He has not risen!

[edhopper]

On this day let us proclaim throughout the world, that he does not live. If he ever did.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Why not just let people believe, or not?

I don't get evangelical atheists.

[stopbush]

2. Er, because Xians take their fictions as truth and try to legislate

laws based on make believe, laws that impact us all.

I do not get the conceit that non-believers should give even a shred of credibility to claims made based entirely on fiction.

[Brainstormy]

5. Damn right!

Xians are in my face, my courtroom, my schools, my pubic policy every single day! This is an atheist and agnostic forum!

[edhopper]

3. Are you aware of what forum

I posted this in?

I would also like to see a list of beliefs that are okay and those that are not.

Is belief in creationism okay with you? What about abortion is murder? You good with that?

Should we just let people believe that God wants them to fly planes into buildings?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I'm not religious at all. I'm just a bit puzzled by the notion

of evangelical atheists. You're not going to convince many people to stop believing what they believe just by telling them their beliefs are stupid.

[stopbush]

8. Maybe, but telling them their beliefs are stupid is a start.

As long as we look at the ground, shuffle our feet and act politely while Xians spout their idiocies, there will never be meaningful progress made to treating these fictions as fictions.

BTW - no one is saying the people are stupid. Or that their right to believe stupid. What's stupid is their beliefs.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Telling people their beliefs are stupid tends to make them dig their heels in

and cling to them even more intensely. You never win people over to your way of thinking by insulting them. I have no beef with religion until it creeps into legislation, which is the real problem. The way to deal with religion in our society is to fight as hard as possible to keep it out of politics and governance, not to tell people they're dumb for having a religion at all. That never works.

[LakeArenal]

17. Your heels must be sore from all their digging...

You are the one throwing around labels like "evangelical Christians" about people you seem to know little about.
What never works? No one here is trying to convert people. We are trying to express our own beliefs. The ones in politics pushing a state religion probably aren't so Christians anyway, as " Actions speak louder than words".

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. You guys are really defensive for people who are so sure they're right.

I'm an agnostic. I know I can't prove anything one way or another and I don't care if other people are religious as long as they keep their religion out of my government. That's it.

[LakeArenal]

20. Defensive, ay? Lookin' in a mirror are ya?

[beam me up scottie]

25. Most atheists are agnostic or 'soft' atheists - we don't claim to know there are no gods.

[A HERETIC I AM]

35. "The way to deal with religion..."

The way to deal with religion in our society is to fight as hard as possible to keep it out of politics and governance, not to tell people they're dumb for having a religion at all. That never works.

Actually, the way to deal with religion is to have a high quality, secular education system coupled with
treating religion and associated faith like alcohol. Make it illegal to take children to church until they are 18.

The entire concept would be virtually eliminated in a single generation

[beam me up scottie]

38. THIS.

[Binkie The Clown]

15. Don't call us "evangelical atheists." Call us "educators".

Isn't it about time the human race adopts reality based world views?

[Cartoonist]

16. I object

Nowhere in the OP is anyone called stupid. You make the claim in your next post and continue to run with it. You are being dishonest. That's worse than stupid.

[J_William_Ryan]

21. You are puzzled because

there is no such thing as ‘evangelical atheists.’

For those free from faith to acknowledge the fact that there was no ‘Christ’ as perceived by Christians is not to seek to compel Christians to abandon their faith, or to otherwise attempt to prohibit them to believe as they see fit.

[edhopper]

22. Who am I evangelizing?

I posted this in the friggen atheist forum.

Do you say the same thing to the posts that claim "he has risen" I see all over the place?

My facebook page is full of them.

But an atheist making fun on an atheist forum gets your dander up.

nice.

[trotsky]

40. 'Do you say the same thing to the posts that claim "he has risen" I see all over the place?'

No, they never do.

Atheists need to sit down and shut up.

Christians can proclaim their faith as loudly as they want.

[beam me up scottie]

42. That's a REALLY good point.

We're constantly bombarded with religious messaging - on television, in the movies, on billboards, bumper stickers and signs, we hear about it in school, at work, in the news, it's even in our government buildings and courthouses - you can't get away from God's advertisers.

But when we try to counter it we're the evangelicals?

When atheists put up billboards countering religious messages we're accused of evangelizing. When we write articles about atheism we're accused of evangelizing. When we push back against religion on the internet we're accused of evangelizing. Hell when we put Darwin fish on our cars we're accused of evangelizing.

That's not evangelizing - that's objecting to the commonly held belief that this is a Christian nation.

Is it evangelizing when lgbt people have pride parades? Are they trying to offend and/or convert straight and cisgender people?

When feminists march in opposition to sexism and misogyny are they evangelizing and/or trying to offend men?

When Black Lives Matter stages a protest are they evangelizing and/or only doing it to offend white people?

Of course not. Marginalized groups need to be loud and proud in order to be heard.

So why are atheists treated like our sole intention is to convert and/or offend others when we speak up?

Most of us would be happy to leave religion alone if it returned the favour.

[beam me up scottie]

36. What about racism? Are you going to scold people for telling racists their beliefs are stupid?

How about misogyny and homophobia? Are we allowed to say those 'beliefs' are stupid or should we worry about offending people?

