If I was an atheist, I wouldn’t worry or care about defending my beliefs to others.
As a Christian, I try to share my beliefs with others to show them the Truth, save them from Hell, and because I was commissioned by my God to do so.
But why do atheists even care? They don’t believe in a Heaven and Hell, or a God. If they are so big on the freedom of individual beliefs, just let Christians believe whatever they want and just leave it alone.
Thank you.
Posted: June 22nd 2010
Dave Hitt www
I don’t care what you believe. I don’t want to care.
But the moment your belief interferes with my life or the public good, I have to care. If you want creationism taught in schools, I have to care. If you insist that “under god” is part of the pledge of allegiance, I have to care. If you’re waking me up on what was supposed to be a sleep-in Saturday morning, I reallyhave to care.
In an ideal world not believing in god would be no more or less important that not believing in Santa. But it won’t be an ideal world until the uber religious learn to mind their own business and keep their beliefs to themselves.
Just think, all you have to do to make the world a better place is shut up! What could be easier?
Posted: July 17th 2010
Mike the Infidel www
In other words: “My dogma tells me I should be free to push my beliefs on you, but since you don’t have such a dogma, kindly shut up.”
Why should we submit to your control, and where do you get the idea that allowing people to hold and spread false beliefs is objectively a moral good?
Posted: July 17th 2010
George Locke
Just as some believers seek to save infidels from Hell, some atheists seek to save believers from ruinous dogma. The motivation is the same in both cases: altruism. Since believers often visit their dogma on unbelievers, de-converting one believer benefits society at large as well as the believer.
Regarding freedom of belief: I support your right to believe what you will, but that doesn’t mean I am indifferent to your beliefs. More generally, I will defend your freedom to choose, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try and influence your choice.
Posted: July 9th 2010
bitbutter www
Imagine that you saw someone wasting a lot of their scarce time and energy on a belief that you had very strong reason to suppose was false.
If you’re like me, you’d assume that this person would prefer to find out if one of their beliefs was false, even if this might cause discomfort for a while.
By sharing your reasons for skepticism with the believer, you’d be hoping to do him a favor by persuading him that his belief was false. That’s what I hope to do when I address counter-apologetic arguments to theists.
Posted: July 6th 2010
SmartLX www
There are plenty of earthly reasons to challenge religious faith in the absence of an ethereal counterpart to your supposed mandate from God.
One thing we have in common is that we see the dissemination of truth as a worthy goal in itself. We are of course at odds about what the truth actually is, but we agree in principle that spreading it is good.
Rather than Hell, I seek to save people the huge amounts of time, energy and money they’re pouring into ultimately pointless religious enterprises (many also have secular charitable purposes, but they’re still trying to please a god that isn’t there) as well as the mental anguish of being branded lowly sinners and victims in need of a saviour who’ll never come. I seek to improve people’s lives by freeing them of all this.
I don’t have an equivalent to your supposed commission. I decided to write for this site by myself, and I do it for free. That just means my other reasons are enough to make me act.
As you know, just because people are free to do something doesn’t mean they should. I do not question your freedom to believe whatever you want, but your beliefs are shared by a large number of people who are willing (and currently attempting) to encroach on the freedoms of those who don’t share those beliefs and do other harm to them in order to impose said beliefs upon them and upon the young or undecided.
Rather than impose my position upon the religious likewise, I attempt to persuade them to abandon religion voluntarily. This is the big difference between that which is frivolously labeled “militant atheism” and, for instance, “militant Islam”. The latter often involves the use of a Kalashnikov. The former is a form of peaceful activism.
Your beliefs are not threatened by the public existence of atheists unless you yourself are unsure of them. I don’t want to take them from you, I would like to see you renounce them honestly and of your own free will because I think it would benefit you in the long run. I can’t make you do this, so I don’t try.
Posted: July 6th 2010
logicel
So since your non-evidential and bizarre belief system tells you to meddle, contort reality, and push your agenda, you can?
It is religious believers like you who can’t keep their non-evidential beliefs to themselves who are the problem. If folks like you were not so intrusive and smug, we would be happy to let you be.
We care because god-soaked individuals like yourself focus on robbing rights from others, like elective abortion, gay marriage, cell stem research leading to cures of terrible illnesses, etc.
Since you have missed the point like a mile, why don’t you browse the site and read more about what does concern atheists? Your ignorance is astounding. For starters, atheism is not a belief system, it is simply the lack of god belief.
Posted: July 5th 2010