What do you really feel about atheism?

strobe

Ok so I thought the thread over on "the other forum" proved to be pretty interesting and decided to throw this one out there to give the Christians here a chance to have their say on atheism without having to defend their opinions from the heathens.

How do you all really feel about atheists or atheism in general?

Stephentlig

I loathe atheism, but love the atheist. is that the kind of quick response your looking for strobe?


Pax Christi
Stephen<3

PDN

Each to their own. In a secular multi-cultural society you get all kinds of people. So, while I would like to see all people come to know the truth, I don't see atheists any differently from how I would see Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims etc.

I find most atheists to be normal people and can get on with them fine. I do, however, find that the more fundamentalist and dogmatic variety tend to be a bit deluded in that they try to think they are more objective than other people, whereas they seem to me to be no more or less objective than religious people.

strobe

15 minutes.. Well Ste I certainly can't say that it wasn't a quick response.

I don't suppose you'd like to expand slightly? Why do you hate atheism exactly. Why do you love atheists if they are responsible for the existance of the thing you loathe? I wasn't looking for any particular response, quick or otherwise, I just noticed that Jakkass mentioned finding the other thread interesting so thought maybe this thread would help enlighten myself, seeing as I would be looking at it from the reverse position.

Thomas828

Well I've no problem with atheism or atheists. Both my parents are atheists and that doesn't make me love and respect them any less. Though what bugs me is what will happen to them when they die.

homer911

What I like about atheists is the fact that they KNOW they are are not going to Heaven - while many nominal Christians believe they probably will

prinz

I don't mind atheism. I don't mind a lot of atheists.. as PDN said each to their own, if they don't have a problem with me I don't have a problem with them.

I do take issue with some atheists who manage to combine their atheism with arrogance, condescension and a superiority complex.

antiskeptic

strobe wrote: »

Ok so I thought the thread over on "the other forum" proved to be pretty interesting and decided to throw this one out there to give the Christians here a chance to have their say on atheism without having to defend their opinions from the heathens.

How do you all really feel about atheists or atheism in general?

"When a man doesn't believe in God, he doesn't believe in nothing, he believes in anything"

I'd view atheism as one of the many alternative-to-God areas in which people can lay their (belief) head in rest. For we all need somewhere to do that: somewhere we can go to answer questions that need answering: what is good and why, why am I here, what is my purpose, where am I going?

Atheists, whilst frequently denying atheism is a belief system ("atheism is an absence of belief in gods") sidestep the fact that they also happen to believe in a naturalistic cause for Everything. And they construct their answers to the above kinds of questions according to that doctrine. The fact that atheists differ widely from each other in how they apply this doctrine doesn't affect the commonality of the root belief system - anymore that the "60 squillion" Christian denominations affects the commonality of the root of that system of belief.

And so, in line with PDN, I'd simply group atheists in the category "unbeliever". They have as much in common with the Muslim as the Muslim has with the Hindu. Each adhering to a system which sustains unbelief.

JimiTime

If I was to quip, I would say the concept is idiocy. However, thinking deeper, there is so much to consider.

1) From a Christian POV(As in I'm not going to talk about islam, hinduism etc), the Christian religions over the years have been a huge stumbling block. Hypocricy, superstition, control, powermongering etc.

2) Many Christians, including myself, have failed to be a beacon of light. Sure, we can talk the talk, but we fail to walk the walk. Living the message is what its about, but many of us just talk it. So people find it easy to simply say 'whats so special about Christianity'. It would be plain to see, if we were all a beacon for Christs light. In turn we make it easy for Christ to be dismissed.

So I feel a certain amount of guilt for atheism. In a way, it reminds me of my failings as a Christian. My faith is a blessing, so it would be ingracious to call atheists idiots or any such. If they 'sincerely' are as flabergasted about belief in God, as I am about atheism, then I should really just be thankful that I have been blessed and try to be a beacon for the light. Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen that way.

Its a huge question, and I think the above is a bout as generic as I can get.

BrianCalgary

I am going to speak of teh fundamentalist Atheist.

I feel very sorry for them as I know where they are going for eternity and it isn't fun.

I find that they talk that they don't have a religion yet they do have a belief system through which everything filters.

I also don't like the fact that there is a group who would silence any public display of Christian faith yet insist on their view of the world being the one taught in our schools.

I find them full of hypocrisy as I find fundamentalist Christians as well.

Kenny DNK

facepalm @ the title in this thread.

how can you expect an honest response when you are closing the issue to other sides?

