understanding atheist perspectives on religious ppl, institutions,morals & faith

The thing about the idea that religious people are "uneducated" or "ignorant" is, many of the things we know were taught to us by very religious people. Sir Isaac Newton, Beethoven, Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin. All believed in God and taught us a lot of things we still use today. Many of our professors today are very religious. Are they less educated or more ignorant than their atheist colleagues? I think most atheists many atheists are just as zealous as "believers". I also think many atheists are missionaries for their cause, just like many "believers". The way I see it, the only reason science and religion are at odds at all is both are judging the other without sufficient information to come to a conclusion. I can't prove to you that I'm right any more than you can prove that you are right.

I have known many atheists. I have yet to meet an atheist(aside from yourself) who thinks that religious people are gullible, uneducated, or ignorant. The majority of atheists I know think that its great that someone is devoted to their god and their beliefs. Maybe I'm just lucky to know people who accept each other as they are. To hear you generalising about a group of people, both the religious people and the atheists, makes me think you are the ignorant one.

Atheism, is a non logical belief; non logical because the non-existence of God cannot be derived logically. Unlike Agnosticism, which more logical. Therefore the atheist is more like a religious person than they are like an agnostic. Contrary to what you believe Fightboy there are both naive and non naive believers. Your criticisms do not even address the latter group. There are also naive atheists and it is into this category that you seem best to fit all the best urban

Okay. I understand. But some religious people have faith and others have a belief. I believe.You can call me gullible but I rather have my beliefs than not have any beliefs.Take G-d away from me and I won't replace Him with logic. I don't want logic, I want my relationship with G-d, thank you. I respect your beliefs and that you don't believe in my g-d . And that's what is so great about being here in America. You don't have to believe in my G-d and I don't have to give up my G-d.No one is forced to live with or without G-d.

I think it is true that many theists do not understand atheists' perspective. But I also think that most atheists do not understand theists' perspective. When we say theism there are different kinds of theistic beliefs. Islam is so different from Christianity, and so Buddhism from Judaism etc. Moreover, there are many well educated theist. In fact, if we look at entire history of humanity we can say with certainty that theist always outnumbered atheist. Both in terms of educated as well uneducated ones. When Christians claim that morality in the Bible is God given atheists don't realise way the phrase 'God given' is used. It seems to me that way. I think this mistake comes about because most atheists instead of reading the writings of sophisticated and well trained theologians refer to some untrained Christians, or rather instead of understanding the 'official position' of the Church atheists generally assumed that they know. The way atheists use the word 'faith' is different from the way Christians have been using throughout the centuries. Atheist normally use 'faith' in the sense of believing in the absence of evidences, but Christians will use in the sense of believing which is beyond the reach of reason. In this regard even giant among the atheist like Richard Dawkins have failed to understand. In fact, in a conversation I hear Alister mcGrath correcting Dawkins. Alister mcGrath has doctorates both is Science and Theology, and he is a prof. at Oxford. Science cannot explain 'what is the meaning of life?' It is just outside of the realm of science... Christians use faith as the paradigm to go beyond science to answer such questions. regards, headhunter525

Hello fightingistheonlyway!:-) Thank you for providing us with your valuable perspective. I just have one question, if I may: "if there are any atheists that disagree let me know and we will discuss as to why..." "the best word to describe how we think of them..." "when a religious person tells us..." "so, ultimately, we see the creation..." Is the "we" in first quote referring to same "we", "us" and "we" in later quotes? Thanks!

I'm not an atheist. I am a Christian, but I understand when other people feel that religious folks are "gullible". I however would not say gullible. I would say narrow minded. That's a better term. Some are so closed minded that it goes beyond just their religious beliefs, and they use the Bible to be racists and homophobic. I keep an open mind, but try to stick to my faith and act accordingly. :)

The question is quite interesting. First of all, everybody has the right to be religious or not, based on the tradition, education, personal experience, or life style. As far as the beliefs do no intrude into other people believe, that is fine. When soviet atheists were crashing churches to damage religious spirits in the Russian peasants, it was very bad. When we have peaceful discussion on the topic, it is fine. Now, the atheist arguments are pretty strong. Thousands years ago, people see G-ds in everything and everywhere. They were close - friends or enemies. With science development, G-d was pushed further and further, because the physical laws allowed to explain everything that was before only in the G-d power. They claim that human mind will get everywhere, not leaving a space for the Creator. Besides science, you can find different reason to become atheists. After the World War 2, many religious Jews, that managed to survive completely lost fate in G-d. If G-d exists, how could he allowed to distroy more than 6 million innocent people? I cannot blame that for this fate loss.

In response to the comment about science and religion conflicting: In fact they do not conflict at all. If you really know your stuff then this is obvious. There are several good books explaining this. Here are links to some good articles: (Interview with a Physicist) http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/271670/jewish/Religion-and-Science.htm (Are Science and Religion a Contradiction?) http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/108395/jewish/Science-and-Religion.htm (Is Religion Still Relevant?) http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/358696/jewish/Is-Religion-Still-Relevant.htm It is well known that those who study much more deeply into science, although may start out viewing religion and belief in G-d as ignorance, nevertheless, several of these scientists have later stated that the more they learn and discover, the more they realise that it's actually impossible to deny G-d's existence. That the logical conclusion= G-d exists. Science and relgion answer different questions. It's really only the layman on the street who says they're in any conflict.