RE: Question For Fellow Atheists...
January 8, 2017 at 5:51 pm
(This post was last modified: January 8, 2017 at 5:54 pm by Whateverist.)
(January 7, 2017 at 4:35 pm)Autolite Wrote: This is my first visit to your forum. I have been a full-hard-right Atheist for at least twenty five years but I would like to ask a question that I think only another Atheist might be able to help me with.
I've spent several years discussing religion both on and offline but I think I have reached a point of 'Atheist burn-out'. I don't think it would be a surprise to any Atheist here that such discussions rarely actually accomplish any tangible results reference changing the mind of a Theist and far more often than not usually only end up in generating a considerable amount of animosity between both parties.
I would like to know how you other Atheists deal with and view Theists?
It seems to bother me more and more that there are so many people who continue to buy into the B.S. that is Theism. I recently watched the 'Jesus Camp' documentary and found it unsettling and even a little depressing. How do you fellow Atheists reconcile the fact that most of the people that you know are basically mentally 'screwed-up'.
A few weeks ago a christian neighbour of mine made a religious comment so profoundly absurd and ridiculous that it almost sent me into shock. How do you cope knowing that many so people are this messed up? I sometimes feel like I'm trapped in some sort of surreal 'Twilight Zone' type of parallel universe that is controlled and run by total nut-cases...
To answer your question, I deal with them pretty much the way I always have .. as people who disagree with me about something they hold to be very important but which I hold to be a curiosity at best and of no consequence at worst. In other words, I just gravitate toward people with similar interests and sensibilities without regard to religion - unless they harp on about it.
I don't agree that anyone who believes in god must be "mentally messed up". Surely you've noticed that not every atheist is Einstein and some seem even to have a screw or two loose. I don't find god belief in the modern age distressing, just curious.
Suppose it turned out -for unspecified reasons- that god belief was reasonable for reasons entirely unrelated to gods existing as what believers think they are. If it turned out that god belief was merely a predictable outcome given a certain kind of upbringing and that it resulted in no serious impairment to their mental capacities, would you still be distressed by the existence of believers?
Oh and I haven't read any other posts yet, just your OP. But I look forward to doing so after I finish a project.
