What type of atheist are you?

ChocolateSauce

So thinking about the discussion in the other thread about the humanists and the AI, I got wondering what the demographics roughly were regarding your views on the subject.

By militant I don't mean people who go out of their way to attack religion, just people who think poorly of it, wish it were gone and are willing to robustly defend atheism at the expense of religion, as opposed to those atheists who are indifferent to religion.

AtomicHorror

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

So thinking about the discussion in the other thread about the humanists and the AI, I got wondering what the demographics roughly were regarding your views on the subject.

So, are you a "militant"/active atheist who promotes atheism and attacks religion, or are you a not-so-militant/passive one who doesn't?

Halfway between the two. I won't tell a believer that he's deluded. I'll just contradict him if he states something that has been falsified by evidence. So I typically have nothing to say to the average Christian, but I'll certainly argue against the creationists.

fitz0

As with AH, somewhere between the two.

Where did militant come from anyway? Ive heard it a lot lately and it makes it sound as though atheists are taking up arms against churches.

Stercus Accidit

Anti theist? Militant?

Well, I play airsoft so that's about as close to militant as I get!

But I do dislike religion, and wonder about people who take it as (pun alert) gospel, regardless of its evidential lack of influence on modern life.

If I meet someone who is religious, I wont bother confronting them, if they confront me, well I suppose Ive enough logic to contradict them, likely bowing out if they seem thick enough to come out with a tell tale devout line, knowing full well its not worth engaging them.

Saying that, I know feck all religious people, its not a topic of conversation I bother with.

What does that make me, apathetic semi-militant atheist maybe!

condra

I am not militant/anti-theistic

I'm into human rights. In that respect, I'm pretty much the antichrist.

The Mad Hatter

People can believe whatever they like. It's nothing to me. If they start trying to force that belief on me, or push it into places of power (such as schools or politics), I might take issue.

And yeah, I know it's already in schools and politics, but not to such a degree as I mind. (I would mind, say, creationism in schools and/or theocratic government.)

I tend to resort to jokes, though, rather than aggravation as I know I'm fighting a losing battle anyhow.

achtungbarry

I used to be a lot more militant but I guess I've mellowed a bit now. As long as religion keeps its nose out of my life, I really don't care.

When it does poke its irrational nose, I am ready to debate but fortunately this is rare.

I still love it though when the JWs or Mormons come knocking.... but that's just for sport.

Galvasean

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

So, are you a "militant"/active atheist who promotes atheism and attacks religion, or are you a not-so-militant/passive one who doesn't?

I'd like to call myself passive on account that I don't go out of my way to convert others to my way of thinking. However if I come across someone misrepresenting atheism (and me as a consequence) I will defend myself vigorously.

rgt320q

Well, I'm anti-theistic to a point. I do think the world would be a better place without the likes of christianity or such around, but I'm cool with the more passive religions like Buddhism and Shinto and wouldn't be against them at all. Also, as AtomicHorror said, I wouldn't actively "attack" religious people on the mere fact that they're religious but I will contradict or debate them if appropriate.

Zillah

I am not militant/anti-theistic

rgt320q wrote: »

Well, I'm anti-theistic to a point.

At first I thought you were Soul Winner because of the avatar and I was very confused.

rgt320q

Zillah wrote: »

At first I thought you were Soul Winner because of the avatar and I was very confused.

Well I suppose I'll have to switch to a Darth Vader avatar now to highlight the difference

pierrot

I am not militant/anti-theistic

well i'm not too sure i'd be able to devote all me time to the oul' atheism:)

Hivemind187

I am not militant/anti-theistic

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

So thinking about the discussion in the other thread about the humanists and the AI, I got wondering what the demographics roughly were regarding your views on the subject.

So, are you a "militant"/active atheist who promotes atheism and attacks religion, or are you a not-so-militant/passive one who doesn't?

Militant .... someone has to be.

/waits for my fatigues and Che Guevara moustache to arrive in the post from the Internation Postal Correspondence Non-Believers Army

sink

I don't like religion but I don't think there is any point in attacking it and I don't look to convert theists. Most atheists arrived at atheism of their own accord and that is the way it should be. All I do is explain my position if someone asks and if the agree that's great but if they don't then that's fine too. They're not going to be won over by being aggressive or confrontational. I also think trying to remove statements like Merry Christmas from public communications is not only pointless it's actually harmful to how atheists/secularist are viewed by the wider community.

The Mad Hatter

sink wrote: »

Most atheists arrived at atheism of their own accord and that is the way it should be.

Completely agree with this point.

UU

I am not militant/anti-theistic

oh well I chose Militant but I don't think I'm that extreme but I won't step gracefully away from religion either. I suppose I'd be sorta in the middle somewhere. If I don't agree with religion, I will speak out against it regardless if it happens to offend somebody or not. But I wouldn't tell people to be atheist but to think for themselves and decide for themselves what they think.

For example I had to go to a funeral mass and I went out of respect but I refused to pray or receive communion and somebody decided to critisise me for that but I put the point out there that if I were say Muslim or Jewish would they come up and say that to me? Probably not. although I was baptised but I actually did the Act of Defection and got removed from the registers or sth so I must be militant enough if I formally left the Church! lol

Malari

I am not militant/anti-theistic

UU wrote: »

oh well I chose Militant but I don't think I'm that extreme but I won't step gracefully away from religion either. I suppose I'd be sorta in the middle somewhere. If I don't agree with religion, I will speak out against it regardless if it happens to offend somebody or not. But I wouldn't tell people to be atheist but to think for themselves and decide for themselves what they think.

