How does Atheism pose a threat?

[greneknight]

I don't know what a deist really is although I've seen the word and probably misused it myself. I am a Christian because my vicar says that in my church we have bishops and archbishops who don't even believe Jesus existed. So, since they are Christians and nobody will deny that, I must be so all the more.

I know many atheists and fundies say I'm not a Christian but I think we've got to leave it to the church to decide. They are the ones who will be doing the rite of confirmation for me later this year when i'm back in England.

Questions:
Why would you let your church decide what you are?
Have you tried googleling deist?
If people that are specialized on the sublect of Jesus don't believe he existed why shoud you?

Don't be offended when I say this, but you strike me as someone who hasn't got a clue of what he's on about or doing. Please don't take it the wrong way, I do not intend to upset/offend.

No, I'm not upset or offended. I don't just let the church decide. I've been an altar boy since I was 5 and I like the church and I do think of myself as a Christian. Actually, I have no doubt I am a Christian. Not all my priests think that Jesus didn't exist.

[Ace Otana]

Haha yes! Didn't mean to tell you something you already knew by the way haha. Would be quite weird if you wouldn't have known this.
Do you also agree that THAT is a happy ending? And i don't mean in a Thai way. I just love the idea of that so much.

Heh, I'm quite well informed on such things, go back a few years and you'll find that I was one uneducated idiot. And yes, such an ending would be a good one to me.

Same with the mind.

Modern physics is fundamentally based on indestructability of information. This means the mind may stop functioning, but full information about every thoughts, feelings, whims, desires, perceptions that has ever been part of you mind also can never be destroyed, and can in principle always be retrieved and used to resurrect you.

So you're suggesting that your memory, desires, feelings and the like which is contained in the tissue of the brain continues on after the brain dies and the tissue containing the information decays? How does that work? Where does the information go?

[downbeatplumb]

I think believers see atheism as a threat because all other believers could be thought of as being wrong on the details but right in general by theists. i.e. they believe in god they just use the wrong name or they see multiple gods when there is just one.

But atheists are different, we have no belief that can be reconciled with theirs. That is why they tend to say things you "you don't believe in god, what do you believe in?" like Darth Vader, a lack of faith disturbs them.

This is why they try to make atheism a faith, they cannot reconcile someone having no faith at all with their view of the world.

It blows their minds.

[Vincenzo Vinny G.]

Traditional atheism poses a serious threat to theism in terms of removing the number of believers, reducing their social and political power, etc.

[Darkstar]

If they consider an atheist as a threat, even if the atheist has no interest in engaging in debate, they must harbor doubt about their beliefs. Otherwise it wouldn't bother them at all.

Indeed! Some years ago a movie called "The Golden Compass" was released in theaters. Apparently, the author of the book it was based on was an atheist, and some of the side stories (which ended up not even being in the movie) endorsed atheism. One week at religious ed, we were given a sheet to take home to our parents, warning them not to let us see the movie, lest it negatively influence us. Even at the time I thought it was bizarre that the church thought faith could be broken be a single (not especially popular, even) movie.

I now know better. I imagine that they thought that 'kids' would be easily swayed away from 'good', but even then, why? Atheism doesn't offer any ultimate reward, the implications that when you did you die are kind of scary at first. Many people remain in denial; they want to believe. So why did the parish feel the need to make a big deal over nothing?