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Common Nonsensical Responses to Atheists/Atheism

Dragonfly

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“You just haven’t opened your heart/mind enough to god.”


“You obviously haven’t studied the Bible enough.”


“How do you explain why we’re here?”


“Aren’t you afraid of going to Hell?”


“So everything in the Universe just happened by random chance?”


“Well if God isn’t responsible, what/who is?”


“What’s the point of living if there’s no God?”


“Why bother being a good person if there’s no eternal consequences?”


There’s the people who want to think they can set a trap for you.
They’ll start down road of the famous arguments we’ve all seen posted here. Cosmological, Teleological, Ontological….


There’s the fine folks who’ll try to insinuate you’re just flat-out uneducated. :roll:
Some will say you’re just too lazy to do the work required.
I’ve seen at least one suggest you’re actually lying to yourself and others about where you stand on the whole “god” thing.


Some will try to redefine words.


The funniest are those who insist they have definitive “proof”.
As if the word “faith” is no longer needed.


What other silly responses come to mind for some of you?
 
“You just haven’t opened your heart/mind enough to god.”


“You obviously haven’t studied the Bible enough.”


“How do you explain why we’re here?”


“Aren’t you afraid of going to Hell?”


“So everything in the Universe just happened by random chance?”


“Well if God isn’t responsible, what/who is?”


“What’s the point of living if there’s no God?”


“Why bother being a good person if there’s no eternal consequences?”


There’s the people who want to think they can set a trap for you.
They’ll start down road of the famous arguments we’ve all seen posted here. Cosmological, Teleological, Ontological….


There’s the fine folks who’ll try to insinuate you’re just flat-out uneducated. :roll:
Some will say you’re just too lazy to do the work required.
I’ve seen at least one suggest you’re actually lying to yourself and others about where you stand on the whole “god” thing.


Some will try to redefine words.


The funniest are those who insist they have definitive “proof”.
As if the word “faith” is no longer needed.


What other silly responses come to mind for some of you?

'Atheists are utterly stupid' is a very funny one. Now, where did I hear that?
 
These are common questions, indeed. Almost all are based on emotion, specifically the emotions of comfort and fear. But there are more uncomfortable questions beyond these simplicities.

Such as: "How as an atheist do you comfort someone who has lost a child? Do you just place your hand on their shoulder and say 'There is no Heaven where your child awaits you. Your son/daughter has been erased from existence and there is no ultimate justice that will undo it or make you whole. The universe does not care about your baby any more than it cares about you. And when you die all memory of your child will be lost along with you. Sorry for your loss.'"

As an atheist, I still do not have a good answer. Because I certainly cannot say "They are in a better place right now." Nonexistence is not a better place.
 
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“You just haven’t opened your heart/mind enough to god.”


“You obviously haven’t studied the Bible enough.”


“How do you explain why we’re here?”


“Aren’t you afraid of going to Hell?”


“So everything in the Universe just happened by random chance?”


“Well if God isn’t responsible, what/who is?”


“What’s the point of living if there’s no God?”


“Why bother being a good person if there’s no eternal consequences?”


There’s the people who want to think they can set a trap for you.
They’ll start down road of the famous arguments we’ve all seen posted here. Cosmological, Teleological, Ontological….


There’s the fine folks who’ll try to insinuate you’re just flat-out uneducated. :roll:
Some will say you’re just too lazy to do the work required.
I’ve seen at least one suggest you’re actually lying to yourself and others about where you stand on the whole “god” thing.


Some will try to redefine words.


The funniest are those who insist they have definitive “proof”.
As if the word “faith” is no longer needed.


What other silly responses come to mind for some of you?

God's existence cannot be proved. I believe because I feel that I have been in His presence. I can't prove it, but I know it's so.
 
These are common questions, indeed. But there are more profound questions beyond these simplicities.

Such as: "How as an atheist do you comfort someone who has lost a child? Do you just place your hand on their shoulder and say 'There is no Heaven where your child awaits you. Your son/daughter has been erased from existence and there is no ultimate justice that will undo it or make you whole. The universe does not care about your baby any more than it cares about you. And when you die all memory of your child will be lost along with you. Sorry for your loss.'"

As an atheist, I still do not have a good answer. Because I certainly cannot say "They are in a better place right now." Nonexistence is not a better place.

It is different where I live. Religion plays no part in daily life and I don't know any believers. You can comfort a person without religion.
 
God's existence cannot be proved. I believe because I feel that I have been in His presence. I can't prove it, but I know it's so.

Did he identify himself as the Christian god? I have read claims by Hindus that they were in the presence of one of their gods.
 
These are common questions, indeed. Almost all are based on emotion, specifically the emotions of comfort and fear. But there are more uncomfortable questions beyond these simplicities.

Such as: "How as an atheist do you comfort someone who has lost a child? Do you just place your hand on their shoulder and say 'There is no Heaven where your child awaits you. Your son/daughter has been erased from existence and there is no ultimate justice that will undo it or make you whole. The universe does not care about your baby any more than it cares about you. And when you die all memory of your child will be lost along with you. Sorry for your loss.'"

As an atheist, I still do not have a good answer. Because I certainly cannot say "They are in a better place right now." Nonexistence is not a better place.

You can only comfort grieving people by making up stories about an afterlife that not one single person can ever prove exists???

Surely you're not suggesting that's a good reason to accept a religious belief?
 
