Why Do So Many Online Atheists Care So Much About the Spiritual Beliefs of Others (Especially Christians)?

[Bel88]

The State would become 'God'

I just don't understand it. Why do they even care? For people who claim to not believe in God, they sure do spend a lot of their time discussing God, and getting angry for no clear reason at those who do.

[CountessSarah]

Why do I care?
Because theists don't exist inside a vacuum.
Their religious ideals influence the way they interact with the world around them, the politicians they vote for, the prejudices they hold.

I would also add, that what I should I do when I encounter theists preaching falsities?
Am I to simply ignore them on the basis that I don't believe it?
No - Someone has to offer the counterarguments for the good of someone who doesn't know any better and may be susceptible to the theists rhetoric.
Atheists don't participate in these discussions because 'dey kno ders a gawd', we do it because we understands theists cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.
Sorry, theists, you don't just get a soapbox - you need to actually be able to defend your ideas.

Even outside of that... Why wouldn't atheists want to help theists shed their superstitious poison? Religion drains money from people, gives them harmful coping mechanisms for dealing with mortality, devalues the only life we get and damages the critical thinking skills of people, (Especially children. Often permanently.)
I'm sorry that I see these issues, and my empathy makes me want to help people.

Why do atheists get frustrated - Have you tried talking to theists? Their religions instil so many bad debate habits in the believer it's hard not to. Theists will play word games, play dumb, switch their position on the fly or just resort to threats constantly. Theists are not honest in discussions, despite their interest in participating. It's hard not to get frustrated when so many are simply not interested in a dialogue, they only want a soapbox.

[Bel88]

"I would also add, that what I should I do when I encounter theists preaching falsities?
Am I to simply ignore them on the basis that I don't believe it?" - CS
That would be one option, yes. There is no rule in place that compels you to engage them you know. As for "preaching falsities", you may have your own personal reasons for not believing what they do, but no doubt they think the same about you.
In other words, you do not have the moral high ground here, nor do you necessarily have truth on your side, even though you no doubt think you do. Theists have just as much right to influence policy and the governing of the country as anyone else, and have the right to preach whatever they want on street corners. That's what being a free society is all about.
"Atheists don't participate in these discussions because 'dey kno ders a gawd', we do it because we understands theists cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.
Sorry, theists, you don't just get a soapbox - you need to actually be able to defend your ideas." - CS
Ha! :D Don't worry about us, your "challenge" to us is like a fly trying to wrestle with a bulldozer. We can, and do, defend our beliefs far more effectively than you give us credit for, and to us the "arguments" of the trendy atheistic crowd is just so much fluff, so much white noise.

[CountessSarah]

"That would be one option, yes. There is no rule in place that compels you to engage them you know."
I'm not proposing that I'm obligated. Only that I /want/ to.
If I want to challenge theists I should be entitled to, no?

"As for "preaching falsities", you may have your own personal reasons for not believing what they do, but no doubt they think the same about you.
In other words, you do not have the moral high ground here, nor do you necessarily have truth on your side, even though you no doubt think you do. Theists have just as much right to influence policy and the governing of the country as anyone else, and have the right to preach whatever they want on street corners. That's what being a free society is all about."
You're exactly correct - which is why we should discuss it and see if their ideas can withstand criticsm.

"Ha! Don't worry about us, your "challenge" to us is like a fly trying to wrestle with a bulldozer. We can, and do, defend our beliefs far more effectively than you give us credit for, and to us the "arguments" of the trendy atheistic crowd is just so much fluff, so much white noise."
This is just posturing. We'll see about that.

[Medicalbug]

Lots of people enjoy “us against them”. I have the same experience with Christians. It’s more the type of person - not everyone into converting others using religion (or the absence of it). People do it with food too, you’ll find unsolicited comments under both meat and vegan posts by each opposing group. It’s just the human nature of some people, where feeling as though you are righteous is something they crave.

[romantic6655]

I'm not from your community, I'm from another country.. but I want to talk about atheism as an idea far from people's practices..

