Atheists, the new Catholics?

[GHMonkey]

Now in my few months here on The Escapist I have had the opportunity to witness many different conversation on many topics. I have also noticed that one of the most controversial topics is, as many of us very well know, religion. Now as a not entirely devout Irish catholic, I have learned to respect everyone's belief, or lack of. The one thing that i am not a fan of is hypocrisy. One of the recurring arguments is that, as I will refer to them, the Followers will be very close minded and try to convert anyone not like them. Yet, as I have noticed, it seems to me that the people that fit this description better seem to be the atheists and anti-theists. Has anyone else noticed this trend or am is there something in the air making me hallucinate?

 

[Pimppeter2]

No, your not the only one who has noticed.

 

[TheGreatCoolEnergy]

No I second this. It realy seems like you can't say "Jesus" without an Aithiest stabbing you because "(non-existant supior being) forbid I was offended". Who is forcing their belief on me now? Like yes some Christians are bad for shoving belief where it's not wanted, but I think I should be able to say "God Bless you and keep you" without somebody losing it on me becuase they don't believe. Like thats a fuckin compliment, take it even if you don't believe.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I don't think they so much try and convert as they bash religion and then when someone inevitably reacts and says "religion isn't dumb" or whatever then they retort and it turns into a religious debate.

 

[Amnestic]

Now in my few months here on The Escapist I have had the opportunity to witness many different conversation on many topics. i have also noticed that one of most controversial topics is, as many of us very well know, religion. Now as a not entirely devout Irish Catholic, i have learned to respect everyone's belief, or lack of. the one thing that i am not a fan of is hypocrisy. one of the recurring arguments is that, as I will refer to them, the followers will be very close minded and try to convert anyone not like them. yet, as I have noticed, it seems to me that the people that fit this description better seem to be the atheists and anti-theists. has anyone else noticed this trend or am is there something in the air making me hallucinate?

There's something in the air which makes you hate on capital letters. Normally I wouldn't pick up on it but reading the last few lines of your post were really hard on my eyes ;/

Yes, dicks exist in every group be they religious, not religious, meat eaters, non-meat eaters, PC gamers, non-PC gamers, Mac owners, non-Mac owners, lady-lovers, non-lady lovers..

Welcome to the Internet?

 

[Obrien Xp]

It really depends on who you talk to, idc about anyone's belief but mine. I'm an atheist stuck in a christian family and community. Also, they all seem to hate video games if they're 30+. I have atheists and christians who are either loud preachy, wimps, or literalists. It all comes down to how tolerant or understanding someone is.

 

[siege_1302]

Dear Satan on his blackened throne, ANOTHER religious thread?

Guys! Seriously!

Everyone should find a religious/atheist counterpart and just have PMed arguments. That way we don't ALL have to facepalm when someone makes a stupid, sweeping generalisation.

 

[Danman1]

The reason people try to convert other people is only because 80% of the world is smug useless assholes (Yes I realize my own hypocrisy in that statement). The athiests would try to convert people to anything they beleived whether they were brought up athiest, catholic, hindu, or satanist. The only way to make the world a place of equality and harmony would be genocide against 80% of the world, but despite my best efforts most people are against that, so just live with the condesending athiest hipster at the Starbucks and I'll deal with the biblethumping catholic with a molotov outisde the abortion clinic. Just form a secret society of the other 20% of fellow tolerable people and we can start enlightening the other 80% of the world, or murder them. But im rambling now.

EDIT: I misspelled too many things to count. Sorry.

 

[NotMemorable]

I think it's the latter. I don't think there's alot of close minded-ness on the "atheist-side". I'm gonna speak for myself here primarily but I think most Atheists are pretty open minded, however within their own set of "rules". These rules are mostly that there has to be physical evidence for something, before it is proven and they can accept it as truth and believe it. These rules are derived from logic, and as history has proven our race has gotten far with reasoning behind logic, while we have gotten nowhere with reasoning behind plain faith (ie every applicable science is/was in the end based on logic, not on faith).

If there were any proof within these "atheist rules" of the existance of a God (one that acts according to the bible/quran), an atheist would be the first to acknowledge God as factual and start believing/praying like mad. And rightly so because else he would end up in a slightly uncomfortable afterlife. In my oppinion this comes pretty close to the essentual meaning of being open minded.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I just say what I've always said. I'm not going to change my religion just because some kid on the internet told me to. I've been a Christian all my life and I don't think that my faith will be shaken by some kid throwing some misinformed information at me.

