I had a girl in my class try to beat God into me last year. I mentioned to her that I didn’t believe in God, and started punching me in the arm, saying, “You believe in God! Say it! Say it! Stop being so mean about this!” She finished by pinching me in the ribs and saying, “God is the reason you’re feeling this right now.” I’m still friends with her.
Mr. Blue Sky, I get a similar line: “What do you mean you don’t believe in God - what do you think happens when people die?” to which I respond, “Nothing happens. You get buried or whatever, and that’s the end of the line. There’s nothing more, you’re just dead.” I am always asked how can I be so sure. No amount of explaining does any good; they always keep insisting that I can’t be SURE that there’s no heaven and I will only be able to know for sure after I die. No, I won’t know, because I’ll be dead and there’s nothing more after that.
I just try and avoid the subject if at all possible.
I ended up in high school being the only known athiest in a town full of southern baptists. To tell you the truth, I loved any excuse to get in an argument about it. I dealt with bush leage theologists all day, and while there are Christians who can intelligently discuss the religion, most people I have met outside of college are ill prepared for a serious discussion on the religion. They rely, it seems, on providence to put the words in their mouths, or hope that they can dupe athiests into making the silly statements that get debunked in Christian circulars, Chick tracts, and other Christian propaganda. If somebody tries to use the `evil as absence of good’ argument, they telegraph it a long way away by trying to steer the conversation toward the problem of evil. Likewise with Pascal’s Wager, or the Lord, Liar, Lunatic argument.
But one time, a guy caught me completely by suprise, with his version of the first efficient cause argument. He leaned over the seat of the school bus, and said, “So, if you don’t believe in God, where do you think the world came from?”
I said, “Where do you think God came from?”
He looked at me like I was the idiot and said, “From God’s mother.”
I couldn’t bring myself to respond to that.
Actually I am a Satanist but unless you really piss me off I just go with the Humanistic Atheist explination. I really don’t have the time to explain to you that I don’t worship the devil, kill babies and virgins, and spend my time plotting the overthrow of Christianity. I just find the whole idea of abstinance of the flesh for some possible Kingdom of Heaven to be so sick and twisted that it boggles the mind. On an interesting note most of my friends are Christians and don’t have a big problem with this. I live in the NC home of Billy Graham and Jimmy Swagert so I have to hear all sorts of hassles if I even mention my religious choices to people I don’t know. The strange thing is when I lived in Western New York I had no problems at all. People won’t even accept what you tell them about Satanism because they know it all, the most intolerant, hateful, and cruel people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting were Christians…now if that isn’t an oxymoron I don’t know what is.
Believe it or not, the absolute most whackjob reply I ever got was from a fellow nonbeliever! The incident occurred on the first day of class in this current semester, and I considered mentioning it here right after it happened, but really didn’t want to make it an OP. Anyway, here’s the tale: After his lecture, our professor asked us to “interview” another classmate, and write down the replies so he could read them and get to know us a little better. This guy who had been sitting off on his own and laughing at, well, inappropriate moments while the prof was speaking chose me since I was sitting closest to him. After talking about our respective majors (he claimed to be Biology/premed), he came right out and asked me about my religious beliefs. Now, I’m used to talking about atheism all the time with my friends, so I unguardedly blurted out “None” - bad, BAD move. He said, “Really? I’m glad to hear that! I don’t believe in God either, and what’s more, I feel that there’s no such thing as right and wrong. All morals are just a man made system and therefore not natural!”
“Excuse me?” says I, unfamiliar with this line of reasoning and already getting a bit hinky.
“Yeah!” he continued, his enthusiasm and voice rising in tandem. “I mean, we should be free to do what’s in our individual natures, not what society tells us to do. For example, if a lion sees a rabbit, it can ignore it, or it can toy with the rabbit or it could just tear the rabbit’s guts right out and then walk away -”
“Whoa, whoa,” I say. “That may apply for lions, but we’re not lions, we’re humans, living in human society. Just because laws and morals are ‘man made’ and contradict some of our more base desires doesn’t make them automatically invalid -”
“Yes it does!” he replied. “We should be free to pursue all our instincts!”
