What's the most frustrating thing about being atheist?

leddpipe · 13-03-2012 2:15pm

I find it difficult maintaining a constant sense of sneering condescension! Its always worth it though

Nervous Wreck · 13-03-2012 2:28pm

Being asked "Oh god, you're not one of those militant atheists, are you?"

No. In fact, you were the one who brought religion into this conversation; I simply tried to steer the conversation away from the topic cos I have nothing to say on the matter. And, generally, it's people on your side of this conversation who are the militant ones. So, seriously, get fucked.

coffee_cake · 13-03-2012 2:40pm

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Physics are frauds,

hey they'll find the higgs boson some day,really they will :mad:

kylith · 13-03-2012 2:41pm

Sarky wrote: »

My parents make a show of telling me they'll light a candle for me whenever I mention something big like a deadline or competition coming up, as if a candle burning down 150 miles away will have any bearing on what happens to me in the near future. And then the "I know you don't believe in it, but sure it MIGHT help..." defense comes in.

mikhail wrote: »

Why have that argument? If lighting a candle makes your mum feel like she's helping you, let her. Choose your battles, especially with family.

I think that Sarky's point is that the parents make a point of saying it because they know he's an atheist. My mum does the same; goes out of her way to tell me that she'd praying for me for every little thing. Recently she's started praying to my grandmother (deceased) to intercede :rolleyes:

I just make a point of saying "Grand. Whatever makes you feel better".

Duggys Housemate · 13-03-2012 2:45pm

bluewolf wrote: »

hey they'll find the higgs boson some day,really they will :mad:

The supposed "God particle" - some atheist you are

coffee_cake · 13-03-2012 2:52pm

ah im not

Genghiz Cohen · 13-03-2012 2:55pm

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

The supposed "God particle" - some atheist you are

Now call Bluewolf a guy!

coffee_cake · 13-03-2012 2:58pm

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Now call Bluewolf a guy!

:D:D:D

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 3:02pm

Spent an average of 5 days a month in hospital over an eight month period a few years ago - always in the same ward but EVERY single time we'd have to fill in the same damn forms 'Religion?'. 'None.' 'Oh...kaaayyy...are you sure?'. 'Absolutely!'

Yet every single time I woke from the morphine induced haze there was a priest at the end of my bed blessing me!!! Now I was pretty ill at the time - but not so ill that I had a radical, fear induced, rethink of my religious status.
Kept asking him to please stop doing that - he ignored me. Complained to the nurses - they looked at me as if I had two heads, one even asked me was I sure I didn't want to be blessed seeing as I was quite ill. Yes, an ill atheist so please stop that man flinging water at me every time the drugs you give me render me unconscious!!!!
In the end it was a Muslim surgeon who had a quiet word on my behalf and the water flinging stopped...instead I was treated to daily visits by a kindly Franciscan who wanted to 'chat' :eek: :mad::mad::mad:

Zamboni · 13-03-2012 3:08pm

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Spent an average of 5 days a month in hospital over an eight month period a few years ago - always in the same ward but EVERY single time we'd have to fill in the same damn forms 'Religion?'. 'None.' 'Oh...kaaayyy...are you sure?'. 'Absolutely!'

Yet every single time I woke from the morphine induced haze there was a priest at the end of my bed blessing me!!! Now I was pretty ill at the time - but not so ill that I had a radical, fear induced, rethink of my religious status.
Kept asking him to please stop doing that - he ignored me. Complained to the nurses - they looked at me as if I had two heads, one even asked me was I sure I didn't want to be blessed seeing as I was quite ill. Yes, an ill atheist so please stop that man flinging water at me every time the drugs you give me render me unconscious!!!!
In the end it was a Muslim surgeon who had a quiet word on my behalf and the water flinging stopped...instead I was treated to daily visits by a kindly Franciscan who wanted to 'chat' :eek: :mad::mad::mad:

Kind of funny though.
I can imagine Daragh O'Brian telling this story on stage.

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 3:22pm

Zamboni wrote: »

Kind of funny though.
I can imagine Daragh O'Brian telling this story on stage.

