(July 27, 2015 at 5:14 am)robvalue Wrote: Certainly it seems most atheists on this board strongly support critical thought. I'm sure there are plenty of atheists who don't. My wife, for example, is not big on it.

(July 27, 2015 at 6:51 am)ignoramus Wrote: yeah, my wife's the same...
That's an interesting point.
I think religion is a special case. It is so absurd to swallow in the cold light of day, that without indoctrination, it just can't work.
So really, as long as you're not subjected to indoctrination, you don't need any reason to NOT believe, as we have said, it is the default stance.
It makes sense to NOT believe, it is common sense. Even my silly wife knows that! Who needs critical thinking?

Maybe there is something non-utilitarian about forming chains of syllogisms to justify or rule out choices which just escapes some people.  My wife is a no non-sense atheist.  She doesn't over think it.  It is just silly.  Not worth dwelling on.  She laughs plenty loud when Bill Maher goes on a tirade against religion.  But, unlike me, she has never brought it up out of the blue.  On a long car ride or on a walk she never comes out with "you know what is absurd about religion?"  Maybe those of us who do dwell on it are the deficient ones, carrying around unfinished conversations like I do with my deceased father and his clone, my not deceased brother.

The "reasons" for being an atheist are indeed trivially silly, and don't require much analysis, once you're already on that side of things. It's only the fact that such a large proportion of people in the world are not on the same side that I am forced to take the issue seriously.

Having to explain why you're an atheist to a devout believer is a bit like trying to explain to a little child why you don't believe in Santa... it's hard not to sound condescending. I try nonetheless, because I care about the believer and want us to reach an understanding of each other's positions. As I've found on this forum, sometimes their minds are so entrenched with presupposition that there can be no middle ground.

(July 27, 2015 at 9:04 am)robvalue Wrote: The "reasons" for being an atheist are indeed trivially silly, and don't require much analysis, once you're already on that side of things. It's only the fact that such a large proportion of people in the world are not on the same side that I am forced to take the issue seriously.

Having to explain why you're an atheist to a devout believer is a bit like trying to explain to a little child why you don't believe in Santa... it's hard not to sound condescending. I try nonetheless, because I care about the believer and want us to reach an understanding of each other's positions. As I've found on this forum, sometimes their minds are so entrenched with presupposition that there can be no middle ground.

Do you find that when you say that you don't believe in god they assume you believe in something else?

I always thought this rather a silly outlook.

It's like if someone finds out I don't support a particular player in the world tiddly winks contest and assuming I support someone else. I don't.

Yes, I do. I think it is because religion is packaged as the "answer to everything". So they assume that any alternative must have its own set of answers, or else why wouldn't you pick a religion?

The idea that I'm satisfied with not knowing is bizarre to some people. I haven't actually had a lot of conversations with theists in real life, it's mainly been online. But after watching hundreds of atheist experiences, I find this to be a common misconception indeed.

I do not and have not ever spoken about religion to anyone except you guys.
And that is a by product of being on this site mainly for shits and giggles.
It's probably a lot easier being in Australia where I couldn't even buy an argument about religion with anyone.
I'd be interested to know how many people are "pushed" into talking about it outside this forum.