Atheists only please. Should atheists try to convert the religious to atheism?

[Curtana]

Up until quite recently I always felt religion was a matter of private conscience. I thought that if religion made people happy and productive I didn't much care what they believed in. I think like many that all changed with the recent fundamentalist terrorist atrocities. Now I feel that if religion can cause people to do such evil then it is my moral duty to dissuade people from outmoded beliefs.
Agree or disagree?

[Kythras]

EDIT: Actually, I take some of that back, we shouldn't try and convert people as such, we should merely encourage them to temper their beliefs so they are more... for lack of a better word/phrase "politically correct"...

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

I don't bother trying to convert others to atheism. To me, religious ideas are irrelevant.

If religious people are committing crimes in the name of religion, they should be dealt with as any other criminal - if they try to dictate other peoples way of life, they should be treated like any other fascist etc...
It doesn't matter what feeble excuse one uses for his misconduct - it's the misconduct itself that counts.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Of course not. People have a right to their own religion.

[TestudoAubreii]

Greetings,

I don't think so. I mean, we know what we do not beleive in and why should we try to push that on anyone else? If we tried to push atheism on to religious people, would that not make us kind of like ... religious people? I would like to see a poll about should religious people try to convert atheists/ agnostics. That might be interesting.

morrisonicus

[Valentin the II]

Living in Israel Im heavily biased towards the "yes".
I see lots of religious people sucking money from our countrey becaws, what?
They have to study the bible?
Cleriks and other heavily religious people are very unproductive and may be dangerous, thats why its batter to try and convert their ofspring before they turn to the dark side.
I think that without religion the world would be a much batter place ( by "religion" I dont mean things like budhism wich is just a form of philosophy).

[Curtana]

Greetings,

I would like to see a poll about should religious people try to convert atheists/ agnostics. That might be interesting.

morrisonicus

Yeah but the answer will just be an enormous resounding YES.

[TestudoAubreii]

Yeah but the answer will just be an enormous resounding YES.

Yeah, I thought it would, too. I thought it would be interesting. It looks like many of us are voting no and giving some sort of reason. I don't know why, but I thought it would be interesting to see why a religious person would vote yes. Think I should open a poll? Perhaps, we might be surprised by the "no" vote.

[Curtana]

Of course they have a right if their religion does not interfere with the rights of others. What if someone believed in performing human sacrifice on unwilling participants at the time of the full moon? Would you still say that too is a right? I think not.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Of course they have a right if their religion does not interfere with the rights of others. What if someone believed in performing human sacrifice on unwilling participants at the time of the full moon? Would you still say that too is a right? I think not.

That would be murder and is hardly relevant.

[Beiss]

No. If we wish to be respected as atheists, we must also respect their faith.

This is an example of disrespectful christians, which is something we cannot tolerate. If christians would just stick to their 10 commandments like most atheists do, the world would be so much better.

Atheists don't exclude people because they're religious. Well, this thread does, but usually, we don't.

[Kythras]

True, I regret my original statement, if we try and push atheism/agnosticism on them, we are just as bad as they are...

After, if we lose the moral high ground we're screwed...

[bars]

No, time will do that for us.

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

@valentin: so they receive money from the state to pursue their beliefs, I assume?

Then the problem lies with the state, not their beliefs. They should believe what they want, as long as they don't harm anyone - if they drain tax money, they harm others, but they only can because they're allowed to, so that's the spot where action has to be taken - not their beliefs.

[Kythras]

But Israel is a rather exceptional circumstance, after all, it was a state founded for a certain religious group, not (technically) a political or ethnic one, thus some level of state-sponsored religion is to be expected, after all, in the western world we don't tax churches, that's only a few degree of separation from the Israeli situation...

Not that I'm defending it, I'm just saying there are mitigation circumstances...

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

But Israel is a rather exceptional circumstance, after all, it was a state founded for a certain religious group, not (technically) a political or ethnic one, thus some level of state-sponsored religion is to be expected, after all, in the western world we don't tax churches, that's only a few degree of separation from the Israeli situation...

Not that I'm defending it, I'm just saying there are mitigation circumstances...

As far as I know, Zionism is not a religious movement, but a political one (Jewish nationalism).
The ones draining the tax money - i.e. orthodox jews - opposed it, both on the grounds that it was a secular movement, and on the grounds that any attempt to re-establish Jewish rule in Israel by human agency was blasphemous, since (in their view) only the Messiah could accomplish this.

[Kythras]

As far as I know, Zionism is not a religious movement, but a political one (Jewish nationalism).
The ones draining the tax money - i.e. orthodox jews - opposed it, both on the grounds that it was a secular movement, and on the grounds that any attempt to re-establish Jewish rule in Israel by human agency was blasphemous, since (in their view) only the Messiah could accomplish this.

Zionism was political, yes, but it was inspiried by religion, it's like saying bread isn't flour, and the orthodox jews that opposed the creation of Israel were, unless I'm mistaken in the minority...

Anyway, I'll probably lose this debate, so let's get back on topic ...

[removeduser_426582376423734]

It is the same answer to the question "Should religious people try to convert atheists to religion?".

No.

[TheKwas]

I wouldn't say that we should try to convert people to atheism, but we should convert people to logical thinking. So I suppose that I de facto agree with 'yes'.

[Sidus Preclarum]

I voted no, but then again, I'm an agnostic, not an atheist.