Why evangalizing atheists are such a PITA....

[Tommy_Carcetti]

They're arrogant. What they believe is right, and anything different is wrong.

They automatically assume anyone who believes in God is a bible-beating intolerant holy roller who wants to force a theocracy on this country.

They think any treatise or writing put out by Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens is proof positive that God doesn't exist.

Anything else?

:sarcasm: of course. I've got no problem with atheists. But still, some food for thought as to over-generalizing and stereotyping of people no matter what belief, or lack thereof, they may hold.

[AllegroRondo]

1. evangelizing of any sort is pretty bad

I prefer to let people work it out for themselves.

[raccoon]

17. Agree. However, I've never met evangelizing atheists in RL.

I've met MANY evangelizing fundie Christians.

[montanto]

2. Hmm

I've known plenty of atheists and never known one to be outspoken about it, and I've known plenty of B.A.C.'s and never known one not to be outspoken about it. Just sayin'

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. I guess you haven't been hanging out in Religion and Theology

:shrug:

I've never met any proselytizing atheists in real life, either, but some of the regulars in R&T are just plain nasty.

[Orrex]

4. That's a little different, though

That's a forum expressly intended for the airing of view re: Relgion and Theology.

But how many evangelizing atheists have ever knocked on your door and shoved their literature at you? And how many have campaigned for public office on a platform of "I'm the best atheist ever, and I want to return this country to its non-theistic roots?"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. As I said, I've never met a nasty one in real life

:-)

[Orrex]

9. Whoa! No fair editing while I'm replying!

You'll destroy the spacetime continuum, you reckless fool!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. Drat! You're onto my sinister plot!

:evilgrin:

Some villainess I turned out to be. :-(

Can't even disrupt the space-time continuum without someone noticing...

[ghostsofgiants]

33. It's not just in R&T though.

Any time an issue of religion comes up on DU (or pretty much anywhere on the internet, really) the loud, obnoxious atheists come out.

[Orrex]

34. Maybe, but for every loud, obnoxious atheist online

I'd wager that there are many hundreds of loud, obnoxious theists IRL. And the theists hold more sway over public policy, over the media, over school curricula, etc.

I'd guess that atheists, all too aware of their minority status, gain a certain assertiveness in the comparatively anonymous venue afforded by the internet.

But I have never EVER had an atheist come to my door with his literature in hand, nor does any organization of atheists put a bible in every motel room.

"Loud" and "obnoxious" are relative terms, in the end...

[montanto]

10. ok, yeah, never been there.

as an atheist it wouldn't occur to me to go. they must be baiters. i don't have any investment in that. live and let live.

[TZ]

22. As an atheist who hangs out in R+T

I can say those are in the minority. There are just as many nasty anti-atheist posters in that forum, btw...Or have you missed the numerous Mao, Stalin memes on the evils of atheists..:eyes:

But yes some can be. My dad is pretty obnoxious about his atheism. As bad as any on this board I would say.

[stuntcat]

5. evangelists are so askin for it

no matter what they wanna evangelize about, I VOMIT on them :puke: :puke: :puke:
(I've been known to be an environmental evangelist and I've been smacked right down for it.. learned me a lesson, don't bother telling people anything.)

[LaraMN]

6. Gawd! First we can't use snowflake babies as soup base,

now we can't evangelize, either.

I suppose the next thing to go will be the laser-sight Christian-atomizer glasses we've been working on.

We don't get to do ANYTHING fun.

[Pierre.Suave]

8. hey you

where you been?

[LaraMN]

15. I don't even know.

I'm off school, but I've been doing some work stuff. Other than that, I'm not really sure what I've been doing with myself. The days tend to sort of bleed together. I've been cleaning a lot.

:crazy:

[Pierre.Suave]

16. The never ending excitement in your life

Stuns me...

:P

How is D-Town today?

[LaraMN]

18. I live outside Duluth, but I presume it's similar to here.

Fairly balmy, pretty nice. I just salted my walkway with Kosher salt, because my husband took off with the bag of road salt in the back of his truck, and I don't want the mailman to break his neck.

:P

[Pierre.Suave]

23. That was nice of you.

[EstimatedProphet]

11. Isn't that true of evangelizing in general?

[GirlinContempt]

13. I think that might kind of be part of the point

[EstimatedProphet]

14. Thought so.

[DarkTirade]

19. ... actually that kinda sounds like my uncle. :P

All the other athiests I know are cool... but he's kinda whacky.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. I have strong beliefs and experiences and will usually only share them

when the subject comes up, or as it may relate to being of genuine potential assistance when someone states that they're suffering. Or when it's to analyze the tactics of negativity as we see it in what's left of politics. However, I believe most strongly that no single choice should be forced upon everyone, unless it's genuinely for our own protection from obvious harm.

