Have you ever had someone tell you that you are not an atheist?
I have had a couple people tell me I'm not an atheist or shouldn't call myself that for one reason or another. "Atheist are dogmatic... Wishy washy... Preachy... You have to have some kind of faith...you have " things along these lines . These are not good reasons and really have nothing to do with me.
Like I would not know myself?!! It seems pretty simple to me.
But I have no clue how to respond to someone telling me I am not something I know I am. Other than just not talking to them LOL
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No I can't say that I have ever had anyone say that to me, because In order for that to happen, the person saying that to me would have to be a Christian. I have found that any Christian that has talked with me is not worth carrying on a conversation with for any length of time, because inevitably the Christians resort to circular reasoning and I just give up and walk away.
How much do I actually care what a theist thinks of me? ( 0 )
Possible replies:
Thank you for sharing your ignorant opinion.,
Oh, I thought I was an atheist for thinking Christians are ignorant assholes who follow delusional religious teachings. Sorry, my mistake.
Your right. I'm not an atheist, I just think your god is a piece of shit, Jesus never existed, and you are delusional.
Just tell them you believe in zero gods, and that makes you an Atheist.
Perhaps in the sense of "You're just angry at God".
@Wildblue: "Atheist are dogmatic... Wishy washy... Preachy...
That's a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.
Re: "Atheist are dogmatic... Wishy washy... Preachy..."
Hey! That is SO not right! I, for one, am NOT wishy-washy!... Well, not really, at least.... I mean, most of the time I'm not..... Usually.... For real, though, I am pretty damn steadfast and headstrong when I make a decision... Unless, of course, there are other factors brought to my attention that I may not have considered... Oh, and if my decision seems to trouble somebody else it is only fair that take their feelings into consideration, right? Other than that, though, I absolutely stand fast and unbending whenever I determine whatever stance I may take on any particular subject.... Well, that is unless I am uncertain about any particular choices I may have made and start second-guessing myself. But that does not happen EVERY time... At least I don't think it does, anyway... Ummmm..... No, it doesn't.... Hmmm... Then again, on second thought, maybe it does happen more often than I would like.... Uhhhh.... Nope. Nope-nope-nope. It definitely does not.... I hope... Oh, well, dang-it. I'm honestly not sure at this point. One thing I do know for certain, however, is that I am undoubtedly sure that I am somewhat convinced that I may or may not be wishy-washy. THAT you can depend on without question.
@Tin...man you are such a rock, you rock!!
@ Wild Blue, perhaps you could respond by declaring your critics aren't really christians because they do not uphold the Twenty-one Mosaic Commandments and 613 mitzvots, Jesus had said he had come to up hold. And because they are incapable of performing even the simplest of miracles Jesus had promised his true followers would have no trouble of being capable of doing ie drinking poison and surviving, handling dangerous snakes, raising the dead, healing the sick and shifting trees and mountains into rivers and seas by command etc. If they wear clothing of mixed fabrics, eat shellfish or porcine meats and work on the Sabbath, and I mean Saturday, then they aren't really true, true christians and are doomed to suffer eternal torment in the hell you yourself don't believe in. At the very least that will confuse 'em.
Some people seem to equate atheism with nihilism. Such as a certain recently famous psychiatrist from Canada. I guess they are kind of right. A secular humanist atheist usually has faith in secular morals, like human rights. They are as non-real as gods are. So if a person thinks that an atheist is a person who takes nothing on faith, then it makes sense to equate atheism with nihilism. Most people who call themselves atheists, though, arn't nihilists.
Yes, but it always has to do with their own misunderstanding of the word. I've similarly had people who call themselves 'agnostic' and demand that there be some distinction between themselves and atheists.
If you don't believe in gods, you're an atheist, whether you want to call yourself that or not.
My response would be "you have no idea what you are talking about, now go fuck off".
Hi there. I'm an atheist but have been a Christian for most of my life. From my experience you can't really tell someone like that anything that would convince them you're honest.
