PaladInChrist

I don't want to argue anyone into theism, since that is basically impossible, not to mention there are Scriptures in my Bible that tell me its a waste of time.

However, I am still very interested in what makes you atheists talk about God so much?

(Not trying to imply that you secretely believe or anything)

Is it the theistic domination of your culture? Are you tired of people witnessing to you? Or what?

Thanks for your honest responses.

Godless Dave

We don't so much talk about God as talk about religion. Theistic domination of our culture is part of it. But for me the main thing is I find religion and mythology fascinating. As a student of history, psychology, and the human condition in general I like to learn what different people have believed at various points in time.

Radcliffe Emerson

I actually did not talk about it much until I started getting bombarded by religious idiots talking about the end times, and how our president has been selected by God, etc, and couldn't take that ignorance anymore.

Amaranth

Odd. I rarely talk about god unless someone brings up a related subject, such as religion in politics, law, or more common recently, people killing each other. Oh, and let's not forget when I'm on a message board dedicated to atheism and debunking god myths.

Stephen T-B

I am intrigued and fascinated by religion and beliefs: why some people require them and some do not, and why the beliefs originating among the Semitic peoples are peculiarly exclusive: the “I’m-special-because-of-the-God-I-believe-in, and-you’re-trash-because-you-don’t-share-that-belief” syndrome.
Some of my posts have been motivated by the fact that I don’t like it; I don’t think it is healthy and I do think that if Christians, Jews and Muslims had never embraced it, much of the world would have been spared a deal of misery.
I

catmar

Well Said Godless Dave!!!

MortalWombat

Imagine for a moment you live in a world in which something that you don't believe exists were treated as if it does.

Santa for example.

Imagine that the President attributes his sobriety to his faith in Santa.

Imagine that whenever some great tragedy occurs, such as an airplane crashing or an earthquake, people say things like "Santa works in mysterious ways."

Imagine that if they found a survivor in that airplane crash or at the bottom of an earthquake-destroyed house, and everyone says "Santa was looking out for him today."

Imagine that your money says "In Santa We Trust"

Imagine that your kids have to say "One nation under Santa" every day in school

Imagine that your child wants to join the Boy Scouts, but cannot, because you refuse to sign a pledge stating your and his belief in Santa.

Imagine that during the seventh inning stretch of every baseball game, "Santa Bless America" is sung.

Imagine that when you tell people that you don't believe that Santa exists, they reply "Why are you angry at Santa? What happened in your life that makes you mad at him? You really do believe in him, but you just want to live your life without being accountable to anything."

Imagine that people in your office send email chain letters around with "Santa's footprints in the sand" stories, or how now that Santa is no longer prayed to in schools, that violence and teen pregnancies are skyrocketing.

Imagine that a vocal group of people who take the poem "The Night before Christmas" litterally and try to have this taught in schools and try to prevent the teaching that fireplaces and chimneys can only be used for lighting fires and that reindeer can't fly.

Imagine that some people who worship a variation of Santa and called Kris Kringle fly an airplane into a building, and prominent preachers in the Santaist church go on national television claiming that this happened because Santa's protection of America has waned because, in part, of the presence of a-santaists in this country.

Then imagine that there is a website on the internet where you can go to talk to like-minded people who don't believe that Santa exists. Wouldn't you want to vent some of your fustrations a little bit? And how would you think if someone came in asking you why you talk about Santa so much if you don't believe in him?

catmar

Like Godless Dave, very well said. Even my husband, who is still Christian (but nowhere near fundy ), agrees with this. If we could do away with religion the world would be a much better place. Actually, the way he sees it is it was meant to be a personal thing/belief, not a group thing. Basically, no organized religions, but people have their beliefs.

Jamie_L

Actually, in my day-to-day life, I almost never talk about God. Never. God is a non-entity in my life. I could count on one hand the number of face-to-face conversations I had about God in the last year.

However, I come here specifically to talk about God. Why? To share an aspect of myself with other like-minded people. To express opinions that aren't relevant to my daily life, but that I feel strongly about nevertheless. To stand up and say "Hey, that's just silly. It makes no sense." To engage in the thrilling competition of debate.

But I tell you this: if there weren't so many people out there talking about God, we wouldn't be talking about God either.

The concept of God is a very real part of life and the world we live in. It is a powerful concept that shapes lives, and history, and the course of nations. It impacts public policy of governments and drives people to the extremes of human emotion and action. It is something worth talking about, especially if you feel that it's a fundamental error in human thinking. An error with so much impact on the world around us is frightening.

Jamie

BioBeing

All of the above.

Religion is just so gosh darn irrational. Why do supposedly sane people believe in a miraculous invisible sky daddy? Why do they try to deny science, and force our children to study the very un-scientific ID/creationist nonsense instead? It just does not compute. And where else can we talk about, without fear of persecution by those self same irrational Religionists, who see our very existence as some kind of threat to their poorly conceived, ill thought out, illogical, crazy, dangerous flights of fantasy? [I'd get linched for saying that in the real world ].