Why do atheists bother to promote atheism?

I never promote the fact i`m an Athiest but i do sometimes give my point of view if asked or if there is a question....

I don't "preach" atheism but I do think that religion is bad for society. Religion teaches people not to question what they are being told. If a preacher tells someone that Jews, Muslims or in Northern Ireland, Catholics are bad the congregation will believe them. Which as you see can cause disastrous effects. Suicide bombers, the troubles and the inquisition all happened because people didn't question what they are told.

Russell's teapot is meant to show how that just because something can't be proven doesn't mean that it is true which is what some theists claim. It is inherently impossible to prove God as he is invisible and everywhere.

I don't understand about there being no concentration camps with no atheism. As far as I remember Hitler was a Catholic and there were wouldn't be a mass murder without the lasting image of Jews as Christ killers from Church propaganda. Which had led to anti Jewish prejudice.

Although Jewish bigotry has gone there is still a of stigma against certain religions such as Wicca and humanism which Christians say are from the devil.

Our government is run on the idea of pluralism, so in a sense the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I cringe at using that analogy. Ugh. Anyway, suppose you are an Atheist voter, pro-choice, an advocate for equal rights (including gay marriage), for more strict gun control, and for removing 'under God' from our nations pledge (A sticky pair of words added to our pledge in 1951, not originally in the pledge established by our forefathers). What I gather from observing this situation is that a 'preaching atheist' (lol) is only doing so because the counter-productive preaching Christian body is very politically active on controversial issues such as abortion, gay rights, death penalty, etcetera, and if that 'preaching atheist' does not manifest the other side of the philosophical spectrum, the publics information is limited and their views in turn biased. I personally don't believe that any atheist wants to rob any Christian of their hope in eternal life, however I have no problem believing that any atheist will want to prove their point and explain their reasoning when the issue at hand will affect their personal life, just as any other human would. (Now please don't misunderstand me in thinking that I'm insinuating that all Christians opposed to liberal ideas, however there are, statistically, more religious conservatives than their are religious liberals *see source*)

As for your last bit regarding why I "should even care what anyone says or does? Why "preach" atheism at all; it doesn't matter?" I will argue that vehemently. For those of us who may be atheist, or too skeptical of both sides to choose (agnostic), this little breath of time given to us by the lovely constants of matter and energy are in fact all we have. The fact that our existence, to use a more fitting analogy, is not the numerator of an infinite denominator makes the value of this whole equation infinitely sweeter, wouldn't you agree? But you probably wouldn't, and I'm perfectly alright with that.

*edit* With brevity that I previously lacked, Live and Let Live.

Have a good one,

Joe : ]

I don't think atheists do promote atheism. I think they promote reality.

Atheism is not a cause to be promoted, it is simply not believing in a god.

They promote reality because believing in a god, for which there is no convincing evidence, sometimes causes people to do things that are harmful to society. This is not acceptable to right minded people.

This assertion of yours is unfounded: "Good and evil are simply relative concepts without some higher moral authority."

It presupposes that there is no morality without a god or similar being. That is nonsense. Any society will develop it's own morality and I suspect that wherever and whenever that happens many of the same basic elements will often be preferred. Morality is the standard set by a society for that society.

The inference of what you say is that I, because I do not believe in a higher authority, am not a moral person. That is outrageous and arrogant on your part. You presume a moral superiority that is not justified. There are countless cases of believers of many religions committing acts, in the name of their religion, that could never be regarded as moral.

Atheists do not promote atheism, they simply oppose irrational unsupported beliefs.

I don't really try to "preach"/"convert" (or correct delusions). I do explain about atheism to people if they ask though. And come here for a laugh.

Also sometimes somebody wants to get out of the religion. There are a lot of them there with shaky belief but they are scared to say they don't believe, or scared to leave the church, because they think it's not done or not allowed - when they find out you're an atheist and not a disturbed person I think it helps them.

Of course, religion can be very dangerous to us, and it's fair to try and stop it - sadly it's never going to work, not in my lifetime anyway, but I can see why people try.

Incidentally, I would be interested to see your proof that the sky isn't made of spaghetti sauce. You can't actually prove a negative.

My problem with religions is that they are old systems of belief that are not appropriate for this day and age.

Imagine if children learned how to operate punch tapes in their computer classes instead of the Internet, or about bad airs and the correct use of leaches and mercury pills in biology. It would be backward - and that's what it is. Religious education classes should be replaced with something more appropriate.

This is the 21st century. The general populace should not be living in some medieval fantasy daydream, they're supposed to be rational human beings. Yet Mystic Meg's hotline is making a killing and Ghost Hunters will run for the next ten years. It's an embarassment.

I am going to get a lot of thumbs down for this but it is my opinion and I will not hide it:

It varies from Atheist to Atheist, because they have no docterine. In the UK Atheists could not care less about spreading or promoting if they tried, a live and let live stance seems to be employed.

Some Atheists are actually Antitheists although they rarely recognise it. They see religion as a disease, they blaim it for all wars and often any other problems in their life they can find. They feel that spreading Atheism is doing a great thing for humanity.

Others are trying to wipe out any negative stigma attached to it. This is to make it easier for closeted Atheists to come out and be honest with themselves and those around them.

The leftovers that only really occur on this site are normally former Theists with a chip on their shoulder that feel elevated when they insult the traditions of others.

Because atheism is good.

Walk into the light.

Seriously. The US was founded by people who had been oppressed all their lives by religion. Many of its architects were publicly or functionally atheists, and their principles, morals and philosophy were very strictly secularyet tolerant of religion.

Following these principles they built a country that has acheived the greatest wellbeing for the greatest number of its citizens of most on Earth. The main threat to it is the rise of religion.

We don't need to wonder what the consequences of religion are - we have 20 centuries of history to go on. And its very, very nasty.

Atheists do not want history to repeat itself. They are good people.

Because Atheists are just as ignorant as fundamentalists. Atheists say 'there is no god, its all fake', with no proof whatsoever to support their argument. Fundamentalists say 'there definatley is a god, it's all real and if you don't believe it you'll go to hell', also without any evidence to support their argument whatsoever. To be agnostic is the way forward (unless you truly believe). We say, each to their own, believe what you want, but i need proof either way to become an Atheist or a believer.

Don't know anyone besides Dawkins who 'preaches' atheism. I think he does it out exasperation at the religious loons who try to promote ID and the like in schools.

Incidentally, what makes you think Hitler was an atheist? As far as I know he was a Catholic, then started mucking around in pseudo Norse religions, hardly the actions of an atheist.

I think the newspaper advertisement for Richard Dawkins' BBC special "The Root of All Evil" says it all:

Over skyline of Manhattan WITH World Trade Center Towers, it simply says "Imagine ... No Religion"