# How to Talk To Atheists **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 30, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-atheists/479255 "2008-12-30T19:34:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 105
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-atheists/479255/105 "2009-01-04T05:24:12Z")
> [@raindrop](#): > > Well, the reason I asked the question is it would never occur to me to try to convince a religious group to accept any aspect of my own religious/spiritual leanings. I don’t want to convert anybody and won’t discuss with anyone who wants to convert me. I don’t care one bit if they understand me in any way whatsoever. So I don’t get why atheists want to talk about atheism to proselytizing Christians, or why atheists want those particular Christians to know how Christians should talk to atheists. But I will also admit I asked the questions because I wonder if atheists ask themselves those questions. An atheist earnestly appealing his/her position to a firmly entrenched fringe Christian? Or saying to a Christian “Please read this article so you can know how to approach me”? or even “Please read this article so you can know why you annoy me”? I honestly can’t wrap my brain around that one. I admit I don’t get the point of telling people how to approach me either. Telling people how atheists think, though, is good. As for talking to Christians, many atheists came to their opinion through a logical process. I did. I find it fascinating to understand the thought processes of someone with an opposite view, and to be able to quiz them and get answers back. In my experience, most proselytizers are not very receptive to this approach, and would rather talk to someone who has not thought this stuff out. I don’t blame them; they are basically salesdroids, after all. I’m not going to wander into a church and ask these questions, but if someone comes up to me I will. If they can’t defend their product, screw them. > [@](#): > > Nooo, that’s not the point I was making. I was trying to show how your mention of politics here is irrelevant because there are not huge numbers of pamphlet-wielding proselytizing Christians holding political office. If you want an atheist presence in political offices I don’t see how trying to appeal to the fringe proselytizers will give the desired result. IOW it’s not the proselytizers who are politically blocking atheists, because proselytizers are the fringe, and the majority mainstream Christians don’t like them either. If proselytizers are not the ones with the real political power why try to engage them with atheist appeals? A noisy evangelical atheist isn’t going to be running for office in any scenario either. Though we did have a Baptist minister who was a governor running for president, didn’t we? I’m talking about atheists with the same level of commitment as Christians and Jews today; devout perhaps but not noisy. (Devout is a joke.) > [@](#): > > I don’t know if were intending to be haha funny but this REALLY cracked me up. LOL 😃 I suddenly had an image of JWs running _away_ from me, oh my. LOL. Well, I’ve never gotten the knack of being blacklisted in that way, so I resort to putting up my “keep away” signs. When the Baptists came I said I was Jewish, and instead of them politely leaving I got a “you’ll burn in hellfire anyway” bit. So I turned on my outrage Jew shtick - we’ve been oppressed for 2,000 years by you people, Inquisition, Crusades, blah blah blah. I suspect they thought I was going to punch them out, Kinky Friedman style. They ran. When the JWs came, I politely said, “sorry, this is a devout atheist household” and that was enough for them to run. No one has bothered me since. Polite but outrageous seems to do it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-talk-to-atheists/479255)._