An unfair fight - Atheists vs Believers

[wil]

My reason is single. Atheists have nothing to lose.... and agnostics in this case are worse in that respect.

Prove a believer wrong, pull the rug out from under them and you have taken their G!d, their community, maybe initiated ostracization from their family.

Prove an atheist wrong and they gain all that. The only thing they have to say is "oops, I was wrong" And the agnostic like me it's even worse, we already are sitting on the fence, already admitting we don't know.

Now the non believer may argue many points where religiosity has a negative impact on others, but those are justly countered by the believer with a plethora of positive influences.

I prolly as usual oversimplified my point, but I think you catch my drift...and this is why more and more I find myself walking away from discussions I would tear into...why I find myself writing long responses and then simply hit select all, delete.

Now if I had the time, energy, skills and knowledge to pick up the pieces and fill the void of one who has lost their way due to an encounter with my I might think differently.

 

[TheLightWithin]

When I used to spend more time on Facebook I had subscribed to a few "Atheist Christian Debate" or "Atheist Agnostic Theist Debate" or even "Atheist Islam Debate" pages. Some were even called "Friendly Debate" which was ironic for reasons I shall soon explain.

What disappointed me was how just about every post displayed a confrontational tone of defensive indignation.
It got really tiring and I dropped those groups.

My mom always used to say "I don't see why people just can't leave each other alone."
She didn't approve of organized religion because they didn't leave people alone, and could fairly be described more as spiritual but not religious.

It's always possible to find both the good and the bad in religion.

The contentiousness comes from the claims by some religions (by no means all) that their rules apply to everyone, and that their teachings, ideals, and requirements, however questionable or aversive, are incontrovertible reality and truth.

 

[moralorel]

I think that nowadays the worst possible thing that could happen to a person is that their ego would get bruised. Imagine a person who lights 50 candles every day in their house. They are warned that their house might burn down. Their stubborn and keep saying it will never happen. Their house burns down. Do they fret over the loss of the house? Their belongings? Nope. They keep insisting it wasn't their candles that did the trick. Who cares what the Fire Chief said. It must have been lightning, faulty wiring, arson, etc.

That's how I see debates with people when it comes to religion and politics. A bruised ego hurts more than any loss nowadays.

 

[TheLightWithin]

The posts on the Atheist vs Theist pages almost always started out as something like an accusation from the get go.
Like they're mad about the other person's belief ahead of time.
Example "You atheists are just atheists because you just want to sin and don't want to be held accountable but you will someday. In the meantime you're rude to us, the religious, who have it right all along!"

Or "You religious are always demanding we agree with your invisible stories and you keep getting mad and making threats when we don't and passing laws that affect us"

And so on.

Getting mad about other people having and not having beliefs: SMH*

When I was a little girl, all the adults in my household had different beliefs.
They could argue or express disapproval at times - usually if my grandfather was ranting about the end times or had forked over a lot of money to the Armstrong church - Or my grandmother's superstitions sometimes being laughed off as stupid-stitions - I just don't remember the inherent divergence of views rising to the level of passive aggressive accusations of belief at every turn. Maybe I missed something.


*(I sort-of get why, but that's almost another post of its own)