Why Do Atheists Care?

Jackie Mason | March 1, 2003
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Lori Lancaster | March 1, 2003
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Jackie Mason | March 2, 2003
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Anna Gregoline | March 2, 2003
Jackie, I understand your point. It seems that most atheists DO get worked up about stuff that could be dismissed as no big deal if they don't believe in it. But I do agree with Lori with saying it's the principal of the thing. I think people often take it that someone is trying to force their belief system on them, when maybe they are just sharing their beliefs? But it can be strange, when someone does it, because it's like, why would you tell me that, I don't share it. I imagine that atheists feel excluded a lot. Maybe I'm way off base. I don't know.I am not very religious, although I do believe in a higher power. I do get annoyed at constant bible thumping, because I have a feeling that it's inappropriate for someone to use quotes or beliefs from one religion towards a group of people who may not perscribe to it. It's a slight measure of excluding someone. I was offended when Bush read a bible passage for his speech after the Columbia crashed - there are plenty of inspiring quotes without bringing religion into it.

Matthew Preston | March 2, 2003
Jackie, you bring up an excellent point. Unfortunately, it's always the outspoken, ignorant types for a topic that ruins it for all of the other followers. The ceramics girl is a good example. There are plenty of atheists (some on here in fact) that don't share there views in a crazy way or care what others choose to believe. An individual's religion and faith are their own. If they find someone with the same beliefs to share with, great! Other than that, to each his own.

Scott Hardie | March 2, 2003
Well, as the first 100% atheist to join the discussion (and hopefully not the last), I can say that religion offends me in a place where I can't avoid it. If I was summoned to jury duty, and in order to serve I had to swear on a Bible that I could render an impartial verdict, and I would be fined if I did not serve, that would bother me. If a woman down the hall hung a Bible quote on her door, even if I passed by it every day, that wouldn't be the same - it's her door and she can do what she wants with it.
 
What's more at the heart of this discussion, I think, is the right of an atheist to his own beliefs. Jackie, atheism is more than a disbelief of religion, it is a belief of its own, a belief that there is no God. To disrespect this or any other important belief is to disrespect the person who has it. If you had a Muslim friend who recently gave birth, would you baptize her baby? Certainly not! Like us, she also believes it's just water on the kid's head, but she is entitled to respect for what she believes, and so are we.

Matthew Preston | March 3, 2003
It is interesting to find that a disbelief in all things religion is in fact a belief. I like that sort of logic.

Scott Hardie | March 3, 2003
I just pulled out my dictionary, published in 1976. It defines atheism as "a disbelief in the existence of deity" and an atheist as "one who denies the existence of God." Hmm, I'm betting an atheist didn't write that.

Jackie Mason | March 7, 2003
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Anna Gregoline | March 7, 2003
It's not exactly innacurate, but it is worded in such a way as to say that god exists and the atheist simply "denies" that FACT, which is hardly respectful of atheism.

Angela Lathem-Ballard | March 10, 2003
Ok - question...is there anyone in this discussion who can respect the bible as literature? (I am not separating it from its religious and spiritual roots in doing this - please do not read this the wrong way) If I quoted something and if you didn't know it was from the bible, but it was something basic...something like (just play along) "love is patient, love is kind" would you be offended if all of a sudden I noted the scripture? I think it is interesting how we react to things once we tack on an idea that someone has usurped our beliefs by using something as a part of their own...is it more like/unlike my "Quoting Shakespeare" poster that lists numerous phrases now a part of our daily rhetoric - I was shocked to know that they were penned by my good friend Will...would someone who 'believed' in Ben Jonson over Shakespeare be offended to read such things as "it's Greek to me, too much of a good thing, green-eyed jealousy?"Oh dear....I do believe I have become set adrift in tangent world ;)

Jackie Mason | March 11, 2003
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Anna Gregoline | March 11, 2003
I guess I get tired of the bible being used for quotations then. Like I said above, why did Bush have to use a bible quote for his speech after the Columbia disaster? There were plenty of other things he could have used without touching on a specific religion (one that neither the entire country nor the astronauts and their families shared).

Angela Lathem-Ballard | March 11, 2003
What I think is more important is that I was able to use the word USURP in a sentence. Don't you agree?

Scott Hardie | March 11, 2003
What is less important is that USURP comes from the Middle English "usurpen," which came from the French "usurper," which means "to usurp."

Anna Gregoline | March 12, 2003
Thanks for clearing that up, Scott!

Aaron Fischer | March 12, 2003
I think the real question here is: Do YOU care why athiests care! I don't!

Anna Gregoline | March 12, 2003
I think Jackie cares why athiests care otherwise she wouldn't have started the thread.

Angela Lathem-Ballard | March 14, 2003
I recently read a review of C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" from a man who is a self-proclaimed "staunch agnostic." He advised atheists to "read this book. You might possibly grasp the concept of faith and realize that your 'disbelief' is itself a faith, much like Lewis describes, and that your Atheism is a disbelief against the God that is defined and not the God that is."Just for the sake of definitons, an agnostic is "a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unkown and probably unknowable; one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god" versus the definition of atheist "one who denies the existence of God" Food for thought? Discussion?