Probably not what you are looking for, but what I've observed from the atheists, at least on this forum is that they are more comfortable keeping the discussion on highly abstract issues. Issues that can't really be resolved one way or the other, or at least kept on a bit of solid ground.
For example, does the belief in atheism necessitate the tabla rasa theory that we are born with a "blank slate"? Do the atheists believe that when we die, it all goes to black. You can always say, "we have no evidence.....', but I'd like to know if it's what they "believe". I ask that because there are many instances that would contradict these two assumptions. And sometimes when pressed, you will hear the atheist reply with, "there is so much we don't know about genetics", or "there is so much we don't know about how the brain works", which sounds a lot like, "God works in mysterious way". Now , the "God works in mysterious ways" doesn't do it for me either, but neither does the genetics things, or the brain thing, at least as it is often used here. Often just a lame default, I think,. So, that would be my take on the issue. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : Sometimes I look at the way that believers react to the word "atheist" -- spitting it out as if it were an epithet -- and find it a curious reaction. I mean, with the exception of a vocal few who make their livings by poking theists just to watch them react, I don't see most everyday atheists (and I know quite a few, living where I live) reacting to believers in the same fashion. Unless the believers are trying to sell the atheists their beliefs, that is. Then all bets are off and the atheists can react to the proselytizing believers however they wish. Anyway, it's like the believers perceive the atheists as a *threat*, and as if by believing what they do and <spit> daring to say it aloud or write it somewhere they are trying to *take* something from them. I don't get this. *What*, after all, could an atheist "take" from a believer in God? They've got all they need by believing that there is someone/something IN CHARGE, and that there is a PLAN for all of this, right? So why are they so antagonistic towards a few vocal atheists speaking their minds and suggesting that no one is in charge and that there is no plan? To help me understand this, I'm asking the believers in God here to speak up and tell me what the BENEFITS of such a belief are. Such that you would miss them and feel something had been taken from you if you no longer believed? What would such BENEFITS be? Surely you can name a few.
