# What is the degree of Atheist responsibility to challenge belief? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 14, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707 "2012-09-14T17:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/241 "2012-09-18T22:52:12Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > April R, because Christians wage a constant battle to force everyone to comply with their directives. Denying gays equal rights, forcing schools to teach creationism, allowing children to die of curable diseases because they refuse to allow transfusions or other medical intervention…the list is longer but there are a few highlights. To each his own is a happy idea, but so long as religious persons attempt to force everyone to follow their rules, there will be debate. Which is the proper, and most effective, response to that? 1. Your beliefs are a load of crap. 2. Stop trying to impose your beliefs on me. I don’t do that to you. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/242 "2012-09-18T22:53:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What the fuck are you talking about? You implied that you’re outnumbered so you have to fight like they do. Never mind, the point is obscure and its not worth another tiff over minor word meanings and such. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/243 "2012-09-18T22:54:37Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > History is a long time, so you would think that by now, after all those atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights we would have learned to treat all people as equals, to respect scientific achievements, and to allow all people to benefit from modern medicine. What is holding us back? It’s so frustrating when you’re right and everyone else is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/244 "2012-09-19T00:00:54Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Even a non-believer can see that religion is constantly changing and full of new ideas. No, it isn’t. It’s a survival from ancient history. It just repeats the same old nonsense over and over. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > [QUOTE=Troppus] > History is a long time, so you would think that by now, after all those atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights we would have learned to treat all people as equals, to respect scientific achievements, and to allow all people to benefit from modern medicine. What is holding us back? It’s so frustrating when you’re right and everyone else is wrong. [/QUOTE] Yeah, because _supporting_ “atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights” is just as reasonable as _opposing_ them. :rolleyes: You are taking your “both sides are just the same” handwaving to a rather disgusting level. ---
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/245 "2012-09-19T07:09:54Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Why would an atheist have a greater responsibility for religious activism than any given humanist would have for any other issue? The way I see it, my lack of god-belief has a lot \*less \*potential impact on the world than my belief that gays should be allowed to get married, that women should be paid equal wages to men, and that white privilege should be eliminated. > > Regardless of the potential impact of a belief, however, there is \*no \*obligation to proselytize. About religion, racism, gay rights, anything. People have zero responsibility to be activists. No matter what a person’s pet issues are, you can’t oblige them to be a fighter. It’s a bonus when people can muster up the energy to do so. But eventually, many/most activists will burn out. No matter how many times they argue (even on just a single message board) or how many people they eventually convince to believe them, there will always be more ignorant folks and selfish people (and trolls) to overcome. Eventually, it just becomes too much. You can only slog uphill so many times before you realize how truly Sisyphean the task is. > > I can’t fault someone who opts out of activism due to exhaustion, or even just anticipated exhaustion. I’ve been there/done that myself–I ran off a shitload of old friends in college due to my atheist activism, and I’m SO done with that noise. “Atheist activism” might not be effective, but “skeptical inquiry” and “anti-fundamentalist activism” can be. I used to argue with Orthodox Jews a lot, and I was surprisingly effective. More than one person credits me with their atheism, and a number of folks who aren’t atheists (yet :P) credit me with helping to break out of their fundamentalist mold where they accepted everything that came out of the rabbi’s mouth. I’m not writing this to brag, but to show that good things can be accomplished if, instead of smugly rejecting your correspondents’ premises, you listen to them and work through their prism, in their context, and argue against their context only in a way you know they’ll understand. I don’t argue with Orthodox Jews publicly anymore though; I wrote what I needed to write, said what I needed to say, and made clear (because I felt obligated as somebody who could understand where many Orthodox people were coming from) that if anybody wanted to correspond about their struggles with Orthodoxy, I couldn’t promise all the answers, but I’d certainly be happy to discuss the issues. You can’t force people to adopt your positions, even if they are more rational (and they always are 😛 ), so you do what you can, but you don’t troll. One more thing. Despite some disagreements on