Here are 9 questions atheists probably find insulting — and the answers

[phands]

I suspect that xtians will just ignore these, and carry on with the stupid......

[FONT=&quot]Asked of Hispanic-Americans: “Are you in this country legally?” Asked of gays and lesbians and bisexuals: “How do you have sex?” Asked of transgender people: “Have you had the surgery?” Asked of African Americans: “Can I touch your hair?”[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Every marginalized group has some question, or questions, that are routinely asked of them — and that drive them up a tree; questions that have insult or bigotry or dehumanization woven into the very asking. Sometimes the questions are asked sincerely, with sincere ignorance of the offensive assumptions behind them. And sometimes they are asked in a hostile, passive-aggressive, “I’m just asking questions” manner. But it’s still not okay to ask them. They’re not questions that open up genuine inquiry and discourse, they’re questions that close minds, much more than they open them. Even if that’s not the intention. And most people who care about bigotry and marginalization and social justice — or who just care about good manners — don’t ask them.
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Here are nine questions you shouldn’t ask atheists. I’m going to answer them, just this once, and then I’ll explain why you shouldn’t be asking them, and why so many atheists will get ticked off if you do.
[/FONT]

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/9-questions-atheists-probably-find-insulting-answers/

 

[steve_bank]

I suspect that xtians will just ignore these, and carry on with the stupid......

[FONT="]Asked of Hispanic-Americans: “Are you in this country legally?” Asked of gays and lesbians and bisexuals: “How do you have sex?” Asked of transgender people: “Have you had the surgery?” Asked of African Americans: “Can I touch your hair?”[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#505050][FONT="]Every marginalized group has some question, or questions, that are routinely asked of them — and that drive them up a tree; questions that have insult or bigotry or dehumanization woven into the very asking. Sometimes the questions are asked sincerely, with sincere ignorance of the offensive assumptions behind them. And sometimes they are asked in a hostile, passive-aggressive, “I’m just asking questions” manner. But it’s still not okay to ask them. They’re not questions that open up genuine inquiry and discourse, they’re questions that close minds, much more than they open them. Even if that’s not the intention. And most people who care about bigotry and marginalization and social justice — or who just care about good manners — don’t ask them.
[/FONT][FONT="]Here are nine questions you shouldn’t ask atheists. I’m going to answer them, just this once, and then I’ll explain why you shouldn’t be asking them, and why so many atheists will get ticked off if you do.
[/FONT]

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/9-questions-atheists-probably-find-insulting-answers/

This is a nonsense thread. Is there a point to it?

 

[Opoponax]

This is a nonsense thread. Is there a point to it?

Why is it nonsense?

Certainly, it's ground that's been well covered, but the article is relatively recent and just because you or I have personally worn those subjects out, it doesn't mean that others have.

I see this same type of article on Reddit where so many brand spankin' new atheists seem to flock, and it's helpful to them. It's why I don't visit that page except when I'm seriously trying to avoid getting work done. But that only means its of little value to me...

Or were you talking about Phands's lack of commentary?

 

[Keith&Co.]

Meh. There are some questions people are constantly asked ("You're a writer? Where do you get your ideas?") and some questions that shouldn't be asked ("You're a gay couple? Which one of your is the 'man,' you know?")

We had t-shirts made up when our twins were small.

Yes, they're twins.
No, they're not identical.
No, they don't run in my family.
No, we weren't on fertility drugs.
Yes, they're a handful.

...because I was so tired of having the same conversation over and over.

Most of the questions in the article, if I don't want to have that discussion, I don't tell people I'm an atheist.

 

[Lion IRC]

The article opens with a 'preachy' tee shirt that emphatically declares "There is no God"

And you wanna whine about the sceptical questions that sort of brute fact claim provokes?
LOL

 

[atrib]

The article opens with a 'preachy' tee shirt that emphatically declares "There is no God"

And you wanna whine about the sceptical questions that sort of brute fact claim provokes?
LOL

Would you whine about the skeptical questions a "There is no tooth fairy" t-shirt would provoke? There is no difference between the story of the tooth fairy and the stories of various gods; they are all works of fiction.

