Too many Atheists?

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Hey everyone,
Has anyone noticed how many Atheists there are on these forums? I feel that outnumber the spiritual / religious / whatever people by many. I don't understand why an Atheist would join a religious forum if they were proud and had no intentions of searching for themselves. I just don't see how its a good use of time to be a proud and staunch Atheist and then frequent these forums. Just a thought, what are yours?

I totally agree - we can't have time-wasting on the internet! Okay, atheists: back to Farmville and World of Warcraft!

But seriously... is the position of these atheists that much different from your own? Did you come here to shop around for a new religion? If not, then why would you expect it of the atheists here?

Not too many atheists, but too much interest in finding ways to challenge religion, rather than learn about it.

You say that as if those two things are mutually exclusive.

Personally, I learn quite a bit by getting into a heavy debate and seeing where my arguments fall short.

 

[JustAsking]

No offense, but such suggestions are along the lines of, "If you don't like living here, move to another country." i.e., unhelpful.

But its true in this case. Religion is one of the most polarizing topics this world has ever seen. Look how many wars are fought on religions grounds alone!

Next, put a bunch of immature people who are generally nice in person, but revert to their "I'm anonymous so I can be a jerk" when online and give them an opportunity to join a free forum on the internet about religion.

You're going to have conflict, trolling, etc. It's a fact of the internet. Your choices are to deal with it or move on to another forum. You're not moving your house, your family, or even your chair. Just click on over to another website if this one bothers you so.

Really, that's your only option. And making you aware of that _is_ being helpful.

 

[LuisDantas]

I didn't realize there were so many threads on this subject so I apologize. However, maybe that stresses the issues with it? When I first discovered religiousforums.com, I thought myself, "this is incredible, finally I can discuss my passion of comparative religion and learn about others without being heckled by the secular".

If you know of a better alternative, I would like to learn about it. After all, while it is indeed possible to discuss comparative religions without eventually disbelieving each other's premises, such an approach limits itself fairly quickly.

Isn't after all true that from the point of view of a Hindu most Christians are as critical (if not more so) than a secularist would be (just to offer an example out of the top of my head)?

However, just about every thread I post in, I find an Atheist who is sitting there and just making fun of someone's understanding of God. It's a little disheartening and makes me realize that this forum was a bit of a pipe dream I suppose. I don't agree with all religions, but I don't put it out there every moment of my life. I step back to learn.

To a degree I can see your point. Part of me, however, strongly feels that a sincere belief is supposed to stand up to sincere questioning and disagreement, if it is to be worth having in the first place. After all, we are supposed to live in the greater world, and not only among brothers of faith.

Trolling is a reality, to be sure, but not to the extent that some people apparently perceive it.

 

[Midnight Pete]

Careful, It's very easy to just dismiss everyone through an ad hominem.

The other side can always reword and say the exact same thing. The fact of the matter is, this forum is for education. It's not to pat each other on the back and feel better about ourselves.

I think it is, at least in part. RF is an online community, and it doesn't exist isn't solely for the purpose of education. What gave you that idea?

 

[JustAsking]

Trolling is a reality, to be sure, but not to the extent that some people apparently perceive it.

It's incredibly, INCREDIBLY easy to merely dismiss anyone who doesn't follow your line of thinking as a "troll". Not that there aren't any on this forum. Ohh no, I've been here a week and I've found a few on both sides of the aisle already.

 

[JustAsking]

I think it is, at least in part. RF is an online community, and it doesn't exist isn't solely for the purpose of education. What gave you that idea?

*Points to the title bar in the browser*

"Religious Education Forum"

If that's not the goal then I'm not sure why the proprietors made that the title.

Edit: *Also points to the parent "folder" of the forums*

"Religious Education Forum"

 

[tumbleweed41]

No offense, but such suggestions are along the lines of, "If you don't like living here, move to another country." i.e., unhelpful.

Not necessarily. As a citizen born into a country, especially a democracy, one may work for change.
Forums, on the other hand, are voluntarily joined, and range from dictatorial to socialist in their operations.
I am also a member of a few forums that cater directly to my personal beliefs. I rarely visit them because, frankly, I find the discussions repetitive and monotonous. While here at RF, discussions outside the DIR are more openly challenged.
The wonderful thing about the internet is that I am free to find the forum that fits my desire for open dialog. Just as someone who desires a more restrictive debate can find exactly what they want.

 

[Midnight Pete]

A troll is not simply a person who disagrees with everyone else. :tsk:

For the purpose of this thread, a troll can be defined as:

One who posts a deliberately provocative message to an Internet forum or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.

But trying to identify who is or isn't a troll can itself degenerate into name-calling and all kinds of nastiness as no one wants to admit to being one. And it's been my experience (as an Internet commentator) that trolls can be very passive-aggressive and will use the inherent limitations of text-based communication as a sort of weapon against other users, just to stir up trouble.

 

[stillsearching]

I actually talked to an Atheist about this and was told that (here in America) they can't escape from Religion so religion does concern them even if they don't really believe in it. She pointed out that a country "founded" on God is hard to live in and to have laws made based around the general belief in deity. She finds it very frustrating.

Kind of opened my eyes to why they would want to be involved in such as this.