non-political-matters in the past on the forum (mainly related to disputes over considerations of etiquette), Rachellelogram and I agree on the issues she gave her position on. We both oppose homophobia, racism, and sexism. We’re both atheists. I suspect we’re both on the left, although I could be wrong there. But I’m sorry, I have to dispute Rachellelogram’s point that a person isn’t “oblige[d]…to be a fighter” or among the “activists” though. It seems cynical and morally bankrupt to me. As JFK said, “the hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” Neutrality, sitting down, doing nothing, is a position. It allows bad ideas to overtake national dialogues, influencing mainstream groups. You don’t have to shmooze about the wrongheaded positions of your friends, and if they’re not interested in having such shmoozes, it’s downright obnoxious to try to cajole them. It doesn’t have to be about religion…hell, me, I’m doing what I can with politics these days (mostly research, since I’d spent all my time in Judaic Studies, and need to freshen up on the issues…as well as the nitty-gritty of American history so I can understand the context of where those who disagree with me is coming from). But you have to do something – volunteer, stuff envelopes, something – about some issue…in my book, if you’re not doing anything, it makes you apathetic, and I think apathy is a big problem that in and of itself hurts society. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/246 "2012-09-19T13:17:50Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, it isn’t. It’s a survival from ancient history. It just repeats the same old nonsense over and over. No, actually, religion is very dynamic. Read some history. > [@](#): > > Yeah, because _supporting_ “atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights” is just as reasonable as _opposing_ them. :rolleyes: You are taking your “both sides are just the same” handwaving to a rather disgusting level. You still don’t get it. A typical religious person thinks that they are the one who is opposing atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights. So you can either talk to them and acknowledge that they have beliefs that you don’t share and respectfully try to convince them that you are right, or you can simply blow them off and refuse to listen and insist that you can’t possibly be wrong and force your views on them. To me, the former is the way that a modern, rational, enlightened person acts, and the latter is how a closed-minded religious nut acts. Don’t act like a closed-minded religious nut. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/247 "2012-09-19T13:35:07Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > No, actually, religion is very dynamic. No, it isn’t. It’s the same collection of errors, delusions and lies as it was thousands of years ago, with very few additions. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > A typical religious person thinks that they are the one who is opposing atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights. So what? They typically believe that even while they are committing them. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > So you can either talk to them and acknowledge that they have beliefs that you don’t share and respectfully try to convince them that you are right, or you can simply blow them off and refuse to listen and insist that you can’t possibly be wrong and force your views on them. Or I recognize that their beliefs are foolish and do not deserve respect, that they will take the false respect you want me to offer as validation of their beliefs, and that they are simply irrational. And where do you get “force my beliefs on them”? > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > To me, the former is the way that a modern, rational, enlightened person acts, and the latter is how a closed-minded religious nut acts. A modern, rational, enlightened person rejects religion because it is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/248 "2012-09-19T13:41:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, it isn’t. It’s the same collection of errors, delusions and lies as it was thousands of years ago, with very few additions. Sigh. You can just keep insisting that, but it doesn’t make it true. Religion has changed dramatically and keeps changing today. That’s not to say that most religious people change, or the mainstreams ones. But there are new religious ideas and movements happening all the time. Most are small and not very visible, which is why most people don’t know much about them. Many are dismissed as cults, or not quite religion. Even mainstream religion changes. We have gay-oriented churches now, for instance. I wouldn’t expect you of all people to be aware of this. But don’t argue from ignorance. > [@](#): > > So what? They typically believe that even while they are committing them. No, they don’t typically do that, not today. > [@](#): > > Or I recognize that their beliefs are foolish and do not deserve respect, that they will take the false respect you want me to offer as validation of their beliefs, and that they are simply irrational. Well, duh, you’ve already done that. So what more is there to say or do? > [@](#): > > And where do you get “force my beliefs on them”? Depends on what you mean by “do not deserve respect.” > [@](#): > > A modern, rational, enlightened person rejects religion because it is wrong. It’s just amazing how much you sound exactly like a religious person when you talk. And you don’t even see it - another hallmark of a religious person. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/249 "2012-09-19T13:58:07Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > So when someone comes to your door with a brochure about whatever religion, are your only choices to go quietly sit in a corner or start a screaming match? > > No, you simply say “no thanks.” By all means, if you wish, YOU defer politely when someone intrudes rudely on your door, your property, and your time. I’m not sure where you get off judging what someone else does in their own circumstances. And frankly it’s a bit tiresome in this thread insinuating that everyone else is setting up a false choice to be passive or lose all civility. One need not start a “screaming match” simply to respond to someone else’s statement of belief with your own statement of fact. > [@](#): > > Okay, we’re have a serious confusion problem here. > > People talking about their religion to you and people trying to force it on you through law are two very different things. The former was the subject of the OP, not the latter. > > The answer to people trying to force their religion on you through law is to resist that. It’s NOT to force your beliefs on them. The confusion problem, which apparently you suffer, is that it’s perfectly ok to spout florid superstitious nonsense, possibly accompanied by personal judgements of character, entirely unchallenged as if it were incontrovertible fact. If someone tells me I’m going to hell because I don’t believe Jesus died for me, why do I have to be the tolerant one who meekly says “oh, isn’t that interesting?” If someone works to promote laws that they’ll readily tell you are based on elaborate religious readings, by your lights, I’m simply to say “oh, I’ll vote against that”, without explaining exactly why it’s entirely founded on horseshit? People who intrude their beliefs on you in ANY context open themselves up to a volley of return fire. If they can’t take the heat, they can keep their opinions to themselves. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/250 "2012-09-19T14:07:45Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > No, actually, religion is very dynamic. Read some history. > > You still don’t get it. > > A typical religious person thinks that they are the one who is opposing atrocities, misinformation and violations of human rights. > > So you can either talk to them and acknowledge that they have beliefs that you don’t share and respectfully try to convince them that you are right, or you can simply blow them off and refuse to listen and insist that you can’t possibly be wrong and force your views on them. > > To me, the former is the way that a modern, rational, enlightened person acts, and the latter is how a closed-minded religious nut acts. Don’t act like a closed-minded religious nut. You spout a lot about what a typical religious person thinks. Is it also what _you_ think? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/251 "2012-09-19T14:07:49Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > By all means, if you wish, YOU defer politely when someone intrudes rudely on your door, your property, and your time. I didn’t say that. This is not about someone coming to your door. It’s about whether you should go to THEIR door. > [@](#): > > I’m not sure where you get off judging what someone else does in their own circumstances. I’m not judging. > [@](#): > > And frankly it’s a bit tiresome in this thread insinuating that everyone else is setting up a false choice to be passive or lose all civility. One need not start a “screaming match” simply to respond to someone else’s statement of belief with your own statement of fact. It’s a rhetorical device. You’re right. But I bet a screaming match is what would happen with alot of posters here. > [@](#): > > The confusion problem, which apparently you suffer, is that it’s perfectly ok to spout florid superstitious nonsense, possibly accompanied by personal judgements of character, entirely unchallenged as if it were incontrovertible fact. Depends. People have an absolute legal (and moral) RIGHT to do just that. It’s freedom of religion and freedom of speech. You have the same right to respond. If they do it to you, in your face, you most certainly should respond aggressively. But this isn’t about any of that. It’s about whether atheists should go out and actively confront religious people who are minding their own business and tell them their views are wrong. At least that’s what I’m talking about. I already agree that you can and should respond in self-defense to anyone who tries to impose their religion, or spew insulting nonsense at you or whatever. Of course. > [@](#): > > If someone tells me I’m going to hell because I don’t believe Jesus died for me, why do I have to be the tolerant one who meekly says “oh, isn’t that interesting?” If someone works to promote laws that they’ll readily tell you are based on elaborate religious readings, by your lights, I’m simply to say “oh, I’ll vote against that”, without explaining exactly why it’s entirely founded on horseshit? Of course not. But that’s not what this is about. > [@](#): > > People who intrude their beliefs on you in ANY context open themselves up to a volley of return fire. If they can’t take the heat, they can keep their opinions to themselves. End of story. I agree. But this is about whether you should go intrude your beliefs on them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/252 "2012-09-19T14:08:54Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > But there are new religious ideas and movements happening all the time. And they are all the same sort of nonsense that’s been around thousands of years. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > No, they don’t typically do that, not today. Yes, they do. They are quite self satisfied and self righteous when they set out to persecute some gays, or beat one to death. Or support bombing people of the “wrong” religion. Or insist that women should be punished for being “sluts” or not being properly submissive to men. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > It’s just amazing how much you sound exactly like a religious person when you talk. And you don’t even see it - another hallmark of a religious person. Yawn. Your constant attempts to create false equivalences are repetitive and boring. For someone who insists that religion has all sorts of new arguments, you do repeat the same old ones a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/253 "2012-09-19T14:11:57Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > But this isn’t about any of that. It’s about whether atheists should go out and actively confront religious people who are minding their own business and tell them their views are wrong. Where is this happening? Where are the door-to-door atheists? Where are the atheists that go into churches during service to protest? Where are the atheists that try to get on church boards to change how and what they teach? _Where?_ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/254 "2012-09-19T14:15:53Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > But this is about whether you should go intrude your beliefs on them. Thank ghod someone is finally here to speak on behalf of the poor persecuted majority. What next, a thread titled “But what about the poor muggers?” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/255 "2012-09-19T14:18:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Where are the door-to-door atheists? Q: “What do you get when you cross a Jehovah’s Witness and an atheist?” A: “Someone who knocks on your door for no reason.” ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/256 "2012-09-19T14:20:14Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > I didn’t say that. This is not about someone coming to your door. It’s about whether you should go to THEIR door. Oh, OK, then we’ll just agree to agree in a world where post #30 never happened and you didn’t say: [QUOTE=lance strongarm] So when someone comes to your door with a brochure about whatever religion, are your only choices to go quietly sit in a corner or start a screaming match? [/quote] :dubious: Though I’m at fault for not noticing this thread is 6 pages long and you’ve probably moved onto more defensible ground in that time. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/257 "2012-09-19T14:24:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And they are all the same sort of nonsense that’s been around thousands of years. It’s clear that you are not interested in educating yourself. You sound as closed-minded as a typical religous person. In fact, I know of many religious people who have displayed more open-mindedness. This is not about your beliefs, just your understanding of theirs, and of history. > [@](#): > > Yes, they do. They are quite self satisfied and self righteous when they set out to persecute some gays, or beat one to death. Or support bombing people of the “wrong” religion. Or insist that women should be punished for being “sluts” or not being properly submissive to men. All of them? No, the vast majority of religious people don’t do any of that. Many openly and vigorously oppose all those things. > [@](#): > > Yawn. Your constant attempts to create false equivalences are repetitive and boring. For someone who insists that religion has all sorts of new arguments, you do repeat the same old ones a lot. You’re just proving my point even more. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/258 "2012-09-19T14:27:29Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Oh, OK, then we’ll just agree to agree in a world where post #30 never happened and you didn’t say That was a different issue. That actually was about when someone comes to your door. Sorry if I confused you. If someone comes to your door, and politely asks to talk to you about their religion, to me that doesn’t rise to the level of outrage or imposing their religion or insulting your or any of that. I would politely tell them no thanks. If they start yelling or whatever, then they crossed the line. If you want to go door to door and politely ask people to talk about your beliefs about religion with them, knock yourself out. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/259 "2012-09-19T14:28:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Thank ghod someone is finally here to speak on behalf of the poor persecuted majority. I didn’t start the thread. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707/260 "2012-09-19T14:29:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Where is this happening? Where are the door-to-door atheists? Where are the atheists that go into churches during service to protest? Where are the atheists that try to get on church boards to change how and what they teach? > _Where?_ That’s the whole point. Glad you’re finally starting to get it. Do you think atheists SHOULD go door to door? THAT is what I’m discussing, based on the question in the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-degree-of-atheist-responsibility-to-challenge-belief/634707.md?page=14)