Sorry Srijith, but that's silly. To me, that's like insisting that I read about unicorn, dragon, and leprechauns before deciding that they don't exist.

I only question the beliefs of people when those beliefs do harm to others such as when religion is used to justify racism, misogyny, bigotry, and violence.

Most Christians don't even seem to know much about what's in their own Bible, but instead rely on pastors, preachers, the internet, and other people (who also don't know much about the Bible).

Unless someone can provide empirical evidence that a god exists then the religious text based around that god can be dismissed as fiction.

Totally unnecessary, maybe they could read some of them for interest, shits and giggles and so on. But there is noting in the that an atheist (or anybody) needs to know.

Why should we especially when most people who call themselves Christian don't?

Do you think someone should read everything about fairies or uni horns before not believing in them?

I did read some religious books. They have some violent quotes. About killing children, about beating and killing wives, about " people should be dead of they don't follow this, other religions are inferior to theirs and they should kill them who doesn't follow their belief.

I think once you understand the nature of faith, the particular tenets of faith aren't especially important. I do think there's value in knowing what the religions preach and what people believe and value, but I don't think it's necessary in order to draw broad conclusions when you understand the basics and see the patterns. Otherwise nobody but theology experts could ever have an opinion, which I don't think should be a requirement.

Belief in anything supernatural is questionable in its own right. Therefor, any religion that includes the supernatural in it structure is open to question without the slightest knowledge of any of its minutiae. However, if one wants to argue elements of any religion, a certain amount of knowledge is desirable.

No, the point of a belief is that the burden of truth is on the believer not everyone else. They can try to convince using proof, you shouldn’t have to read their views to disprove or prove anything, it’s on them

It is not enough to simply hold a position. One must have the ability and courage to explain why, no matter what side you are on. Otherwise, how can anyone take your position seriously?

You don't have to know anything to ask questions. I think that's one of our failings. We don't ask enough questions.

Yes. All religious text. Not just the prominent religion in one's own region.

No. Atheism doesn’t require familiarity with dogma, but it’s best to know something about the thing you disagree with.

I believe reading the religious texts is useful if you're still making up your mind. You ask as an atheist so what good would it do? The Bible has a few good sayings just like Shakespeare does but what you have to wade through to get those tidbits just wouldn't be worth the effort.

"Know thy enemy better than you know thyself"?

I was raised being allowed to select my own belief systems. At the age of 10, I asked my parents to explain religion, rather than attempt to do so, they granted me the opportunity to explore as many faiths as I desired. I went to Churches, Synagogues, Temples etc with people of these religions, I heard from their own perspective why they hold these ideas. It was a very important part of my development as a critical thinker. How can you truly know light if you have never seen darkness? There is no harm in examining these belief systems and it can offer context and insight into others..

How could we? Usually, someone’s more than happy to cram that shit down our throats. It’s like all you gotta hear is ‘god said’ ... before you know it’s built on myth, and only good for starting fires or wiping butts...

It’s occasionally entertaining to question a street preacher, then watch him (why’s it almost always a ‘him?’ ) scramble through a ‘holy book’ to ‘find an answer.’ I have enjoyed listening to some serious back & forth between a pusher, and someone once having been pushed, someone who can instantly rebut with the ‘relevant tracts.’ It quickly gets down to interpretation ..then seriously off the rails ~

I think it is a good thing to have at least some knowledge of different religious beliefs; but, that is not necessary to simply not believe in a god, or other supernatural phenomena. One can question all beliefs that are based on the supernatural without any need to know the specifics about what someone believes.

I wouldn't say atheists must have read the bible to 'qualify' to talk about it - after all, many christians haven't read it either.

For all people, however, speaking from a position of knowledge is better than speaking from a position of ignorance.

No! It's just common sense.
Do you think religious people would be willing to listen to the arguments of athiests? No!

No.

I have in my own personal library for reference the following religious literature :-The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha (one of the best English translations) / The Five Gospels 'The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus' by the Jesus Seminar / The Book of Psalms ( from the Bible) / The Book of Proverbs (from the Bible) / the Tao Te Ching / The Upanishads / And I also have my mothers New Testament and Psalms which was given to her in 1939. It has notes and markings in it by her own handwriting. An interesting collection in an Atheists personal library.

No. No need whatsoever.

I have been an atheist since birth. I was brought up to question everything and not to take anything a face value. The idea of supernatural never made sense to me and the fairy tales we were told at primary school were just that - fairy stories. I loved the tales of Greek and Roman gods, Norse mythology and was fascinated at how ancient civilisations tried to rationalise their world and explain the unknown. Then was told that the Christian gos was different. How?

I don't need to know lots about different world religions to not believe in their deities. If they want me to believe in their deity, they need to present their argument and back it up with evidence. If their god has any effect on the world then there should be evidence of it. If it doesn't have an effect then it is indistinguishable from no god.

That is not to say that the tenets of their belief are harmful - until recently I thought that Buddhism was a harmless and benign religion and for the most part it is. It is not my job to prove their god does not exist, if they want me to believe, they have the burden of proof. I will only question their beliefs when they try to assert that they are true.

I am not sure. Still, one does need to understand an ideology to fully know why it is to be rejected.

When I became an adult, I knew Christianity wasn’t a good fit for me, but I just thought I needed to find the right religion. I started looking into other beliefs, but it doesn’t take long to find they’re BS if you were not raised believing in them from when you’re a child.

I did because I had no choice growing up with my mother. I had to go along with whatever she was into. It funny because while I went to church with her the church wasn't encouraging everyone to read the whole Bible. I just got curious and read the Bible, when I left the church, 3/4 times. I didn't this because it was boring and it didn't make a lot of sense. I finally realized that it was a controlling mechanism based on folklore. I then researched more in my college World History course and travelled to England, UK to study where religion originated from at the V&A Museum and the British Museum. It's all man-made. It was all made up. I told this to my mom and she just won't hear me.

So to answer your question, you're on the right track my friend. Religion is a fairytale built on lies tearing up this world.

I think everyone should know what's in the Bible to know how to properly debate a Christian or religious person. Education is power and you can always beat your opponent by knowing what they know AND more.