What do Christians think of atheists?

[jarrlous]

Could any Christians here tell me why they think some people chose atheism over theism?

[Bust Nak]

[Replying to post 1 by jarrlous]

The term "chose atheism" is interesting, what made you think atheists chose anything? I don't think beliefs can be chosen at all. One is either convinced or isn't convinced, it is something that happens to you as opposed an action.

[tam]

[Replying to post 1 by jarrlous]

I think an atheist is just a person who does not believe in God. Being an atheist does not define whether that person is good, bad, loving, hateful, fun, boring, mean, nice, truthful, dishonest, etc.


Sometimes when someone states they are an atheist, I wonder if that is because of religion having cost them their faith (for any number of reasons), or if it is because they personally see no evidence for the existence of God and are, as Bust Nak suggested, unconvinced.


Different people are atheists for different reasons. As far as I know, there is no one size fits all as to why.


Peace to you jarrlous,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

[OnceConvinced]

I too have an issue with the term "chose". Atheism was definitely not something I ever chose. In fact I fought tooth and nail against it, but I was simply unable to twist my own arm behind my own back to force myself to believe in God anymore.

It may be possible that those with fickle minds, who can change it like they change their underwear, may be able to convince themselves to believe something they don't already believe, but my mind is not that fickle.

[JimmyAk]

[Replying to post 1 by jarrlous]

Perhaps God has not drawn them to Jesus, for it is said by Jesus: "No one comes to me except the Father draws them to me". When they experience the power and love of God, they will never deviate from Him.

[Kenisaw]

[Replying to post 1 by jarrlous]

Perhaps God has not drawn them to Jesus, for it is said by Jesus: "No one comes to me except the Father draws them to me". When they experience the power and love of God, they will never deviate from Him.

Which is why so many atheists are ex-believers.

[JehovahsWitness]

Could any Christians here tell me why they think some people chose atheism over theism?

Social conditioning, following the "in crowd" (believing that "educated people" don't believe in God and not wanting to appear ignorant and colloqual), brainwashing from childhood by the a largly atheistic education system, ignorance, emotional reasons (death of a loved one, inexplained injustice and suffering), misrepresentation of the alternative (by Creationists for example), being disappointed or repulsed by corrupt religions, ... but mostly ignorance and laziness, not giving the matter much indepth study or thought.

JEHOVAHS WITNESS

[RonE]

[Replying to post 7 by JehovahsWitness]

IMHO, that is the most offensive post I've seen on this site.

"but mostly ignorance and laziness, not giving the matter much indepth study or thought. "

Looked in a mirror lately? Really!

[Divine Insight]

Could any Christians here tell me why they think some people chose atheism over theism?

To begin with it's important to understand that atheism simply means to not accept any theism. It's not a "believe that there is no God". Although some atheists may also coincidentally believe that there is no God of any kind.

However, getting back to atheism as being a choice to not believe in any particular theism, then actually Christians choose "atheism" as well, by rejecting all theism save for one.

For example, an atheist who rejects all theistic views most likely rejects Christianity for basically very similar reasons to those that Christians have for rejecting the theistic views they reject, for example, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.

In other words, if you are a "Christian" then tell me why you are an atheist with respect to Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and all other world religions, and you will most likely also be giving an explanation why atheists have rejected all those religions PLUS Christianity.

In fact, Protestants can be said to be "Atheistic Catholics". In other words, they reject the theism of Catholicism which is ALSO "Christianity".

Protestant are also "Atheists" with respect to every denomination of Protestant theism that they reject.

Atheist are correct when they say to Christians quite simple, "I just believe in one less theism than you do".

On a semantic note:

In general I do not consider myself to be an "atheist", especially if Buddhism can be counted as a "Theism". The reason being that I consider Buddhism to be "possible". That doesn't mean that I believe that it's true. To the contrary it would be far better to say that I "hope" Buddhism is true. And since some people equate hope with faith, based on that semantic definition of "faith" one could say that I have faith that Buddhism is true.

But this is only if you allow "faith" to mean "hope".

I wouldn't claim to be a "Buddhist" however as that seems to suggest that I actually believe that its necessarily true.

On the other hand I will gladly accept the title of "Abrahamic Atheist". In other words I definitely reject the Abrahamic theologies as being clearly false and having no merit at all. I can even go much further and state that I am an "Anti-Theist" when it comes to the Abrahamic theologians. I am not only convinced that they can't possibly be true as written verbatim in their Holy Scriptures, but also argue argue that their so-called "Holy Scripture" are not "Holy" at all. To the contrary they are filled with extreme immorality in the name of their jealous Godhead.

I am convinced as I can possibly be about anything that all Bible-based religions, including the Qur'an are necessarily false and cannot possibly be true verbatim as written. And since that's true, then it makes no sense to even speak about the "Biblical God" like as if it makes any sense.

[OnceConvinced]

Social conditioning, following the "in crowd" (believing that "educated people" [strike]don't[/strike] believe in God and not wanting to appear ignorant and colloqual), brainwashing from childhood by [strike]the a largly atheistic education system[/strike] religious parents, ignorance, emotional reasons (death of a loved one, injustice and suffering unanswered questions ), misrepresentation of [strike]the alternative (by Creationists for example)[/strike] evolution, being disappointed or repulsed by [strike]corrupt religions[/strike] themselves, ... but mostly ignorance and laziness, not giving the matter much indepth study or thought.

JEHOVAHS WITNESS

Funny. That seems to be a list of reasons why people gravitate TOWARDS theism, not away from it! I've taken what you're said there and just edited it slightly to show what I mean.

Here is a REAL list of reasons why atheists don't believe:

There is no real definitive proof that there are any gods, religions are so full of contradictions, absurdities and scientific inaccuracies, theists are no better and no more moral than anyone else, what theists teach often doesn't work out in reality, false prophecies, evil committed by theists, religious literature is often hearsay, theists can never agree with each other on their teachings, their gods seem very imaginary and often malevolent. They are simply UNABLE to believe.

But ok, the question in the thread title was what do Christians think of atheists? It's quite clear what you think of us. I'm not surprised that a Christian would think what you think, as Christianity always attempts to demonise those they don't understand.