Why are atheists so obsessed with religion?

[smax]

Just today, a few hours ago, I had a guy ask me what religion I was. I told him I was an atheist. This began a discussion that went on for about fifteen minutes. I told him that I once believed in God but over the course of several months I came to realize that there was no evidence for any god. That was ten years ago.

The response was, "You should not need evidence. He does not need evidence. He is above requiring such things. He demands faith."

I warned him that he best not get into a debate with me on god because he can't win, at least not in the objective, analytical sense. Still, he talked about the Bible and how it is a necessary moral guide. I asked him about the Bible's advocacy of slavery, as well as the stoning of unruly children. He told me that he ignores those parts. I told him that I ignore all the parts, just like I would ignore a person who seems friendly and moralistic at first, until he professes his approval of slavery. He is then seen as entirely unethical, which in turn fits with my moral beliefs.

He asked me how I can turn my back on Jesus, someone who died for my sins. I told him that there is no evidence of that happening, and besides, how does being crucified an act of "dying for my sins", especially since he did not stay dead.

I think I hit him with concepts he had never considered. Still, I doubt I ushered a Christian onto a path to atheism. He walked away with a perplexed, confused smile on his face. Hey, I warned him.

I hear you, and can relate on several levels:

1. I was a Christian, and now I am completely non-theistic.
2. Conversations with non-theistic people played a role in my conversion
3. I have had conversations with people of all types of religions, and some of those conversations have led people to question and eventually break free of their religion.

With that in mind, I will share a little perspective. First, my conversion didn't take place over night. In fact, after the right seeds had been planted, it took years. And that conversion was only partly due to interactions I had with non-theistic people.

The grip of and appeal of god based religious association is so strong that people would rather practice it in ignorance (or even in disbelief) than to openly accept more practical views.

There are lots of reasons for this hesitance and even refusal to break away. The biggest deterrent is the potential social consequences. It's actually not that difficult to persuade someone to question their religious belief, as nearly all of them defy even the most basic elements of logic and reality, and many present those practicing it with moral inconsistencies and dilemmas. However, inspiring someone to doubt their beliefs is a long way from open conversion. These people typically have friends, family, associates, and even co-workers, bosses, and employers who happen to share their religious views.

Openly admitting that you doubt or don't believe like them seems like social suicide.

With that said, I've come to realize that open conversion should not be nearly as important to me as is effectively accomplishing doubt while inspiring logical reasoning and critical thinking.

Because, at the end of the day, it's actually not that important to me to share the same open views as others, although that is nice. What's far more important is leading people away from actually having any real conviction behind their god based beliefs.

If someone feels they have to call themselves Christian or Muslim because of their background or the social pressure they feel they have to meet, so be it. I find that much easier to rationalize and accept than someone who actually believes in the delusion and is capable of acting on it. People like that are potentially dangerous on a number of levels. Here are two of the most important:

1. Deluded people, like for example: David Koresh, Jim Jones, Osama Bin-Laden, just to name a few, are capable of committing all kinds of atrocities in the pursuit of their god based religious beliefs.

2. God based religions tend to promote hate and bigotry, which a huge obsacle currently standing in the way of social progress. However, people without the conviction of their beliefs tend not to act on them, and instead demonstrate a level of tolerance that still allows for a healthy degreee of social progress.

With all that having been said, I feel the important thing that you may have accomplished, and the reason I would encourage all free thinkers to engage theistic people in related conversation, is the possibility that you may de-fuse them so to speak.

Putting it another way, some people say "we need to get rid of guns". I say we just need to get rid of the bullets.