Active/Passive Atheist?

[Alex K]

Militant agnostic, teehee

[madog]

I hate hereditary illness, but not the victims .... however I also hate people that have an illness purposefully passing it on to to others ...

[bennyboy]

Militant agnostic, teehee

Now I know what to call myself.

[chimp3]

If you consider yourself an atheist, I'm wondering where you would place yourself on the following spectrum of activism to pacifism. 

1) Active (I'm anti-theist and anti-religion. I think religion has negative and dangerous consequences in many spheres and I feel a personal duty to oppose it.)

2) Neutral (I don't believe in god, but don't mind if others do. I also don't mind if some are actively against religion.)

3) Passive (I don't believe in god. However, I object to atheists' active opposition to religion.)

1 and 2.

[Detachable]

As of today, 7 have clicked "Active" and 8, "Neutral" (Passive: 0). Again, I'm surprised at how many seem to feel no inclination to advocate for atheism.

[The Grand Nudger]

Your poll options aren't informative in that regard.  I'd be an active atheist, under these options...but that doesn't mean that I hand out leaflets door to door asking people whether or not they've heard the good news. Those sorts of people irritate me, and isn't that to be expected?

[downbeatplumb]

If you consider yourself an atheist, I'm wondering where you would place yourself on the following spectrum of activism to pacifism. 

1) Active (I'm anti-theist and anti-religion. I think religion has negative and dangerous consequences in many spheres and I feel a personal duty to oppose it.)

2) Neutral (I don't believe in god, but don't mind if others do. I also don't mind if some are actively against religion.)

3) Passive (I don't believe in god. However, I object to atheists' active opposition to religion.)

I'm between 1 and 2 depending on the religion and theists that I'm conversing with.

[mlmooney89]

The reason for this pole was...
Several months ago I joined a local atheist group. I'd never joined such a group before and admit thinking that the other members would be like me, in the sense that they decided they were atheists because they thought believing in religion was foolish and dangerous and that they thought one owed it to oneself and society to advocate for atheism and against religion. The only question I had was, just how aggressive might they be in such a role.
So, I was astonished to find that several (about half?), of the 8 or 10 who showed up that evening stated they were not at all 'activist' in their atheism; that they simply didn't believe in god. And yes, some even said they thought to argue against faith was being inconsiderate of others' rights to believe.
I assume many in the current forum have heard of the four famous new atheists, (sometimes called the "four horsemen of the non apocalypse"); Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens (RIP), Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. Anyhow, if you read their books; to me, it becomes undeniable that belief in god is not just foolish, but dangerous and a tremendous burden on humanity and the world. (Even without reading these guys, simple adult reflection on the question should result in the same conclusion.) Once this realization is gained, it seems unconscionable to me to have a passive attitude about it: 'I don't believe in god, but I don't care if others do.' It seems to me that if one has that attitude then you are either not being honest with yourself, or you don't care about the damage that religion does. And I ask myself, Why would I want to associate with such a person?

Honestly I think it has to do with what is around them and how they are treated. When I first renounced my faith I was very open minded and very careful not to step on toes or even admit my non belief. I would say the whole thing about not arguing with someone about something that means a lot to them. Now that I've been an atheist for a decade and have seen what religion does to people, have felt what it is like to be harassed for my atheism, and have seen the injustice of how often the government (American which is supposed to be non religious) favors Christianity. I have since become more active. I wonder if these that you have met have family that is Christian or if they have been around a lot of good Christians so they don't feel the need to be more active. Or I'm completely off and wrong lmao

[Whateverist]

The reason for this pole was...
Several months ago I joined a local atheist group. I'd never joined such a group before and admit thinking that the other members would be like me, in the sense that they decided they were atheists because they thought believing in religion was foolish and dangerous and that they thought one owed it to oneself and society to advocate for atheism and against religion. The only question I had was, just how aggressive might they be in such a role.
So, I was astonished to find that several (about half?), of the 8 or 10 who showed up that evening stated they were not at all 'activist' in their atheism; that they simply didn't believe in god. And yes, some even said they thought to argue against faith was being inconsiderate of others' rights to believe.
I assume many in the current forum have heard of the four famous new atheists, (sometimes called the "four horsemen of the non apocalypse"); Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens (RIP), Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. Anyhow, if you read their books; to me, it becomes undeniable that belief in god is not just foolish, but dangerous and a tremendous burden on humanity and the world. (Even without reading these guys, simple adult reflection on the question should result in the same conclusion.) Once this realization is gained, it seems unconscionable to me to have a passive attitude about it: 'I don't believe in god, but I don't care if others do.' It seems to me that if one has that attitude then you are either not being honest with yourself, or you don't care about the damage that religion does. And I ask myself, Why would I want to associate with such a person?

I think what motivates you is your own disposition to "do something".  My disposition is to try and understand how people can be so different.  As one sort of person, my disposition is not to persuade the others to be more like me.  

Have you ever wondered why god belief goes back further than historical record can follow and seems nearly pervasive every where humans have lived?  I have and I'm not fond of glib suggestions that before we were just stupid and primitive but now we should know better.  That's just what you say when you don't really care about understanding the question.

[c172]

I'm an atheist with moodswings into antitheism. I really do think religion has done damage. However, I also think suppression of freedom of thought isn't such a great idea, either. 

So conflicted.