 

[Cliff_m85]

As an Atheist I see certain topics where I morally have to jump in. If you give an excuse for hatred with "Well, God......" then I'm going to jump in. Other than that, we're groovy.

 

[Kiefer13]

There are close-minded bigots on both sides of the theism/non-theism fence. There are many more reasonable people on both sides as well. It's just this silent majority is often overlooked because they're not the ones bringing attention to themselves by getting involved in flamewars.

I'm an Atheist. Perhaps some people would even classify me as an Anti-Theist. I personally think religion (especially organised religion) is a silly, outdated idea that has caused more harm than good. But I am also a very open-minded person, and respect the beliefs of others. I don't force my beliefs down other people's throats, and as long as you don't either, I have no problem with you or what you believe.

 

[Kellerb]

most atheists simply do not believe in god. as this is (i guess) hard to believe as a religious person, they make up crap about people who believe differently. see the crusades or the Teutonic order slaughtering millions of pagans because their different.

religious debate isnt easy, good post.

 

[CJ1145]

I think it's the latter. I don't think there's alot of close minded-ness on the "atheist-side". I'm gonna speak for myself here primarily but I think most Atheists are pretty open minded, however within their own set of "rules". These rules are mostly that there has to be physical evidence for something, before it is proven and they can accept it as truth and believe it. These rules are derived from logic, and as history has proven our race has gotten far with reasoning behind logic, while we have gotten nowhere with reasoning behind plain faith (ie every applicable science is/was in the end based on logic, not on faith).

If there were any proof within these "atheist rules" of the existance of a God (one that acts according to the bible/quran), an atheist would be the first to acknowledge God as factual and start believing/praying like mad. And rightly so because else he would end up in a slightly uncomfortable afterlife. In my oppinion this comes pretty close to the essentual meaning of being open minded.

See, the problem here is every Atheist I've met gives me this same argument, but when I pull up some proof that shows at the very least the Bible was historically accurate, if nothing else, their response can be summed up in the phrase "The Bible is fucking retarded, and you're retarded for falling for all their lies! Noob."

 

[Cliff_m85]

I think it's the latter. I don't think there's alot of close minded-ness on the "atheist-side". I'm gonna speak for myself here primarily but I think most Atheists are pretty open minded, however within their own set of "rules". These rules are mostly that there has to be physical evidence for something, before it is proven and they can accept it as truth and believe it. These rules are derived from logic, and as history has proven our race has gotten far with reasoning behind logic, while we have gotten nowhere with reasoning behind plain faith (ie every applicable science is/was in the end based on logic, not on faith).

If there were any proof within these "atheist rules" of the existance of a God (one that acts according to the bible/quran), an atheist would be the first to acknowledge God as factual and start believing/praying like mad. And rightly so because else he would end up in a slightly uncomfortable afterlife. In my oppinion this comes pretty close to the essentual meaning of being open minded.

Almost completely agree. If there was undeniable proof of God existing, I probably still wouldn't worship him due to my own thoughts upon the subject that are bound to stir controversy so I'll just leave them to myself.

 

[Diablini]

Like South Park said. "Let the flag for hipocracy fly high from every pole!"
Well, that's probably people who think that they are more rational and intelligent if they are atheist. And they tend to show off a little bit. I will not mention names.

 

[CJ1145]

I think it's the latter. I don't think there's alot of close minded-ness on the "atheist-side". I'm gonna speak for myself here primarily but I think most Atheists are pretty open minded, however within their own set of "rules". These rules are mostly that there has to be physical evidence for something, before it is proven and they can accept it as truth and believe it. These rules are derived from logic, and as history has proven our race has gotten far with reasoning behind logic, while we have gotten nowhere with reasoning behind plain faith (ie every applicable science is/was in the end based on logic, not on faith).

If there were any proof within these "atheist rules" of the existance of a God (one that acts according to the bible/quran), an atheist would be the first to acknowledge God as factual and start believing/praying like mad. And rightly so because else he would end up in a slightly uncomfortable afterlife. In my oppinion this comes pretty close to the essentual meaning of being open minded.

Almost completely agree. If there was undeniable proof of God existing, I probably still wouldn't worship him due to my own thoughts upon the subject that are bound to stir controversy so I'll just leave them to myself.

Now hold on, I'd like to delve deeper into this. You say that if there was undeniable proof that God existed, and the Bible/Other Holy Text was true, you still wouldn't believe and worship? I'm curious now, what possible logic could bring you to that conclusion?