 

[ruby sparks]

I think it's a good thread and an interesting one. I think the 9 questions picked are a good representation of what they say they are, questions that are put to atheists by non-atheists. For most of them, I can see how and why non-atheists would put them, to what they see as 'the other side', the side they must have trouble getting their heads around. I guess the questions illustrate how atheism must look to non-atheists. And as someone who wasn't always an atheist, I might have asked a few of them myself, or at least been curious, before I was an atheist (though I was only ever undecided, never a theist). I'm sure there could be drawn up a list of questions in the other direction too.

 

[abaddon]

There's nothing wrong in the questions themselves.

The problem is they're not often asked as questions. Often theists turn them into a preachy "brute fact claim" and "emphatically declares" them as true. Over and over and over.

That's what turns applying the general principle "just stick to the argument" into something irrational -- in other words, just keep answering over and over and over. If you're dealing with a troll who won't or can't learn because he's not interested in asking forthright questions and learning from the answers, but is just trying to "take a dig" at atheists... then the argument has been made to that theist and probably a dozen or more times. So, at some point, sticking with the argument with such a person becomes irrational. You could ignore a person like that, but not if you have a strong intellectual curiosity about the phenomenon. "Why does the theist do that?" is a legitimate question.

So the questions mentioned in the OP's link are fine, they cannot rightly give offense in and of themselves. The petulant, persistent snubbing of the answers to them is what rightly gives offense. And that behavior is as good a question for psychological curiosity as any other human behavior. I'd like to ask and seek answers to these questions: Why do some theists hear the atheist's answers to these questions, and then ask them again and again? Why do some theists hear the atheist's answers to their assertions that we're immoral without God, et al, and just keep repeating them?

 

[Keith&Co.]

: Why do some theists hear the atheist's answers to these questions, and then ask them again and again? Why do some theists hear the atheist's answers to their assertions that we're immoral without God, et al, and just keep repeating them?

Because it's a trick question.
They have already concluded the answer IAW their agenda, so it doesn't really matter what the reply is. The Answer will be something like, 'i always ask atheists this question and they never have an answer' , or 'they never have a good answer' , or 'and only one in a hundred is honest enough to say they don't have an answer.'

 

[Politesse]

There's nothing wrong in the questions themselves.

The problem is they're not often asked as questions. Often theists turn them into a preachy "brute fact claim" and "emphatically declares" them as true. Over and over and over.

Aye. I get the "gay questions" a lot these days, and aside from being incredibly impolite in their invasiveness, queries about my sex life would only elicit feigned horror and more bullshit if I were so foolish as to actually answer any of them. I don't object to conversation, you know, not even about my personal life. I'm a pretty open book. Hell, it would actually be kind of nice to openly talk about my sexuality in public, it is a particular privilege often denied to people like me. They just... aren't real questions. At all.

 

[southernhybrid]

Nobody has ever asked me any of those questions, and I doubt I would care if they did. The only thing I've been asked is, "how did you get from Christian to atheist". I like being asked that because it gives me a chance to explain my interesting journey to atheism to them. If someone is rude, I usually just roll my eyes or snap right back at them.

Now that I'm retired and spend most of my play time with other atheists, there is no chance for theists to ask me anything. I do have a few Christian friends who know I'm an atheist, but religious subjects aren't something that we ever discuss. And, it might be fun if some clueless theist did ask me some of those stupid questions.

 

[Jobar]

I suppose I've been asked all of those nine, in one form or another, over the course of my life. And not just in online forums like this one- though that has been the usual venue for such questions.

I particularly liked Christina's answer to the one about atheists being angry.

The people asking this question never seem to notice just how much atheist anger is directed, not at harm done to atheists, but at harm done to believers. A huge amount of our anger about religion is aimed at the oppression and brutality and misery created by religion, not in the lives of atheists, but in the lives of believers. Our anger about religion comes from compassion, from a sense of justice, from a vivid awareness of terrible damage being done in the world and a driving motivation to do something about it. Atheists aren’t angry because there’s something wrong with us. Atheists are angry because there’s something right with us. And it is messed-up beyond recognition to treat one of our greatest strengths, one of our most powerful motivating forces and one of the clearest signs of our decency, as a sign that we’re flawed or broken.

