As with most people, I'd expect an atheist convention to consists of evil looking, red eyed, slime oozing creatures of the night dressed all in black.
Not rightwing appearing, God fearing, Baptist looking, republican type folks with children, all dressed in their Sunday best.
And everyone as polite as (no pun) hell.
Good looking adults all of them, charming children, extremely handsome men, and women.
Truly an above average spiffy looking group, if ever there were such.
...
WHAT do atheists talk about in their gatherings?
Isn't a gathering of atheists like a religion in itself?
If one were an atheists, a non-believer, shouldn't one requirement be that they not gather...?
...
I never realized people, that do not believe in something, must group and gather to proclaim their belief in that nonbelief of believing.
(Something like that???)
But... they sure dress damn spiffy I must say.
And I'd easily trade an afternoon locked in a room with your typical kids,
to be locked in a room with the kids of the atheist parent.
And I bet after encountering these well behaved children, so would you!!!
I am an Atheist. There. I said. I am out. <cringe>
Sportage, your post was illuminating, to say the least. I never realized how alien we must be to the rest !
But then, there's a reason to it : most atheists don't 'proclaim' their atheism (unless they have a book to write ) because we think
(a) it's not anybody else's business
(b) it's not a big deal, because it's so logical
(c) religion, even talking about it, can cause big rifts among best of friends; and if some of friends knew
why I was an atheist they'd feel insulted :whiste:
But I can assure you this : there are far more atheists in your world than you can imagine. They are just hidden - not because they fear prosecution (though that might be true - not many celebrities, particularly politicians, confess to be atheists) - but because they don't want to put down theists... If you ask around nicely, you'll find a bunch in your own circle.
Before you google, try and guess how many (and which) celebrities are atheists. You'd be surprised. And many of them are so much more lucid than me in talking about this that I could state my beliefs just by quoting them. One for example goes something like this (not an exact quote) : "Does God exist? For some people, yes - I hope so, for their sake. They need the peace of mind this belief provides" (I'm sure your googling will tell who said
that)
As for your other comments : logically, atheists become so, not because their parents told them to be, or because of some other societal force. They are so because they gave it a lot of thought, and found theism wanting. This process itself eliminates the lunatic fringe (that you half expected), and almost guarantees a thinking, logical, reasonable person. (Don't crucify me now, I did say
almost).
I don't say religious people cannot be all that, but religion does attract the nutcases.
Btw, my 12-year old daughter seems to take to religion - she prays to god
religiously every night. She knows my beliefs.
As for what we talk about - well, you know for sure what we
don't talk about!
Yeah, you can't "convert to the religion of atheism" any more than you can ask your hair stylist to dye your hair bald. ^_^
That is one of the funniest take on atheism I've ever heard. I'm gonna use it a lot, thanks!
Yeah it's funny isn't it?
Only in religion is not believing also a religion, and only in religion is the burden of proof on people who claim something DOESN'T exist.
It's like someone believing a sasquatch is real because we can't give 100% definitive (to them) proof it isn't.
Spot On! I find it so difficult to reconcile with this idea that I don't bring it up at all - because there's no explaining it.