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Always Atheism vs Christianity?

dgirl1986

Big Queer Chesticles!
I posted this recently on my wordpress blog and thought I would pose the question here as well.

"I notice that most (but not all) atheist podcasts, blogs, etc address christianity specifically. It has been a pretty rare occasion for me to hear them address budhhism, hinduism, paganism, etc.

It makes me wonder if atheists are obsessed with the christians and their bibles. Why is this? Is it because christianity is considered a mainstream religion or is it based on the fact that atheists in question are ex christians (or have had bad experiences with christianity).

I personally think it would be really interesting to hear atheists view points and thoughts on the smaller religions."
 
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StarryNightshade

Spiritually confused Jew
Premium Member
I think it's a bit of both, really. At least for many atheists in western countries.

Mainly because it is the largest religion in the world and many are "exposed" to it growing up. Therefore, many have a large resentment to it (as well as the other Abrahamic faiths) without giving much thought to other religions.

At least, this is based on my experience; as I was that angry little atheist for a while, because Christianity obviously represented every single religious person in the world.
 

Walkntune

Well-Known Member
I posted this recently on my wordpress blog and thought I would pose the question here as well.

"I notice that most (but not all) atheist podcasts, blogs, etc address christianity specifically. It has been a pretty rare occasion for me to hear them address budhhism, hinduism, paganism, etc.

It makes me wonder if atheists are obsessed with the christians and their bibles. Why is this? Is it because christianity is considered a mainstream religion or is it based on the fact that atheists in question are ex christians (or have had bad experiences with christianity).

I personally think it would be really interesting to hear atheists view points and thoughts on the smaller religions."
God is love. No matter how logical a man chooses to walk he will never truly snip love out until death. Until then he will search and wonder through religion until he finds it.
 

dgirl1986

Big Queer Chesticles!
God is love. No matter how logical a man chooses to walk he will never truly snip love out until death. Until then he will search and wonder through religion until he finds it.

That really doesnt address what I was saying. And if you read the OT, it is hard to believe god is love.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
I think it's what Christians have done to and with Christianity. Christians can be very in-your-face and dogmatic. Rather, not necessarily individual Christians but Christian groups and churches. But Hindus and Buddhists are not immune to Dogmatitis either. I think it's the dogmatics that drive people away and into the arms of atheism or deism or agnostcism. The irony imo is that it's God who bears the brunt of the anger... it's not God's fault.

As for the OT and the God therein, Christians who think the God of the OT is the real God are a small but unfortunately vocal minority. None of the major churches... Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, or mainstream Protestant churches even consider God that way. In fact when I was Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox I am hard pressed to remember very many references to an angry bloodthirsty God.
 
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Cephus

Relentlessly Rational
It's mostly because many bloggers live in the west where Christianity is the biggest and most powerful religion and, let's be honest, people write what they know. That said though, there are plenty of bloggers who live in areas where Islam and Buddhism and other religions are common and they write about them as well.

Personally, I write about various religions, but Christianity comes up most often because it's prominent in the culture I live in.
 

ImprobableBeing

Active Member
I posted this recently on my wordpress blog and thought I would pose the question here as well.

"I notice that most (but not all) atheist podcasts, blogs, etc address christianity specifically. It has been a pretty rare occasion for me to hear them address budhhism, hinduism, paganism, etc.

It makes me wonder if atheists are obsessed with the christians and their bibles. Why is this? Is it because christianity is considered a mainstream religion or is it based on the fact that atheists in question are ex christians (or have had bad experiences with christianity).

I personally think it would be really interesting to hear atheists view points and thoughts on the smaller religions."


I suggest you watch "The Revisionaries" an excellent documentary.

TBH, you don't see a lot of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or Pagans trying to change laws based on their religious beliefs in the western world so there is some slack to give them on that, if Christians were fine with having a personal faith rather than using it for political gain to institute Christian laws then that would be just great and you'd see the opinion amongst atheists/agnostics/humanists change.

There is, of course, no reason to zone in on Christians other than that. In my nation (we pride ourselves with not knowing the faith (or lack there of) of our politicians) we don't have any such problems except for Islamic exceptions being proposed into law which are rejected per our "founding law" so you might see more opposition to Islam than to Christianity where i'm from.
 

ImprobableBeing

Active Member
It's mostly because many bloggers live in the west where Christianity is the biggest and most powerful religion and, let's be honest, people write what they know. That said though, there are plenty of bloggers who live in areas where Islam and Buddhism and other religions are common and they write about them as well.

