Why is it so important for Christians to convince people that there is a God?

Validation? I think the bible tells them to.

Because Christianity is a virus and all viruses exist only to multiply...

Why is it so important for atheists to convince others that there is no God?

The only people proselytizing to me in the last 8 months have been extraordinarily loud atheists. No fundies, just atheists. Isn't there something wrong with that??

detlev409
unlike christians, to whom one can point to the teachings of the bible to further spread their religion.
Atheists have no unifying agenda as to why they state the obvious to theists.
but I could give a few reasons that atheists might be vocal.

they might feel that if they let others know there is no such thing as "god" (much less the christian god) that the world might become a better place, cause people would learn to think for themselves and not be so gullible.

atheists might want to give knowledge to a theist that they have not heard, such as there are no known authors of the biblical text and the NT was written 40 years (conservatively) after jesus death (of which there is no proof of), etc, etc.

or how about we feel that religion is pushed on us from all sides and this is our way of pushing back.

we like to try and rescue people from delusional and misguided thinking.

i could go on and on. in short there are all kinds of reasons for atheists to speak the truth.

here are Ten Ways to Be an Atheist Activist

http://www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=766

- " we like to try and rescue people from delusional and misguided thinking. "

That's exactly the same mentality that religious fundamentalists have towards atheists and people of other religions.

hey kuga.

you should edit your post to reflect the fact that it is not just religious "fundamentalist" who have that attitude, and not just towards atheists and other religions.

christianity has so many sects that they think the others are delusional and misguided because they choose to interpret the text differently and worship differently. I would go even further and say that not only do sects of christianity think other sects are delusional and misguided, but they are willing to wage war and kill for those differences.

personally, I fall under the category of trying to give information that theists might not know about, or have never considered asking. So that they would ahve a more informed view as to make decisions. As an example, the concept of the trinity is never mentioned in the early NT texts, it showed up centuries later.

i think the more one knows the actual history of how the bible was written, edited and cobbled together the less likely one is to believe the wild fabrications within.

Atheists seem to look at the Bible as if it is a textbook and conclude "that's not a textbook!"

Well done. You figured it out. The Bible is not a textbook.

Somewhere on here I read someone say "all your points were dealt with by Dawkins in The God Delusion"

LOL So I guess the Atheists have a Bible now and we can all stop philosophising, because Dawkins hath appeared unto us with His Book, and with his Great Messenger Hitchens at his right hand side, he hath told unto us All Truth, that we may be enlightened.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'atheism, hitchens, antitheism, religion' to 'atheism, hitchens, antitheism, religion, theocracy, dictatorship, privacy, iran' - edited by BicycleRepairMan

well, actually I have a quite similar view on stuff as he does...
but anyways: there are many vids of such interviews on the net, and this one is gros. Not only the "watch now, NOW he owns religion" neonish-banner in the middle - also the music horrible. And also nowadays I find criticism focused on Iran a little bit creepy, don't you think? (although I do understand the point he makes is of course universally targeted to any kind of theism)

I agree that the label in the beginning is annoying, and if I could change it I would. Owns is such a over-used word nowadays. I would rather have it say; "Hitchens presents several arguments against religion". :-)

MINK; A problem is that many Christians use the bible as a textbook.

"Atheists have no unifying agenda"


*church lady voice*

Well isn't that special.

I will say that I don't feel it's any more appropriate for me to impose my views on someone than for them to impose them upon me. I do not seek out religious people and tell them how foolish I feel their beliefs are. I will discuss my beliefs and I will debate them with others who are interested in debating.

The following should be obvious, but I think it's often overlooked: We all think our beliefs are the best choice, otherwise we would believe something else. Because of this conclusion, it's natural to want others to believe what you believe. However, I think it's best to not push your beliefs on anyone else who hasn't asked for them, with the possible exception of a case where that person's beliefs are hurting other people. Take the following (admittedly extreme) example:

If you believe homosexuality is a sin, that's fine with me. If you believe homosexuality is a sin and take it upon yourself to murder gays in the name of God, well now we have a problem. I think you're crazy either way, but you can be crazy as long as you're crazy and harmless.

So, no, I don't think an atheism assault is any more appropriate than a theistic attack no matter what volumes of evidence or logic are conveyed. I agree completely with detlev's post. Don't confuse public speaking or public statements from either side with an attack, though. Everyone should be allowed to vocalize their ideas in an appropriate venue and situation.

*philosophy

Adding video to channels (Philosophy) - requested by nibiyabi.

I'll be happy to ignore theists stupidity as soon as they stop trying to legislate their religion.

That's why you hear a lot more atheists speaking out the past few years. The more christians try to push their crap into schools or against gays or whatever, the more you will hear atheists explaining how retarded they are.

you yanks can even make atheism a religion.

*dead

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