Atheism is a very dangerous virus if it spreads.. Look what Hitler did.. the Soviet Union.. China today.. These are atheist countries.. The truth is that atheism as a contradictory thought, for example, believes in the existence of evil, but he does not have a philosophy of good and evil in his mind. .. maybe one day for his own good, he justifies killing people.. there is no law or thought.. contradictions that have no answer or solution.. I remember one time I asked an atheist who left his religion because of problems. From his life and I said: Does atheism solve your life problems? He said: No.. rather, he increased it.. I replied.. Why did you adhere to atheism then?

Likewise, ethics have no philosophy.. For example.. truthfulness and lying.. and the principle of contradiction.. Concepts that have been implanted in a person without learning since his childhood.. How can atheism explain that.. Whatever its interpretation is, it is unrealistic.

[007kingifrit]

1. atheism is often a cover story for communists. they believe in destroying religion to replace it with the state and thus communism as was the teaching of Hegel (karl marx's teacher) instead of the father the son and the holy ghost hegel taught there was the state, the government, and the idea... he was nuts.
2. atheists are unhappy people. and misery loves company

[OpenClose]

Whut even is this response

[007kingifrit]

@OpenClose apparently its the best response

[Bel88]

@OpenClose Can't you read? In any case, I chose this response for the MHO not necessarily because it was the best, but because I don't know much about Hegel and wasn't aware of his connection with the most evil man in history (Marx), so in that sense it was the most helpful (because it made me aware of something I had not known before).
The State, the Government and the Idea sounds absolutely abysmal. What a horrible, disgusting, anti-human "Trinity".

[ACR130]

Communism isn't bad 😃

[genericname85]

well i personally do, because we are supposed to live in a "secular society", where religion and politics are separated, cause religion should be free for everyone to choose right? but there's several problems in my opinion:

1: why is it ok that the christian church has massive tax benefits, while other religious organizations don't?

2: how do we ensure that children get to pick and choose their religion? because due to the constrictions of family boundaries and parental rights, you can never ensure that children are not indoctrinated with one religion before they grow old enough to even decide for themself.

3: the church gets away with murder. i'm exaggerating. but this is actually so bad that it's a meme people use to make fun of the church. the molestation and sexual exploitation of underage children is an ongoing problem in the church. and what happens? nothing. a priest gets caught touching a little boys private parts and litterally nothing happens. they are offset or shifted to a different area at best, where they continue what they did. this of course is not a problem of "the christian faith" but rather "the institution of christian church" but i think we should not give them a free pass, just cause they are considered holier than everyone else.

4: chrisitanity is a faith. everyone should believe what they want. BUT you do not get to teach young children your "faith" as a "fact". that's a horrible mistake that is actually still discussed in the southern states in fucking 2022... creation has NOTHING to do with science. it is a fantasy. and it should be taught as a fantasy and biology and evolution should be taught as a fact, cause that's what it is. it's dangerous to confuse fiction and fact.

[OpenClose]

I don't give a shit about people's religious beliefs. There are a lot of Christian elements I admire, and especially in terms of the services local churches offer to small communities.

But I give some enormous shits about hypocrisy and especially hypocritical judgement.

Like voting for Trump because "he's a good Christian" is laughable. He is quite possibly the most anti-Christian man in terms of morality. No, you did it because he reminds you of your guy friends in the 60s, and you conflate your childhood culture with Christianity. Hence why American Christians are usually the ones attacking brown Christians with turbans.

Or not signing off on a gay marriage application because "it's what Jesus would want" when Jesus said nothing of the sort, except not to judge others. The bible does say a lot about your half-dozen prior marriages so you might not want to use the Bible that way.

Or saying the whole abortion debate is religious because "the Bible says not to kill", when you know full well that nobody is saying killing is good, and that the debate is whether a fetus is a human, which the Bible says nothing about. It only states life at first breath.

I don't give a damn what you believe. I give a damn when you use it for any ill will against others.

[Bel88]

You're wrong about the Bible. It does condemn homosexuality, and more than once. Ex. the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities were destroyed for that very reason.

[BeMuse]

It's right their in your picture... You have the hammer and sickle representing oppressive tyrannical dictatorship. The sickle is a symbol of Saturn, the baby eating sister banging god of the underworld and death. Why would a Satanist, want to destroy Christ? It seems pretty self explanatory... The crescent moon and the sickle are linked. It's right in front of you. Notice how Baphomet is a tranny as well. This is why the commies push LGBTQ, pedophile, cannibalistic, mass murderer shit. They worship tyranny.

