Why Would an Atheist Join a Faith Based Forum?

Aussie Thoughts said:
There's something I've always been curious about and since there seems to be a number of Atheists on the forum, I thought I'd ask. Why would an Atheist join a faith based forum?
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If like me you were brought up by Biblical literalist parents of the 'you must be 'saved' or else' ilk, which spoilt what should have been a good childhood, you might feel like challenging that awful dogma too!
 
JJ50 said:
If like me you were brought up by Biblical literalist parents of the 'you must be 'saved' or else' ilk, which spoilt what should have been a good childhood, you might feel like challenging that awful dogma too!
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Challenging isn't really Interfaith though is it? I understand opposing view and offering alternative views, but opposing (proving them wrong) is a bit in the wrong direction for the forum. I'm sure If we made a "Debate" section, it would get more views though.
 
There are plenty of faith sites with mudsling, proselytizing and constant debates...folks can find them easy enough..

What I hear him saying is he is here obtaining information... Developing an understanding.. As he was raised in a one way no questions household...
 
JJ50 said:
If like me you were brought up by Biblical literalist parents of the 'you must be 'saved' or else' ilk, which spoilt what should have been a good childhood, you might feel like challenging that awful dogma too!
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Plenty baggage left behind on us all. Trick is to let it go so it doesn't hold you back.
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
Plenty baggage left behind on us all. Trick is to let it go so it doesn't hold you back.
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Sadly plenty of other young people are experiencing the unpleasant dogma I was served up as a kid, so I make no excuse for mentioning it. Of course if posters would prefer me to leave the forum, no problem.
 
Opposing points of view are welcome, sharing personal experience is welcome..

We had a poster here who grew up Mennonite... We gained much insight from her trials as a female who was denied education in her family... Left and went on to become a doctor or PhD if I recall...(maybe it was just a BA, but she went beyond 8th grade)
 
JJ50 said:
Sadly plenty of other young people are experiencing the unpleasant dogma I was served up as a kid, so I make no excuse for mentioning it. Of course if posters would prefer me to leave the forum, no problem.
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JJ as far as I know, this forum is open to all, and as for me good conversation has two elements. A view and an opposing view. I have been a Christian all my life and have seen and lived the dogma. Certain denominations do indeed carry that Fire and Brimstone stigma. Also, I think that some carry the Salvation issue more out of context than they should. In a great many Church settings the main emphasis is set on our Love for God and obeying His laws in order to secure our place on the Salvation train. They tend to not emphasize enough on His Love for us as His Children. The sacrifice of His only Son was the greatest form of Love. I don't believe that any of us can BE like Jesus, however we can live our lives according to His teachings to the best of our ability. God Loves us all, and those who do not believe in Him as equally as those who do. By asking questions about Him, is one thing I believe He wishes, and that is to get to know Him....
 
If there is anything Christians should understand its the desire to proselytize.
 
Much depends on what you mean by "atheist." Often people label as "atheists" those who do affirm faith in God but do not share the others' particular beliefs about the attributes of God. This is a very complicated issue. For example, some will label themselves as atheists because they do not believe in an anthropomorphic God. However, truth is, classical Christianity offered a God who is basically a passionless absolute, more like a principle than a person, as God was stripped of all creaturely attributes and said to be wit0out body, parts, passions, compassion, wholly immutable, etc.
 
hoghead1 said:
Much depends on what you mean by "atheist." Often people label as "atheists" those who do affirm faith in God but do not share the others' particular beliefs about the attributes of God. This is a very complicated issue. For example, some will label themselves as atheists because they do not believe in an anthropomorphic God. However, truth is, classical Christianity offered a God who is basically a passionless absolute, more like a principle than a person, as God was stripped of all creaturely attributes and said to be wit0out body, parts, passions, compassion, wholly immutable, etc.
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I disagree, "Atheist" by definition is one without theism, or more commonly, one without a concept of a supernatural power. An agnostic or "spiritual" person better fits your assessment.
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
There's something I've always been curious about and since there seems to be a number of Atheists on the forum, I thought I'd ask. Why would an Atheist join a faith based forum?
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I do not consider this 'interfaith' forum necessarily a forum that is a 'believer' based forum.
 
hoghead1 said:
Much depends on what you mean by "atheist." Often people label as "atheists" those who do affirm faith in God but do not share the others' particular beliefs about the attributes of God. This is a very complicated issue. For example, some will label themselves as atheists because they do not believe in an anthropomorphic God. However, truth is, classical Christianity offered a God who is basically a passionless absolute, more like a principle than a person, as God was stripped of all creaturely attributes and said to be without body, parts, passions, compassion, wholly immutable, etc.
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As far as the 'interfaith' forum goes I do not believe degree or kind of atheist is an issue. The interfaith forum is simply a dialogue between beliefs that are different
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
Seriously? It's implied in the title mate. Interfaith....:rolleyes:
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I believe your definition of faith is too rigid and exclusive. See highlighted.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/faith/ said:
What is faith? This entry focuses on the nature of faith, although issues about the justifiability of faith are also implicated.

The concept of faith is a broad one: at its most general ‘faith’ means much the same as ‘trust’. This entry is specifically concerned, however, with the notion of religious faith—or, rather (and the difference is important), the kind of faith exemplified in religious faith. Philosophical accounts are almost exclusively about theistic religious faith—faith in God—and they generally, though not exclusively, deal with faith as understood within the Christian branch of the Abrahamic traditions. But, although the theistic religious context settles what kind of faith is of interest, the question arises whether faith of that same general kind also belongs to other, non-theistic, religious contexts, or to contexts not usually thought of as religious at all. It may perhaps be apt to speak of the faith of—for example—a humanist, or even an atheist, using the same general sense of ‘faith’ as applies to the theist case.

Philosophical reflection on theistic religious faith has produced different accounts or models of its nature. This entry suggests that there are three key components that may feature, with varying emphases, in models of faith—namely the affective, the cognitive and the volitional. Several different principles according to which models of faith may be categorized are noted, including

  • how the model relates faith as a state to faith as an act or activity;
  • whether it takes its object to be exclusively propositional or not;
  • the type of epistemology with which the model is associated—‘evidentialist’ or ‘fideist’;
  • whether the model is necessarily restricted to theistic religious faith, or may extend beyond it.
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That's true about the term "atheist" toady, BigJoe. However, in older, archaic usage, it also meant someone who had a different concept of God. Unfortunately, some fundies today still use it in that sense.
 
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