Looks like you just want your ego massaged man. Even athiests cant deny God. What was the very first thing that ever existed at the very beginning of time?

Everyone has some sort of feeling of God in them, some just wont accept it, some just call it by a different name. Even Satan worshippers acknowledge God without knowing it, sure it was from God that everything came... lol

lmaopml

I just think of them as people who don't believe to be honest..or think of them the same way as people from another faith.....they are what they are and are free to be it in my book. I don't really concern myself too much about others choices unless they interfer with my own....

I guess like every general title people like to fall under... there are irritating people attached to it.... I think Atheists probably think that people of faith have annoying ways, and well some Atheists do too....lol...

Perhaps the most irritating are the ones who are plainly a bit challenged intellectually, and truely believe that because they googled evolution that that knowledge switched off their 'God' gene and now they are free and see the world differently and clearer than before through objective scientific eyes......YAWNS!! Ye know the sort

Thank goodness they are few and far between though....ahem.

strobe

Kenny DNK wrote: »

facepalm @ the title in this thread.

how can you expect an honest response when you are closing the issue to other sides?

Looks like you just want your ego massaged man.

Wait....so the cops knew internal affairs were setting them up....?

I really haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about with the above man. This thread is a corresponding one to a similar thread in another forum, nothing more. I think you have misread it somehow.

Kenny DNK wrote: »

Even athiests cant deny God. What was the very first thing that ever existed at the very beginning of time?

Everyone has some sort of feeling of God in them, some just wont accept it, some just call it by a different name. Even Satan worshippers acknowledge God without knowing it, sure it was from God that everything came... lol

I'm kind of defeating the conditions I set on the thread by responding to this (but seeing as you were addressing me directly.....) and I can only speak for myself but, no, I do not have some sort of feeling of God in me. Also, of course Satan worshipers acknowlege God, you can't believe in Satan or worship him without believing in God, their narratives are directly intertwined.

krudler

Deleted for ignoring OP's request for Christian-minded posts only

Soul Winner

Atheists are fine, they at least take a stand on something. It's those pesky agnostics that get on my nerves. "Oh well I don't really know enough to make a decision on anything." Read a book numpty... :mad:

krudler

Deleted for ignoring OP's request for Christian-minded posts only

Soul Winner

Response to a deleted post, hence this one deleted as well

mardybumbum

Deleted for ignoring OP's request for Christian-minded posts only

Soul Winner

Response to a deleted post, hence this one deleted as well

monosharp

Deleted for ignoring OP's request for Christian-minded posts only

kowloon

A priest once told me he had more respect for atheists than people who just accepted Catholicism but never put in any effort to understand it or to delve any deeper than what was taught to them in primary school.

I'm an atheist, and I have more respect for a devout Catholic (feel free to insert another religion here) than I do for an atheist who is just accepting atheism without thinking about it.

kumate_champ07

Deleted for ignoring OP's request for Christian-minded posts only

PDN

Moderators Note

I am heartily sick of the crap that goes on in this forum, and is demonstrated in this thread.

The OP asked for Christian-minded posts only. And, in contrast to the intolerance in a similar thread on the A&A forum, most of the Christian responses have been non-controversial in the extreme.

Nevertheless, a number of non-Christian posters have seen fit to try to use this thread to pick arguments. Any more of it and I'm handing out infractions. I'bve had to delete a load of posts - and any further ignoring of the stipulation (clearly displayed in the thread title and the OP) earns red cards.

Understood?

the_dark_side

I had misinterpreted to word 'Cristian' in the title of the original post. I thought OP wanted Christian as in 'civilized' responses to his question
p.s. how do you mean non-controversial?

PDN

the_dark_side wrote: »

I had misinterpreted to word 'Cristian' in the title of the original post. I thought OP wanted Christian as in 'civilized' responses to his question
p.s. how do you mean non-controversial?

I mean that the majority of posters have refrained from bashing atheism, unlike the mirror thread whereas the following key words cropped up when atheists expressed their views of religion:

silly, dangerous, source of all evil, morons, ridiculous, weak people, bonkers, no logic, crazy, mumbo jumbo, simple minded fools, deluded, narrow minded (ironic or what!), lunatics, no place in modern society, ignorance, idiocy, , dangerous delusion that needs to be removed from society, stain on the human race, gullibility, irrationality, arrogance (more irony!), brainwashed, should be banned from public life, disgusting, vile, sickening.