I think one reason is the constant indoctrination. In church theists are not only told what to believe about God, but also about atheists. At least I was. Literally stuff like "people without God fall into drugs, porn etc etc addictions because they don't have meaning in life", with silly anegdotal evidence about families destroyed by members who doubted and shit. You think grown people would laugh at that? Yeah think grown people who'd been taken to listen to this shit before they even learned to read.
Another reason is because people are taught the religious way of thinking before the first principles way of thinking, so they treat "there is a God" as an axiom. If you took that out, the entire house of cards that's their "knowledge" about the world would fall apart (which is traumatising), and they don't understand on an emotional level how that is not true for you. It's real sad, because if you look at it like that, the faken church anegdotes about bad shit that happens to newbie atheists actually make sense. It takes time for your way of thinking to adjust and for your brain to stop scraping for substitutes. Depression, addictions are totally possible imo
Summing up, I don't think you'll convince them anyway, so chill. You can go full Dawkins on them and say "I don't believe in only one more god than you", I guess. They'll dodge that, but maybe if they hear the same thing from 1000 people, something will click. Esp cause other Christians won't ever give them straight answers like that
Also, pick your battles. Sometimes it's not worth it.
Hm - not exactly in those words but it has certainly been intimated that I'm just one "god's touch" experience away from full conversion. It's the attitude from Christians that I just don't know the glory of god and should be pitied. Often treated like it's a temporary situation. I've also been told "I felt that way once and then when [life changing situation] happened it brought me closer to the lord/understand true meaning of life".
The worst part is when it's someone who has heavily relied on prayer to cope with something like divorce or cancer and 'witness' to me that way. It would be rude to say "well, the outcome of the cancer would have been the same regardless, but that's cool you feel that way". But that's what I'm thinking.
And I feel I can't complain about random life stuff to Christian friends because if I "got right with the lord" (yes, have heard that) he would take care of me/situation. And I certainly couldn't vent about the silliness of a comment like that with another friend as I only have one that isn't christian!
One good reply is "we are basically the same, but I believe one less than you". And the reason why is that there are thousands of gods, christians only believe in one.
@ OP
I never been told I am "not an atheist" First I avoid talking about god, and even most politics except with a few close friends and family members that mostly think the way I do.
I only share my religious (lack of) and political views on the internet in a mostly anonymous fashion. I think I come off so strongly as atheist no one has ever tried to say I was not.
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Have you read any of my posts? If I ain't an atheist, then what am I?
rmfr
Ummm - A tree?
LMAO
Thanks Cog
rmfr
I do not believe there is a God. That is the way it is wether you wish to believe me or not.
Hey CompelledUnbeliever.
Welcome to our little corner of Hell as the Christians would put it. Me I like calling it our little corner of godless heathenism.
Oh, and I do not believe that you believe in any god. Your screen name says it all.
Welcome. Have fun. Peruse the boards.
rmfr
I usually ask for evidence for any god or gods they believe in. The "or gods" actually confuses some of them.
@ Gawdzilla
I usually just print this page and ask them which one?
rmfr
There's your mistake - most can't read. Biblical inspiration depends on the ignorance of the reader.
I find that just as offensive as they would if I laughed it off and said "right and you're not a reallyyyy Christian hahaha... I mean how silly is faith right??? hahahaha"
But hey If you have tact, then you know that is offensive and you don't stoop to that level. The thing is with these people is that the don't see their comments as offensive. They think the're helping you! lmao. It's so stupid. Let them talk, it's nothing but carbon dioxide at the end of the day.
Ive actually had this said to me a load of times, that apparently I'm not an atheist, just someone who has difficulty accepting things on faith. In my oponion that should be a good thing but the way many people phrase it you would think they thought it was like a bloody mental disease.
Kind of, yes. I once had my mom get very pissed at me for questioning the term “islamophobia”, after which she told me that I shouldn’t criticize Islam because we happen to have Muslim family friends (what a non-sequitur!), and then gave me this long, boring lecture on how I still need a “sense of community like the one at a house of worship”- no thanks mom, I’m good.
And also, I once saw one of the proselytizers in the debate room give a survey whose questions that I found were all assuming that atheism is Just Another Religion™. It asked me about invented things like “atheist church” (all of those are farcial), and had quite a few questions similar to my mother’s aforementioned monologue.