It is different where I live. Religion plays no part in daily life and I don't know any believers. You can comfort a person without religion.

I have no doubt. But how have you found comfort in times of loss knowing that your existence and those of everyone you love is totally ephemeral? That the only place your loved ones will dwell upon their passing is in your memory but that the record of the lived experiences of their existence will disappear the moment you pass away...or suffer from some neurodegenerative disorder that causes you to lose your memories?
 
You can only comfort grieving people by making up stories about an afterlife that not one single person can ever prove exists???

Surely you're not suggesting that's a good reason to accept a religious belief?

You mean the concept of ultimate justice? I certainly cannot think of a better reason to believe. Can you?

Again, other than saying "sorry for your loss" how have you comforted the grieving, especially those who have lost loved ones in particularly horrific circumstances (childhood cancer, senseless violence, etc.)?
 
God's existence cannot be proved. I believe because I feel that I have been in His presence. I can't prove it, but I know it's so.

What exactly did you feel?

Some people say they've been abducted by aliens and taken onto their spacecraft.
Some say they've seen Bigfoot.

You can say many things.

It's fine to believe.
It's not so fine to insist others are stupid for not believing based solely on your own personal experience. (which I'm not saying you do)

In your opinion, is it possible a non-belief is perfectly valid?
 
Again, other than saying "sorry for your loss" how have you comforted the grieving, especially those who have lost loved ones in particularly horrific circumstances (childhood cancer, senseless violence, etc.)?

Words are useless in such a situation and I always find empty platitudes to be more annoying than comforting. Life is brutal and indiscriminate in its brutality, and its about time we as a species, accepted this.
 
I have no doubt. But how have you found comfort in times of loss knowing that your existence and those of everyone you love is totally ephemeral? That the only place your loved ones will dwell upon their passing is in your memory but that the record of the lived experiences of their existence will disappear the moment you pass away...or suffer from some neurodegenerative disorder that causes you to lose your memories?

I can deal with reality. I'm of an age when sadly funerals come around more and more. The ones I attend are Humanist and celebrate the life of the person with no mention of pie in the sky when you die. My dear wife died years ago and I cherish the memories of our time together. Why would someone disappear from memory after they die? My late mother used to say that you are not really dead until the last person who knew you dies.
 
Words are useless in such a situation and I always find empty platitudes to be more annoying than comforting. Life is brutal and indiscriminate in its brutality, and its about time we as a species, accepted this.

I think our species has already accepted it. That is why most of the world remains religious and looks to the life beyond this veil of tears for ultimate hope.
 
Words are useless in such a situation and I always find empty platitudes to be more annoying than comforting. Life is brutal and indiscriminate in its brutality, and its about time we as a species, accepted this.

That reminds me of the story about the Buddha and the mustard seeds.
 
I think our species has already accepted it. That is why most of the world remains religious and looks to the life beyond this veil of tears for ultimate hope.

The problem for me is that different religions have different stories about life beyond the veil.
 
I think our species has already accepted it. That is why most of the world remains religious and looks to the life beyond this veil of tears for ultimate hope.

If we accepted the reality, then looking to primitive dogma is merely false comfort.
 
Isn't that just a plea to emotion?

Well certainly it is, Dragonfly. But it is nevertheless effective. The dread of one's own existential annihilation, or worse still, of the annihilation of your loved ones can spur the mind to wish for some form of metaphysical immortality.
 
Again, other than saying "sorry for your loss"

Why isn't that enough?

Why make up some fairy-tale story that's based on pure myth?

How people deal and cope with death/tragedy is a very personal dilemma, and generally speaking, what other people say to you in that time tends to go in one ear and out the other with little to no effect. Every person deals with it differently and either figures out their own way to carry on, or they don't.

I simply say, "I'm extremely sorry for your loss, and if there's anything I can do to help you please don't be afraid to ask me."

Why make up lunny nonsense about fluffy clouds, angels, and puppies and kittens and dead relatives and crap?
What makes you think the person who died didn't go straight to hell anyway? According to some here, that's where most will go.
 
Well certainly it is, Dragonfly. But it is nevertheless effective. The dread of one's own existential annihilation, or worse still, of the annihilation of your loved ones can spur the mind to wish for some form of metaphysical immortality.

Some people - ATHEISTS - don't need to fabricate lies and myths to get through the day.
 
If we accepted the reality, then looking to primitive dogma is merely false comfort.

False comfort as opposed to what? Because let us look at reality as it is: Humanity is doomed. We have perhaps, if we are lucky, another few thousand years on Planet Earth before we go extinct and our fossilized bones are perhaps found by another interstellar civilization that muses over our ashes. Or, more likely, the empty skies look down upon as as the stars wink out one by one as the heat death of the universe approaches, and our sun expands and atomizes this planet.

There is false comfort. And then there is no comfort.
 
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Some people - ATHEISTS - don't need to fabricate lies and myths to get through the day.

Certain atheists do. Others do not. Not every atheist becomes Bertrand Russell. Some start looking for hope in Dialectical Materialism, or racial pseudoscience to find something bigger than themselves to believe in that will outlast them.
 
Why make up lunny nonsense about fluffy clouds, angels, and puppies and kittens and dead relatives and crap?
What makes you think the person who died didn't go straight to hell anyway? According to some here, that's where most will go.

Well, that presumes that the person saying it is knowingly making it up out of whole cloth.
 
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