Personally, I write about various religions, but Christianity comes up most often because it's prominent in the culture I live in.

Indeed, if you read Iranian blogs or Iraqi blogs you will find out that the western blogs are quite tame in comparison.

The people there actually despise their religious politicians who restrict their lives individually and per mandate that they do not agree with and can do nothing about.
 

Iti oj

Global warming is real and we need to act
Premium Member
I suggest you watch "The Revisionaries" an excellent documentary.

TBH, you don't see a lot of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or Pagans trying to change laws based on their religious beliefs in the western world so there is some slack to give them on that, if Christians were fine with having a personal faith rather than using it for political gain to institute Christian laws then that would be just great and you'd see the opinion amongst atheists/agnostics/humanists change.

There is, of course, no reason to zone in on Christians other than that. In my nation (we pride ourselves with not knowing the faith (or lack there of) of our politicians) we don't have any such problems except for Islamic exceptions being proposed into law which are rejected per our "founding law" so you might see more opposition to Islam than to Christianity where i'm from.
this to a t. Also stay out of schools, science nd sex ed.
 

dgirl1986

Big Queer Chesticles!
Some good points.

I am hoping I will be able to find the doco recommended.

If anyone has links for blogs or podcasts that address religions other than christianity, I would love to have a look :)

I am initally really interested to see what atheists thoughts and opinons are on paganism.
 

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
I think it's because Christianity is most popular, therefore you find more atheist converts from Christianity, therefore there will be more of them debating of that religion.
 

ImprobableBeing

Active Member
Some good points.

I am hoping I will be able to find the doco recommended.

If anyone has links for blogs or podcasts that address religions other than christianity, I would love to have a look :)

I am initally really interested to see what atheists thoughts and opinons are on paganism.

http://www.novamov.com/video/55bg00lr4dhuu


You do know that as an atheist i don't believe in god/s and that paganism following gods would be out of the question for any atheist?

It's the only thing we have in common and refraining from that one thing would make you a theist, not an atheist. ;)
 
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dgirl1986

Big Queer Chesticles!
http://www.novamov.com/video/55bg00lr4dhuu


You do know that as an atheist i don't believe in god/s and that paganism following gods would be out of the question for any atheist?

It's the only thing we have in common and refraining from that one thing would make you a theist, not an atheist. ;)

I was thinking more of discussions relating to how atheists view the practices, beliefs, theories, point of references etc.
 

InformedIgnorance

Do you 'know' or believe?
Summary
-Visibility of discourse to observer (particularly language of discourse and technology facilitated discourse)
-Influence of theological traditions on societies in which discourse is taking place
-Participant experiences (particularly with relation to religions in proximity)
-Reaction to discourse by relevant parties (participants, audience of discourse, local community, religious community etc - particularly their propensity towards violence)

Hmmn well there are quite a few different factors. Firstly it is important to note that there is a bias in terms of the Observer's awareness of when/where such discourse is taking place; If the observer speaks english primarily, then Christianity is one of more most prevalent religions in the english speaking world with atheism one which is either extremely well established or fastly growing (depending on which english speaking nation one looks at), the observer is aided by the capacity of technology to distribute such material among technologically developed nations (within which most of the more visible debate is occurring - enabled in large part due to shifting theological demographics and availability of technology) christian denominations are far more prevalent.

Then there are the domestic factors within the societies in which individuals with inclination to espouse dissent facilitated through technology (and less impeded by threats and incidence of violence) - these are typically religiously (predominately christian due to demographics within largely democratic nations) motivated interference in secular governance such as faith based initiatives to deprive people of appropriate education, health care, access to reforms etc. Participants also have personal factors, one is more likely to be familiar with religions with which one has access to - particularly in one's native tongue and with proximity. Of course, more personal factors would include previous experiences with local religious communities, even particular religious individuals, opinion on the policies (and implementation thereof) of religious institutions and more.

In terms of the reaction towards such discourse: Christianity is the largest religion in the world which has a contemporary lack of significant following among adherents of violence towards those who contradict them; in addition individuals are seldom motivated by Atheism (as opposed to antitheism for which there is more evidence) towards violence against those who contradict them, nor are there contemporary significant atheistic movements which have institutions which promote violence as a reaction to ideological differences. Therefore, both parties have a reasonable expectation that they can engage in dialogue without being subjected to violence which facilitates lively and visible discourse including the expression of disagreement.




