Why are Atheists Here?

[liamconnor]

It seems to me that far more atheists frequent this site than theists.

It is also obviously apparent that non-theist members here are very, very passionate.

But why? What is your goal.


Are you trying to create atheists? But that goal does not fit the strategy, which is typically on the defensive: i.e., "Prove to me there is a God!"


So why are you here? You obviously want theists to be constantly trying to convince you of ideas you think ridiculous. This is very strange. I think Islam an error; yet I am not a member of a single Islamic site. Are you? I think Hinduism strange; still, not seeking a Hindu forum to demand evidence for their beliefs.

So, to reiterate:

what is your goal?

why specifically Christianity?

[alwayson]

Take Islam. Robert Spencer found interesting logical problems with history of Islam which seem to prove that Muhammad never existed and Koran was compiled long after Muhammads official life span.

Historian Tom Holland found the same thing.

[Willum]

[Replying to post 11 by alwayson]

Mohamed, Jesus, Moses, it seems none of these people even existed.
I don't know about you, but all these people having existence problems is indicative to me...

[terrydactyl]

I am of the opinion that an honest discussion of closely held beliefs is a good thing. In the end I think, and the discussions on this board confirm, that Christianity doesn't hold up well to examination.

[Monta]

[Replying to post 9 by Divine Insight]

"I'm not an atheist. I'm actually a Christian who simply came to the realization that Christianity is a false dogma.

The attributes give to the Biblical God would be considered to be the attributes of a seriously mentally ill criminal if we saw these same traits in a human.

they are either extremely naive, or they have ulterior motives

There is absolutely no rational or even sane reason to support any of these Abraham religions. In a very real sense Christianity is even the most utterly absurd.

Christianity is not only an insult to humanity,

nothing more than an extremely ignorant superstitious mythology

Christianity is utterly absurd,

I also view people who continue to support Christianity as people who have extremely horrible moral values."

All above copy/paste. I am amused that Christianity bashing therefore persoanl attack on my sanity and spirituality and me as a person is ok. I remember that in my response elsewhere I posted 'nonsensical musings' and I was reprimanded.
Perhaps most Christians stay away and can't be bothered with these 'nonsensical musings' oops!

[Divine Insight]

[Replying to post 9 by Divine Insight]

"I'm not an atheist. I'm actually a Christian who simply came to the realization that Christianity is a false dogma.

The attributes give to the Biblical God would be considered to be the attributes of a seriously mentally ill criminal if we saw these same traits in a human.

they are either extremely naive, or they have ulterior motives

There is absolutely no rational or even sane reason to support any of these Abraham religions. In a very real sense Christianity is even the most utterly absurd.

Christianity is not only an insult to humanity,

nothing more than an extremely ignorant superstitious mythology

Christianity is utterly absurd,

I also view people who continue to support Christianity as people who have extremely horrible moral values."

All above copy/paste. I am amused that Christianity bashing therefore persoanl attack on my sanity and spirituality and me as a person is ok. I remember that in my response elsewhere I posted 'nonsensical musings' and I was reprimanded.
Perhaps most Christians stay away and can't be bothered with these 'nonsensical musings' oops!

This is my argument against all the Abrahamic religions. This is the reason that I no longer believe in these religions. For me to pretend that there were other reasons would be dishonest.

I've argued this many times on these forums. If I can't be honest about what I see as the problems with this religion, then how in the world am I supposed to make my case?

I reject the Biblical God for the following two reasons:

1. The claims made in the biblical stories contradict the very nature of this God.

And

2. This God does not represent sanity or morality.

In fact, #2 is sufficient reason to reject these religions on its own. Even a story that did not contain contradictions but had an immoral "God" should be rejected.

Why should I have higher moral values than my creator? That makes no sense.

[DanieltheDragon]

It seems to me that far more atheists frequent this site than theists.

It is also obviously apparent that non-theist members here are very, very passionate.

But why? What is your goal.


Are you trying to create atheists? But that goal does not fit the strategy, which is typically on the defensive: i.e., "Prove to me there is a God!"


So why are you here? You obviously want theists to be constantly trying to convince you of ideas you think ridiculous. This is very strange. I think Islam an error; yet I am not a member of a single Islamic site. Are you? I think Hinduism strange; still, not seeking a Hindu forum to demand evidence for their beliefs.

So, to reiterate:

what is your goal?

why specifically Christianity?

I debate politics and religion, this is just one area of debate for me I am not exclusive to this site. Christianity is more of my forte as I have an extensive background in it. I am not nor have I ever been a Muslim so I wouldn't know where to begin same goes with Hinduism and Buddhism.

As to the why, I like debating and if I didn't debate online I would be harrasing my wife with nonsense ad naseum, this simply being an outlet for that expression.

Why do certain apologists feel the need to cast aspersions on atheists who debate their religion? Do you feel threatened by a few words on the Internet?

[JewishVolcano]

Take Islam. Robert Spencer found interesting logical problems with history of Islam which seem to prove that Muhammad never existed and Koran was compiled long after Muhammads official life span.

Historian Tom Holland found the same thing.