Scared the crap out of me the first time it happened. There I was, floating in a purple haze when I felt water hitting my face...well...I hoped it was water. Cue painful fumbling on locker to find glasses. World came into a sort of focus and there there he was - poised to fling more water. 'ARRRGGGHHH!!!' I roared. 'WAAAAHHH!!' he screamed...it was quite funny actually but it really hurt when I laughed...meaning more morphine... which led to more water flinging...

The whole experience has put me right off morphine.

Gbear · 13-03-2012 3:28pm

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

There seems to be a modern atheist belief that the only crimes in history are religious

Bull****

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

, and religious people were not ever persecuted ( i.e. in Stalinism, Maoism, Tibet etc.).

Me calling religious belief stupid isn't persecution. That's why it's whining.
However, atheists or any brand of heretics were killed, quite a bit.
Burning at the stake was one method, hence the reference. Other ones such as Iron Maidens and this particular cheery one - the Judas Cradle.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

There are plenty of people on the radio I find to be talking waffle, most people in fact. Point two, not an argument ( not specific to being an atheist).

This thread isn't an argument. It's stating things that annoy you as an atheist. You don't decide what annoys me.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

lastly, you modern atheists need to actually stop acting like spoilt kids. Recently, I was in a room with girls, I work with, who talked nonsense about psychics and I kept my mouth shut. Physics are frauds, but nobody likes a smart arse. If a religious person is whinging about gays, butt in, if they are lighting a candle for the dead granny, and you think (rightly) that that candles won't work, you really need to shut up on that belief.

"you modern athiests"? You mean people who're part of the Atheist Club and adhere to the Atheist Charter?

jasonb · 13-03-2012 3:34pm

A couple of things really :

1. People using phrases like 'I know you're not open to this', like being an Atheist is close-minded.
2. As someone else said earlier in the thread, how difficult it is to be an atheist in Ireland, in practical terms. Things like needing Baptism for so many schools, the 'norm' being a church wedding etc. These religious ceremonies have become social events, which makes it all the harder to not go to them.
3. Having to be 'respectful' of beliefs that I think are clearly crazy.

J.

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 3:43pm

jasonb wrote: »

A couple of things really :

1. People using phrases like 'I know you're not open to this', like being an Atheist is close-minded.
2. As someone else said earlier in the thread, how difficult it is to be an atheist in Ireland, in practical terms. Things like needing Baptism for so many schools, the 'norm' being a church wedding etc. These religious ceremonies have become social events, which makes it all the harder to not go to them.
3. Having to be 'respectful' of beliefs that I think are clearly crazy.

J.

Or being told 'oh, your not really an atheist - you just have issues with the Catholic Church'.

Yes, I have issues with the Catholic Church...

But that is not why I am an atheist - I would just become a Protestant if that were the case. I am an atheist because I find the whole concept of a god -any god- to be unbelievable.

robindch · 13-03-2012 4:22pm

Bannasidhe wrote: »

World came into a sort of focus and there there he was - poised to fling more water. 'ARRRGGGHHH!!!' I roared. 'WAAAAHHH!!' he screamed...it was quite funny

Heavens, why so aggressive? He's only trying to help!

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 4:52pm

robindch wrote: »

Heavens, why so aggressive? He's only trying to help!

The magic water burned....:(

Sarky · 13-03-2012 4:53pm

"You want to help? Get me some more goddamn morphine!"

coffee_cake · 13-03-2012 4:57pm

Bannasidhe wrote: »

The magic water burned....:(

that's because you're in league with the devil :mad:

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 4:59pm

bluewolf wrote: »

that's because you're in league with the devil :mad:

Hmmmm...if holy god's magic water burned would evil satan's brimstone be cooling????

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 5:01pm

Sarky wrote: »

"You want to help? Get me some more goddamn morphine!"

'Or even better an alternative opiate derivative that comes without extra added water in the face.'

kylith · 13-03-2012 5:06pm

Throw your bedpan at him. That'll teach him.

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 5:10pm

kylith wrote: »

Throw your bedpan at him. That'll teach him.

Throw bedpan = extreme pain = morphine = magic water flinging.

I would have made a stoned totter for freedom but the machine that went beep wasn't on wheels. Bloody underfunded HSE can't even afford castors.

robindch · 13-03-2012 5:14pm

kylith wrote: »

Throw your bedpan at him.