In english speaking communities, the most common theological debates will be about religions that are prevalent in (or have a perceived impact on) the english speaking world. In mandarin speaking communities, the most common theological debates will be about religions that are prevalent in (or have a perceived impact on) the mandarin speaking world. But within those communities in which there is disagreement about ideological issues, the occurrence, visibility, character and content of such discourse is likely to be tempered by the attitude of the community towards such 'conflict' (and indeed subject specific differences may be present) and in particular by the attitudes of individuals and groups towards how to deal with the expression of ideological disagreements. In a community inclined to reasoned discussion, one can more easily air contention than one can in a community which sees ideological dissent as inappropriate and should be avoided or even worse as crimes and should be punished.

An interesting (and sometimes unfortunate) departure from this is that technology facilitates an inter-community spread of dialogue which increases the range of communication to include a wider audience within which there is naturally a greater chance to include those who will react violently - it is also sadly true that such individuals are not uniformly distributed (and cultural factors may facilitate or obstruct willingness to engage in reasoned discourse as opposed to violence). This is particularly the case when an audience member seeks to propagate the initial communication (possibly incorporating translation, editing and so forth) for the sake of engendering the perception of ideological grievances with a wider audience.
 
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ImprobableBeing

Active Member
I was thinking more of discussions relating to how atheists view the practices, beliefs, theories, point of references etc.

You can't group atheists like that since the only thing we share is that we don't believe in god/s.

I'm Jewish by heritage and was raised Christian, i consider my cultural heritage both and celebrate some of the holidays of both religions, you'll find atheists to be an extremely diverse group that have very little in common apart from the not believing in god/s.

I suppose empiricism is common amongst atheists and i'm mainly speaking from my own experience but i cannot believe in anything for which i don't have enough evidence to convince me, it doesn't really matter what it is, it's the way i am. What the faith is called is irrelevant to me, give me your thoughts and i'll evaluate them based on actual knowledge.
 

dgirl1986

Big Queer Chesticles!
You can't group atheists like that since the only thing we share is that we don't believe in god/s.

I'm Jewish by heritage and was raised Christian, i consider my cultural heritage both and celebrate some of the holidays of both religions, you'll find atheists to be an extremely diverse group that have very little in common apart from the not believing in god/s.

I suppose empiricism is common amongst atheists and i'm mainly speaking from my own experience but i cannot believe in anything for which i don't have enough evidence to convince me, it doesn't really matter what it is, it's the way i am. What the faith is called is irrelevant to me, give me your thoughts and i'll evaluate them based on actual knowledge.

I think I worded that badly. I was more thinking of views etc of individual atheists.

Part of my interest in their views on paganism and related topics is due to me previously identifying as pagan (before that I was I christian)
 

s2a

Heretic and part-time (skinny) Santa impersonator
I posted this recently on my wordpress blog and thought I would pose the question here as well.

"I notice that most (but not all) atheist podcasts, blogs, etc address christianity specifically. It has been a pretty rare occasion for me to hear them address budhhism, hinduism, paganism, etc.

Well then, welcome to a place where that may not always be the case :)

It makes me wonder if atheists are obsessed with the christians and their bibles. Why is this? Is it because christianity is considered a mainstream religion or is it based on the fact that atheists in question are ex christians (or have had bad experiences with christianity).
Obsessed? Hardly.

It’s more a matter of “know your territory, and those that inhabit it “predominantly”.

Just curious...what is the largest number of avowed religious adherents in the US?

Might they be...“Christians”… (an admittedly wildly diverse sort, from snake-handlers, to the Amish, to Catholics, and all the sub-sects around and in between).

If anyone (atheist or other) seeks to engage with “Christian folk”, at least superficially...it is best to be as well, if not more so, as well-informed as to the texts of their guiding religious texts or “Scripture”…is it not?


I personally think it would be really interesting to hear atheists view points and thoughts on the smaller religions."
Ask away, that’s what we are here to answer:)

Just some basic guidelines (especially when “atheists” are involved)…

Be specific as you can be.

Do not worry about quoting any religious texts as support, question or otherwise.

Confine inquiries/commentary to a specific/defined cult/sect/superstion/institution whenever possible (see guideline one above :))

That’s about all for now, as we “atheists” are not particularly over demanding about most anything:)

Unbelief in magical deities has it perks.

Welcome again, and ask away:)
 

dgirl1986

Big Queer Chesticles!
s2a...maybe you could post something (wherever appropriate) that outlines your opinions, views, understandings, theories (if applicable) etc regarding...

- tarot
- mediums
- meditation (eastern and western)
- pagan beliefs in old theologies (such as greek, egyption etc)
- chakras
etc
 
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