“So if see some woman pushing a stroller walking past you, and you get the urge to stab her and her kid fifty times each, that’s ok, because you’re following your ‘natural instincts’?” I asked, afraid though I was of his answer.
My frootloop for brains classmate actually replied, “Yes. Exactly. It would be ok for that very reason.” He then paused and smilingly added, “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have the urge to do that now, but if I did get it in the future, then yes. Of course I would!”
Oh, like that’s reassuring! He was serious. I was gobsmacked! And you want to go to medical school!? I wanted to shout, but decided he’d had quite enough encouragement and sloooowwwwly backed for the door…
He dropped the class, which is good. Otherwise I probably would have had to tell him that if he ever even fantasized about speaking to me again I would follow my ‘natural instincts’ and roundhouse kick him in the throat. Well gosh, according to his uhh, standards, that’s acceptable behavior! :rolleyes:
I am convinced that the Federal Government has a file labeled “Fries, Podkayne” with ATHEIST stamped on it in huge red letters. Here’s why:
In high school, I had several friends who were in the military. They got some sort of Cash Prize if they give out their friends’ names and phone numbers to the recruiters. So all through high school, I got calls from the Army, the Navy and the Marines, despite having told all of them numerous times that I was in no way interested in a military career.
So, one time I was talking on the phone with a Marines recruiter, and I told him sorry, no, I wasn’t interested with becoming a Marine. He said, “Do you mind if I ask why?” Apparently, see, he’s got to fill out some sort of a form.
So, being a nasty snot-nosed pacifist kid, I said, “Well, I have moral objections to killing people for a living.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll put down ‘religous objections’.”
“No,” I said firmly, “I’m an atheist.”
He paused, shocked. “Uh, okay. Thank you for your time.”
Now, I know that they don’t (or at least shouldn’t) care about my religion, but the fact is that I never got another phone call from a recruiter.
Once had a gentleman (and you know I’m using that term loosely) try to tell me that if I really thought there was no afterlife, I should have no objection to selling my husband’s body to a dog food factory should he predecease me. I have no idea what inspired that particular train of thought :rolleyes:
Interestingly enough flodnak, this was asked seriously right here at the SDMB. Question for Atheists
Well, mine is nothing compared to some of the others, but this one happened when I was about 15 at summer camp. We were having a discussion about religion (it was what my sister called nerd camp) and I mentioned that I’m atheist. One person asked where I grew up, and upon hearing it was in a pretty religious area replied, “See, you can still have morals.” I didn’t have a response at the time, but I sure would now.
When asked the old “What happens when you die?” question, I said they bury you. Managed not to sing the old “the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out…” tune.
Of course, the first time I met another atheist, we gave each other high fives. You don’t see other religions doing that. 
I don’t know, Calvanists can be pretty out there…
WWJD?
A close friend once told me that the people in her life who treated her the best were consistently atheists or agnostics, while the people who treated her worst were consistently Christians.
The story about the fellow being abandoned by Christians after being hand-picked to lead the charity is interesting- I have heard more than one story of people being abandoned by their “Christian” friends. For example, I knew an extremely devout fundie who started to have questions about his faith, at which point the Jeezoids ceased viewing him as a friend and started viewing him as conversion fodder. He couldn’t hang out with them and watch football anymore- anytime they saw him, they whipped out the Bible or EDTAV and started preaching to him.
-Ben
Podkayne,
You must have had the same recruiter I had…after months of them bugging me I finally blurted out, “but you don’t want me – I’m a lesbian communist.” After which I never heard from another recruiter from any branch of the miltary again.
I am not, nor have I ever been either lesbian nor communist (well, that one time in college;))
Are you sure that wasn’t at band camp? 
Ugh- I would have to agree. I was on BELIEF-L and got more than one comment about how I “never missed an opportunity” to tell people I was an atheist. Of course, one would expect that on a religious discussion list, it would be expected that one would discuss one’s religion, and the Christians were certainly never criticised for talking about Jesus. I remember one woman in particular who was a recent convert to Islam, and actually did make sure to never miss an opportunity to put “As you may know, I’m a Muslim” into every post.
