do atheist shun religion because of the message of the religion or the manner believers try to convert?

Question

them with,could anything turn a non religious athiest into a believer in the reality of the self/God,what would it take

Answer 1

I like the answers your other responders have given so far but I think this one will have some fun with your mind.

First, they're right, almost everyone who doesn't believe in a puppet-master diety who sees us when we're sleeping and knows when we're awake is that we see no reason to believe that. I don't believe that part of our scripture for the same reason you don't believe what the Egyptian Book of the Dead says or any other load of superstitions -you have no reason to.

Here's where it gets fun. Those of us who don't believe in the traditional image of an omnitient god of any sort are actually more respectful of Gd than those of you who do believe it! Here's why: We don't think we should believe something unless it's proven. You (I'm assuming from your question your a theist) are believing something is true simply because you believe it's true without any proof from outside.

Only Gd gets to do that! Ha!

Therefore theists are convusing yourselves with Gd. Only Gd gets to assume that because she thinks something it must be true. The rest of us (you included) should have proof.

ALSO
You don't have to be a theist to be religious. I'm a commtted Jew. Our religion is about conduct, not what I tell myself I believe. A lot of rabbis would say I'm a dumb person for seeing Gd as a human-made idea but they'd still consider me a Jew. And when they saw how much I try to be charitable, not slander, get to services, etc. they'd still call me a "good" Jew.

You also don't have to be a theist to adhere to Buddhism or any of a slew of other religions.

LASTLY
If there was a way for you to pursuade people to convert to your religion from atheism or any other perspective I wouldn't tell you. You should respect other people's beliefs enough to leave them alone about what they believe and not tell them their belief system (if it doesn't hurt anyone) is inferior to yours.

-Glenn O.

Answer 2

It usually has little to do with the message (parts of it are usually good) or the conversion attempts. We tend to shun religion simply because we do not believe it, and more importantly because people have a tendency to shun us for that, or just try to shove it down our throats.

I know I don't particularly like that.

ETA: It would take some proof that there is anything to believe in. At the very least, some actual evidence would be nice.

Answer 3

I shun religion because many men with power in religion use it to further their agenda, not God's. It started to hurt my head differentiating between what God wanted and what my priest wanted. Often times they didn't connect, and if you study religion, you will see that many messages and teachings came from men alone, with no evidence of God's interaction. This forms a flimsy basis for a religion that is supposedly divine. If God gave us free will, what prevents a man from using that to write books of the bible or tell you this is what God wants when it really isn't the case, and if and when they do how will you know?

My biggest objection was upon discovering the existence of many other religions, being told to believe that all of them were going to hell for believing something else. So, there's only 1 God and at least 30 groups claiming to have this one true God, all of them believe their group is going to heaven and all the others aren't. How can that be?

Answer 4

I'm an atheist because I don't believe in a supreme creator. The only thing that could convince me of its existence would be if it appeared before me and proved to me that it created all things. If the various religions are to be believed, this shouldn't be a huge task since most gods are alleged to have personally appeared to their believers at one point or another, and in fact, some of them are claimed to have had an ongoing relationship with their believers - face-to-face.

"You want proof of God - look at a rainbow" and other such "evidence" doesn't do it for me. It's as easy to believe that a giant purple teddy bear created the entire universe as it is to believe that a Gandalf-looking guy named Jehovah did.

Sadly, so many people have tried for so long (and so poorly) to convince non-believers to believe their myths that if, for example, a guy came along claiming to be the returned messiah of one particular Big Three religion, even if he exhibited all of the traits and fulfilled the prophecies in the Holy Instruction Manual, his own followers would likely brand him a false prophet and destroy him.

If "God" ever did exist, Man destroyed "Him" when he created religion.

Answer 5

A sharp blow to the head would probably do the trick. Seriously, atheists don't believe in god because they recognize that there is no reason to believe in something for which evidence does not exist. Nothing to do with the religion or the believers. After all, if that was all there was to it, we could be non-denominational theists.

Answer 6

What bothers me is when some religious people use their god to defend a terrible act or justify ignorance. Other than that, I have no problem with religion.

To convert to any particular religion I would need justification of those beliefs. In my opinion, "feeling it in your heart" is not evidence but a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would need some objective evidence and/or valid arguments.

Answer 7

I don't shun religion, the fact is I don't believe your god is real.

The believers who try to convert me have no effect on my decision, they are just annoying

Answer 8

Why do you people try so hard to convert?

I might get in trouble for saying this but there is only one thing you can do to get people to convert to your fantasy: Force and oppression. Is that what you want? People using force to get them to believe like themselves?

This would imply that I could use force to do the same.

Give up these silly crusades....

Answer 9

Most atheists are atheists because there exists no evidence of god/s. So... the only think that could convert me into a theist would be authentic, objective, verifiable evidence that a god exists.

Answer 10

there is no set atheist doctrine, so i am only speaking for myself as someone who shuns religion: I shun religion because it promotes ignorance, racism, tribalism, arrogance, intolerance, and just bad ideas... along with some good things... and no evidence for any of it.