That's the really weird thing about atheism. Ultimately it's just pointless negation. "I think nothing, I believe nothing, I claim nothing, but if you do ... YOU'RE WRONG!"
Straw man. What an atheist says is that he doesn't believe in gods. This atheist thinks plenty, believes plenty, and claims plenty, but none of it is that there is a god. And if you believe in a god, then you're just guessing, since you don't have sufficient evidence to justify your belief. This is not the same as saying that you're wrong about gods.
They claim the theist is wrong unless and until he can prove to the atheist that he is right. And they make this claim loudly and repeatedly, ad nauseum. Yet, somehow, they can't seem to admit that they are doing so.
And another straw man. When you can accurately describe what atheists believe and do, they will agree with you. Why wouldn't they?
Exactly. "It's just the absence of belief. What? You believe in God? Where's your evidence???" That's a strange expression of a mere lack of belief there.
Another straw man. Who asks a theist for evidence after he says he believes in a god? Atheists know that theists don't have it. "Where's your evidence?" doesn't come up until the theist begins speaking as if there is a god, and should be understood as a rhetorical question when it does, that is, a statement written in the form of a question. The atheist's position is generally that there is no evidence for gods, and the request for it should be understood as a statement that the atheist is unwilling to believe in gods on faith alone.
Is your goal talking with theists to make you feel smarter than others when you can point to all those flaws?
No. I have a variety of goals posting on religious discussion boards, but that is not one of them. One is finding logical fallacies and naming them. It's an essential skill in critical thinking. Critical thinking requires fallacy-free reasoning if one is to arrive at sound conclusions.
I just identified the same fallacy in the three posts I quoted above. That wasn't really practicing, as that fallacy is easy to identify, and no further practice is needed. My purpose there was to correct errors. We've got a couple of posters who feel that it is appropriate to mischaracterize atheists and then ridicule their straw men. I like to point out when this happens. It negates the lie, and exposes the bad faith tactic for what it is.
Sure theists are set on their beliefs even though so many do not add up. Many do not hear you. On the other hand, do you hear them beyond the mere list of Beliefs. They are telling you more exists beyond this physical world whether they really have it figured out right or not.
I am not interested in what they believe, but in what they know and can convincingly demonstrate. I don't believe that they have access to any knowledge not also available to atheists, nor do they know anything about gods or reality not known to atheists.
Are you so sure of your ways that you never question them? Have you never been curious enough to take a journey or any effort to Discover whether there is something beyond this physical world, a God, or anything?
I'm continually reviewing my habits of thought and deed. It's an essential in self-actualization. One decides what he wants to be, and makes it happen if possible. That requires being as objective about oneself as possible, and doing so often.
Belief is not a bad thing.
False beliefs are undesirable. They cause us to make mistakes if we act on them. For those to whom this matters, there is a method to minimize the number of false beliefs one holds. Require compelling evidence that something is the case before admitting into one's mental map as a fact.
Is religion really all bad? I have seen religious people doing great acts of kindness for others.
There is nothing of value accomplished by religions that can't be done as well or better without it. We're frequently told about the church generating universities, hospitals, and food lines, but secular governments do it better. We're told how they make people better people, but I don't see that. I have no religious friends. Some may believe in a god, but they don't go to church, read Bibles, pray, or talk about religion. Yet just about everybody I know makes charitable contributions of both time and money. These are kind, decent, giving people, and religion wasn't necessary.
The religious are more likely to give their time and money to the church. I'd rather they do like the rest of us do.
Religion is a catalyst that brings so many of mankind's problems to the surface so they can be dealt with.
Religion doesn't actually deal with any problems. It talks about some, and creates others.
In the case of Christianity, it's pretty clear that they neither understand nor respect human beings, and create a ton of problems because of it. They tell people to not be gay. Not helpful. Generates self-loathing and homophobia. They tell priests to be celibate. That was a disaster. They recommend abstinence only. What'll we name the baby? They try to criminalize abortion, and where successful, unwanted baby's are born to those that don't hemorrhage to death in an alley or filthy clinic first. They describe humanity as weak and dependent on a god. They do violence to reason by praising faith as a higher virtue. Not helpful. It's practice for later in life when they believe other things by faith, such as that climate change is a hoax, or the vaccine is more dangerous than the virus, or that an American presidential election was stolen. That kind of thinking is the legacy of Sunday school.
Yes, I saw that.