Yeah it's just that I knew only about Spencer and I saw his lectures. They both published their works in 2012. I wonder if it's a coincidence. Wiki says how Holland found absence of any mention of I slam on coins, inscriptions etc, Spencer found the same thing but he also has other interesting arguments - about hadith missing leap month and halif saying how he compiled a Koran.

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 1 by liamconnor]

Are you trying to create atheists?

If that was my goal, I'd be legally insane, in that not once in all my time here has a theist said anything like "Ya know what? You're right, rikuo, religion is bunk".

But that goal does not fit the strategy, which is typically on the defensive: i.e., "Prove to me there is a God!"

Well then, there you go. The evidence does not lead to what you first thought. Also...explain how asking for proof of a god is defensive?

So why are you here?

Initially, I joined to see if there is in fact a god, to see if there was someone, anyone, who could successfully argue in favour of the god hypothesis.
Two years (will be that in two months!) has changed that. Now I'm on the site mostly out of habit, and because it's fun to debate.

You obviously want theists to be constantly trying to convince you of ideas you think ridiculous

Wow. To be honest, I didn't read this sentence until AFTER I wrote the lines immediately above. Yes, that was my initial goal.

This is very strange. I think Islam an error; yet I am not a member of a single Islamic site.

We're not one hundred percent logical beings. Christianity is what I am most familiar with, having been a Christian at one point. So that is where I spend my time.
Besides, many of my own talking points can be used against Islam as well. Such as the debate I had recently over the Modal Ontological Argument. There are Islamic scholars who use the MOA in furtherance of Allah.

Tired of the Nonsense says

For non believers it's not about the expectation that any of the other Christians on the forum will change their position.

It was for me initially. I found this site and saw a VERY active series of back and forths going on, so I said to myself "surely someone here can actually successfully change my atheist position".
Obviously, that has not happened, and I expect it to never happen at this point.

[Monta]

[Replying to post 18 by rikuoamero]


"It was for me initially. I found this site and saw a VERY active series of back and forths going on, so I said to myself "surely someone here can actually successfully change my atheist position".
Obviously, that has not happened, and I expect it to never happen at this point."

It never will. If it did you'd only inherit their belief system which is never perfect.
Getting it directly from the Divine itself is one to one.

[benchwarmer]

It seems to me that far more atheists frequent this site than theists.

I don't get the same impression. The impression that I get is far more atheists hold the same debate positions in general (not always of course). It seems to me that the theists are far more divided and thus we seem to often get one theist and many non theists involved in any one particular debate topic. Different theists seem to debate only particular aspects of their religion. For example, many seem to stay out of the Science and Religion subforum and prefer C&R or TD&D. It often seems one lone theist is left trying to defend a position and multiple non theists are rebutting. I'm guessing because many of the other theists don't hold the same position and/or would prefer not to debate that particular issue. Who knows.

It is also obviously apparent that non-theist members here are very, very passionate.

Depends how you define passionate I guess. In general I find the theist debaters more emotional in their debate style and exhibiting more 'passion'. This makes sense to me as religion is a very personal and emotional thing. Defending your personal beliefs against people who are proposing multiple other explanations for your deeply held convictions is going to bring out some 'passion'.

As an ex theist, I am 'passionate' about discovering truth and decided part of this journey was to challenge others who seem to enjoy apologizing for their particular brand of religion and claiming truth based on little more than hearsay.

But why? What is your goal.

To see if my current views hold up in a debate environment. Maybe I was right before and Christianity is 'the truth'. However, my time here has only cemented my non theism. There are many here who have followed a similar path to me. We started as theists and further study and analysis finally led to our de-conversion.

Now I debate simply because I enjoy it and I hope to contribute some small insight to those thousands of readers who may be trying to decide for themselves which direction to take.

Are you trying to create atheists? But that goal does not fit the strategy, which is typically on the defensive: i.e., "Prove to me there is a God!"

Two things wrong here. I'm not trying to 'create atheists'. I'm simply sharing my views. I'm also not asking "Prove to me there is a God!". I only ask that when you make a claim, you provide evidence for it. If you claim is that there is a god, then guess what's going to happen? If I claimed there was a unicorn in my backyard giving out cotton candy and wouldn't stop making claims about it what would you do? Probably ignore me or eventually ask for evidence. I suppose a few might ask me for cotton candy, but I'm not sharing

So why are you here? You obviously want theists to be constantly trying to convince you of ideas you think ridiculous. This is very strange. I think Islam an error; yet I am not a member of a single Islamic site. Are you? I think Hinduism strange; still, not seeking a Hindu forum to demand evidence for their beliefs.

I'm not here to be convinced by anyone. I enjoy reading both sides of a good debate topic and I also enjoy being able to participate in something I'm not very good at in person. As for why Christianity, well I used to be one and it is the prevalent religion in my society. In short, I'm familiar with it.

Why are you here? Are you here to create theists? Why would you try to convince people who generally don't believe in any gods whatsoever that your particular god concept is 'the truth'. It seems equally 'ridiculous', but whatever floats your boat/ark.