supported from the bottom up.

The thing is that faith is a lazy pattern of thought which assumes no personal responsibility at all.
The result is that independent thinking is a complete mystery to them.

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Any decision based on authority is suspect. If you can not evaluate Dawkin's ideas critically you are no better off really than if you are unable to critically evaluate what your priest or politician tells you.

Answer 3

Thanks, but I really have never felt that people don't understand that I come to my position through thought.

That is probably because I don't go around declaring that I am an atheist to people who don't know me. I don't think it is helpful at all to label yourself by what you are not. Instead, I get to know people first, so they know I am a thinking person. Then then get to know my character. By the time they find out I do not have a belief in a diety, they may actually have to change their preconceived ideas of what an atheist is.

BTW, Sapient's Q&A are blocked.

Answer 4

I agree with you. It is horrid the way people attack when their beliefs are challenged. I see no reason why we can't have a dialogue with out the "low blows"
What makes a persons beliefs the most intimate of all human attributes, is the fact that it not only takes time and reason but every experience, and emotion. That is why I find it unjust to infer that someone is "stupid" because of what they believe.

Answer 5

Well you have to understand, this is a group of people, whom some believe that the devil and demons are making you think that way and are blinding you to the truth. I don't mean this in a joking manner either. So, when you take their mindset, it's easier to understand their conclusions about how you arrived at your answers.

Answer 6

What exactly is the question?

And I disagree with your point, some people are raised as Atheistic as people are raised Christian these days, I know many lifelong Atheists that never felt the need to give it thought.

Answer 7

My mother was the first to realize that I had given it a great deal of thought. She said that she knows I don't do things without thinking them over thoroughly , and that if I heard the same sermons over and over again , but they don't add up for me , there is no use attending church service with the family .

Answer 8

Definatley. It's easy to miss given how prone people on both sides of the argument are to trade barbs rather than discuss.

When you stop being open to listening to others views you stop learning.

Answer 9

Sometimes, but when I sit and really talk to them they come to understand my decisions eventually. I've only run across a few that refuse to believe what I say.

Answer 10

the only reason I'm an atheist is because no one can prove their god exists

Really all someone has to do is that

Instead all that happens is that people use rhetoric and special pleas.