What Is It....

[cupid04]

What is it about atheists that they would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that they don't believe exists?

[askyourgran]

Labdybirder- you would.

[ladybirder]

Religion impacts on peoples' lives all over the world. Usually for the worse.

[ladybirder]

AYG???

[LoftyLottie]

I seriously cannot understand why people have religious beliefs. However, I don't spend much time thinking about it or expend any energy whatsoever. I have friends who are serious churchgoers, and others who although not churchgoers believe in a God, but we never ever discuss our beliefs. Just not worth it. I doubt if any ABer has been swayed one way or another by any of the threads in R&S and they are all very much the same.

[ladybirder]

Oh they have LL, and they said so at the time.

[LoftyLottie]

Really. Converted which way?

[ladybirder]

Have a guess, go on;-)

[LoftyLottie]

I think I stopped believing at the same time as I stopped believing in a God as such when I stopped believing in Father Christmas. My son went to a Cof E Church School. I never tried to influence him in any way. The subject never came up in conversation. There is no There was a fair amount of religious influence in his school life. At about 7 he reasoned that it was not believable.

[LoftyLottie]

I really can't guess because I rarely enter this domain!!

[LoftyLottie]

Repeated myself a bit up there ^

[ladybirder]

OK. From agnosticism to atheism.

[LoftyLottie]

Still can't guess. Actually, this might seem silly, but I think I am quite spiritual, but that doesn't indicate I believe in a God - I don't. I think that life is wondrous even if it was scientifically created.

[joko]

i think for some its because religion can be dangerous - or rather religious people can be dangerous

a lot of bad things happen in the name of religion and i think atheist just with out world wasnt sullied by this blight... so the more people who start to question their faith and eventually get rid of it, the better.

i am not just referring to wars ad terrorism etc - i also mean the damaging psychological effects of the whole going to hell, sinning, guilt, worry etc that is ingrained into our psyche, because our whole society is deeply influenced by religion, whether we realise it or not

[LazyGun]

@cupid - If you did not expect any "sensible" answers, why did you post? tongue in cheek? opportunity for people to exercise their creative funnybones?

What Canary said early on sums it up for me - "Most (if not all) of the time it is in refutation of statements from the fairytale believers who are peddling their lies willy nilly. It is because people generally were too ignorant to perform such refutations in the past that these myths have gained such credence.
"

I am happy for anyone to believe whatever they wish - provided that they do not expect reality and society to bend and deform to accomodate them. We have countries around the globe that still have blasphemy laws, and lock up and arrest atheists and other non-believers. We have people around the globe who refuse medical attention for their children, preferring instead to form a prayer circle. We have a religion that will refuse to countenance life-saving blood transfusions for their children/loved ones.
Closer to home, we have B&B owners who wish to refuse service to those who do not comply with their religious worldview, we have employees wishing to contravene health and safety regulations to wear a public symbol of their faith; We have religions that view and treat women as chattel and demand that they cover up from head to toe in public; On the world stage, we have religions that will riot and kill because some books were burned. We have religiously motivated terrorists that will shoot a young pakistani girl in the head,religiously motivated terrorists that will fly planes into buildings.

All this murder and mayhem, this backward thinking, this pernicious and negative effect on humanity - all because some fanatics wish to impose their flavour of superstition on everyone else.

So, thats why I post - it does not take long, does not really take a great deal of effort, and if it helps to highlight the absurdities of posters evangelising on here and elsewhere, all the better.

If you find comfort and solace and peace and a sense of belonging from being religious, that fine - good for you - but if you must come on a public forum and try to persuade others by making evidence free claims, then you really should expect to be challenged on it.....

[naomi24]

This question has been answered many times so why is it still being asked? Perhaps it’s because you believers never listen to anything you’d rather not hear.

Once more. No one cares what any of you believe – and we often hear ‘each to his own’ – which is fine - but when your belief affects other people, it’s not fine, and that’s when non-believers who possess a modicum of humanity and compassion object – and rightly so. We have children born with appalling diseases because the church forbids the use of condoms, women hidden from the world and condemned to a lifetime of subservience, little girls mutilated and married off to grown men ……… etc, etc …… but which of you pious people cares enough to criticise the cause of such misery? None of you, because your futile obsession with saving your own sorry soul takes precedence over the human suffering that religion creates in this world. I trust that answers your question.

Beckersjay, //I have often wondered what motivates this group but in my experience this sort of kneejerk response is often rooted in fear.....//

You appear to have had some very odd experiences! Fear of what?

[RATTER15]

Well said Naomi, ^^^ such a way with words :-)

[beckersjay]

Naomi: As usual you seem unable or unwilling to grasp the distinction between religion and spiritual belief. Organised religion, as a manmade construct, is indeed responsible for many awful things (as well as many good things). It is perfectly possible to have a personal spiritual belief without subscribing to any of the rituals and dogmas of religion.
As to my comment about fear, it was merely based on experience of human nature - and in my experience, people who have 'kneejerk' agressive reactions to certain stimuli are often reliving something in their past that has caused them fear - fear of what is for them alone to know.

[naomi24]

Beckersjay,//As usual you seem unable or unwilling to grasp the distinction between religion and spiritual belief.//

You’re very much mistaken, but may I point out that until now, as far as I am aware, you haven’t mentioned that distinction. In my experience you consistently disparage atheists, this time labelling them a ‘vociferous and aggressive group’. If you really believe that //Organised religion, as a manmade construct, is indeed responsible for many awful things// why have you never acknowledged that before - and why give the impression that you support religion at any cost? Perhaps my last post was rather too near the knuckle for comfort.

Thanks Ratter. :o)

[jake-the-peg]

Beckersjay, I think you're pointing your guns at the wrong person if you think Naomi doesn't distinguish betwen spiritual belief and religion!

Try me instead!

I can see a difference but I think it's marginal.

It may not be easy to identify spiritual belief with the grossest excesses of organised religion but it still encourages irrationality.

It is anti-intellectual and promotes ideas that have no reliable evidence. It is superstition and demands respect for that superstition.

The people who believe in this sort of spirituality are no different from those who believe in faith healing, ley lines, crystal power, ghosts and witchcraft.

and it's dangerous

Steve Jobs had a form of pancreatic cancer that unusually could be treated

he rejected that for juices, and accupuncture

it killed him

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2011/10/24/steve-jobs-cancer-treatment-regrets/

[naomi24]

//The people who believe in this sort of spirituality are no different from those who believe in faith healing, ley lines, crystal power, ghosts and witchcraft.//

That's rather a big assumption, Jake, and not necessarily true at all .... but don't let me put you off. ;o)