Haener

Guess it goes here (but that's just that: a guess).

I'm currently involved in a thread on a Dutch muslim board (here but note that its in Dutch, also note my nick is Hoenir over there) explaining atheism. Discussions on this board usually derail quite quickly when non-muslims are involved (I'm not pointing a finger to anyone, just observing that it is so), reason why I almost never post there. But we've now developed a quite decent discussion where questions are asked and answered in a civil manner.

(note: thanks to all the mods that keep threads over here civil, over there they don't bother and it is really much more enjoyable to debate over here)

Since the islam doesn't really differ that much in their basic premisses from xianity (although some muslims would surely disagree) and because of all the resources and links over here I'm not having a difficult time over there.

It's clear that there has never been an atheist over there explaining atheism philosophy as it is, i.e. without attacking islam. Not surprisingly, lacking this explanation I get really basic questions that just show that some muslim-members over there had no idea that atheist could be regular non-satanic people (well, I'm exageratting a little).

Questions that arise are for instance:

Being an atheist, how do you explain the creation?

Answer>>> Well, for starters, the term creation implies a creator, of which I deny the existence so I don't use the term. And so on. I think quite a few readers were surprised when I stated that I don't actually *need* an explanation of the universe to lead a decent life.

Well I guess since it is in Dutch that most of you would think, why bother us? But I just taught I would share this experience.

EverLastingGodStopper

I think it's very easy to explain what we don't believe in, without attacking what others do believe in. Just answer questions without making comparisons. Use plenty of online resources but don't just copy and paste. If you need to back a claim up, give a link and a one-sentence synopsis.

I personally like to exasperate them with the weak atheist stance. Creation? Evolution? Who knows? Atheism is the lack of belief in deities, and makes no pronouncement on the origins of the universe or of humanity. (Muahahaha, see how easy that is?)

Plognark

In my experiences, I think one of the problems is that major religions, such as the Abrahamic ones, is that they have baggage. They believe in God, but along with it comes a set of texts detailing rules of morality and behaviors in life, a whole collcetion of traditions, ceremonies, forbidden practices and behaviors, etc, etc.

Many theists don't realize that all of that is simply the add-on dogma. Typical atheism has none of that; nor should it.