How to Approach an Atheist
Jon Noyes answers the question, “How Should I Approach My Atheist Friends?” on To the Point LIVE.
Watch the full To the Point video on Intelligent Design: https://youtu.be/FXpKGg6r0XM
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If there was a god, we wouldn't need to believe.
Don't approach us. You should know better.
i'm an atheist because i'm not convinced a god exists. so if you were planning on approaching me, i recommend that you contact your god, and introduce your god to me.
that way i can interact with your god and examine your god for myself.
As long as you dont keep prattling on about your invisible friend in the sky who takes a perverse interest in other peoples sex lives. then all should be well.
There are thousands of gods out there that christians dont believe in. Atheists dont believe in one more than christians.
Fantastic answer. I love that we can be quiet and listen and ask questions at least at first. I think this encourages thinking and builds bridges in the relationship. ❤️😊👍
Why do theists think that the only reason why atheists don’t believe in their particular preferred deity only because they haven’t heard of it yet and haven’t read their particular preferred sacred book yet?
Guys, I’ve read the Bible, I’ve read Qur'an, I’ve read Bhagavad Gita! Those things are not that impressive if you actually read them out of curiosity and not for your religious studies! Sure they are fine pieces of literature of ancient humans and a great cultural treasures but nothing more. There are no great teachings there that I wouldn’t have encountered in ancient Greece or Chinese philosophical works. They are just an amalgamation of different ideas of ancient philosophers that were going around the world at the time those books were written!
You won’t prove god’s existence to me by just quoting abstracts from those! You might as well use Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings with the same result!
There’s no point of trying to convince most of us with words – we need good evidence! And no, the fact that this world exist is not a good evidence for a god!
"You're just kinda on a fact-finding mission."
That's rather backwards, isn't it? As an atheist, I feel more that I'm on the fact-finding mission. After all, theists claim that their god is real. So I ask them why. I don't claim that gods can't exist. I've just never seen good evidence that any of them do.
"I don't bear a burden"
Well, you bear the burden of proof. You're the one making the claim, so you have the burden of proof.
Now, sure, if an atheist claims that your god doesn't exist, then they would have the burden of proof. And atheists vary. But I don't say that. Heck, I can't even demonstrate that Thor, Zeus, or… magic leprechauns don't exist. How in the world could I have evidence that an invisible, immaterial, magical being doesn't exist, somewhere?
"So I'm excited to talk to them about it."
Then you are an unusual theist! Personally, I find that Christians, in particular, rarely want to talk to an atheist about this stuff. And when I ask them for one piece of good evidence, they never do. 🙂
'Jesus never existed.'
Well, if an atheist makes that claim, then he does has the burden of proof. But ordinarily, atheists just don't believe Christian claims (or Muslim claims, or Hindu claims, etc.). After all, claims are easy.
Admittedly, human beings are rarely precise in their language. We don't always say what we mean in the most precise way possible, huh? 🙂
"What are you basing your opinions on?"
I'm basing my opinion of religion on the fact that I've never heard even one piece of good evidence that a god is real, rather than just imaginary – any god, let alone a particular one. I have yet to hear even one piece of good evidence that any of the magical/supernatural stories in the Bible actually happened, either.
Worldwide, faith-based people overwhelmingly believe in whatever religion and whatever god or gods they were taught to believe as a child. There's a reason why 83% of Italians are Christian, while 90% of Egyptians are Muslim and 80% of Indians are Hindu.
Typically, they all make lots of claims, but as far as I can tell, none of them can back up those claims with any real evidence. (They often claim that they can,… until I ask them to demonstrate that with just one example.)
"15 reasons why Jesus is God"
Yeah, I just ask for one – one to begin with, at least, one at a time. A whole bunch of vague claims are less useful than one that's specific and backed up by good evidence.
But so far, I have yet to hear even one that is clearly distinguishable from delusion and/or wishful-thinking. And I get similar results when talking with Muslims, too.
I'm an atheist, I'd be keen to answer some questions. Alternatively, I have a few of my own. My first would be "How do you know that god exists?"
Great point! As you said, we often allow ourselves to fall into the trap of assuming their point is valid and has solid reasoning behind it and we need to defend our point. Instead we need to realize that many times the objections or claims made are superficial and the one making them has not really investigated or studied or done anything more than make an assertion. We need to arm ourselves with more of an investigator's mindset and be prepared to ask questions rather that always be defensive. Challenge their claims to be proven rather than assuming they don't need to do that but we do.
@Jon Noyes
Would you want other religions or even atheism to thrive or not, and why?
Atheism is not a world view, it is a very small part of an atheist world view. Outside of the lack of belief in a god, or gods their beliefs cover a wide spectrum of both philosophical, and political beliefs. The best way to approach an atheist is to sneak up on them while they're sleeping. I've always like to ask theist why they have to hold a double standard in their belief system to maintain their belief. They don't make that exception with any other belief.
Question the qjestioner.
I love asking questions for them to answer, no to me, but to themselves.
Whose “rules” do atheists live by? Their own? Do they make them up as they go along? Do their rules always end up in their favor? Do they ever admit they were wrong about anything?