The funny thing is that one expects that kind of stuff from, say, LBMB, but BELIEF-L really, really prides itself on being a place for enlightened discussion of all religions. One longstanding Wiccan member told me that since I’m an atheist, I clearly had nothing worthwhile to add to a conversation about religion. A Deist (!) chimed in to agree with him!
-Ben
Well I am sorry to how poorly all of you were treated and how you received such a “Unchristian response” to your beliefs.
I can only give one response that maybe some of these people have known nothing of being of a non-Christian belief, growing up in a Christian home and have all Christian friends.
I have spoken to many an atheist and we have discussed belief in God, my only reaction would be that I am sorry that you believe in this,with all the wonders of the world and how implausable evolution is (spelling isn’t the best),but I pray for you all and would try to show you the love that Christ shows us in His word (bible).
There are many a devout Christian who began as a hardcore atheist…one for example is Josh MacDowell of the book “Evidance Demands a Verdict” and many other books. I hope that some of you many be challenged to read one of this indivduals books and maybe you might be changed to believe differently.
Sorry I guess tis reply isn’t really going along with this pecticular thread but oh well I had to speak my two cents.
I’ve never have received a weird reaction other than the person trying to convrt me. After a while I got tired of it and decided to turn the tables. If someone has the nerve to ask if I beleive in God I tell them no and then begin questioning them and put them on the defensive. I have successfully converted five people this way. I never bring the topic up. I respect everyones beliefs but if your going to attack mine then I’m going to attack yours.
Remember Christians aren’t perfect…just forgiven. That is why they needed salvation in the first place. Jesus can to save sinners. It is whom they follow that is perfect and worthy to put faith and to praise.
1 Tim 1:15-16
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief.
However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
Wandering Pilgrim, this is exactly the type of bullshit reply that us atheists are complaining about here. Let’s go over your post, shall we?
Ahh, how big of you! You’re sorry for us. All I can say is that I’m sorry for all of the a-Santa Clausists out there. What, with all of the presents under trees out there.
Please don’t lecture me about how improbable evolution is unless you have a pHd in evolutionary biology. We’ve all heard that type of shit before. Tell me WP, just how implausible is evolution? What’s the Vegas line on it? Have you seen all of the transitional fossils, like Archaeopteryx and Pakicetus? Have you knowledge of all of the observed instances of speciation, like Goatsherd and cichlid fishes?
All the love that Christ shows for us in His word? Funny, I don’t recall Jesus writing a single damn word of the Gospels. Rather, they were written by four (probably five or six, actually) people who never knew him. Is this the same all-loving Christ who promises an eternity of torture for folks like Gandhi, Einstein, and Anne Frank? (Jn. 3:18)
I picked up ETDAV in the library once. I couldn’t read two pages without nearly choking upon his question-begging assertions and logical fallacies.
Here’s the deal, Wandering Pilgrim. I moderate a discussion board at http://pub5.ezboard.com/bsabdiscussionboard. It is called the “Skeptic’s Annotated Bible,” and we serve to discuss the various absurdities, atrocities, and contradictions in “Christ’s holy word.” You are welcome to come over there and “content earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3) and “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give reason for the hope that you have” (with “gentleness and respect,” of course–1 Pt. 3:15). I realize that this is turning into a GD, which is why I invite you to continue the discussion on a different message board.
and I have let them know that this is a Mormon friendly house even though I am agnostic. I have let them know that I don’t believe it is possible to prove or disprove the existence of a deity, but they are such polite young men. Actually, there have been three different pairs since August, because they get transferred around the state. The last time they came to visit, they just chatted about the people they have met here and the pets, and a little sports talk. Then they went on their way to missionarize (?) or whatever what they do is called.
When I was in high school, and a hard-core atheist, I used to get into discussions with other students, and a few of them came away with doubts. Now I would never do that, because I think that some of the people actually need that belief to get them through some fairly horrendous lives.
I do get people who try to convert me, but around here, the weirdest reaction I got was someone who didn’t know what an agnostic was.
the funniest reaction I got was at a concert. the fiddies were out trying to convert the unsaved (concert goers). they tried to put some pamphlets in my hands, but as the pamphlets touched my skin, I screamed “IT BURNS, IT BURNS” and jumped around like I got burned. those people turned white as a sheet. it was a better show then the concert:)