Christ Centered Gamer

no clue to the exact numbers, but i bet its up in the millions. i hope they learn the truth

Almost definite that it is more than 10% (from personal experience), could possibly be as high as 30%.

Honestly, I found this article a bit irritating. A few comments...

The article does acknowledge the poll data gathering methodology's shortcomings, which is commendable. The problem is that it trusts the conclusion anyway, and even suggests that, if the polls are inaccurate, it's that the results under-represent the number of atheists. So... what is my takeaway supposed to be from this? It's like they're saying 'here are some flawed polls that suggest that there's a lot of atheists, but we're gonna just decide that there's a bunch MORE than that based on nothing but our own intuition.'

How scientific.

Other issues I'd like to comment on:

"“There’s a lot of atheists in the closet,” Gervais says. “And ... if they knew there are lots of people just like them out there, that could potentially promote more tolerance.” "

Nonsense. Maybe if you're living in a rural midwest town where everybody goes to the same 3 churches... then MAYBE. The thing is, we're living in a time where calling yourself an Atheist is pretty fashionable. It lets you count yourself as one of the 'enlightened' and 'scientific thinking' people of modern times. (Remember, the media tells us that religious belief and belief in science can't coexist... which is utter nonsense of course, but that's the narrative they're selling.) I even know a few people who call themselves atheists even though they really aren't because it gains them more acceptance in their preferred social circles. Keep in mind that in our culture, there's a drummed up war between Christians and LGBTQ people. At least, that's how popular media likes to portray it. Calling yourself an atheist lets you pass the cultural litmus tests.

"Study after study has shown that most people (even other atheists) believe atheists are less moral."

Well, yeah. Of course. Taken as individuals, there's no way to know whether any particular atheist is more or less moral than any particular religious believer. That said, it's a simple fact that Atheism as a belief category doesn't have any built-in moral values, behavioral mores or standards of personal conduct, whereas most religions do.

In my personal view, genuine atheists are more rare than you might think. Many of the people who call themselves atheists really do believe in God deep down, but claim otherwise either because they want to fit in with the groups they've chosen to associate with or they have some personal anger where God is concerned and call themselves atheists as a form of rebellion. I know a few people like this, and it's comically obvious.

ArcticFox wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2017 1:50 pm
In my personal view, genuine atheists are more rare than you might think. Many of the people who call themselves atheists really do believe in God deep down, but claim otherwise either because they want to fit in with the groups they've chosen to associate with or they have some personal anger where God is concerned and call themselves atheists as a form of rebellion. I know a few people like this, and it's comically obvious.

Indeed. The second category are actually Antitheists, rather than Atheists, and contain the loud group who are just plain angry. Yet, as the old argument goes, how can one be angry at something/someone that you believe does not exist? And then there's a lengthy argument about believers vs. God and where the problem is and yadda yadda yadda and it's not worth fighting (nor are we called to such things anyway).

If you take a look scripturally, this same cycle has happened plenty of times before within the very people of God. God blessed Israel, Israel got comfy and full of pride, Israel abandoned God, Israel failed big time, Israel came crawling back to a loving and forgiving God. And so on, as if this dance hadn't already been done before. If we're in one of those down cycles, so be it. Apparently it has to keep happening until we either "get it" or Jesus comes back and says "Okay, that's enough of this stuff." And in the meantime we get to be a light to a dark world, and that is a gift (and sometimes a bit of a burden alongside!) that we can be thankful for.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/blackwhite ... ght-think/

CARZ

We need strong Christian community and shrinking government to decrease atheism in the US. They don't need facts, they need to be shown what being a Christian means/ looks like.

I think that there are more atheists than there were a few years ago. When I was in high school there were a lot of atheists my senior year. A lot of times my atheist friends just wanted to be listened to. Some of them have serious problems that they're dealing with and it's a really great opportunity to be a friend to them and show them the love of Christ by listening.

In the past few years, I've gradually left all of my mainly frequented websites, which were all overwhelmingly populated with atheists. I can't say how many there are in the real world, but I can say that you can find them heavily across the internet. The anti-Christian sentiment in all of those communities is one of the driving reasons why I eventually stopped visiting them.

DandiestBerry68 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2018 11:19 pm We need strong Christian community and shrinking government to decrease atheism in the US. They don't need facts, they need to be shown what being a Christian means/ looks like.

I agree with what you say mostly, but I fundamentally disagree that atheists don't need facts. Truth is at the very basis of God's Word. Truth is crucial in showing the unbeliever what Christ's sacrifice for us means, and in what it means to be a Christian.

Also, I have seen that in our modern culture there is heavy pressure for intellectual permission for belief, which can certainly play a role in the spiritual/emotional state of the unbeliever. We should incorporate strong intellectual foundation for the faith in our witnessing to atheists. Christianity was once known a respected institute of intellectual thought, though many seem unaware of this.

Just as well, I know getting facts and good reasoning has helped me tremendously in my own faith.