I think this is a good debate starter. I for one expect Christians to make false claims. It's in their Dogma and they can not help it. Hit them with facts and we know they are going to fall back on "FAITH" and how we just do not understand.
What happens when you run across an atheist making ignorant claims. My favorites are, "I converted to Atheism." "I can prove God does not exist (without specifying which god)." And my new most recent favorite. "I can prove 100% that heaven does not exist. (Again, no specification on heaven one is referring to.) And then when you point out the fallacy of the claims, they just dig their heels in with assertions of faith and belief without facts or evidence?
I personally have higher expectations for anyone calling themselves an atheist and then making such false claims. I think it reflects poorly on atheism and lets face it. If they keep making absurd claims they are going to run into a slick Christian one day who is going to own them. That's never good.
So what are your thoughts? Any atheist is a good atheist or should we set higher standards for ourselves?
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If saying " I converted to atheism" is a false claim, then saying "I think it reflects poorly on atheism" is also a false claim.
Wow! What a great insight! I am convinced, you can convert to not believing in something. I used to believe in Santa until I converted to not believing in Santa any more. Do you ever actually think about what you are saying. To what is one converting? All a person does is walk away from religion., They drop a belief system. They do not adopt a new one.
"I think it?" You think what? The sentence makes no sense at all. "I think it reflects poorly on atheism." That's not even English.
"The sentence makes no sense at all. 'I think it reflects poorly on atheism.' That's not even English."
I hope that was said unironically lol.
Breezy... you need to share the drugs. You are having way too much fun.
I am having fun.
The sentence, "I think it reflects poorly on atheism," was written by you in the OP. Now, if you view the act of "converting" to atheism as nonsense because atheism isn't a thing, it isn't a group, it isn't a religion, it isn't an organization, it isn't a belief system, it is the void of all the aforementioned things. Then how can something reflect poorly on it, as if it were in fact a thing, a group, a system etc?
In order for my "reflection" to bounce of a mirror, a mirror has to be a physical, tangible, thing. If a mirror was nothing but a void, it couldn't reflect anything.
cog temper...!!!...
call medic.
I think there are different stages of one's atheism or theism like primary school, highschool , college. So you can't expect a primary school student to have same knowledge as highschool or college level student have. This stages are temporary. So my opinion is that don't expect expertise from every atheist or even theist cause they are at different stages.
Hopefully as you move through life you make fewer and fewer false claims. I tend to only correct someone's false claim if no one else points it out. This approach can often be mistaken for being a contrarian or the Devil's Advocate, but really it's only that I'm not a fan of gang-banging people for simply being wrong.
@ Breezy "Then how can something reflect poorly on it, as if it were in fact a thing, a group, a system etc?"
Nice Question. Yes, atheism is not a group of any kind. Perhaps better stated is "I think it is a negative reflection on people who identify as atheists." False claims made by atheists are obviously challenged easily by any Christian with half a brain. In defeating a false claim, the Christian not only feels justified in his or her belief, but also believes he has somehow defeated the atheist's position. (Logically he may have as the atheist asserted something that was un-falsifiable and not actually defensible.)
Good catch.