To all the theists out there?

Question

I heard that there are theists that can't fathom how an atheist could not believe in God. Is this true?

On some level this makes sense to me because there are plenty of atheists who don't understand how theists can believe in God. (To all the atheists out there- is this idea true?)

I also was thinking about how important faith is to some theists. I thought the reason faith was so important because it can be hard to have faith, and not everyone can have it. I also thought that a little doubt here and there was an important part of faith, and that doubt sometimes makes your faith stronger.

Could someone explain this? I would really appreciate a serious answer.

Answer 1

Everyone is different. No one can know what it's like to be someone else..  They may think they do, but they don't really know.

Answer 2

I can intellectually understand the reasons why a person could be an atheist.

Just remember, atheism is also a "faith" in the sense that it is a belief system - the belief that there is no God. So I also understand where people are coming from when they say it takes more "faith" to be an atheist than a theist.

But I also think it takes more *courage* to be agnostic; an agnostic is just someone who is honest enough to admit what is true for ALL of us - that no matter what your beliefs are, you still do not *know.*

Answer 3

The problem with faith in terms of theists is that placing it in some unseen, unproven, virtually unknown entity (God) clearly makes no sense from the standpoint of practicality.  It's plain where faith belongs yet most if not all folks dispute the idea...Faith belongs to the self and to fellow beings...In other words placing faith in humanity as a whole makes far more sense than placing faith in some unseen, unproven, virtually unknown entity (God).  The other issue with religious folks that are fervent in their belief about God is the fact that many can and do say that their absolution for actions or lack there of lies/rests with he/she/it.  Unfortunately, that idea is totally incorrect...we all live in the present so our fellow beings try, judge, and convict us for our wrongdoings or inaction's (when we should have taken right action).  PEACE!

Answer 4

Im an atheist, and i can fathom what its like to be a theist, because i was one.

Answer 5

I'm an atheist and I can fathom people having religious.  The brain isn't rational and makes lots of cognitive biases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cog...  

The child brain especially is wired to believe what it's taught by its parents, regardless of how accurate the information is.  A child who didn't learn from his/her parents wouldn't have much of a chance of survival.

I don't think faith is important.  Plenty of people are raised without any religious faith, and they function just as well as everyone else.  Not only that, but they're better off than religious people in many situations because of their doubt.

A lot of religious people find faith to be important because that's how they were raised.  

____

Answer 6

"Faith is believing what you know ain't so." - Mark Twain.

Religious nuts can't comprehend how atheists could not believe in their god because they are stuck in their own little bubble.

Answer 7

I think this is basic psychology.  

Consider a news story about a mother who murdered her children...how many people...atheists and theists alike, simply can't fathom how a mother could do that?  When I look at what Hitler did (for example only), I can't fathom why so many people chose to follow him.  Well, actually, I can but only because I have a lot of years studying human behavior under my belt...I sure didn't understand it for years!  I think that it is quite natural for us to have a hard time understanding people who don't think or believe something that seems obvious to us.  I think it is a relatively rare talent/skill/whatever to be able to see that just because something is obvious to us doesn't mean it should or even could be obvious to everyone else.

Re: the latter, sounds like you have a pretty accurate perspective on faith...and again, a perspective not everyone has...theists and atheists alike.  I think that faith causes some people to bury their head in the sand...again, atheists and theists alike!  They simply refuse to consider anything that suggests a different perspective and are blissfully unaware of their own bias toward the object of their faith.  

Is this faith...not my call...but it isn't the faith you described.  The faith you described requires you to embrace threats to your faith (things that cause doubt) and then make the effort required to reconcile the conflict to your faith!...and I think this applies equally to those that put their faith in self and those that put their faith in God..  

Answer 8

Well, to many christians, not believing is impossible. They could never imagine themselves not believing because they know it's the"truth". So, for any others not to believe... they can't understand it.

However, this lack of understanding doesn't spread so deeply to those who believe different religions. They have that crutch in common.

Atheists don't have a crutch, or, at least, we don't have a religious crutch. To us, because we evaluated religion, and we thought it over, and we looked at the proof and world around us, it's hard to understand why anyone else can still believe in a religion. However, we do realize two facts: Some people aren't strong enough to live without a god, others are voluntarily blind to the world around them. Hence, they still believe.

We just can't do blind faith.

Answer 9

I think everyone has faith, just in different things. It doesn't have to be a positive. I have faith that McCain would continue Bush's policies for example. Everyone has predictions of what they think is to come. There is certainly no monopoly by the religious, nor is it of higher quality. I would argue that a reasoned faith has higher quality, but this concept is alien to the theists.

Answer 10

I can see it. Not really much to see though :/

Answer 11

I was a Christian for most of my life.

I think the conversation I had with a Christian sums it up. I explained how I still knew right from wrong even though I was an atheist; I just had to figure it out for myself, and I didn't have anyone to pray to when things got bad. She looked unnerved.

"That sounds so scary."

"Not really. More freeing. I was more scared when I had faith."

I didn't really want to damage her faith; I wanted to explain I was fine without. I think I managed it.