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Lv 6

Atheists, what do you owe the religious man who came round to your thinking?

so logic and deduction has triumphed he's seen the shallowness of his previous world view and his literal belief is gone... unless we replace it or guide him are we not merely party poopers crapping on his parade? Surely we're the clever ones and just assuming that he'll, immediately, be as functional as a person who hasn't just had his world view radically altered is as ridiculous as being respectful to his disenfranchising religion would have been.

Do we have a moral duty to the new atheist?

12 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    This makes no sense. I deconverted without any direct help, and yet I was still able to find my own definitions of meaning through the use of this thing I have called a "brain". Atheism is simply the non-belief in gods. Everything else is left to the individual user. If they're capable enough to tackle the god question in the intelligent way that they do, you needn't hold their hand for anything else.

    That's the difference b/w atheism and theism. Theists HAVE to hold their new recruits' hands because the recruits themselves are constantly questioning these seeming (and realistically) preposterous claims.

  • ellie
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Well, it's not like such a person is joining an organization. If the person is worried about telling people about his or her atheism, or faces opposition from friends or family as a result of "coming out" as an atheist, we can certainly offer advice or a supportive word, and it's fun to discuss our different ideas and opinions about morality, philosophy, and belief, but the whole point of walking away from the dogma of religion is that it's up to you to find your own path.

    I walked away from people telling me what to think. Why would I support telling someone else what to think?

  • CC
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    I do not have a moral duty to replace his religion with another. With the realization that there are no god/s to watch and forgive our behavior, there comes a great responsibility for ones own behavior.

    It is up to each of us to behave appropriately or suffer the real life consequences of bad behavior. I do not need, nor do I wish to remove that responsibility from people and replace it with religion.

    Source(s): An atheist perspective.
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Of course not. Why should we? Because somebody stops believing in fairy tales is not a cause for celebration it is simply restoring the status quo. Atheist when born - religious believer - atheist. Full cycle.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Nothing, I'm not going to pat someone on the back for becoming a free thinker.

    The fact that he/she stepped away from a cult with its brainwashing should be satisfaction enough.

    The most you will get out of me is good for you.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    New atheist? You mean someone who has had his spirituality taken away or denied from him. The essence of creativity is imagination, and imagination does not rely on logic or reason. Without creativity there wpuld be nothing left for logic to reason out.

  • 1 decade ago

    Fortunately, the vast majority of humans have more in their lives than just their theistic beliefs, and the vast majority of us survive our conversion from theist to atheist just fine. We still have our emotions, human connections, hobbies, jobs, personalities, drives, goals, etc.

    ~Ex-fundie-xian; agnostic atheist

  • ?
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    I think that there are plenty of great books and articles that can help new atheists discover the joy of atheism.

  • 1 decade ago

    Yes. Watch funny atheist videos online like those of thunderf00t and nonstampcollector with him/her.

  • 1 decade ago

    There's no dogma associated with a lack of belief in deities, so there's nothing to teach.

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