[BeMuse]

[BeMuse]

Every time communism wins ground, millions die. They always push gay tranny shit, incest, pedophilia, mass murder, cannibalism, etc. They want to destroy man, as Satan wants to destroy man. Lucifer declared war on God a long time ago...

[BeMuse]

*there

[Bel88]

Makes sense.

[SomeoneLost222]

Don’t necessarily consider myself an Atheist but I think I still fit into the category. I’m purely spiritual — not religious — and grew up in a Christian household. My parents, my grandparents, my uncles and aunts, some of my childhood friends, they’re all Christian, and they’ve all tried to force their religion on me. I have bad experience with Christians so it’s hard not to get irritated when they are always talking about God with me. Sometimes I’d like to have a normal mature conversation without them saying God this God that and getting upset when I disagree with them about something.

[Ericastevens]

I think it is this ^^^^. Most likely they have had bad experiences with Christians.

[desidoll]

Yeah, but they say it is the other way around. Play the victim much. In real life, I don’t see many Christians shove their faith to the non-believers but they claim it happens a lot just to pick fight.

[VikingWarLord]

I'm an Atheist myself, but the problem with most idiot Atheists is, they have traded the SKY-DADDY God religion for the BIG DADDY Government Religion. They traded the Big G (God) for the Small g (government). They're a bunch of idiots on both sides, the Atheists and Religious Zealots. If we could figure out how to get the Atheists to stop trusting Big Daddy Government and get the Religious Zealots to stop trusting in Fairytale Sky-Wizards, this world would be a whole hell of a lot better.

[crmoore]

As someone who is practically atheist, I honestly don't know. Sometimes I wonder if they have a superiority complex or something.

That's not to say those who adamantly oppose religion from being incorporated into law or other policies, but when people go out of there way to argue with religious people, I do wonder if it's just a superiority completely.

[crmoore]

Complex*

[crmoore]

But to be clear, I have objections to the notion that the state becomes God in the absence of theistic gods.

[ACR130]

Religion is simply holding back the country and dividing us and adding hate towards others for not believing in the crap they do. That's why I'm atheist, you don't need to have a religion to know right from wrong. If you you need a book to tell you what's right and wrong or lack the common sense to know then you're just an idiot and have an issue. People need to stop assuming others are bad people for believing in other things just because it goes against what they think. If an atheist does something nice it's because he felt like doing it and it came from the heart when a religious person does it it's because they think it'll take them to heaven or earn them "good points". This doesn't go with the post but this is how I see religion.

[NathanDavis]

I've seen a few battles in this site... and it is Christians vs Christians... and they just go on and one about who is the real Christian and who is not... which one is right and the other wrong... what it means to be Christian and what is not

if Christians themselves can't get it "right and straight" about who they are... then what do you expect from people on the "outside" they're more like to bring more of the same... lol

[Aerissa_Jade]

No idea why, same reason that people that leave various religions don't seem to actually leave them. They are obsessed with them after they leave. They cannot just let it go and move past, they themselves are stuck.

[slatyb]

Hmm... I've never heard off atheists going for to door telling people they should but go to church. What in see is that many religious people think their ideas should be immune from criticism, even when they make claims that are demonstrably false. I've never known atheists to take violent exception to religious statements, but it's common for the religious to become violent when challenged.

[jahaims]

Depends on context. Imagine living in a world were you believe that most adults around you believe in an imaginary being and let it influence them. Religion influences a lot of things including government. If you had rules forced on you due to people believing in an imaginary being you probably wouldn't be too happy either.

[Djaay]

Atheist know the truth and lie about it and deny it with deciet to incript you to fall before GOD. The whole purpose of an atheist is that GOD is showing others about "COMPASSION" . Behold , those athiest know the truth abd lie about it to derail your destiney.

[SnakeBoop]

To be fair, in my experience, its christians jumping down the throats of atheists more. bit like vegans have to point out their vegan or that meat eaters are awful people blah blah blah

[Agape93]

The religious are often the majority and most if not the entirety of the governing body, who makes the rules and tend to use their religious beliefs in doing so.

[Bel88]

So you're against majority rule? Isn't that what democracy is all about?

[Agape93]

I am if it infringes on my rights.