On this forum I was surprised with how many of them there are too. But they do have a lot to offer. I have learned to look at things from their POV. I don't agree with everything they say and they obviously don't agree with me, but their arguments are interesting to hear.

You can post in Christian (or the other ones) DIR and they are supposed to leave their opinions out of it.

 

[Willamena]

But its true in this case. Religion is one of the most polarizing topics this world has ever seen. Look how many wars are fought on religions grounds alone!

Next, put a bunch of immature people who are generally nice in person, but revert to their "I'm anonymous so I can be a jerk" when online and give them an opportunity to join a free forum on the internet about religion.

You're going to have conflict, trolling, etc. It's a fact of the internet. Your choices are to deal with it or move on to another forum. You're not moving your house, your family, or even your chair. Just click on over to another website if this one bothers you so.

Really, that's your only option. And making you aware of that _is_ being helpful.

I'm sorry, but the simplicity of moving isn't really relevant when the issue is being made to feel the need to move. That's being passively forced out.

And other options include making other people aware that their behavior isn't acceptable, in threads like this.

 

[JustAsking]

I'm sorry, but the simplicity of moving isn't really relevant when the issue is being made to feel the need to move. That's being passively forced out.

And other options include making other people aware that their behavior isn't acceptable, in threads like this.

And that's fine. Just don't expect them to change.

Just understand the following.

1) There are rules to this site/forum.
2) If someone is aggravating you _and_ breaking the rules, you have some options
a) Get a moderator to intervene/remedy the situation.
b) Ignore the problem
c) Try to fight the problem personally
d) Leave

Unfortunately I see no other options as this is a "public" forum with limited staff. But just complaining won't fix anything either (not saying that's what you're doing, mind you).

 

[Midnight Pete]

I often wonder what it must be like to live in a world where religion is the enemy and theists are enemy soldiers aligned against you. I wonder what it's like to hate God with a such a passion as to wish I could "dismantle" all of the religions like a surgeon removes a tumour from an anaethestized human body. Or maybe with no anaesthesia ... :cover:

No one can say I don't try to put myself in the other man's shoes.

 

[JustAsking]

I often wonder what it must be like to live in a world where religion is the enemy and theists are enemy soldiers aligned against you. I wonder what it's like to hate God with a such a passion as to wish I could "dismantle" all of the religions like a surgeon removes a tumour from an anaethestized human body. Or maybe with no anaesthesia ... :cover:

No one can say I don't try to put myself in the other man's shoes.

Just putting this out there, but I don't think you've described an Atheist at all. That would be Anti-theism.

Really anyone that would care to attack another for their beliefs. It's fine to question, but attacking or being attacked just isn't right.

 

[LuisDantas]

I often wonder what it must be like to live in a world where religion is the enemy and theists are enemy soldiers aligned against you. I wonder what it's like to hate God with a such a passion as to wish I could "dismantle" all of the religions like a surgeon removes a tumour from an anaethestized human body. Or maybe with no anaesthesia ... :cover:

No one can say I don't try to put myself in the other man's shoes.

You realize that you're mixing elements of several people there, don't you?

Also, not too many atheists believe in God enough to actively hate him. Hating some of the things that are made claiming his name, however, is something else entirely.

 

[JustAsking]

You realize that you're mixing elements of several people there, don't you?

Also, not too many atheists believe in God enough to actively hate him. Hating some of the things that are made claiming his name, however, is something else entirely.

Frankly, hating god would actually be a religion in and of itself, in my opinion.

 

[tumbleweed41]

I often wonder what it must be like to live in a world where religion is the enemy and theists are enemy soldiers aligned against you. I wonder what it's like to hate God with a such a passion as to wish I could "dismantle" all of the religions like a surgeon removes a tumour from an anaethestized human body. Or maybe with no anaesthesia ... :cover:

No one can say I don't try to put myself in the other man's shoes.

Atheists do not 'hate' God. Atheists do not believe in any deity, so there is nothing to hate.
Anti-theists (Who many times fly under the banner of atheism), truly hate God. But they have to believe in God in order to hate or reject God.

 

[LuisDantas]

Frankly, hating god would actually be a religion in and of itself, in my opinion.

It is, sort of. "Maltheism" is the actual belief.

Although I maintain that belief in god has very little to do with either religion or the absence of same, anyway.

 

[Magic Man]

Hey everyone,
Has anyone noticed how many Atheists there are on these forums? I feel that outnumber the spiritual / religious / whatever people by many. I don't understand why an Atheist would join a religious forum if they were proud and had no intentions of searching for themselves. I just don't see how its a good use of time to be a proud and staunch Atheist and then frequent these forums. Just a thought, what are yours?

There is a good number of atheists around here, but I don't think we outnumber the non-atheists.

As far as why atheists come to a forum for discussing religion, well, it's to discuss religion (and other cool topics). Religion is a very interesting topic, and one that works well for discussing on forums like this. It's good to learn what religious people think, and it's fun to have debates, but it also can help one not only understand people better, but also the world in general. I've learned a lot about evolution and other such topics from being on here.

 

[monta]

They do bite. That's the problem. There's a difference between keeping things alive and trolling for the purposes of self-amusement.

Is this like the time someone on the forum attacked you psychicly

 

[Sahar]

Yes, there are many active atheists here...we became a minority.