Bedpan? The contents, surely...

Dampen his ardour with some of your magic water and see how he likes it

Penn · 13-03-2012 5:23pm

Bannasidhe wrote: »

The magic water burned....:(

Hehe, at my nieces's christening, the priest asked my 4 year old nephew to put his finger in the holy water to see was it okay (just having a laugh). My nephew said it was very hot (it wasn't). A few months before that, he also called "that man on my jumper" a silly goose. And for Christmas, one of the things he wanted was a telescope.

I expect him to join this forum very soon

ShooterSF · 13-03-2012 5:27pm

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Spent an average of 5 days a month in hospital over an eight month period a few years ago - always in the same ward but EVERY single time we'd have to fill in the same damn forms 'Religion?'. 'None.' 'Oh...kaaayyy...are you sure?'. 'Absolutely!'

Yet every single time I woke from the morphine induced haze there was a priest at the end of my bed blessing me!!! Now I was pretty ill at the time - but not so ill that I had a radical, fear induced, rethink of my religious status.
Kept asking him to please stop doing that - he ignored me. Complained to the nurses - they looked at me as if I had two heads, one even asked me was I sure I didn't want to be blessed seeing as I was quite ill. Yes, an ill atheist so please stop that man flinging water at me every time the drugs you give me render me unconscious!!!!
In the end it was a Muslim surgeon who had a quiet word on my behalf and the water flinging stopped...instead I was treated to daily visits by a kindly Franciscan who wanted to 'chat' :eek: :mad::mad::mad:

Wow. As soon as I got on my feet I'd be hunting him down with a supersoaker. "How do you like water in your face? Huh?!"

Galvasean · 13-03-2012 5:28pm

Sarky wrote: »

My parents make a show of telling me they'll light a candle for me whenever I mention something big like a deadline or competition coming up, as if a candle burning down 150 miles away will have any bearing on what happens to me in the near future. And then the "I know you don't believe in it, but sure it MIGHT help..." defense comes in.

OR, if the best available data on the subject is to be believed, it might be a hindrance...
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j35/prayer.asp
In conclusion, lighting candles for you won't do you any harm, but telling you that candles are being lit for you might!

Ellis Dee · 13-03-2012 5:33pm

Maybe I'm a bit slow today, but I can't think of anything frustrating about being an atheist, something that comes quite naturally and effortlessly to me.:)

And, in fact, I sometimes get a lot of enjoyment out of winding up the god-botherers.:D

Bannasidhe · 13-03-2012 5:40pm

ShooterSF wrote: »

Wow. As soon as I got on my feet I'd be hunting him down with a supersoaker. "How do you like water in your face? Huh?!"

Next time I saw him my mother was in the same ward and he was giving her communion...It was tempting...:p

Ellis Dee · 13-03-2012 5:42pm

Galvasean wrote: »

OR, if the best available data on the subject is to be believed, it might be a hindrance...
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j35/prayer.asp
In conclusion, lighting candles for you won't do you any harm, but telling you that candles are being lit for you might!

Of course, if we go into chaos theory and bear in mind what Lorenz said about a butterfly's wingbeat in Beijing causing a blizzard in Maine or somewhere several months later, what the updraft of hot air from the candle could eventually lead to doesn't bear thinking about. Science works in mysterious ways ---:):)

Barr125 · 13-03-2012 6:04pm

I'm a partial member on my college debate team (I'm like the go-to-guy on certain topics

) last year, I was the Atheist debater on a religious topic and on Creationism.

Since then I have been approached by Christians constantly wanting to ''debate'' on Gods existence, creation and other sh1te. It really annoys me when I'm with my mates, going to my clubs/socities and even walking home, to have people I don't know come up, point square in my face and say ''what have you got against God?'' (Ans: Nothing, just as you have Nothing for God

)

A good way I find to avoid these time wasting annoyances is simply ask the person ''Is there anything, ANYTHING, that I can/will say/do that is going to change your mind as to the existence of God?'' If it's no, then I tell them there's no point in talking with me. If yes, then I'll debate them. Simples.

So basically, being hounded by people who want to know why I'm an atheist and why I ''believe'' it to be true :rolleyes:

What's the most frustrating thing about being atheist?

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