The most controversial thing in this thread, tbh, is your equating 'Christian' and 'civilised'. :pac:

mehfesto

PDN wrote: »

I mean that the majority of posters have refrained from bashing atheism, unlike the mirror thread whereas the following key words cropped up when atheists expressed their views of religion:






The most controversial thing in this thread, tbh, is your equating 'Christian' and 'civilised'. :pac:

or claiming that thy do believe and they know that they're going to he'll! Can't imagine that sat well!

PDN

mehfesto wrote: »

or claiming that thy do believe and they know that they're going to he'll! Can't imagine that sat well!

Muslims claim that they believe and that I am going to hell. However, being a tolerant kind of chap rather than an intolerant bigot, I'm not upset in the least that they express their beliefs in their own forum.

antiskeptic

I mean that the majority of posters have refrained from bashing atheism, unlike the mirror thread whereas the following key words cropped up when atheists expressed their views of religion:

silly, dangerous, source of all evil, morons, ridiculous, weak people, bonkers, no logic, crazy, mumbo jumbo, simple minded fools, deluded, narrow minded (ironic or what!), lunatics, no place in modern society, ignorance, idiocy, , dangerous delusion that needs to be removed from society, stain on the human race, gullibility, irrationality, arrogance (more irony!), brainwashed, should be banned from public life, disgusting, vile, sickening.

Fanny Cradock

There was once a time when I was afraid of atheism. The claim that there is no God was a direct attack on something I wasn't sure if I believed was true. My unease arouse out of my shaky foundations. I had been chugging along for years without God, and when I did begin my tentative return to faith, there was so much junk floating around my head - half remembered "facts" and half believed "truths" - that made any intellectual foundations liable to crumble if given a severe knock. I think that I knew this at the time, just as I knew that there was a deeper understanding about God, Jesus and Christianity at the root of my half-believed belief. Atheism (as well as a different type of Christianity to what I had been exposed to) was challenging me, and ultimately I am grateful for that.

Atheism still raise some huge challenges, but on the whole I have seen these been answered (or themselves challenged to the extent that one can "doubt the doubt") to my satisfaction. On an individual level rather than a corporate level (the atheist as opposed to atheism), there are some atheists I have little time for, but then again there are some Christians I would be equally unwilling to interact with on the topic of Christianity.

philologos

May as well give my two cents about atheism.

Personally, I get on well with just about anyone I meet. I don't see disagreement as being a reason to not engage with other people in the best way possible.

My main disagreement with atheism is that it rejects the reality of God's existence, the truth of Jesus Christ, and anything else that goes along with it. It hinders people from coming to see things as they really are. When such things, hinder peoples chances of being transformed, and hinder peoples chance of salvation. This is when I start to regard it as a problem.

I think atheism is a falsehood. I oppose it for that reason. I oppose it because I want people to find truth and to find a relationship with God as I have had the chance to do.

wolfsbane

Atheism - a delusion among many. Should be loathed for the damage it does to its holders.

Atheists - deluded men and women in need of the Saviour. Should be loved and evangelised to save them from the eternal consequences of their sinful unbelief.

Fanny Cradock

Oh dear! Now that's really going to annoy people. Please try be a little more diplomatic, Wolfsbane. I don't like having to pick up the pieces.

hinault

People are entitled to their view.

I have a wide circle of friends and some of the atheists I know actually lead exemplary lives!

Fanny Cradock

hinault wrote: »

People are entitled to their view.

I have a wide circle of friends and some of the atheists I know actually lead exemplary lives!

Most certainly!

wolfsbane

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Oh dear! Now that's really going to annoy people. Please try be a little more diplomatic, Wolfsbane. I don't like having to pick up the pieces.

I do not feel insulted when they claim I am deluded, as it is the logical conclusion of their position. I would have a lot less respect for them if they euphemised it.

I hope they take the Christian conclusion in the same spirit.

Fanny Cradock

wolfsbane wrote: »

I do not feel insulted when they claim I am deluded, as it is the logical conclusion of their position. I would have a lot less respect for them if they euphemised it.

I hope they take the Christian conclusion in the same spirit.

So do I.

PDN

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

So do I.

I wouldn't count on it. Thick skin apparently takes a long time to evolve.

TravelJunkie

What do I think of atheists?

Um, I think they are like everybody else that needs God.

I think they're brilliant at arguing. My only qualm is when they intentionally try to tear down people with faith. (Although many christian on christian have done the same thing).

