Why do atheists care whether people believe in God or not? If they are so certain that there is no God why waste time arguing with fools? Shouldn't they be out enjoying their lives and not wasting one moment on something that is so meaningless to them?

Instead it seems like they care more about making sure everyone else does not believe with them...

I don't get this.

Some atheists care(i cant speak for all) whether people believe in god or not, because most people who believe in a god are morons.

see :
the crusades
911 attacks
creationists denying evolution
etc...

I only care when theists start interfering with politics/education, big ones being stem cell research, anti-gambling laws and ID in biology classes

if you keep your beliefs to yourself I have no problem with it

Q:

A:

linky

b/c its an embarrassment to mankind.

You and Eddi are embarrassments to mankind. There's a reason why the best and brightest atheist generally don't put their energies into arguments against religion.

Good post. Appreciate the link. I'm going to send it out with my Xmas cards.

because they want the right to not believe in god and not follow gods laws, and to be able to live in a society which wont be prejudiced against them for that choice (as long as they arent hurting others).

about right?

From a personal standpoint, I wouldn't care if I lived in New York or Cali or Sweden, but I live in Kansas. I am not publicly Athiest(I actually consider myself agnostic but close enough to atheist on this board for me to receive the title here) If I responded to questions about God and said I was an atheist, I would lose a lot of respect, my Job, and my mom would send me even more pieces to my growing Christian books and CD collection. I don't want to live in a society where I feel worried before saying I'm an atheist.
Not to mention a bunch of picketers go around to heterosexual soldier's funerals here with "god hates ******s" signs, and they actually teach creationism in public schools here.
When I lived in Maryland none of this was a problem.

If you're only refering to a personal god then i dont give a ****, but if its organized religion its because its been standing in the way of scientific progress for ****ing ever.

it brainwashes people, its divisive, racist, sexist, homophobic, ******ed, obnoxious, hypocritical.....etc

I'm caring less and less. At first it was an interesting intellectual concept, then it became a quarrel, then it became a crusade versus shoddy logic, then it was about defending certain principles I hold dearly, then it was the realization that arguing with religious followers is hopeless in 99/100 cases and then I started writing letters to newspapers where I implore people to put focus on education.

Hanging around and arguing is more automated tradition now...like checking the mail in the morning. Still when I see some horrible argument I like to point out that it is horrible...I don't suspect the person making it to change anymore (though this has happened on these boards) but maybe someone else can get something from it.

I also enjoy the occasional flaming.

Because I want society as a whole to progress and I'm always seeking the truth. Because I want people to believe what is most likely to be true and not believe things that are most likely to be untrue. Because I'm sick of the ignorance in the world. Because I'm sick of woman oppression. Because I'm sick of adults telling their kids that the Earth is 6k years old. Because I'm sick of dishonest snake oil salesmen makeing a living by selling lies. I'm sick of people believeing that the next life is more important than this one when they have no reason to believe there is a next life. Because I'm sick of people with power being men of faith.

I can go on but I wont.

Sounds to me like you are just sick.

Seriously though, for every thing you list above that you are "sick" of, there are many more harmful people and institutions to spew your vitriol at than organized religion. The bottom line is that for the most part (at least where I live), secularism is taking over society and if there is any prejudice or persecution going on, it is against theists and not atheists.

sounds to me like you are blatantly dishonest or just a jerk

Right...I am the jerk. I have been the one coming on this forum and turbo flaming every post. Dude, you have a very warped sense of reality.

cool story bro.

agree with most of the above reasons (and that link is great), but put briefly: it annoys me that people i consider otherwise intelligent can be so wrong in something so important and (seemingly) straightforward.

i forget who coined the phrase "not even wrong", but that concept comes to mind way too often when i get exposed to any sort of creationism. some people correct grammar, some people correct theistic beliefs.

I have a number of answers. Here are a few of them...

Why do people care whether people are terrorists or not? If they are so certain that terrorism is bad, why waste time arguing with fools. Shouldn't they be out enjoying their lives and not wasting one moment on something that is so meaningless to them?

Instead it seems like they care more about making sure everyone else is not a terrorist with them...

Theism is not terrorism, but if you can figure out what is wrong with this argument, you can probably figure out what is wrong with the OP.

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People are naturally curious. They explore their environments. If something is simple and easy to understand, it does not occupy too much thought-space. If something is a bit of a mystery, it might manage to capture the imagination for an indefinite period of time.

If everyone around you makes claims that don't make sense to you, isn't it perfectly natural to want to think about those claims, talk to people about them, mention your point of view, and even debate or argue to attempt to make yourself understood?

Of course, some people, whether we are discussing religion or the weather, believe it is better to keep your mouth shut and mind your own business.

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You are equivocating in using "meaningless" as you have. An atheist may assume that religions are a combination of mythology, history, fairy tail, and attempts at social control, etc., and they may assume that they do not have any divine authority. But how exactly does that make religion "meaningless?"

Every few years there are church buy-back scandals in the news, in which churches are found to be abusing their tax-free status to line the pockets of their leaders.

Church-goers park in the streets, in front of fire hydrants, hold up traffic, etc., and are immune from prosecution.

Every cycle Christians testify at school board book hearings, objecting to things like pictures of women wearing business attire, or mentions of reproductive health, or acknowledging any of the historical faults or failings of the United States of America, and sometimes, evolution by natural selection.

If you embrace faith, and miracles, and eternal life, and forgiveness, it is all to easy to allow institutionalized sexism, homophobia, racism, classism, and abuse, to flourish. And they do.

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If religion was an ice cream that your neighbors got to eat after dinner once or twice a week, then maybe there is no great cause to knock it out of their hand and shout warning them about their heart-health.

If religion was a shot-gun that your neighbors fired up into the air, or sometimes, if they've been drinking, toward your house, after dinner once or twice a week, then don't you think it is natural that you'd want to disarm them?

While surely religion is not an ice cream cone, and religion is not a shot-gun, certainly you can't say it isn't somewhere on SOME spectrum between great and harmless, and horrible and harmful?

Why does religion care if im an atheist?

Yep secularism is taking over society.

The thought never crosses people's mind what being "filled with the Spirit" actually means. The Apostles started with the Greeks and their Bacchanalian/Dionysian lifestyle.

"But to be under the Spirit's Influence means:

"To be filled with" means "to be controlled by" (Luke 4:28, Luke 5:26). On the Day of Pentecost the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and were accused of being drunk (Acts 2:13). Just as a drunk is influenced by alcohol, so a believer should be controlled by the Spirit. However, there are important differences. The drunk loses self-control, but the Spirit gives the believer self-control (Gal 5:23). The drunk has an artificial happiness that does not last, while the Spirit-filled believer has a deep joy in the Lord. Drunken people do stupid things that hurt others and bring them embarassment, but Spirit-filled believers help others and live to the Glory of God." excerpt from Nelson's Quick Reference Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, Warren W. Wiersbe

I You

It's so tilting that 70% of 'the most powerful nation on earth' are creationists.

Hence why we are the most powerful nation on earth.

In the mean time as we are removing god from everything, our power and economy are falling

Becuase athiests are also interested in forcing their beliefs and opinions on everyone else just like some religionists do

Beautifully ironic.