Heck, I really only do about three things: Spirituality, politics, and music/music technology. I'm no fun to talk to, especially at the dinner table.

[Deep13]

26. No, thoughts must never be forced on people.

Therein we agree completely.

If someone is a Fundamentalist Christian, I will not agree with him or her and will think that person made the wrong choice. I will not respect the religion they follow. Nevertheless, I will never, ever support coercive interference in that belief.

[DarkTirade]

27. I could go for some music/music technology conversation... :P

You do any recording onto computers? I'm getting my little mini-studio set up here and I'm trying to figure out a way to lessen or hide the fan noise from my computer case when I'm doing microphone recording. I could just try and take out the noise afterward, but I don't want to have to do that. There's just no place in this house that's good for putting the computer to hide it away, even if I had cables long enough to do so. I'm thinking about seeing if I can find a fanless case or something maybe. :)

[Fire Walk With Me]

38. Be careful of fanless cases as the computer can overheat.

Your best bet is to extend your monitor and keyboard cables and to put the computer as far away from the mic as is possible, using the mic's rejection zone to further limit interference. If you can put up a blanket or an actual sound board between them, so much the better. If you can place the computer outside the door you'll do fine. And remember to roll off below 50Hz or so to avoid the rumble of air conditioners etc. Which of course show up alarmingly with a good microphone.

Check out the Mojave Audio(.com) mics. Great gear at great prices from a real pro.

I have a track ready to mix but am short an appropriate soundcard. I do dabble just a tiny, mostly for sillyness and fun.

Older stuff (I recommend the first two unless you like purposely uncontrolled, atonal assembled-via-edits sound design). All are done on modern and vintage analog modular synthesizers.

http://www.virb.com/peake

Do you have anything up?

[harmonicon]

41. I've been thinking again about getting a modular synth - do you find it to be a giant pain?

I almost never use any of my synths anymore anyway, but I sort of thought a modular would be fun, especially now that there are more diverse modules being made these days. However, I like my dave smith evolver, which is pretty damn close to being modular in it's structure - almost anything can modulate anything else (except that you can't sweep though wavetables with an lfo! how lame). By saying I 'like' it, still I haven't touched it in over a year. I've got a korg MS-10 which is semi-modular, and I like it a lot, but I rarely ever used the patch bay. I also found that it wasn't reliable to take on the road, or to any gig, for that matter, so it collected dust. I'd rather not spend a few grand on what would end up being a toy I'd just use off and on for a few months.

on that last track of yours there (I listened to little bits of them all), is that some sort of wave-table phoneme module? I know there are a few out there, but now I want this: http://www.shelaq.de/talking_synth/start_e.htm

[Fire Walk With Me]

48. Modulars are for those dedicated to experimentation.

Keep a monosynth and a "workstation" around to keep your productivity moving. Modulars can slow you down.

If you haven't used the patchbay in your MS10, you might not like modular synths. If you just want to patch up monosynth sounds, you'll miss out on most of what they're good for, in my opinion at least.

Those tracks are each done with minimal FX to be demos of the basic tone of a few different modulars, one per track. Impart/Tangent is Buchla 200, Motion of Smoke and Seance are Technosaurus Selector, and Sunday is entirely Moog Modular. One lowpass and an HP/LP to make the vowels.

If you haven't checked lately, your MS10 is worth over $500.00. Don't sell anything old without checking the marketplace.

[harmonicon]

39. don't even worry about it unless you're using nice mics to record acoustic instruments

I've made professional (in the sense that the recordings came out on record labels) recording vocals with an SM57 in a living room right next to a computer. I've also gone to the extent of using long mic and headphone cables and recording in a closet or another room that's a ways away. Most mics, even supposed omni directional mics (but don't use one of those if you're really concerned) are mostly going to just pick up what's right in front of them. You could also use a noise-gate while recording and set the noise floor high enough that the fan noise won't be in there. Eventually, when you're mixing and running what you've recorded through some compression and EQ to bring out that sound's best characteristics, the external noise will disappear. Maybe it's just a difference in philosophy, but I think you're better off spending your time and resources on making the music and less time on removing all of the warts from the recording. You and your eventual listeners will be happier for it.

[Guava Jelly]

21. My only problem with believers is their failure to realize

That God doesn't exist.
If they want to believe in superstitions it's ok with me.
Just don't use your beliefs to start wars,bash gays,or create laws that claim their brand of delusion is the only correct one.
K flame me now..