Religion has been a source of oppression and persecution for thousands of years and many of us oppose religious ideology because of that reason. We don't want to ban it and we don't want to prevent people from having religious beliefs, we're simply sick of religion's influence on society.

No one is calling religious people stupid, but we should be allowed to criticize religion and religious beliefs like any other ideology.

[Brainstormy]

6. But you believe in

evangelical Christians?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Nope. I think evangelism is dumb and irritating.

[stopbush]

9. Since when is expressing an opinion evangelizing?

If anyone is evangelizing in this thread, it's you. You're telling a minority (non-believe) to shut up and let the majority have their destructive fictions. Nice.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. If you say so.

[stopbush]

13. Your dismissive attitude is noted. And you're in the wrong forum.

[Mariana]

14. Since when is expressing an opinion evangelizing?

When an atheist does it, even when among other atheists. Only then. I doubt anyone is running around DU giving Christians grief for posting "He is risen!" or the like.

[Act_of_Reparation]

39. And I think not knowing what words mean is dumb and irritating.

You think the OP is trying to convert people? To atheism? In the Atheists & Agnostics group?

Interesting.

[Mariana]

41. Oh, I think the poster knows what the word means

and misapplied it intentionally.

[Mariana]

12. Since this is the A & A Group

there's no evangelizing going on in this post. There's no one here to convert.

[Duppers]

18. Did you not see the "He has risen. He really has" post early this morning?

Did you post to register the same compliant with it?

Sorry I cannot post a link since I cannot find it.

[defacto7]

23. "evangelical atheists" is rather insulting..

I get your point about live and let live but there is a point where we have to be educators because certainly the religionists have the advantage of control and I have no intention of being forced into the closet by the authoritarian rw religious. They do force.

[beam me up scottie]

24. What is an 'evangelical atheist'? That word sounds like it came from Conservapedia.

If someone speaks out against conservative ideology does that make them an evangelical liberal?

You do realize that you're in the Atheists and Agnostics group where we are supposed to be able to discuss and criticize religion without being scolded, right?

[Curmudgeoness]

33. Because we have to live with all the religion thrown in our faces from everywhere.

We are not evangelical. (Definition of evangelical: of or according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christian religion.) We may be willing to speak out, and express our opinion about religion, but to call us evangelical is offensive. You come into this safe haven and denigrate us with that offensive term.

It is about time that atheists spoke out against all the religious bull that we have to tolerate. As far as I am concerned, as well as many other atheists, people are free to believe whatever they like, as long as they do their worshipping where it doesn't infringe on those who do not believe what they believe. But that doesn't happen. Yet. So forgive us for being angry about it.

[LostOne4Ever]

34. Who is preventing people from Believing?

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]I don't see anyone pushing for laws to keep people from believing.

I just see a person posting their belief that Yeshua is dead. Does that offend you? Someone posting about their beliefs? If so, there are tons of people in the general, religion, and many many other forums that need you to patronize them as you have done us.

And what is an evangelical atheist? Evangelical means relating to the Christian religion or the gospels of the bible. How can one be an evangelical atheist.

If anything that seems like a smear against atheists...

That would be anti-atheist bigotry and against the rules here on DU:[/font]

No divisive group attacks
Do not smear, insult, vilify, bait, maliciously caricature, or give disrespectful nicknames to any groups of people that are part of the Democratic coalition, or that hold viewpoints commonly held by Democrats, or that support particular Democratic public figures. Do not imply that they are fake Democrats, fake progressives, conservatives, right-wingers, Republicans, or the like.

No bigotry/insensitivity
Members are expected to respect diversity and demonstrate an appropriate level of sensitivity when discussing related topics. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or other forms of bigoted intolerance are not permitted.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

37. Hi Velveteen Ocelot - I just blocked you from this group

The term "evangelical atheist" is a pejorative used by right-wingers and religionists to lump atheists in with ISIS, fundie christians, and other extreme hate groups. Your use of the term shows that you're not here to make a positive contribution to the group.

Normally we provide a warning first, but you've been around DU long enough to know the rules.

[HAB911]

43. Do you get fundie Christians?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028942737

[Cattledog]

26. I'm on my way to the crucifixion center!

[Croney]

27. I have a success story.

When I was young, I thought it was important to wear my atheism like a chip on my shoulder, and go around daring people to call me on it.

Fast-forward to age 72. My grandchildren go to Catholic school (my son-in-law's family insisted). I pick them up daily and I go to church events all the time. But here is my secret delight: They know I'm not a believer and they discuss religion with me and they are on a path to having the knowledge they need to make their own choices.

They think I'm a good person, and they know I don't believe in God. I love seeing how this affects their beliefs. They are questioning. That's all I could hope for.

[edhopper]

28. good story

I go to religious family events and don't make a fuss.

In fact I rarely engage if not engaged first.

Some evangelical atheist I am.

[Croney]

30. Yes, we have to choose our battles, don't we.

[njhoneybadger]

29. Let us also proclaim The Flintstones was not a documentary

[beam me up scottie]

31. What the hell do you have against zombies?

Nice privilege there, pal. Just because you haven't died and come back doesn't mean you're better than them.*









*Disclaimer: this is sarcasm, not a personal attack. This is also posted in the Atheists and Agnostics group where we like to poke fun at religion. No humans or zombies were harmed during the making of this thread.