Athiests, if you are so convinced that there is no God, why spend so

I'd like to see you come back here and say that you're not going to argue about the existence of the tooth fairy when people start trying to include the tooth fairy in our laws, schools, and government.

In a nutshell... we argue about religion and God because people ACT on their beliefs in religion and God. These beliefs have consequences in the real world. If Christians and other *theists* would just "live and let live", then you wouldn't hear a peep out of atheists. You want some examples of specifically WHY we care?
Atheists care about religion because of the fact that theists consistently try to push their religious dogma into our laws, schools, and government. They care because theists tell people who are dying of AIDS and starvation that using condoms is wrong because there’s a magical being in the sky (God) who just might want to give them a baby. They care because school boards all across this country still have to spend time and money and resources that are ALREADY in short supply on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools, and to keep unsubstantiated, bronze-age superstitious drivel OUT of our schools. They care because these people are trying to tell our children that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, despite the fact that not only is there not a *single* scrap of evidence to back up such a claim, but ALL of the evidence points AGAINST it. And they care because this gives our children the impression that it's OK to not expect someone to provide evidence behind claims that they make, and it gives our children the impression that scientific facts can be ignored or denied and replaced with whatever information you want if you don't LIKE what the evidence *actually* tells you. They care because-- despite a thousands-of-years-old pattern of supernatural explanations being consistently and repeatedly replaced with natural ones, theists still think every single unexplained phenomenon can be best explained by God. And they care because, whenever a gap in our knowledge does get filled in, believers either try to suppress it (like teaching evolution in the schools), or else say, "Okay, so that isn't supernatural... but what about this gap over here? Can you explain that, Mr. Smarty-Pants Scientist? You can't! It must be God!"
They care because there are people on this planet who will actually fly airplanes into buildings full of people because they have FAITH that they're going to get 72 virgins in some magical paradise for doing so.
They care because people will use their religious literature as an excuse to deny other people their rights.
They care because in a lot of areas in this country, if a person is daring enough to actually admit publicly that they are an atheist, they can FULLY expect to be harassed, discriminated against, and even lose their jobs, have their property damaged, and be physically assaulted.
They care because *so many* religious leaders opportunistically use religion, and people's trust and faith in religion, to steal, cheat, lie, manipulate the political process, take sexual advantage of their followers, and generally behave like the scum of the earth. And despite the fact that this keeps happening OVER and OVER and OVER again, theists will still say that *atheism* is bad because, without religion, people would have no basis for morality.
They care because theists love to say smug, sanctimonious things like, "a lot of you dont want God to exists becuz it would mean you have to live your life a certain way and you are all too selfish to do that". Of course, they don't really care to actually ask an atheist why they are an atheist. And when they are told by atheists why they are atheist, they completely ignore it and still turn around and make up b/s like "a lot of you dont want God to exists becuz it would mean you have to live your life a certain way and you are all too selfish to do that."
If other people's religious beliefs did not affect us, we wouldn't care. But they do. So we do care. And we have EVERY RIGHT to care.

OK, so let's say a group of tooth-fairy believers wanted to pass tooth-fairy laws in your country in violation of its constitution...and that they wanted to teach tooth fairy doctrine as fact in science classes in public schools. And that roving bunches of them would accost you on the street or come to your house, and tell you that you MUST believe in the tooth fairy or you'll go to dental hell. And they tried to stop any rational scientific inquiry into what happens to teeth, insisting instead that everyone accept that the tooth fairy takes them. And they try to make dentists stop pulling teeth, because only the tooth fairy can take them.

Would you still sit on your tush and say nothing about how silly the tooth fairy doctrine and its followers are? Or would you be rational, and step up to try and prevent all of the silliness?

Well, replace "tooth fairy" with "god," and there you go.

Peace.

Religious institutions often try to incorporate their religious bias into our lives, so that is why we argue.

Hello,

Though I'm Christian I shall make this observation. Just as we feel it is necessary to talk and argue about the Good News to the world, Atheists also have a yearning and to them, a moral obligation to preach about the Bad News that there is no God / Jesus and we are wasting our short flicker of time here on earth pursuing such things when we should be enjoying life and all its naughty pleasures to the fullest.

My thoughts differ than theirs but they have the right to be heard.

Cheers,

Michael Kelly

Religious institutions often try to incorporate their religious bias into our lives, so that is why we argue.

I believe in the almighty Thor! How dare you!

one word: fear

fear of being wrong. arguing/complaining/bit&ching, is always a mask for fear. this isn't opinion, just fact.

Has anyone enacted any laws saying that certain people can't get married in your country because the tooth fairy thinks it's yucky? Has anyone attempted to force their "alternative theory" into your child's science classroom to teach kids that the tooth fairy created the world? Have you heard of anyone being murdered by a tooth fairy fanatic blowing up a dentist's clinic?

Of course not. Thanks for playing. Please try again.

Well, people who do believe in God have this nasty habit of being little fascists who use their religion as a cudgel to bash other people over the head with. Someone needs to fight back.

If idiots attempted to legislate your life according to the Tooth Fairy's dictates, you'd be vocal too.

If idiots attempted to legislate your life according to the Tooth Fairy's dictates, you'd be vocal too.

Show me the people who kill or discriminate against people for the tooth fairy, or try to argue we should base our laws on tooth fairy belief, or try to get toothfairyism taught in biology classes and I'll be all over them like a cheap suit.

If half the people you met told you the tooth fairy would send you to hell for not believing...would you stand up and protest and declare that there really is no tooth fairy? I bet you would.

Because, you're not yet convinced. Why do theists argue the existence of god, if they're so convinced it exists?

"Athiests, if you are so convinced that there is no God, why spend so much time arguing?"
Because some religious people are trying to influence politics to adhere to their faith. I find this dangerous.

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"I mean, I KNOW that the tooth fairy doesn't exist, do you think I get up everyday and argue whether or not the tooth fairy exists?"
I bet you WOULD if there were MANY people who believed in the tooth fairy. Especially if they were using this belief to try and effect politics.

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"If i do that, then it means i have doubts as to the tooth fairy's existence."
No it doesn't. See the above few examples for much better reasons than the one you posit.

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"So, the fact that you "athiests" argue so much about God....says a lot about your true beliefs....a lot of you dont want God to exists becuz it would mean you have to live your life a certain way and you are all too selfish to do that...so its easier to say there is no God......boo hoo for you."
Actually there are people who don't believe in God but wish there was one. Like a child who first finds out Santa is not real, yet still wishes he was.
Most non-believers don't actually choose their non-belief. If you don't believe me: Try to believe in Odin right now. I bet you can't do it, even if you wanted to.

If there are many people who, for no good reason, insist that the tooth fairy is real, and you argue the point with them, of course that doesn't mean you have any doubts. This is a silly point. If you people would just accept reality and stop pretending this thing exists, we wouldn't have to talk about it.

Christian, if you are so convinced there IS a god... then why spend so much time trying to make others believe that?


And if there is a god, then why when you get sick do you run to a house of science instead of to your church? If your god is all powerful, couldn't he just cure you?

Matter of fact, why try to prolong your existence at all if heaven is such a spectacular place???

because we want you guys to realize that god doesnt exist... that tooth fairy thing, who are you arguing against, 9 year olds?

Christian, if you are so convinced there IS a god... then why spend so much time trying to make others believe that?


And if there is a god, then why when you get sick do you run to a house of science instead of to your church? If your god is all powerful, couldn't he just cure you?

Matter of fact, why try to prolong your existence at all if heaven is such a spectacular place???