Good afternoon everyone,
For years I was dragged to church and force fed religious songs and all that. Well, I have always had this feeling that I needed more proof. So I began to question whether or not god actually did exist. But when I am around others who believe in Christianity or other faiths I always get trampled with questions and everything they can throw at me to tell me why I am wrong or why I should be believing. Can anyone list some of the arguments or best debate topics that they use in times when confronted with this situation? Any particular items I should be reading that will provide me with what I feel I need? I am very new to the Atheist world, as I am slowly coming out of the dark with it, and am not very well versed in the religious arena. I also don't know too many atheists who live around me. How is the best way to find them to communicate and discuss?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Well a rather underhanded tactic to get you out of these situations is to ask them for their single best argument for the existence of god. Typically they will just throw out some shitty argument off the top of their head. Should be easy to blow this crappy argument out of the water. Then when they try to give you another argument; asked them why you should listen to their 2nd best argument, considering how bad their first one was. Or at the very least don't let them move to argument 2 until they admit that argument 1 is garbage (which they typically won't be willing to do).
But if you want a link, check out: http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Element
Greetings and welcome...
As a quick reference to arguments for or against god ..... I would suggest you take a look at a website called "Iron Chariots"....
link:
http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Their main page has a selection of common arguments..... check them out then take a look through the debate forums here or on any atheist site and see them in action. You will note that the same arguments are presented over and over again and each time the presenter believes that they are the only ones to come up with their particular angle......so you better get used to repeating yourself ....
As to finding like minded people , you have made a good start by arriving here.....this is a world wide site atheists from just about everywhere.... (and most of them don't bite ....)
Damn it Nyarl ... you may type quicker than I do .....but I'll thank you to get out of my head.
Welcome to the forum
I would first congratulate you on joining the sane people group.
"Can anyone list some of the arguments or best debate topics that they use in times when confronted with this situation?"
They do not have a case for the existence of god but mass delusion solidified by like-minded communities.
So whatever argument they bring up, if you manage to show them how flawed their reasoning is, they will find refuge in the absence of their intellectual faculties, which they call Faith.
I would not suggest you try to reason with them until you think you know a lot about the subject because no matter how much knowledge you have, you will never know what they will come up with.
To give you an example once I debated with an evangelist/priest christian and I stated something which I thought it was common sens.
I stated that:
"If a christian lacks belief in other gods, then he is an atheist when it comes to other religions except for his own.
He thought he was smart and said he believed in all the gods of all religions.
:O My eyebrows were still coming back from the back of my head when I asked him:
Jeff: "Even the gods you do not know about?"
Priest: Yes of course.
Jeff: 8(__]
At the end you arrive at the inescapable conclusion that some people are just too far gone to see reason anymore.
"Any particular items I should be reading that will provide me with what I feel I need?"
There are also some nice YouTube videos of people in your same position that can help too, like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPcFDPoVpGI
I just "came out" to being a free thinker. It was a long journey but it was MY journey over a 63 yr period of time. I was brought up catholic(French Creoles) and took first vows as a nun back in the 70's. I'm glad I've chosen to live my life as an independent thinker. I have decided to pick and choose who I share with, but I'm glad that I've finally opened my eyes.
You might enjoy the Atheist Experience show in Austin, Texas. It is a call in show that debates with theists and you can see many arguments and counter arguments. They have conducted 931 shows so far. Here is a short section of one of the hosts debating with a theist as a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwn4_88ziQ
Here is the Atheist Experience’s show archive: http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive/
The atheist experience also has a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAtheistExperience
Welcome, Element!
One good idea is check meeting groups, such as meetup for local organizations. Or advertise one and try to get more freethinkers together! Sites like this are amazing for ideas such as those.... And the only sad thing about us skeptics and freethinkers is that we're like cats.... We can't be casually herded because we're so often doing our own thing.
But hang in there, and stay true to what you observe to be the truth... Not what someone tells you the truth should be.
And again, welcome! Nice bike, man!