[Bel88]

You admit to being against democratic forms of governance. Correct?
Your "rights". And they would be... ? What specifically?

[Agape93]

Right to my own destiny, right to be free, right to govern my body etc. So yes if any government seeks to limit me, I'll be against them.

[Bel88]

So you'll support democracy, but only to the extent the governing party the majority voted into office supports your own agenda (and then you'd rather have a dictatorship).

[Agape93]

I'll support whatever government is there, long as they leave me alone and don't infringe on my rights. I don't give a shit if it's a democracy, a communist state or a dictatorship.

[Bel88]

You wouldn't have ANY "rights" under a communist dictatorship. You do know that, don't you?

[Agape93]

Depends on the dictatorship what is and and is not allowed.

[Oigit]

It's the internet and that's the thing to do. Though in general if you say you are religious or not, you end up being pounced on. Probably because you don't need to worry about things breaking down and turning into a brawl like you have to in person.

[MartianBuddy]

Because in English speaking countries Christianity is the hegemonic religion. Why would I rail against sun worshipers if there is like 12 of them in the country.

As for why care at all, I don't. It's the religious politicians ( evangelical Christian conservatives broadly speaking) that care about what others are doing. Trying to restrict reproductive rights, fighting against gay marriage and shit like that. If they mind their own business, I'll mind mine.

[Stoner710]

They want to prove us wrong even though they don’t have any valid reason for anything they believe is bad. For example if god doesn’t exist why is murder wrong?

[whosnumber1]

what does God have to do with murder being right and wrong?

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 think about it, god said you shall not murder, so without the idea of god's existence what in the universe says murder is wrong? its not apart of natural law, as a matter of fact its more beneficial for you to say murder your parents for the inheritance then it is for them to live out there lives. now as a society that was built off of jewish-christian values we automatically believe murder is wrong, if we weren't built off of these values there is nothing wrong with murder. this is when you get into the realm of moral relativism murder is only wrong because society says its wrong not that murder in Inherently wrong

[whosnumber1]

... your out to lunch brother. like ham sandwich with a side of fries and a milkshake

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 ok what is murder wrong?

[whosnumber1]

... what I murder wrong? I don't understand your question

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 what makes murder wrong? According to natural law which encourages self preservation why is murder wrong? If I can get away murdering my mom and dad to reserve my enhance easily then there natural death what makes murder wrong? It would preserve my life better if I killed my parents so I can get what they have why is that wrong? The believe in God would say because I need to honor my father and mother and murder is wrong then I should not murder that God does not exist why is murder wrong

[whosnumber1]

I don't need "god" to tell me that

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 OK so tell me why murder is wrong? The only reason why you believe murder is wrong this is the same argument I got into it with Sam Harris on Twitter is because you grew up in a society that is religiously based off of Christianity that thinks that murder is wrong. Even said I’m Harrised didn’t have an answer to that he just blocked me like he did Ben Shapiro

[whosnumber1]

see... I'm already bored of your logic and banter

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 then answer the question why is murder wrong? Are we a collective like communist want, and it’s beneficial for society to have somebody else around? You’re not answering the question because you can’t answer the question and I’ll leave you alone

[whosnumber1]

i don't need "god" to tell me to honor thy mother and father and I don't need "God" to tell me that murder is wrong.

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 OK Wyatt is honoring your father-in-law correct and why is murder wrong, Why do you believe that honoring your father and mother is correct and why is murderer explain to me this according to natural law. Trust me are used to be an atheist I couldn’t come up with the answer

[whosnumber1]

it'd because i have the ability for rational and compassion thought. no

[Stoner710]

@whosnumber1 ok what ractional though leads you to believe that murder is wrong as an atheist and where does that though come from? The Germans before Rome came in thought murder was perfectly fine especially if it benefited the murder, If you loved a women and she was already married it was perfectly acceptable to murder the husband and take her for your wife. This was the pre Roman German culture

[FunkyMonkee]

Why do religious people have to go and force THEIR religious beliefs onto people that have never heard of them, before? Why can't you just leave them be to live their lives their way?

[cookiecrusher]

Because christians and other religious groups like to indoctrinate little children and keep messing with local politics.

Also they do outreaches and such, where they go try to recruit random people who didn't ask for it either. So don't play them to be so innocent.