 

[phands]

I suppose I've been asked all of those nine, in one form or another, over the course of my life. And not just in online forums like this one- though that has been the usual venue for such questions.

I particularly liked Christina's answer to the one about atheists being angry.

The people asking this question never seem to notice just how much atheist anger is directed, not at harm done to atheists, but at harm done to believers. A huge amount of our anger about religion is aimed at the oppression and brutality and misery created by religion, not in the lives of atheists, but in the lives of believers. Our anger about religion comes from compassion, from a sense of justice, from a vivid awareness of terrible damage being done in the world and a driving motivation to do something about it. Atheists aren’t angry because there’s something wrong with us. Atheists are angry because there’s something right with us. And it is messed-up beyond recognition to treat one of our greatest strengths, one of our most powerful motivating forces and one of the clearest signs of our decency, as a sign that we’re flawed or broken.

Yeah...anger is appropriate at times, and is always better than apathy. Apathy is what lets extremists flourish.

 

[lpetrich]

The questions:

1: “How can you be moral without believing in God?”

2: “How do you have any meaning in your life?” Sometimes asked as, “Don’t you feel sad or hopeless?” Or even, “If you don’t believe in God or heaven, why don’t you just kill yourself?”

3: “Doesn’t it take just as much/even more faith to be an atheist as it does to be a believer?”

4: “Isn’t atheism just a religion?”

5: “What’s the point of atheist groups? How can you have a community and a movement for something you don’t believe in?”

6: “Why do you hate God?” Or, “Aren’t you just angry at God?”

7: “But have you [read the Bible or some other holy book; heard about some supposed miracle; heard my story about my personal religious experience]?”

8: “What if you’re wrong?” Sometimes asked as, “Doesn’t it make logical sense to believe in God? If you believe and you’re wrong, nothing terrible happens, but if you don’t believe and you’re wrong, you could go to Hell!”

9: “Why are you atheists so angry?”

A good selection of them, I must say.

 

[Underseer]

The article opens with a 'preachy' tee shirt that emphatically declares "There is no God"

And you wanna whine about the sceptical questions that sort of brute fact claim provokes?
LOL

I notice that yet again, you carefully avoid addressing any actual arguments in the article.

It's almost as if you have no valid counterarguments or rebuttals to offer, and hope that complaining about the tone will count as a counterargument.

 

[Underseer]

Nobody has ever asked me any of those questions, and I doubt I would care if they did. The only thing I've been asked is, "how did you get from Christian to atheist". I like being asked that because it gives me a chance to explain my interesting journey to atheism to them. If someone is rude, I usually just roll my eyes or snap right back at them.

Now that I'm retired and spend most of my play time with other atheists, there is no chance for theists to ask me anything. I do have a few Christian friends who know I'm an atheist, but religious subjects aren't something that we ever discuss. And, it might be fun if some clueless theist did ask me some of those stupid questions.

I get asked questions like that all the time.

Moreover, those questions are based on things Christians say to each other even when we're not around. The misconceptions need to be dealt with.

 

[Keith&Co.]

It's almost as if you have no valid counterarguments or rebuttals to offer, and hope that complaining about the tone will count as a counterargument.

He's probably hoping that someone will scream at him that it's not a t-shirt, then he can act all superior about addressing niggling little details rather than the meat of the post.
With a straight face, too!

 

[Underseer]

Christians: Why are atheists so angry?

Also Christians:

 

[Underseer]

Christians: Why are atheists so angry?
Also Christians:



Christians: Why are atheists so angry?
Also Christians:

 

[Politesse]

Atheists: If you think your minority liberal tradition should have a say in how Christianity is or is not defined, you are committing a logical fallacy.

Also atheists: *Cherry-picking literally the worst 70 Christians, as well as a few stray Odinists and atheists, and acting as though they are representative of the entire Christian faith*