aggressive atheism

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danharte

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I’m quite a think skinned guy, you have to be when you work in the construction industry.
Lately I’ve notice a worryingly sharp rise in what appears to be organised & extremely aggressive atheists attacks on fellow christians sharing scriptue passages & the like on Google+
Has anyone else noticed this troubling problem & what do you make of it all.
Some of what I’ve read has actually troubled me which is not such an easy thing to do
 
I’ve noticed that on a skeptics board that I frequent and it is frustrating because they know scripture way better than me. I’m not one to blame the devil for everything but you have to think about who would want to quote the word of God in an attempt to turn you away from God.

One thing that could help is to get a Catholic annotated Bible. We shouldn’t be troubled with an atheists interpretation of scripture (they tend to assume it’s all literally true and use that to argue against the faith). We should look at the Church’s interpretation. We do have a 2000 years head start on them.
 
I’ve definitely noticed more aggressive atheism. Check out some of the other non religious forums and you see it everywhere.
 
I think praying for the souls of the lost is the best thing we can do for them. Hopefully we can be a good and faithful servant to our Lord and be of use in such matters. God knows what will turn a person around and for some there is no such thing.

Christ have mercy.
 
Can’t say that I have…but then I don’t frequent other boards or overtly evangelize.

As for the term “aggressive atheism”, that can be somewhat subjective. Some Atheist might reasonably ask if other atheists have noticed more aggressive tactics from Christians…🤷
Some of this can be “in the eye of the beholder”.

Just a thought…

I would ask what drives such “aggressive” tactics…

Peace
James
 
danharte said:
I’m quite a think skinned guy, you have to be when you work in the construction industry.
Lately I’ve notice a worryingly sharp rise in what appears to be organised & extremely aggressive atheists attacks on fellow christians sharing scriptue passages & the like on Google+
Has anyone else noticed this troubling problem & what do you make of it all.
Some of what I’ve read has actually troubled me which is not such an easy thing to do
Click to expand...
We get enough of that right here, no sense in looking for trouble. I always put the ball in their court. You see, we don’t have to prove anything to them. We do not have to justify ourselves. We live by faith, which is perfectly reasonable because it is based on Divine Revelation. And Faith is the substance and proof for things unseen and hoped for. All we have to do is do as Christ did, " …You ask for signs. You have the prophets and do not believe, therefore no signs will be given…" The meaning of these words are clear. We preach Christ and leave the rest to God. Don’t let them bother you, they are nothing more that " flies " sent by the father of lies to discomfort you and test your faith.

And I always add, it is more reasonable to me to believe that the universe was caused by and is guided by the Intelligent Being we call God than to believe that dumb matter accounts for its own existence and organized order and movement. It makes more sense to have faith in Divine Revelation than to have faith in dumb matter.

Linus2nd
 
danharte said:
I’m quite a think skinned guy, you have to be when you work in the construction industry.
Lately I’ve notice a worryingly sharp rise in what appears to be organised & extremely aggressive atheists attacks on fellow christians sharing scriptue passages & the like on Google+
Has anyone else noticed this troubling problem & what do you make of it all.
Some of what I’ve read has actually troubled me which is not such an easy thing to do
Click to expand...
Yup, I’ve noticed a lot of this over the last few years, and was wondering what the eventual consequences of this might be in this thread: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=876965

There really seems to be a definite split between atheists/agnostics who do not believe, but are willing to “live and let live” when it comes to religious people, and those who actively lash out (so-called “evangelical athests”). I have friends who are atheists and the subject of religion doesn’t come up too much, because there is an understanding that we believe what we believe (I still pray for them and try to witness through my life, of course).

With the latter group, I’ve gotten a dose of venom and hate that is disturbing, which has included calls for being put in a mental asylum (for being “delusional” enough to believe in God), and death threats.

My take on it is that the militant/evangelical atheism is like a lot of other nasty movements in history (including some Christian ones). It’s just a vehicle for some hateful and nasty people to feel a sense of superiority or take out their own personal frustrations and anger via tearing other people down. In that, they’re no different from the French revolutionaries chopping the heads off of maids, or the Khmer Rouge tying bags over people’s heads because they wore glasses. It obviously hasn’t come to that point yet, but it seems like there is at least a potential for the same level of ideological violence.
 
I speak as a “lapsed atheist”. I think you are right to see that the rheteoric from non-believers has ramped up. Why they feel so threatened by belief is a mystery to me. They aren’t content to allow others to believe as they wish while they go off into their own corner and believe-or not believe-whatever they may wish. We have paled our own sense of freedom these days. Everyone seems to be allowed to believe whatever they want as long as it is the mainstream position.

I think part of what makes atheists “experts” in their field nowadays is the search engine. Do you every notice the only people I know that claim to have read the entire Bible cover to cover-several times usually-are atheists? I know that before I became a Christian, I had claimed to have read the Bible in discussions on websites. All I really had to do was search the internet and find a passage that fit my narrow viewpoint. I’d take something out of context, but I “knew” the passage word for word…or at least the part I cut and pasted.

