THE THEIST OBSESSION . . .

I'm guessing theists just want to believe something. And they can't grasp, and therefore can't believe, that atheists don't believe. And since theists will probably burst some major blood vessels in the noggin if they can't work through that paradox in a refreshingly theist manner, which is to vilify and denounce everything that doesn't conform to their belief system, or in this case, to the fact that there has to be some form of belief, they have to periodically vent and rage against all the unbelievers out there.

It's simple, I believe.

I guess i'm amazed because this doesn't happen out in the real world. Sure, there are some holy rollers who try to buttonhole people, but you can give them the brush off, and they try to victimize someone else. Maybe it's just because the interwebs give them an unprecedented opportunity to rant.

Perhaps because in real life atheists and theists don't hang out socially in the same places and avoid each other like the plague..especially on Sunday.

Whereas online some people get their power rush from anonymity.

That only goes so far. I went to a diner for breakfast--not the atheist diner, just the diner that was on my way to work.

Um... it's true that a good amount of my friends are agnostic or atheist, both rarely mentioned as none of us are presently in our twenties and interested in arguing about all this, but I still have theist friends. I will hang out socially with my theist friends and relatives cheerfully.


Unless they start with it.

Same here...but I never discuss religion or god/Gawdy/god-like stuff with them. With my sister and her hubby I avoid discussing atheism stuff with them. I do, as an agnostic, however, attend their Secular Humanist meetings now and then.

I've never had anyone who attempted to insist that we discuss his or her imaginary friend. At the same time, discussing so-called atheism or agnosticism is my idea of unbearable boredom. This crap just isn't a part of my day-to-day life.

A friend called me this week, a friend I've known since we were nineteen. So many mutual experiences, so many sorrows, so much good stuff, so much life.
We are in our seventies. Long talk.

I perceive her as a theist. She knows I'm not. We have never talked about it.

Well Set, religion does that to people. It's a power trip of sorts. Feeling that they know something more than the average bear, and therefore must shove it down everyone who will listens throat. It can really be found in about any arena involving people's opinions about something they are passionate about. Unfortunately in all truth it is more often than not just an ugly exposure of ones opinion of something and usually is a very closed minded argument. It becomes about being right and the truth gets lost.

I haven't done a careful survey (and don't have an interest in doing one) , but my strong impression is there are about as many threads here dedicated to the supposed absurdity of theism or religion as taking an oposite view. "Another day with no God" .. " is but one of many such threads. In short I doubt the veracity of your presumption that threads advocating theism or religion significantly outnumber those taking the opposite view. In addition, my offhand impression is that the anti threads generally get more vigorous participation than do the pro theism/religion threads. Based on your logic perhaps I should speculate just what gets these posters so aniumated. I don't because this is a site for folks to state or advocate theiur opinions. and all things considered A2K appears to be (crudely at least) fairly representative of today's general population and their views.

If you were to do a survey, O'George, i think you'd find that religious threads far outnumber "anti-religious" threads. But my point is how often religious types start threads which are obsessed about atheist and "atheism." (I am bemused tho think that not believing something can be described as an "-ism.") Also, this sh*t just doesn't come up in everyday life. Believers and non-believers inhabit the same world, and manage not to engage one another about their belief, or lack thereof.

It's probably because everybody, atheist and theist alike, harbors the fear, that they might just encounter the sort of religious zealot who's just rearing to go and quote their holy scripture from back to back and sideways too to prove they have a point, until you are so desperate you want to just tear the ears from your head to stop the incessant caterwauling.

The kind of people who make me at least hope that if there is an afterlife, I won't wind up with them for all eternity.

So the best way to avoid that horrid acidtrip from happening, most people with a bit of common sense will keep their mouth shut about subjects like religion in any kind of venue where unwelcome third parties might overhear.

I once spend a fairly disastrous bus trip with a person next to me who was convinced that oil was the root of all evil, and was determined to point out exactly why that was the case in the 30 minutes I was forced to sit and endure it.

I like the way religious discussions happen here where I am in Korea.

A: I'm Christian. (represents about 24% of the population)
B: Oh? OK, I'm Buddhist. (represents about 23% of the population)
C: Ah. I don't have a religion. (represents roughly 50% of the population)

All together: OK, then, let's talk about something else.

You see, one of the main reasons I'm so comfortable in Korea is that most people don't try to push their beliefs or lack of them on others. It's generally recognized that having harmonious relationships (a few wingnuts aside), is more important than spreading one's ideology. Some of my students are Chrisian, some are Buddhist, one is a Mormon. I've had one who was a "Moonie." Most have no religion at all, and I don't see how they suffer from it. Never had a conflict with any of them over religion. For the most part, people respect each other as people first, ideology is a distant second.

I resist religious thinking online, yes, because I'm dealing with Western people who do try to push their ideologies on others, people who do discriminate and suppress based on conflicting faiths. People who contribute to the cultures of science denialism, vaccine denialism, withholding of medical care from their children based on traditional religioius beliefs, faith healing, etc, etc. These things are obviously detrimental to the human race and deserve to be resisted.

Given my 'druthers, though, I'd rather Western society be more like Korean society, where the majority of people don't even ask about another's religious ideology and just get on with the business of living cooperatively for the greater good.

why does travel seem to inspire people to want to share their religious belief systems?

other than the very very very occasional pamphletizer, I rarely experience anyone talking about their religion/beliefs in my day to day life.

but get on a train or plane or bus ... and it's yakkety yakkety yakkety ... and people trying to make me look at something in their bible. such an odd phenomenon.

Well neither of us has done a careeful survey, so I suspect the truth here is unresolved. However I can't help but note that you started this thread... and others ... dedicated to atheism or atheists in some form,. mostly fairly lighthearted and inoffensive. I'm a believer, but I haven't started any such threads. (I have commented in some however).

Could you be indulging in a little projection here? It appears to me that that may be the case.

...oh c'mmon you know why...we all have been putting up with them for our entire life's...they want to teach us, they want to saves us, they are the righteous ones. They have the best pokemon...

...the appeal of God as in any symbolic figure is the redutio, the simplification of nature made man and made tangible...the bigger the alienation from nature the bigger the need to make it tangible...the modern world is made of info noise and info alienation...the appeal for a tangible reality was never stronger...

...leave man in men's place and we have a problem...fear moves mountains !

Kudos . . . in this world, that constitutes speaking truth to power.

The purpose of this thread is not to promote a disbelief in gods. The purpose of this thread is not to vilify theists, and i have acknowledged that some atheists here do that. My threads about atheists have been satire. If you want to get an idea of the proportions here, go to the beginning of the thread and click on the tag "religion." Then look through those threads listed there. The member who calls himself (?) Squeakybro averages more than one thread a day, and he is truly a loon--he offends other christians here. I just want to know why they are so obsessed with the undeniable fact that there are atheists in the world.

If the atheist café
serves IPA
I say OK!