(March 11, 2013 at 9:15 am)Gabriel Syme Wrote: As per title, why are atheists so utterly consumed / obsessed by religion?
At the time of writing, the number of posts on this site are:
atheism: 1559
religiion: 3186
philosophy: 403
Religion is the clear winner, beating even the other two combined. Seems quite odd to me.
If I was an atheist, religion would be the last thing I would talk about.
People's beliefs inform their actions.
Religious beliefs lead to real world, negative consequences. I believe that any time religious beliefs can be refuted and shown to be what they really are (baseless assertions and wishful thinking), is a good thing. It must be working, in the US, the largest growing response to questions about religion is "No religious affiliation".
Quote:So why is religion so popular here? Is it because Atheism is fundamentally empty, and correspondingly has no topics to discuss within itself?
(I suppose I could understand it better, if the discussion about religion was at least accurate and informed, but in my experience thus far it is anything but accurate and informed)
Among other reasons, I love to debate. I find that dissecting theists arguments, discovering logical fallacies in them, and pointing them out is fun.
If you feel there are inaccuracies in the debate in the religious section, join in and correct them. There are studies that show that the average atheist is more knowledgeable on religion than theists.
Quote:Dont say - "oh its because religion has such power over my life", because unless you like in Saudi Arabia or Iran, thats an absurd thing to say.
I will agree, that religion does not have too much control over my life at this time, but theists (Christians specifically in the US) are constantly trying to get more control. So the fear of the US slipping toward a theocracy is very real. Just look at a few of the recent Republican presidential candidates.
But religion does have control over other people's lives and rights. There is no argument against gay marriage that does not stem from religious beliefs.
Christians are constantly trying to get pseudoscience (creationism) taught in schools. Again, this is purely theist motivation.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
