Quiet Atheist vs Militant Atheist

[Twisted]

I am a new Atheist but you don't turn Atheist over night,i had doubts in religion and I used to talk about them among my closest friends and family members,I don't mind anyone being religious but when religions promote violence and hate i will not watch silently,I want people to be more open minded even if not Atheist so I try to widen their perspective by asking them simple logical questions then relating them to religion

[abaris]

I want people to be more open minded even if not Atheist so I try to widen their perspective by asking them simple logical questions then relating them to religion

That is understood. I wouldn't live a lie either, just to please some people. But as I understand militant atheism, it's more like JWs in reverse. And that's certainly not me. I'm no missionary to solicit unwanted advice. If the topic comes up, I speak my piece. But that's the thing, where I live, the topic isn't on the agenda. In my whole life of 50+ years, I had maybe one or two religious conversations. And these were over within minutes.

[Longhorn]

I'm only militant when they piss me off, usually the topic just doesn't come up

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yup. If it's a discussion, I'm happily polite. But if they're preaching, the courtesy thins out very quickly.

[Mr Greene]

I agree that the OP presents a false dichotomy.

Most of the volunteers I managed were atheists in an organisation that is secular and has an outspoken atheist as it's figurehead.

As for myself I was quiet but have become more vocal over time as I've become aware of the harm religious groups set out to cause.

[Spooky]

Quiet. Most of general population aren't worth the effort.

[Salacious B. Crumb]

In general, I'm quiet about it. Actually, one person knows that I am an atheist, so I'm very quiet about it. On here, I vent my quiet struggles and frustrations. With my family, I keep it quiet, but with others that I meet I'm happy to be vocal about it if the subject comes up; I don't feel the need to talk about it ever. When I was going to church with my family for 6 months as a non-religious person, I had to come out and tell them I didn't believe in it anymore, because it made me sick to my stomach to go the catholic ceremony of retardation. I don't feel it's necessary to come out as an atheist quite yet, as I'd be looked at as even more demon possessed than I already am to a few of the insanely, conservative, radical, bigoted, judgmental catholic goofs I'd have to deal with.

If I had an atheist friend that shared my hatred of religion, I'm sure we'd be vocal about it quite often.

[paulpablo]

I grew up exposed to several religions and also found Charles Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Sam Harris (End of Faith). There are many atheists that don't speak up around their religious friends so they don't offend them. After all, there is freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion in the USA. I am somewhat torn because some of the nicest people I know are Christians that volunteer, help the homeless, etc. However, most of the smartest people I know are atheists. I think it is the radical people in any religion or political group that are harmful. Ultra conservative Republicans, ultra liberal democrats, radical Islam, etc. But I wonder if militant atheists are bad or religion is worse. It seems as though young people are more secular than previous generations and atheists are on the rise. It will be interesting to see how things progress with the Vatican, Radical Islam, and Israel in this century.

Are you a quiet, respectful atheist, or a militant atheist out to show people how wrong and harmful religion is?

Wow, and people said my poll on a previous thread was too simplistic and boring. 

I'm not quiet and respectful all of the time, sometimes for example I will tell Christians I think the story of Adam and Eve is stupid and a blatant myth and that I can't take their beliefs seriously.
On the other hand I'm not always like that, I've worked with Muslims and Christians who told me about their beliefs and I didn't mock them for it.

On the other hand I'm not out to kill Christians or aggressively in pursuit of an argument with them.

I think I could become militant if I was faced with theocratic militant aggression I can't imagine being a pacifist when faced with conflict like that. 

It pretty much works the same ways with arguments and debates, in person in my leisure time or work time I'm not very argumentative about religion, but if it was someone on the street who wanted a debate, or someone posted extraordinary religious claims on here or on another public forum I would argue aggressively to get my point across if I thought the claims they were making were bullshit.

Anyway to cut a long story I short I didn't vote either quiet or militant.

[Salacious B. Crumb]

It pretty much works the same ways with arguments and debates, in person in my leisure time or work time I'm not very argumentative about religion, but if it was someone on the street who wanted a debate, or someone posted extraordinary religious claims on here or on another public forum I would argue aggressively to get my point across if I thought the claims they were making were bullshit.

Anyway to cut a long story I short I didn't vote either quiet or militant.

Agreed.

[Angrboda]

I'm quiet in general. Even though I'm only recently atheist, for a long time I vociferously opposed Christian idiocy on here. But I'm tired of that. I don't know what I'd do if my liberties were threatened by religion, beyond voting, which I generally don't do. All in all, I don't see atheists and religious people as fundamentally different — we're both products of the same psychology — so I don't have any general animosity towards them.