For example I had to go to a funeral mass and I went out of respect but I refused to pray or receive communion and somebody decided to critisise me for that but I put the point out there that if I were say Muslim or Jewish would they come up and say that to me? Probably not. although I was baptised but I actually did the Act of Defection and got removed from the registers or sth so I must be militant enough if I formally left the Church! lol

I reckon I'm pretty much like this. I'll be militant if pushed, but mind my own business if not.

I have formally defected from the catholic church and I don't do any of the kneel down, stand up stuff at weddings. If someone challenges me I'll explain my views. It's not really to get them to come over to my way of thingking, it's just to defend myself. I find that most people who ask are really interested in what I have to say and think it's refreshing that I'm honest

Tim Robbins

I associate militant atheism with immaturity, insecurity and one - eyed thinking. I'd have more respect for 9 out of 10 Priests than I would for Chris Hitchens.

Malari

I am not militant/anti-theistic

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I associate militant atheism with immaturity, insecurity and one - eyed thinking. I'd have more respect for 9 out of 10 Priests than I would for Chris Hitchens.

Well, maybe immaturity and the desire to offend. It depends on what you think "militant" means. If it's anti-theism then I don't see how you can relate it to insecurity. It seems in some way that anyone who is vocal about their uncommon beliefs (and not just religious) is accused of insecurity.

Dades

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I associate militant atheism with immaturity, insecurity and one - eyed thinking. I'd have more respect for 9 out of 10 Priests than I would for Chris Hitchens.

You might not think that if you lived in Kansas and they taught your kids creationism!

Handsome Bob

Where's the agnostic choice? I'm indifferent after all.:pac:

Seriously though I wouldn't ever dream of aggressively verbally attacking a religious person. I was brought into to this world by the most perfect woman who is a Catholic so I know better than to disrespect people because of their beliefs. But hey, if you're going to talk **** to me I'm going to hold you up on that. That goes for the believer and the non-believer.

pH

Those throwing around the word militant in relation to atheists, (say Hitchens or Dawkins or indeed anyone you have in mind) - I have a question.

Who are militant atheists, what makes them militant, and by whatever definition makes them a 'militant' would it also make the Pope a 'militant' catholic, or have you a definition for militant which would exclude the Pope but include say Dawkins?

Zillah

I am not militant/anti-theistic

What pH said. Using the word militant is playing right into the hands of people who thrill at the modern anti-atheist biggotry.

Dades

Zillah wrote: »

Using the word militant is playing right into the hands of people who thrill at the modern anti-atheist biggotry.

Says the guy with an inverted cross for his avatar.

Handsome Bob

pH wrote: »

Those throwing around the word militant in relation to atheists, (say Hitchens or Dawkins or indeed anyone you have in mind) - I have a question.

Who are militant atheists, what makes them militant, and by whatever definition makes them a 'militant' would it also make the Pope a 'militant' catholic, or have you a definition for militant which would exclude the Pope but include say Dawkins?

I guess it's a question of respect for me. I watched a debate between Hitchens and D'Souza the other day, and I just got the feeling from Hitchens that he has no time for people that are religious; he said the phrase "no human being with any self respect" more than once. I just get the sense of hatred from the Hitchens for not only the religion, but for the person also, even if that person was passive in their faith.

I'd have the same stance in regards to the current Pope as he has very little 'give' so to speak; when someone denounces children's books for promoting witchcraft, it's stepping over the line.

Joe1919

I read lately that Karl Marx objected to being called a simple atheist and on reflection, he is perfectly right. The word 'atheist' means non-thiest and when a person call themselves an athiest, they are actually defining themselves in terms of something that they dont believe in.(God.), which is negative.
They are still under the control of the Gods so to speak.
Why not define yourself positively, i.e. in terms of what you are, not what your not.
e.g. A humanist, Egotist etc.

ChocolateSauce

I am not militant/anti-theistic

:(I guess I should have been more careful when choosing the semantics.

By militant I didn't mean people who go out of their way to attack religion, just people who think poorly of it, wish it were gone and are willing to robustly defend atheism at the expense of religion, as opposed to those atheists who are indifferent to religion.

As for the militant agnostics, sorry, I didn't think to give you an option.

midlandsmissus

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Where's the agnostic choice? I'm indifferent after all.:pac:

Seriously though I wouldn't ever dream of aggressively verbally attacking a religious person. I was brought into to this world by the most perfect woman who is a Catholic so I know better than to disrespect people because of their beliefs. But hey, if you're going to talk **** to me I'm going to hold you up on that. That goes for the believer and the non-believer.

LZ5by5,

Can I just say I really like you! From all the posts on here I've read (on any board not just religion), you would be the one that sticks out as a really decent, nice person. Fair play.:D

Handsome Bob

midlandsmissus wrote: »

LZ5by5,

Can I just say I really like you! From all the posts on here I've read (on any board not just religion), you would be the one that sticks out as a really decent, nice person. Fair play.:D

Aw, thank you. I try.:)

ChocolateSauce

I am not militant/anti-theistic

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I associate militant atheism with immaturity, insecurity and one - eyed thinking. I'd have more respect for 9 out of 10 Priests than I would for Chris Hitchens.

I've watched a lot of Hitchen's debates and I've come to the conclusion that, unlike Dawkins, he's in it to piss off as many people as he can. He takes more joy in offending people than any other person I've seen, and he sometimes does so at the expense of being right (he's made several statements which were just untrue, though I can't think of any right now).

It was the same with his politics- he's only happy when he's saying things which draw fire. It's a highly entertaining thing to watch actually.

Zillah

I am not militant/anti-theistic

Dades wrote: »

Says the guy with an inverted cross for his avatar.

Atheists as a whole should not be judged according to the actions of a radical few


But really, a militant sounds like one who takes up weapons and uses violence to further their ends. That's not a fair description of those who are critical of religion and its role in society.