mizpah

Hey, I've been thinking (Shocker, I know. I'm a theist ). It seems that I keep running into two different thoughts on this board that I can't put together.

1. Atheists aren't interested in proselytizing.

2. Religious people are responsible for more than their share of violence, hatred, and all kinds of nasty things.

So, why not atheist missionaries? Seems like people who believe that religion is a problem and they have the answer would want to spread the "gospel". Any thoughts?

HelenM

There was a discussion about this very recently, actually...you might want to read this:

<a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=45&t=000730" target="_blank">Atheistic Evangelicalism</a>

love
Helen

mizpah

Oops, sorry, should have done my homework.

Thanks.

Bokonon

Atheists have no dogma they need to introduce to the rest of the world. My biggest problem with missionaries is that they worry more about their subjects' spiritual health more than their physical health. You won't see an "atheist missionary" spend 30% of the budget mass-producing Ingersoll essays. You might say we do have "missionaries" that an Atheist can support. They're called relief agencies that provide food and medicine, not promises of an afterlife.

Jamie_L

Here's a good reason: being an atheist missionary would be damn dangerous. There are some crazy theists out there. Knock on someone's door and tell them their God is a lie, and they might just decide the just thing to do is shoot you dead right then and there.

Given that atheism usually isn't a focus of someone's life, I doubt there are many people willing to take that kind of risk to "spread the good word."

Jamie

mizpah

To Jamie: haha, sad but probably true. Of course, lots of theists would love for that to happen to them. Insta-ticket to heaven.

But if religion causes so much bad stuff, why aren't at least some people willing to undergo some kind of persecution to "better the world"?

p.s. I did read the other thread the Helen listed, but I guess that question still remains for me.

Freemind

it must be damn dangerous being a theist missionary to I would wager!! I know I certainly had moments where I had to check my anger at an ignorant missionary.

This one time I was in University sharing a small house with two roomates. It was Saturday morning and I was rather hungover and just waking up from a fun friday night. These two older Jehova Witness ladies knock on our door and wake the household (I was with my gf at the time too if you know what I mean). My roomates certainly weren't waking up so I proceeded to answer the door in my underwear - unshowered and a little worse for wear. One of these ladies starts a preachin' and when I go to shut the door she places her foot in my door. I couldn't $%^&ing believe it! I must have looked really pissed and I just said 'EXCUSE ME!?'(plus I opened the door right up and I was half naked). They got the picture and left. I guess they though I couldn't be saved.

Alonzo Fyfe

There are a lot of ways to make a better world, some more efficient than others. Attempting to get the world to see that God does not exist is simply not the best possible use of scare world-improving resources.

Other options?

Near the top of the list is: Apply scientific knowledge in fields such as evolutionary biology in order to improve agriculture to feed people and to fight disease.

Try to find the next large asteroid that will hit this planet before it actually hits this planet.

Recognizing that God will not save us from our own folly (if we ruin the planet, we will die, and no God will miraculously reverse things to save us), attempt to discover our greatest follies before we go so far with them we discover we cannot return.

And, perhaps more important...

The woman I married believed in God. It was comforting to her. I did not try to convince her that her God was not real -- I did not want to -- because I knew how frightening the world would become and I did not want that for her.

Eventually, she has come to agree with me. I know it bothers her. I know it gives her nightmares from time to time.

Stuff like this causes me to wonder if convincing people that God does not exist is a good idea.

I would rather try to convince them that God does not approve of crusades, jihads, inquisitions, and the like. Allow them to have their faith -- so long as it is a peaceful faith.

Buffman

mizpah

1. Atheists aren't interested in proselytizing.

Personally, I do not attempt to "convert" people's beliefs from one thing to another. However, I do attempt to help them increase their accurate knowledge about the natural world and to apply critical thinking processes to every issue. So, if attempting to advance accurate knowledge is labeled a religion, then in that sense I am a proselyte of the god "Knowledge."


2. Religious people are responsible for more than their share of violence, hatred, and all kinds of nasty things.

I view this as a faulty premise. (An inaccurate appraisal of the atheist position concerning the existence or non-existence of a supernatural God.) Religious people are just as responsible for many positive and constructive things as they are negative and destructive ones. Atheists simply claim that you don't have to believe in a supernatural God in order to be good...or bad.

So, why not atheist missionaries? Seems like people who believe that religion is a problem and they have the answer would want to spread the "gospel". Any thoughts?

Accurate knowledge is the only "gospel" I preach. I do so without concern for reward or punishment...now, or ever.

mibby529

Actually, being a theist missionary isn't that dangerous. The church'll just have the US bomb the country back to the Stone Age if you're killed.

Xian missionaries I've met do Faustian methods. Like they'll compare Ted Turner to the poorest person in the appropriate community. Or they'll show an empty box, and claim it contains smallpox, and that anyone who doesn't convert gets it.