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Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 5:44 pm
(This post was last modified: July 20, 2011 at 6:08 pm by Judas BentHer.)
What with the whole point of atheism being not accepting *god*fable, superstition, myth, irrational philosophy as credible or true, how is it that it seems at any given atheist forum the predominant subject discussed is religion, god, the religious, and it seems Christianity especially?
*edit missing word*
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 5:51 pm
(July 20, 2011 at 5:44 pm)Judas BentHer Wrote: What with the whole point of atheism being not accepting fable, superstition, myth, irrational philosophy as credible or true, how is it that it seems at any given atheist forum the predominant subject discussed is religion, god, the religious, and it seems Christianity especially?
It's really hard to talk about disbelief. "you don't believe either....cool" would be the gist of the conversation.
People don't usually talk about what they don't believe in, but rather what they DO believe in.
In the western world, Xianity is the dominant "In your face" religion and is ~2B strong so it's what tends to be the focus
of debate and rancor for many ex-xians.
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 5:54 pm
(July 20, 2011 at 5:44 pm)Judas BentHer Wrote: What with the whole point of atheism being not accepting fable, superstition, myth, irrational philosophy as credible or true, how is it that it seems at any given atheist forum the predominant subject discussed is religion, god, the religious, and it seems Christianity especially? Firstly, atheism is not about "not accepting fable, superstition, myth, irrational philosophy". Plenty of atheists believe fables, superstitions, myths, and irrational philosophies. The only thing that unites atheists is their lack of a belief in God. That also answers your question about why we discuss things other than atheism; it gets very very boring, very very fast.
I'm serious, if all we could talk about on this forum was atheism, discussions would be over and done within a day. We need to talk about more interesting things, like philosophy, or religion (since atheism is closely related to religion). Christianity is more talked about because (a) it is the most popular religion on the planet, and (b) most atheists were once Christians.
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 6:00 pm
You have to remember that religion, especially Christianity, are literally everywhere in western society. Everywhere that an atheist in the U.S. or the U.K. (etc) looks... there it is... some reference to religion. Every time we watch the news, some politician is talking about religion or some athlete is thanking 'god' for the hard work the athlete put in. It goes on and on. Religion is everywhere and when atheistic types get together... we naturally can't help blowing off a little steam about it.
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm
(This post was last modified: July 21, 2011 at 7:27 am by Napoléon.)
On top of the reasons mentioned, religion will almost definitely have an impact on everybody's lives. Like Paul said it's everywhere, and can influence so many things such as laws, architecture, clothing, society, people's mindsets and even their tolerences towards other people etc. Everything really.
In short, I personally like (or feel the need) to talk about religion because it directly affects me in some way or another, and I bet everyone else is the same.
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I think that to label yourself as an Atheist takes a certain level of knowledge and a certain type of person. You should have weighed up all the options that are available. That includes learning about different religions as well as science, culture and history.
For this reason religion becomes a draw, IT is a unifying thing in which we can discuss and debate.
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 7:13 pm
(This post was last modified: July 20, 2011 at 7:15 pm by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
Atheists are not an identifiable group. The people one meets on atheist forums are atypical in my experience.
I live in Australia, a secular country with a high atheist population (including many politicians,past and present)
Although Aussies tend to have a healthy contempt for clergy and organised religion,it's not a topic which usually comes up in polite company.
Most Aussies are too busy getting on with life to spend much time navel gazing.
We do get upset with some of the loopier fundies,when they start sticking their oar in.
A common Australian attitude is "I'm here for a good time,not a long time"
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 8:14 pm
(This post was last modified: July 20, 2011 at 8:15 pm by Violet.)
Because I don't give a rat's left ankle about religion. And anyone who does is just being moronic.
Granted... if we're paying attention as a joke: everything's kosher ^_^
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Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 9:28 pm
I believe that the majority of Atheists pay so much attention to religion because they know it can be, and is, a dangerous force. Most Atheists that pay attention are deconverts, mostly. This means that the issue is very close to home. Why wouldn't Atheists want to spread science? After all, if you're in love, don't you want to tell the world?
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RE: Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?
July 20, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Because the fairy tale set keeps showing up here and annoying us with their god shit.
Otherwise, I don't think about their shit at all. It's no more important to my life than Hansel and Gretel.
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