Do atheists study any religion at all?

they are supposed to know more but.....the atheists here dont know jack about buddhism....all of their comments, positive and negative....are based on stereotypes and NOT any studying at all......they use fake or false "studies" that say they are all super duper magic smart and just sit content with that....

I really hate to be the one to break this to you but the history and development of the world is not based in religion. Never has been as religion suppresses development of societies and worlds.

Overcoming adversities and good citizenship existed long before religions the same with morality. Death has also predated religions and it is the unknown involved in death that has created all the gods and religions (over 300) that mankind has created.

I have studies most modern and ancient religions along with a lot of humans history. This has allowed me to make the choice I have made. I do not believe in the muslims nor christians god concept. I look within for salvation.

Think about it!

I am an atheist, and I have studied religion. For 18 years I was raised in a christian home and attended church at least once per week, and more often as I grew older, and I myself was a fairly strong believer until I came to a better understanding of the workings of the natural world and found that what I knew about science and history was completely incompatible with what I had been told in church and what I read in the bible. I have studied (historically speaking) religions from around the world and how they fit in the global historical context of the development of human society.

Death is a biological question, not a religious/philosophical one, and overcoming adversity and good citizenship are not learned through the study of religion, but rather by facing adversity for yourself and by actively participating in modern society and perhaps through studies of topics such as political science, economics, and the like.

As far as studying history and the developing world, it is important not to study religion as theology but rather in more of a historical sociological perspective. But I don't really think that's what you meant.

So no, the study of theology gains you absolutely nothing and actually quite often takes away from your understanding of other things, such as the factual reality of evolution and the natural origins of the universe.

Whoa, time out my friend, making some assumptions there. You know, there are a lot of atheists who are former believers and like myself undertook major study of various religions. So yes, I have a very strong understanding of how religion as a cultural force has shaped historical events. As to the rest, there are philosophies out there which provide prospective on life, death, and community without a god being involved, such as secular humanism. Atheists do not ignore religion; Far from it, why do you think there are so many on forums like this? We are very concerned with religion's impact on history and society, we just don't see is as a universally *good* influence.

Sure. You wanna have like a Bible throwdown? I passed my history classes with flying colors. I'm a poor minority from a rural area who earned a free ride to college and graduated with very good marks. I'm married to an Army officer and I have outstanding citizenship . . . in fact, we give too much to our country and we're not selfish enough.

I don't care if you think I'm dumb or not. Frankly, our IQs don't really matter so much. I'm nicer than you and I'll take that any day over a few lousy IQ points. I happen to know my IQ. My real IQ, not some stupid internet IQ test IQ. It's something to brag about, but it's better to be nice.

I study as many religions as I can. I like the idea of religion, I just don't believe in any of it. For me, it's kind of like a person who studies mythology (in fact it's exactly like that, it's just that myths that are currently believed are called religions.) Those who study mythology don't believe the stories literally happened, but they enjoy studying them, because they are fascinating. Also, I find that studying modern religions helps me out when a theist gives me a question about their religion. Knowing the bible has helped immensely with debates against Christians. Ironically, so has learning about eastern religions like Hinduism and how they relate to Christianity.

certain, i'm taking a religious study direction on the college of Victoria, overlaying the three Abrahamic religions. that's exciting stuff, yet regrettably that's at 8:30 contained in the morning and my instructor mumbles -_-.

Many of us HAVE studied quite a bit of religions.

Personally, I have read the Bible, the Quran and sahih hadith collections and quite a few books on religious history.

I find religious texts interesting - but I disagree that they are useful in the resolution of real life problems.

I took 29 credit hours of Religious Studies in college. That is exactly why I am an Atheist.

The fact studies show we know more about religion than those whom believe in those religions says a lot.

Also, a lot of atheists are atheists because they were once religious.

One last thing, before you start calling people dumb, you might want to check your sentence structure and learn how to use spell check, it REALLY helps your case.

Wow, okay. Atheists typically know more about religion than those that follow it. We typically enjoy learning and gaining knowledge about everything, even religion. How else are we supposed to enlighten people when they ask why we don't believe in their god. It's good to have answers.

Also, I just graduated with a degree in religion and criminology, so...yes, I study religion.