We all start asking 'is there a god'. Maybe it's a certain type of personality that becomes an atheist (ie. vs going new age, or eastern, mystic, etc.)

And then, when they eventually do become christians they join this forum!)

antiskeptic

TravelJunkie wrote: »

We all start asking 'is there a god'. Maybe it's a certain type of personality that becomes an atheist (ie. vs going new age, or eastern, mystic, etc.)

That thought has recently occurred to me. Unbeliefs dines from an a la carte menu which provides rational/spiritual/emotional sustanance for continued unbelief. Atheism (and it's variations and shades) being but one of the platters available and appealing to a particular pallet.

It seems to draw the scientific/rational type in more than it does the emotional/spiritually sensitive. I wonder whether it's lilkely to appeal more to men than women..

And then, when they eventually do become christians they join this forum!)

Watch out Wicknight!! A man reaps what he sows - even as a believer.

I wish I had a forum-based record of the antagonism I held for belief prior to my converting. It's be a hoot to read it now.

krudler

PDN wrote: »

I wouldn't count on it. Thick skin apparently takes a long time to be intelligently designed

fyp

wolfsbane

PDN wrote: »

I wouldn't count on it. Thick skin apparently takes a long time to evolve.

ISAW

I also have froends that are atheists and unlike some dont feel the need to evangelise and call believers "morons, deluded, a threat to society" etc.

I would however say that organised State atheistic regimes did more damage to the world than all the claims such people bring against Christianity.

Seaneh

I see atheism as a cop out, the atheist sees himself as the pinnacle of existence and answerable to none, meaning that their actions have no real moral or consequence. I.E. They can do as they please, live whatever life they please, and it doesn't matter.

Seems like the easy way out to me.

Keylem

I know this thread is old, but I thought I would add my 2cents.

On Judgement Day, some of us might be surprised to find that Athiests lived their life like Christians, and Christian's etc. lived like Athiests.

Matt: 21:31

Which of the two did the father's will? They say to him: The first. Jesus saith to them: Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you.

strobe

And lo, it came to pass; that on the 13th month; the thread did rise, as was prophesied by those that had gone before.

Donatello

BrianCalgary wrote: »

I am going to speak of teh fundamentalist Atheist.

I feel very sorry for them as I know where they are going for eternity and it isn't fun.

You don't actually know where they are going. Only God knows. Atheists can experience conversion as can the rest of us. Either on the death bed, or more likely, during the course of their lives as God works on them.

We should pray for them and do penance for them, for their conversion to Jesus.

Soul Winner

strobe wrote: »

Ok so I thought the thread over on "the other forum" proved to be pretty interesting and decided to throw this one out there to give the Christians here a chance to have their say on atheism without having to defend their opinions from the heathens.

How do you all really feel about atheists or atheism in general?

If God exists then atheism has to be the dumbest idea ever.

alex73

Atheism from Greek ἄθεος means without God. In todays world people this its means that people believe there is no God. Whatever you view as a Christian I see Atheists as people without God, But not in a negative way.

Most Atheists are fine, I mean the world has moved on, but to be honest Atheism feels to me like another religion with its set of morals. I know very few atheists who are reasoned Atheists, many people who call themselves Atheist or more lazy intellectuals who could not be bothered with religion because they never really understood it.

Its the same with many religious people who a religious but have never really understood it.

To me Atheism is a very lonely path like walking towards a cliff knowing you will fall into the void...

But whatever your belief or non believe I respect it.

texasgal

I don't really "feel" any particular way about Atheism .. It is what it is.

It's not even Atheists that I have a problem with .. and have several friends who are Atheists.

It's one thing to not believe in God, but it's a whole 'nuther thing to be "anti-God" .. or antagonistic to anybody who DOES believe.

It seems almost 'spiritual' the way some will attack Christians, the church, Christianity, God and anything He represents. That goes beyond Atheism, imo.

I suppose it can be compared to the screaming-on-the-street-corner, pounding-unbelievers-over-the-head-with-their-bibles Christians.. that's gotta be irritating to an Atheist (or most people)..

strobe

Hmmm, due to the recent change to the 'Christian only' stuff, I think this thread is no longer kosher.

Lock her up there please.

Saint Ruth

This pic sums it up.

So you don't belief in God. Bully for you. But why do some of them go on and on and on and on about. Some athiests talk more about God than believers.
It's almost as if its their entire identity (their religion! :P)