Rabid atheists

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Anyone else here find strong atheists extremely grating? I'm not just looking for loony theists here: I can't be the only one who finds them spectacularly irritating.

1) I'm something of a positivist. Yes, philosophy buffs, I know. Lower your guns, I'm impervious. I only view positive claims about the world which can be tested, and the rejection of which will result in a measurable real world butt kicking to all who fail to yield them, as meaningfully interpersonally objective.
2) "There is no God" is not a positive claim, per se. You can't test it. Thus, emotional investment in it (particularly if you view yourself as all infinitely more rational) is silly
3) To the "teapot agnostic" argument: yes, I'm a teapot agnostic. Any and all claims about untestable "reality" are in limbo so to speak: I, hesitatingly, might even call them somewhat nonsensical propositions which ought rather to be banished from our language. It could be there, there's no reason I can't believe in it; it makes no difference provided I do not grant it undue consideration in my actions, which leads me to...
4) Morality isn't positive. Thus, using God as a premise for moral action is equally stupid to using anything, at all. Unless you are an egotistical "I will thus" person, but then I guess you have your head on tight enough not to be worrying about dead gods.
5) Borrowed language: most people who I run into who count themselves as strong atheists use arguments, language etc., which are plagiaristically identical to the language used by the atheistic talking heads of the world. Sure fine; but then they make jokes about theists being brainwashed, sheeplike, unable to think for themselves, etc. Gold.
6) The fact that they want to cast this as a function of stupidity. Your philisophical premises aren't positive either, including your epistemological values; anything beyond (non moral) utilitarian heuristics is not objective for any two individuals who are supposed to share nothing more than a rational mind and a universe
7) I hate emotions

I don't even object to holding strong atheistic beliefs, including all the points I tried to criticize above; I just can't stand the self righteous invective. So, who's with me? And why aren't you one of them? (*preferably not simply because you believe in god and you don't like people who don't. I don't believe in your god either). Alternatively, why should I be one of them?

I am not an atheist. I'm agnostic.

I find all illogical beliefs grating. I would think being annoyed with atheists is a self-hating thing to do if you are religious, since you can't prove that god actually exists yourself *shrug*

Hmm. I didn't say I was religious. Besides, I need not accept that only the provable can be believed, only that only the provable can be argued and/or expected of another. I might accept God as a first principle, in much the same way that people accept all sorts of pretty little fictions (like induction works, other people aren't p-zombies). It is not possible to prove everything; some things are given.

And the most beautiful things... fabricated.

I don't generally like anyone who feels that they have some kind of privileged secret knowledge on either side of the belief spectrum.

you = general you



You don't need to accept anything. You can accept whatever you want and reject all else. But, if you were truly comfortable with your own viewpoint you wouldn't feel irritated/threatened by others, regardless of whether they are raging atheists...

the very fact that you posted this thread is suggestive of doubt.

I find raging liberals to be wholly obnoxious, but I don't try to convince them that they are thus; i merely accept that they are devastatingly short-sighted and move on.

Oops. My bad.



Irritated does not necessarily imply threatened. Discussion is always interesting; many rabid atheists are also extremely intelligent; thus, it would be interesting to understand better why we are so unable to agree. Besides, most who are more moderate are rather quiet; it is easy to feel like one is alone.

Anywho, I'm not arrogant enough to believe that my reasons for disagreeing with them are unassailable.

wahwah

Let's all just agree to disagree and move past it.

Rabid people from all ideologies are potentially irritating. I have never been bit by a rabid atheist, though.

Actually, I find them amusing.

Any belief other than agnosticism seems pretty unscientific to me so I find it odd that atheists are generally scientific people.

Thomas Henry Huxley (also known as "Darwin's buil" for his work as a popularizer of Darwin's research) coined the word "agnosticism." Here is how he defined it:

"That it is wrong for a man to say he is certain of the objective truth of a proposition unless he can provide evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts and in my opinion, is all that is essential to agnosticism."

"The results of the working out of the agnostic principle will vary according to individual knowledge and capacity, and according to the general condition of science. That which is unproved today may be proved, by the help of new discoveries, tomorrow. The only negative fixed points will be those negations which flow from the demonstrable limitation of our faculties. And the only obligation accepted is to have the mind always open to conviction."

This says more about your ignorance of science than anything else.... read Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.

I don't know that I've ever heard or seen a 'rabid' atheist. I have never, for instance, heard or heard of an atheist advocating that doctors or foriegn heads of state should be assasinated - not as an atheist speaker, or even in private discourse. I suppose that Christopher Hitchens comes fairly close, though.

I think the line between atheism and agnosticism is quite blurry. Most atheists wouldn’t say that they’re making a positive claim. It’s more like “I don’t have any good reason to believe God exists, so for all practical purposes I’ll assume that God doesn’t exist”. I don’t see how much different that is from agnosticism.

These days it seems that the distinction isn’t so much a matter of belief as it is a matter of identity. People who say they are atheists are more likely to be the outspoken and derisive variety while agnostics are quiet about it. If I say I’m atheist around Christians they’ll assume that I’m a religion basher, so I feel like I have to claim agnosticism for the sake of politeness. But then those who identify themselves as atheists will think I’m a “wuss” if I claim agnosticism rather than atheism. I can’t win.

I've never met a "rabid" atheist.

I think a lot of people get confused about what atheism is. It isn't claiming that no god exists, just that someone doesn't believe that god exists. I've never even heard of anyone who claims that they "know" and are 100% positive that there is no such thing as any kind of a god. It would be like saying that I am 100% sure that if I had a kid it would have 6 fingers on each hand and have green coloured skin. It's highly unlikely and I have no evidence for it, so it's not even a topic that would come up (or would it? )

I've been quite shocked recently at the negative response that I get when I say I am an atheist. The reaction is often akin to what I would expect if I were to say that I was a burglar.