[yorgatron]

24. can i interest any of you in becoming agnostic?

no attendance or fees required,start today!

[Deep13]

25. I know this is ironic, but I am going to respond anyway.

Many people do believe this and some are on this board.

"They're arrogant. What they believe is right, and anything different is wrong."

Atheism really has nothing to do with belief. Choosing not to believe in god is qualitatively different than believing. There is no one test that can disprove positively the existence of god. What I do know, however, is that what is known about the universe and especially about life on Earth is sufficiently extensive that it precludes any sort of intervention by anything that can possibly be called god. Consequently, I can accurately say that I know for a fact that there is no god. Whether that is confidence or arrogance depends on who is listening.

"They automatically assume anyone who believes in God is a bible-beating intolerant holy roller who wants to force a theocracy on this country."

No we don't. Nevertheless, we do know that "mainstream" religion contains the seeds of extremism. We also know that without childhood indoctrination, hardly anyone would adhere to religious ideas. All I really want is not to have religion pushed down my throat. Consider this, what if atheists did the kinds of things churches now do? Tax-free buildings, illuminated message boards, street or door-to-door preaching, atheist schools, access to policy-makers, movies, record albums and TV shows with atheist themes? What would be the reaction from religious people? All I really want is to be left alone, but history is enough of a lesson to tell me that is not possible. Consequently, some amount of assertiveness is necessary.

"They think any treatise or writing put out by Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens is proof positive that God doesn't exist."
The evidence on which they rely is proof positive. It is not my fault people are unwilling to examine (much less accept) that evidence. What they really do, however, is make a case for atheists to 'come out' and advocate our perspective the way religious people feel free to do now.

[GirlinContempt]

29. "here is no one test that can disprove positively the existence of god.

What I do know, however, is that what is known about the universe and especially about life on Earth is sufficiently extensive that it precludes any sort of intervention by anything that can possibly be called god. Consequently, I can accurately say that I know for a fact that there is no god."


What?

[Deep13]

30. There is no test to disprove Santa Claus...

...but the fact that my parents bought me Xmas presents and that no one lives at the North Pole means that he cannot exist in any meaningful form.

[raccoon]

31. "All I really want is not to have religion pushed down my throat. "

I strongly agree.

[deepthought42]

28. *sigh* I never get to have fun...

;)

:evilgrin:

[Lyric]

32. I don't care what people believe and what they don't

I'm more of a Deist myself--I think there's something higher out there beyond the Universe, but it probably doesn't even know that we're here, much less concern itself with our personal lives.

That being said, believe what you want. I couldn't care less. The *only* religious people I despise are the ones who think that their beliefs should govern people who disagree--for example, religious anti-abortionists who want to put doctors and women in jail for abortion, religious anti-gays who oppose gay rights and gay marriage (not talking about church weddings here), religious misogynists who want to keep women as second-class citizens that are subservient to the males of society. You know--THAT type.

Religious people who keep their faith as a personal matter and don't have a problem keeping it out of politics and government, I have no problem at all with.

[stuntcat]

35. *I like em

:headbang:

[youthere]

36. Evangelizing ANYONEs are a PITA.

[Chovexani]

37. I wish fundie atheists and fundie monotheists would leave me the fuck alone

I don't care what you believe in or what you think science disproves. None of you are going to make me stop believing in my gods, especially by calling me a hellbound Jezebel or a delusional looney toon, so STFU with the trying to convert me.

Hint: to minority religionists, y'all just look like two sides of the same coin, the only difference is that one group is bigger and actually has the power and money to back up their asshattery.

[Heidi]

40. I've never met an evangelizing atheist, to be quite honest. (nt)

[Oeditpus Rex]

42. Now you've done it!

Sure as Dog made little green footballs, somebody's gonna knock on your door and hand you a pamphlet with "Pamphlet" on the front and nothing inside.

:scared:

[Heidi]

43. And the best part is,

I won't have to read _that_ pamphlet, either. :rofl: :spray:

[Oeditpus Rex]

44. I sent Christmas cards like that one year

Think it was 1980. A guy in the graphics department at my college made 'em. They were on plain white stock with "Christmas Card" on the front in a non-descript black font and nothing inside. :D

[Heidi]

45. !

You _evangelist_.

[Oeditpus Rex]

46. I used to evangelize on street corners while drunk on

:D

[CBHagman]

47. I actually think militant atheists are much like militant believers...

...of any sort. They're thinking in terms of absolutes, not possibilities and varying points of view.