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Why are atheists so passionate about pushing their point of view?

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
On the street corner, all of you are correct. But I've noticed a few here on RF and elsewhere who will take every opportunity to attack religion in general or some in specific typically finding the worse part of religion to use to attack religion in general. So you all are not quite on the "side of the angels", as it were.
Thank god we are not one the same side as fictitious entities, eh? :)
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
but isn't religion supposed to make us happy? why deny religion?
"Religion" is just a word. Its meaning varies quite a lot in practice. There is no shortage of destructive doctrines claiming that name. Quite a few are parasitical in essence, seeking their adherent's satisfaction at the expense of other people, for instance.

People should challenge and refuse articles of faith that are imposed upon them without their agreement.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
these are cults.

That is one way of designating the difference.

All the same, people ultimately have to decide whether they want to support the doctrines they learn of. They do not come already labeled as worthy or unworthy according to our own personal convenience.

And quite a few people feel various degrees of unwillingness to support any of those that they find that present themselves as religions. Would you expect differently?
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
One frequent reason for the perceived "passion" would be the need to challenge the casual appropriation of our choices and fates by some influential theist movements.

Far too often we atheists are expected to silently go along with theistic expectations just because, and to wait for some form of authorization before speaking our minds.

Those are not reasonable expectations, despite the existence of many people who seem to be literally unable of dealing with any questioning of them.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
because they are atheists, they are actively against god. if they were indifferent, they would be apatheists.

What a silly nonsensical claim. Atheist are not actively against god. Does your lack of belief in magical unicorns mean that you're actively against magical unicorns?
 

It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
but isn't religion supposed to make us happy?

Not to my knowledge.

From the user's perspective, religions is man trying to understand the world and his place in it, and to placate imagined the gods underlying thunder, droughts, and earthquakes.

Then came the priesthood, and made religion into something else, but it wasn't to make people happy. It was to find a way that required almost no effort and no manual labor at all to make a living and receive instant unearned societal respect.

Next, the kings discovered how useful religion was. Some began spreading Christianity using armies - from Constantine to the Crusaders to the Conquistadores.

As I see it, Christianity brings comfort from the insecurities it fosters. Without being told that you might go to hell, or that death as the atheist understands it renders life meaningless and morality impossible, you wouldn't find much of interest or value there. I hold none of those beliefs, and therefore, not surprisingly, Christianity has nothing to offer me. Nor Judaism, nor Islam.

Nor the dharmic religions, which I respect more. But I came to the best ideas I have seen from Buddhism, for example, without consulting Buddhists or Buddhist philosophy.

Secular humanism has been fulfilling for me.

why deny religion?

Do you mean into my life? Because it adds nothing. What does religion have to offer a person who is happy and not afraid to be extinguished at death?
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
Whether theists or atheists, it's the loud, obnoxious, and noisy ones that draw your attention in spite of the majority of both groups minding their own business and not being loud, obnoxious, and noisy.
This is a winner.
 

leibowde84

Veteran Member
Like why does it matter so much to them

Psalm 125 - Believers are like mountains and God like mountains around that mountain.
Discussion guide week 5 - Psalm 125
I think on this forum, when religious people state beliefs as if they are fact, atheists see a necessity for those claims to be challenged. I think there is merit in that. It is important that all beliefs are challenged. Progress in understanding reality would be impossible otherwise.
 

leibowde84

Veteran Member
because they are atheists, they are actively against god. if they were indifferent, they would be apatheists.
You are incorrect sir, and have an incorrect understanding of both "atheism" and "apatheism". The former is the "disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods." There is no requirement of being against God; there is not even a requirement for any declaration, as the term includes those who are merely without (lack) theism.

Apatheism is acting with apathy, disregard, or lack of interest towards belief or disbelief in a deity. Apatheism describes the manner of acting towards a belief or lack of a belief in a deity, so it applies to both theism and atheism.

So, there are apathetic atheists and non-apathetic atheists. Atheism in no way requires one to be against god.
 
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