What do you do to combat atheism?

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FiveLinden said:
I am sure there would be a higher probability of them becoming believers than a non-believer like me. I am fascinated by belief, and have no interest in changing others’ beliefs
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Don’t be too certain. I was exactly like you. Didn’t believe in any god and I was very okay with that. I hate it when people get all preachy. Then I received a calling from God and now I’ve been Catholic for a year. I’ll be praying for your conversion 😉
 
Dragons and gods are one thing, but “God” is in a different category. There is a lot of equivocation and confusion on that point, I think. When someone says, “I just believe in one less god than you,” that’s not referring to the same thing as “god.” Christians were initially called atheists because we also don’t believe in “the gods” (except perhaps as angels and demons with mythical additions); what we are discussing in these debates is the “God of the Philosophers” which is not an object of faith but of reasoning: supreme being, prime mover, necessary existent etc.
 
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Neithan said:
Dragons and gods are one thing, but “God” is in a different category. There is a lot of equivocation and confusion on that point, I think. When someone says, “I just believe in one less god than you,” that’s not referring to the same thing as “god.” Christians were initially called atheists because we also don’t believe in “the gods” (except perhaps as angels and demons with mythical additions); what we are discussing in these debates is the “God of the Philosophers” which is not an object of faith but of reasoning: supreme being, prime mover, necessary existent etc.
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You’re describing Shiva.
 
What else does your esteemed professor think is weird? Does he think killing babies is weird? Does he think state sanctioned assisting in suicides and injecting poison into people to kill them is weird? Does he think men who claim to be women and women who claim to be men is weird? Does he think people of the same sex marrying is weird?
 
The only way to meaningfully engage with an atheist is through a personal conversation face to face or at least voice to voice. Preferably, this conversation would occur with someone who was willing to have a meaningful and respectful dialogue as opposed to someone just wanting to win a debate.
 
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But constantly referring to God as a filthy name does not warrant hate speech? Hate speech is a violation of their forum rules.
 
In my own personal life, I try to learn everything I can about my own belief system so I can explain it, and to try to follow Jesus’ teaching so I’m not a stumbling block to other people.
 
A priest told me that. He said you cannot reason with them. While I’m not actively proselytizing, I am always interested in how they chose their position and why.
 
HumbleIOughtToBe said:
My philosophy professor would be against this. He would label Catholics as Defenders Of Weird Beliefs, thus we Catholics have to them defend it. Since we are “Defenders of Weird Beliefs”, we won’t be listened to.
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Then it sounds as if he isn’t intellectually honest (and I would argue, then, not fit to be a professor- feel free to mention such comments as this on any end of semester survey you’re asked to fill out).
 
It’s interesting you mention that.

I referred them to the Eucharistic miracle in Poland. If you aren’t familiar with it, about a year ago, a consecrated Host became bloody and red as it was discovered by a nun and priest. It was turned over to the local university’s medical college. Two, highly accredited physicians who also were appointed to the prestigious positions by the Polish government, came to the conclusion that it was viable heart tissue from a dying male roughly of thirty years of age.

You think that was convincing for them? I got the wildest replies to it:

The host was switched by the nun.
The host was switched by the priest.
The physicians faked their medical findings because they don’t want grant money taken away from the medical college
The nun murdered a man and took his heart tissue
The priest murdered a man and took his heart tissue
The testing by the physicians isn’t scientific enough
More than two physicians are needed to test the tissue
Why did the police not arrest the nun for murder?
Why did the police not arrest the priest for murder?
Eastern European medical labs are not run well and are dirty
The physicians placed the tissue there themselves
The Vatican paid off the media to run this as a miracle story
Poland is Catholic and the physicians will be biased

And…if it was viable heart tissue from a dying male in his thirty’s that was found in a Catholic Eucharist Host, that does not prove anything because spontaneous generation is real.
 
Neithan said:
The common ontological basis.
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So do you agree that in the case of the four gods we have mentioned, you believe in one and I believe in none. So I disbelieve in one more god than you do. Which was the original point.
 
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What do you do to combat atheism? Philosophy
My philosophy professor would be against this. He would label Catholics as Defenders Of Weird Beliefs, thus we Catholics have to them defend it. Since we are “Defenders of Weird Beliefs”, we won’t be listened to.
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Positivism isn’t weird and is wholly in line with Catholic teachings. God created the universe, we can’t tell God how he did it, we can just observe the results of it. No there is no scientific proof for atheism.

I personally prefer to see the existence of God as a truth and not as a fact, thus taking the question of whether God exists or not out of science and into philosophy.
 
And if the atheist doesn’t agree with your underlying metaphysical conceptions, how is it you propose to claim logic is on your side? If I reject Aristotlean and Thomist metaphysics, then we end up just talking past each other.
 
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