An atheist point of view: "Theist prefer to look the other way when presented reasoning that puts a personal god as an extremely low probability."

Why does it matter? Let's not go into the political and social argument.. just the basics. If a theist believes in a God and that belief influences their behavior in a positive manner, who cares. I get the idea that atheist are really annoyed at theist. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but for whatever reason...the fact that theist believe in something that atheist do not believe exists, seems to really bother atheist more than I imagined. I would have thought it would be more the other way...the theist annoyed at atheist.
From the stance of the theist...it is their duty to convince the atheist. (referring to the Apostle Paul who taught Christians to "spread the word")
But what drives an atheist to try and convince the theist that they are wrong?

It's not like it takes any energy to believe in a God. I'm just really taken back by the "Bizarro World" here.
Also...I'm not pointing fingers at anyone...I could care less who is an atheist or a theist.... just wondering why atheist care about theist at all.

Why do the Mythbusters on TV do what they do, and why are people interested in watching that?

Because that's an interesting show to watch.

Not sure how this is on topic though...but thanks for playing.

Why does anything matter ever?

I asked why are people interested in the show, and you said, because it's interesting.

I guess if you don't want to put any thought into why I brought it up, I'll put an equal amount of effort into your topic title. It matters because it does.

theism is responsible for both positive and negative influences on a person's behavior. Whats bad about theism is that in the cases where it is responsible for negative behavior, one *could* presume that without theistic influences, the negative behavior would not be there.

if theism only lead to positive behavior, or was the *only way* to improve one's behavior, then I don't think you would see very many people condemning it. Its like placebo drugs, sure they are completely fake, but they serve a very very useful purpose. unfortunately, religion is not like this

First let me say, as I have before, that my posts are for my own benefit. I am not trying to convince anybody of anything. Anything resulting from my posts outside of reinforcing and bettering my own understanding is gravy. As for why belief is potentially harmful, without getting into societal matters, believing something that is not true is in and of itself a bad thing. Our conscious actions are solely based on that which we believe to be true. If one makes a decision based on something that is not true, which he or she would not have made had he or she been more informed, then that decision was a bad decision. To paraphrase Voltaire, 'when you get people to believe absurdities, you can get them to commit atrocities.'

Thanks for that well thought out addition to the thread Deo. You are not only my favorite little Asian porn star...you are a great addition to this forum.

You said "believing something that is not true is in and of itself a bad thing." First we have to assume that there is no God for this to be correct. However slight you or another atheist may think the possibility of a God existing may be... to say it is not true is relying on the 100% reliability factor that we know doesn't exist. Nothing is 100%.
Even though.... if I believed in a God and you didn't..but we both like fishing and football.. could we not go enjoy these activities together or would you be concerned that I may do something irrational all of a sudden like jump out of the boat thinking I can walk on water?

I'm not slamming any belief or non-belief here... just wondering why that one thing seems to matter to some atheist.

why does discovering the truth matter?

qft

a large part of the recent financial mess in america can be chalked up to delusional beliefs. no one wanted to admit the housing market was a bubble, and those who spoke up were fired or ignored...and labelled as being too negative.

but hey, im sure those beliefs brought a lot of people a lot of joy (and money) so why does it matter?

Dude...this is an internet forum... people discuss things. That's how this works...it's for both entertainment and learning. It's pretty fun if you join in.
Otherwise I guess you could just go to every thread and say that same thing.

That's like saying, let's talk about Poker, but let's not go into the play of specific hands.

It matters because truly private belief is exceedingly rare.

It's really nothing like that at all.

My question specifically is if someone believes in something you don't... why do you care? Maybe you don't but it appears a lot of atheist on tis forum really are bothered by this fact.

The statement itself is not contingent upon whether or not a god exists. We do have to assume a god does not exist in order to believe that the statement, 'god does not exist' is true, but of course that is a tautology, as belief is defined as assuming something is true. But you do not have to believe that the statement 'god does not exist' is true in order to believe that a belief in god is irrational. And history has taught us that irrationality is an exceptional way to believe things which are not true.

Very good... I understand your statement when you replace "does not exist" with "irrational". If someone makes this one "irrational" decision, do you assume that more will follow?
And do you have concern that further irrational choices by this person will effect you?

There has been some really good stuff said in this thread and you've chosen to reply to none of it. Why?

What have ignored? I thought I addressed everything.
Quote it here please.

you are unbelievably dense.

LOL... thanks for your well thought out addition to the forum.

To build on this last quote, and by no means to I want to get into a political debate but things like George Bush saying the following 'I am driven with a mission from God'. God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did." is a contributing factor in why people try and stop delusional beliefs.

like my avatar?

Not necessarily, but irrational beliefs can often lead to other irrational beliefs, particularly when a belief in something that is not true conflicts with a belief in something that is true.

Yes, as well as many other people (but we are now getting into the societal effects that you wanted to ignore). Anyhow, bed time for Bonzo

Where did this come from...I don't see it on this thread.



I'm not sure about the second one. Are you implying that someone who simply believes in a God will some how effect you financially? I already understand somewhat how atheist feel religion effects them politically but maybe it doesn't effect them any other way. Perhaps I was wrong...it just seems...even more so after this thread, that atheist are really bothered by religion more than I would expect Christians to be bothered by atheist.

Crystal clear...thanks Deo.