I’m curious. There is a subset of atheists who are always “preaching”, and my question is: Why are these people so obsessed with, and disdainful of, something they don’t even believe exists?
It’s usually not a concern over a non-existent mythological being that drives them, but its assumed existence by a large number of our citizenry, who then use said nonsense to justify all manner of other (usually unfair to some group or another) nonsense.
Most atheists wouldn’t give two rat turds whether you believe in YAWEH or the tooth fairy. But when you start saying that since the tooth fairy loves sugar, everyone must drink sugary drinks, or that schools shouldn’t teach kids about tooth decay because all tooth decay is caused by angering the tooth fairy… well, we have a problem.
Hang around this site for a while, and you’ll come to see that a great many of us are hostile toward woo. For the purposes of this reply, “woo” refers to any pseudoscience not backed by reason, logic, and evidence; this typically includes things like homeopathy, psychic phenomenon, orgone energy, and the like.
Atheists often put religious belief systems in the same category as woo and regard them with the same hostility, and for the same reasons: religious belief systems typically defy reason, logic, and evidence.
Another reason for hostility toward religion is that believers sometimes lend their support to proscriptive legislation that adheres to their religious tenets. Kinthalis has touched on this. A real-world example is the insistence of teaching creation “science” in public schools, and opposition to teaching the theory of evolution.
Another reason: faith/prayer healing. A number of children have died from treatable illness because their parents eschewed evidence-based medicine in favor of prayer.
In other words, militant atheists are often hostile toward religious belief systems because they are very sensitive to the physical and mental harm caused by adherence to those belief systems.
Because religion is constantly being shoved in their faces, and nutball believers use their faith (sometimes successfully) to deprive others of their rights. It’s a defensive reaction.
For the same reason some religious folk try to convert everybody they meet; they’re convinced their way results in more happiness and a better life, and want to share that with everybody. (Similar to why the Romans kept expanding their empire).
Alternatively, take out the atheist part out of the picture and ask yourself why somebody would be so obsessed with convincing another person (person b) that person b is wrong.
Actually, I’m Christian, and I’ll admit that a lot of it doesn’t make sense to me, but it makes more sense than any other alternative. That’s just me, though. ITA about religion being misused or forced onto people in ways and places where it is not appropriate.
Some really militant atheists, to me, bring a lot of the hostility they face on themselves by never passing up an opportunity to make personal attacks against people of faith - any faith.
Last year during the election, a Facebook meme went viral that said, “I changed my political views based on a Facebook post, said nobody ever.” I passed it on and added, “Religious beliefs, too.”
Proselytizing skeptics all have pretty much the same motivation: they like to let everyone know how smart they are for figuring out something that many others haven’t.
Sometimes this is true, but keep in mind that the reverse is ALSO true, more so, I’d expect.
There is also a sense, for many religious believers, that attacking a specific belief they hold IS or becomes an attack on their own person. They are that attached to their faith.
So what objectively, are challenges to ignorant/baseless statements, suddenly become “personal attacks!”.
And that just muddies the waters whenever discussion is attempted.
For me, it’s a personal matter of history- my people were offered a choice between The Cross and The Sword, convert or die.
I’m made my choice. Let’s go.
No one expects the Spanish inquisition!!!
So which did you pick?
I’m Christian (Presbyterian), and I shudder when I see/hear news about Christians or Christian organizations/churches, because it’s almost always some narrow-minded zealot who has his own agenda, is often hate-themed, and is occasionally contradictory to science fact. A lot of these figures, especially the ones with their own TV or radio shows, have a great deal of influence over the general public (remember, half of all Americans are below average), and so have clout in business and politics.
So, I understand when someone comes to the SDMB spouting off more-of-the-same, even if well-intentioned, why, on a Board where the idea is to fight ignorance, the atheist/agnostic contingent takes up the cause and draws a line in the intersand: not here.
Some of our Dopers have become quite practiced at it and I’m learning a lot just watching from the sidelines.
Do you mean on the Web or in real life? Because in real life very few atheists are comfortable coming out. People who put Darwin fish on their cars get them vandalized. A lot more atheists vote for Christians than vice versa.
What do you mean by preaching? The new atheists? Go to your library and count the number of Christianity books versus the number of atheist books.
If you go to any scientific conference, or any lab meeting or grad school seminar, you will find people challenging each others’ beliefs and conclusions. That is just what most atheist “preaching” is doing. The difference is that if a scientist responded to a challenge by saying he believed in a hypothesis on faith he’d get laughed out of the building.
ETA: I’ll save more when this moves to GD, which is inevitable.
I keep a sword by the door, and I check for flaming crosses before I go out. :dubious:
Still, I expect that one day I will be rounded up and gassed, like Christians have done in the past to people who believed differently.
What about the crosses that are, just say, well styled?
If there are crosses or Christians in my yard, I exit my home cautiously. And armed.
There is an element of that, I admit (though in my case it’s more a sense of frustration that so much of the human race is being held back by its refusal to let go of ancient dogma, with all the attendant misery that this creates).
But as others have said, the chief reason is that so much crap is foisted on society in the name of religion, and it needs to stop. One day, perhaps, the human race will grow out of it. No doubt in its absence we will find alternative excuses to kill, maim and harass each other, but at least it will be a start. 
So do you think christians preaching is a OK? If so, why do you deny the opposing view? If not, do you post about them?
I think this is better suited to Great Debates than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Because it’s not God they have a problem with, it’s his fan club we generally can’t stand (I borrowed that). Seriously, there are plenty of reasons of why we should care what theists think, because they vote, and often their votes are contrary to how we would vote.