I have read more of the Bible in the past year then I ever did as a non-believer. But I still have not read the whole book from beginning to end. Our “problem” as believers is that we have been given the gift of humility from the Holy Spirit. Atheists haven’t yet received the gift of humility. They still want to win and to “prove” their superior knowledge on the topic. Once we receive the gifts, though, the fight isn’t in us. It is a one-sided affair. The atheist isn’t fighting our belief, they are fighting their own. All we can really do is pray for their conversion. I do believe I was prayed for and it was answered. May the love and grace of Jesus Christ find the hearts of those that do not yet believe.
 
We should not be surprised that modern atheism has become increasingly militant and aggressive. Everyone knows that we live in a world that has come to loathe tradition and common sense. There has to be defiance of everything everywhere, or what’s the use of living? Atheism is the ultimate defiance of God, so why would anyone be surprised that people who defy God are willing to defy godly people? 🤷
 
danharte said:
I’m quite a think skinned guy, you have to be when you work in the construction industry.
Lately I’ve notice a worryingly sharp rise in what appears to be organised & extremely aggressive atheists attacks on fellow christians sharing scriptue passages & the like on Google+
Has anyone else noticed this troubling problem & what do you make of it all.
Some of what I’ve read has actually troubled me which is not such an easy thing to do
Click to expand...
Threads on atheism are expressly prohibited, so this thread might get locked down. If the word “atheist” were struct from the question then I think it would have been fine and not crossed into the prohibited boundaries.
 
Took2Long said:
The atheist isn’t fighting our belief, they are fighting their own.
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I’ve also come to believe this. The atheist knows he is on tenuous ground intellectually, so he must constantly reassure himself by bashing religion.
 
Atheism has been more aggressively presented over the years. For example: when I was a kid you could pray in school, now you can’t; there are those who want to remove any symbol of God, or language about God from signs on buildings, in our schools, in books --name it; and of course social media allows atheistic groups a whole range of ways to attack those who believe or to challenge us.

As one poster suggested, knowing your Bible well, is a good defense. Most atheists seems to use a fundamental approach in attacking the faith and take scripture out of context for their own benefit and as a weapon against believers. So the more you understand scripture the better you can defend the faith.

In my mind, they only have as much power as we let them have. And sometimes a harsh persecution will only strengthen the faithful, which is something we might all do well to remember. Christianity has always been under attack, and sometimes in very violent ways. Yet, when Christians are forced to go underground they seem to gain power and strength. Maybe a form of purification is what happens when we are attacked.

Pray often, study the Bible and stand your ground. None of us are free from possible persecution.
 
danharte said:
I’m quite a think skinned guy, you have to be when you work in the construction industry.
Lately I’ve notice a worryingly sharp rise in what appears to be organised & extremely aggressive atheists attacks on fellow christians sharing scriptue passages & the like on Google+
Has anyone else noticed this troubling problem & what do you make of it all.
Some of what I’ve read has actually troubled me which is not such an easy thing to do
Click to expand...
Yes and No…there are def aggressive atheists out there, but then there are aggressive Christians too. Some of the atheists are probably just responding to a bad experience with a so called Christian and visa versa. My husband used to be quite an aggressive atheist until he met me and realised not all Christians are “aggressive”. Some of us just want to live our faith as we understand it with no intention to evangelise. My husband actually knows the bible better than I do…he’s just chosen not to believe…that’s his journey/path to follow not mine. We still have discussions about faith/religion etc.

I know of other aggressive atheists…but I don’t engage them, there is no point. I just let God deal with them. If they approach with questions…I’ll respond but otherwise no.
 
Cricket2 said:
For example: when I was a kid you could pray in school, now you can’t;
Click to expand...
Students can still pray in school, as can faculty. What can’t be done is compelling some one to pray or having the faculty member lead or sponsor a prayer to the other students. The 4th Wednesday in September is See You At the Pole day when students gather at the schools’ flagpoles all across the USA to pray. If you (or any children that you may have) are of school age you may want to see if students at your school participate in this. This year it will be on the 24th.
 
danharte said:
I’m quite a think skinned guy, you have to be when you work in the construction industry.
Lately I’ve notice a worryingly sharp rise in what appears to be organised & extremely aggressive atheists attacks on fellow christians sharing scriptue passages & the like on Google+
Has anyone else noticed this troubling problem & what do you make of it all.
Some of what I’ve read has actually troubled me which is not such an easy thing to do
Click to expand...
Yes, atheists have become more aggressive in their beliefs. That is, they are now quite evangelistic in desiring to convince people of their faith. Christianity is a faith, but atheism is a faith as well. It is a belief that one chooses and it cannot be proven. Atheists do attempt to provide proofs, such as saying scientific discoveries disproves the existence of God, but of course science does no such thing. How can it?
 
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