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In answer, I would tell him about Christianity as I understand it. I'm not a Christian, by the way. I hope this isn't seem as gaming the question; I assume that any rapist getting out of prison is a Christian, and I assume he has never had a serious adult discussion about Christianity with an educated and thoughtful atheist agnostic like myself, so maybe it would rock his world and/or blow his mind!

I have an idea for the next thread. You see someone choking to death on a piece of hot dog. Do you, 1.) perform the Heimlich maneuver on him or her, or do you 2.) tell him or her about atheism?

If you end up in Hell it will not be because you were born in a Muslim theocracy. It will be because you have deserved to go there through your own free actions.

I don't think one should try to deny that Christian teachings do lead to a certain success rate in reformation of "criminals" (used loosely...criminals as people doing things we can all reasonably agree are very bad), though ofcourse an observer do need to remember that he needs to lower an apparent % because we could reasonably expect some individuals to be "reformed" regardless.

That doesn't necessarily mean that this is a good reform method. I have doubts it is, but certainly in many places in the world it can be one of the very few available to a convicted person.

Atheism as used on this forum is a positive worldview. Christianity denies the lack of existence of God, so is it just a lack of a belief? All of this is word-play. Atheism as referred to on this forum is the worldview which denies (and usually fervently hates) God or gods, affirms naturalism and evolutionary worldview tenets, and it is accurate to group all atheists together in unison concerning their outlook of the world. They have certain denominations (varieties) but it is arguably more religious of a worldview than Theism, as one non-Christian poster spoke to in another thread.

Sure, if you lump all atheists together and represent them by just the most militant ones. But many atheists here really do just lack a belief in God and take their atheism no further. Point is, the term doesn't require one to take it any further, so it's not quite fair to ascribe the beliefs you want to atheism.

This isn't just mindless word play, either. It actually makes a difference.

I think you mean, as used by you. As far as I know, no atheist on this forum agrees with you about this claim.
No. That is because Christianity is not the same thing as theism, as there are many non-Christian theists.
Again, this is false. You are only describing your own (false) views about atheism, not that of the forum as a whole. Many atheists do not affirm naturalism, do (or did) not believe in evolution, and do not hate God.

What are the different atheistic denominations? For instance, for U.S. Jews the main division is between Orthodox, Reformed, and Conservative denominations. Here are some common Christian denominations: Southern Baptist, Assembly of God, Roman Catholic, United Church of Christ. What are the atheist denominations?

Dude, two negatives make a positive. At least according to mathematicians/'naturalists'. I don't know if it holds in 'spiritual' land.

When you make use of electromagnetic radiation by turning on a television or radio, when you take advantage of artificial preservatives in canned food, when a doctor gives you medicine, do you ever say to yourself 'gosh, methodological naturalism is so narrow and delimiting!' I mean, you could easily argue that science cannot teach us all there is to know, but I think 90% of atheists on this board would agree with you there. So if you're arguing science is incomplete, that's trivial, but if you're arguing science is a poor method for discovering truths about the world, I'd be interesting in hearing why. (Edit: my point being, you're a naturalist too, at least with respect to most things, so it doesn't have much to do with atheism)

As to evolution being a 'worldview' - it is a scientific theory and a scientific fact, not a worldview. If you have a problem with evolution due to it's 'worldview' implications I'm confused why you don't also have a problem with germ theory, gravity, relativity, electromagnetic fields, atomic theory, the water cycle, etc. Do you believe depression is caused by demonic spirits? Do you believe rain is caused by angels crying? Do you believe cells are made out of ectoplasm?

The implications of your claim are that religion is so loose a term that enjoying pizza is a religion. I can only assume making it by recipe is fundamentalism.

I also like how you first use a hazy "referred", then you jump onto a "usually" - throw in a small "tenets" (I must have missed the pamphlets) and then in all seriousness you have the audacity to end all this with "accurate".

Dear sir, if your argument is accurate then accidentally shooting a fellow deer hunter is the pinnacle of precision.

All denominations of Christianity have in common a belief in some number of the claims contained in the Bible (and, by extension, a preference for those claims over those of other religions). The defining characteristic (if you can call it that) of atheism is the rejection of an entire class of metaphysical claims. If you don't see how the two are qualitatively different I'm not sure there's much point discussing this with you.

To answer OP: I assume this is an attempt to make some cute point about how virtuous Christianity is. My answer is that a rapist operates under fundamentally irrational assumptions about morality, and so I teach him about Christianity (except slavery, Sodom/Gomorrah, butchering Malachites etc. ldo), because irrational ideas appeal to irrational people.

I know this has been touched on but I kind of take it for granted that he very likely is already aware of Christianity, very likely was raised with an understanding of Christianity as a Christian and was so when he committed the rape.

I also would bet that neither option is going to have any effect. Matter of fact, I'm pretty certain there are plenty of sick criminals mix their ego with religious faith to justify their crimes.

I literally lol'd when I got the "fervently hates" part.

Atheism doesn't "affirm" naturalism. This is simply your ruse to dismiss our claims against miracles. The reason we don't believe in miracles is not because we believe in naturalism. It's because there's not sufficient evidence of them occurring. On the other hand, there's tons of evidence for the "natural" things.

Can miracles happen? Sure, I guess they're not impossible. Do I believe in the occurrence of any? Nope. That has nothing to do with my lack of belief in gods, or "atheism" as you put it. If I was a deist I still probably wouldn't believe miracles had occurred. Evidence is key.

Atheism also doesn't affirm evolution. Evolution has nothing to do with atheism. The reason people on here believe in evolution is because of the evidence. It's strange how most people accept evolution except those with religious beliefs that conflict with evolution.

I do not hate the idea of gods either. I think it'd be cool if a benevolent, loving god existed. I'd be pretty stoked actually. If by "denying God" you mean I will object to the claim he exists, then that would be accurate.

I too lol'd at the "fervently hates" part...I will, however, refrain from banging my head against the wall by attempting to engage Megenoita in any sort of debate about what he/she wrote. (not meant as an insult to those that did/will)

I always feel like Christianity imagines itself to be built on a foundation of "doing good". While a lot of Christians personally reveal this through their actions, the true foundation of Christianity has absolutely nothing to do good intent or actions. Christianity at it's most basic form is accepting Christ so that you may rise to heaven in the afterlife. It is the praising of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Although a large percentage of Christians are truly good people, Christianity sets itself up as an excuse for people to commit horrible things. You can rape thousands of 12 year old girls within your lifetime, but as long as one asks for forgiveness before death, it's all groovy.

It has been told to me, time after time, that no matter how good of a person I am, that I will not go to heaven because I refuse to accept that God is a real, tangible being who loves me, constantly watches and judges me. So the good/badness of a person within their life doesn't really matter according to Christianity as long as they are forgiven before the time of their death.

In essence, Christianity gives a platform for people to commit murder/rape with less personal accountability. They have the ability to do horribly selfish, disgusting things and still achieve everlasting life. This sounds absolutely horrible to me (and seems to be somewhat of a trend given prison population statistics).

So, I would choose to attempt to tell him about personal accountability and the survival of the human race rather than Christianity.

(I didn't proofread this so I'll probably come out looking like an idiot. Weeee)