Critics of atheism please come forward.

[LogDog]

I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind voicing some of your criticisms regarding atheism. Please do so in the space provided below.

 

[Bishka]

Other then some atheists being a sort of 'fundie' atheist, I do not have any criticisms for atheism as a whole. Some atheists are just as bad as some fundamentalist Christians, but other then that, whatever floats your boat.

 

[Aqualung]

Any criticisms I have of atheism can be applied to any sort of belief system, not to atheism per se. Nor can they apply to all atheists (just as my criticism can't be applied to all Christians, or all Democrats, or all existentialists). So, anything that I might mention wouldn't be problems with atheism, but rather just some pitfalls of belief systems in general.

 

[PureX]

I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind voicing some of your criticisms regarding atheism. Please do so in the space provided below.

Atheists can no more prove that God does not exist than theists can prove that God does exist.

Most atheist's arguments are based on a religious concept of "God". Once they "defeat" the religious God-concept, they have no more argument to present. Atheism is not a position as much as it's a reaction to a position.

Atheists tend to ignore the function and value of faith, even as they practice it, because like religionists, they think "faith" is defined by believing in a religious ideology.

Atheists tend to believe that logic and reason are the only ways humans can or should explore "truth". They ignore the value and power of imagination and intuition as a means of defining the "truth".

OK, there's a few.

 

[MaddLlama]

There's nothing wrong with atheism. The problem is the atheists who seem to have nothing better to do with their time than talk about how dreadfully awful religion is and how atheism is so much smarter. Atheists sometimes look down on theists and fancy themselves as being smarter than theists just by sheer virtue of the fact that theists believe in God.

I'm not really a critic of atheism. I am critical of evangelical atheists.

 

[Nanda]

So, anything that I might mention wouldn't be problems with atheism, but rather just some pitfalls of belief systems in general.

I agree, but will go one step further and point out (again) that atheism is not a belief system, but one single lack of belief; the only thing that all atheists have in common. It's difficult to find fault with "atheists" unless you're finding fault in that disbelief itself. Which many do.

 

[Bishka]

I'm not really a critic of atheism. I am critical of evangelical atheists.

Amen!

That's what I was trying to say. I do not have any criticisms of atheism, just evangelical/fundamentalist atheists. :yes:

 

[Storm]

I agree, but will go one step further and point out (again) that atheism is not a belief system, but one single lack of belief; the only thing that all atheists have in common. It's difficult to find fault with "atheists" unless you're finding fault in that disbelief itself. Which many do.

You're absolutely right technically, Nanda, but for some, atheism does become a belief system.

 

[Nanda]

You're absolutely right technically, Nanda, but for some, atheism does become a belief system.

Maybe for some, but you can't honeslty say that "atheists" believe anything. Some atheists believe some things, others believe other things. It's like herding cats, as they say.

 

[Storm]

Maybe for some, but you can't honeslty say that "atheists" believe anything. Some atheists believe some things, others believe other things. It's like herding cats, as they say.

Agreed.

 

[Booko]

I have no criticisms of atheism per se, though I've found this observation to be true much of the time:

Atheists tend to believe that logic and reason are the only ways humans can or should explore "truth". They ignore the value and power of imagination and intuition as a means of defining the "truth".

Still, it pays to take each atheist as an individual, because it's quite a broad spectrum of views that falls under that umbrella.

People also confuse atheism with irreligion quite often.

 

[Buttercup]

Atheists tend to believe that logic and reason are the only ways humans can or should explore "truth". They ignore the value and power of imagination and intuition as a means of defining the "truth".

I'd also add that some atheists don't even want to consider the possibility of anything supernatural.

 

[ChristineES]

I have nothing against atheists, they have a right to not believe in God. The one thing I don't like is when some of them (I know that is not a lot of them) attack anyone who has faith. They have a right to not believe and we have a right to believe.
If an atheist does not want me to tell him about God, I honor his request (or hers), I would like the same consideration.

Atheists do believe in things, they just don't believe in God or anything supernatural. Most of them need to see and feel something to believe in it or have proved to them by experiments. I can accept that. I wish they could believe in God, but I don't try to force them (mostly because I can't).

The thing that bothers me the most is that some of them stereotype Religious people, and no one fits any stereotype including religious.

 

[logician]

Someone please point out a TV show that evangelizes atheism, unlike the hundreds of xian evangelists in 50's hairdos that flood the airways every week.

Give me a break.

 

[Nanda]

Someone please point out a TV show that evangelizes atheism, unlike the hundreds of xian evangelists in 50's hairdos that flood the airways every week.

Give me a break.

Depends on how you define "evangelize." I watch "The Atheists Viewpoint" every week, and it's definately pro-atheism.

 

[ChristineES]

Someone please point out a TV show that evangelizes atheism, unlike the hundreds of xian evangelists in 50's hairdos that flood the airways every week.

Give me a break.

Believe it or not, you don't have to watch those shows. Actually, I don't even watch them, they usually appear so phony to me. They are not even good actors.

 

[logician]

Evangelism and atheism really don't go together, in that atheism is not a "religion" with a set of beliefs, rules and so forth. Atheists don't meet once a week to worship, and generally every atheist has his/her own beliefs or viewpoints about life in general that vary a lot fron 1 individual to another. Although I consider myself a strong atheist, I certainly am not out to convert anyone, indeed I rarely mention my atheism to anyone in public as it may have negative consequences, given the strong resentment of and outright harrassment of atheists in the U.S. over history.

 

[MaddLlama]

Someone please point out a TV show that evangelizes atheism, unlike the hundreds of xian evangelists in 50's hairdos that flood the airways every week.

Give me a break.

One has to have a TV show to evangelize? It's the same thing as proselytizing, really. They are synonymous, the difference being that evangelical has a slightly more Christian connotation in modern usage (and, sometime atheist proselytizing is just as obnoxious as Christian proselytizing, so the epithet is rather fitting).

 

[Free4all]

I think it's impossible to be a true atheist - everybody worships something, it is written in the heart of man. I don't care where you go, deepest depths of the jungle, they will be worshipping someone or something.

 

[LogDog]

I think it's impossible to be a true atheist - everybody worships something, it is written in the heart of man. I don't care where you go, deepest depths of the jungle, they will be worshipping someone or something.

Your thinking is flawed.