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Why do so many member of this site spend so much time talking about religion on this site? I am long, long past that, and do not want to waste any time, energy, emotion, or energy talking about religion. The only energy I will spend in relation to religion is in fighting religious demagogues attempt to co-mingle religion and politics to legislate religious dogma into law, and in defending those demagogues attempts to restrict our rights and freedoms.

Even when I was at the agnostic stage, I took the stance that I didn't know if a god existed, and I simply did not care. It no longer interested me.

wordywalt 9 Apr 5
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22 comments

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8

What @Amisja said...plus, many of us are among the religious in daily life, and venting helps. Folks may be here too who are not as far along this path, and they need context.
I’d say, scroll past those posts that don’t interest you/you don’t want to invest energy in.

7

I went for many, many years, - before the internet - feeling as though I was the only one of my kind. I am constantly bombarded with religion and the religious where I live, and rather enjoy hearing others vent about similar complaints and issues that have dogged me for decades. So glad there is this safe space to do so.

Deb57 Level 8 Apr 5, 2019

Methinks you nailed it

6

Religious idiots are placing all of us in peril. People die every day because of their archaic myths. It's essential we talk about religion. It's essential we speak.

6

You have a point there, however not everybody feels the same way as you do and not everybody is on the same page. Some people have a need to still talk about it and you don't have to read it, just scroll past it and go on to things that interest you. After all this is a site for agnostics and if they want they can talk about it as much as they feel like.

6

It's a diverse site with different needs, phases of growth - and perhaps it's not all about you.

grumy Level 5 Apr 5, 2019

I have never said that it is. My post was simply an observation and a question. It was not a judgment of those people. Similarly, I would ask that you not judge me.

@wordywalt interesting.

@grumy chuckle) An interesting response.

6

I think its alright Walt, my feeling is that many people experience a kind of PTSD following leaving their religious life, for others they are actually undercover, for one or two their life is potentially in danger. It is fine for them to share here. Having never been forced to believe anything, I have no experience of this but I feel its perfectly acceptable to listen isn't it? Thats why we are here

5

I find a lot of the other subjects equally repetitive and do not really interest me....but as there are plenty of others which do...then it’s not a problem. Just scroll past the religious posts is my advice. There are people at all stages of rejection of religion here, some may just need affirmation that they have made the correct decision.

4

i've been an atheist since my early teens. it does get rather boring.

3

I'm guilty of that, watching politics infringe on separation of church and state pulls me back in over and over again...

We are in total agreement on that.

3

Because religion is often very harmful.

3

I don't think that they do, if you get out into the groups you will find people posting about all sorts of things, and hardly a mention of religion. It is only on the front page that you find that, perhaps because that is the entry port for what is a mainly anti-theist community.

If you stand outside a pub by the menu board, you will find everyone talking about food and drink, but go inside and you will find them talking about everything.

I am generally opposed to the division of ourselves into self-reinforcing groups, as opposed to being a general community with free interchange of thoughts -- which is what I expected this site to be.If you look at the general postings, a lot so focus on issues with religion.

@wordywalt The very name of the site attracts people concerned with anti-religious matters. I'm still very interested in these things. But it's not all I read.
Why are you so adamant about it? Why don't you suggest other topics? Like what? Do you already know all there is to know about agnosticism and atheism? Are you a scholar on the subjects?
If so, why don't you give us the benefit of your scholarship? I'm sure are many of who would appreciate it.

@wordywalt A very few of the groups are self-reinforcing divisions, but not many, I joined ten and nearly all the members of all of them, take part fully in the whole of this site. The groups simply reflect the range of members interests. While if anything the main page is just a speciallist goup in itself which reflects the common thread that connects us, and is really only a introductory starter page; if you never leave that you will never understand this site.

@Storm1752 I am not adamant. I simply did not understand the persistence of the behavior. Thanks for the invitation, but I am long since past those issues. I put them to rest many years ago and do not wish to revisit them again.

@Storm1752 Let me just recommend three sources who talk about religion, how it works to control people, and its effects. The first is the writings of the German philosopher Luidwig Feuerbach. The second and most powerful source is Erich Fromm's book ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM. Fromm describes why so many people succumb to the lure of political and religious total system ideologies (ideologies which purport to include, explain and control everything), how those ideologies then gain control over people, and what the effects are.

The third is writings on existentialism. Existentialism takes the stance that there is no inherent meaning in the universe. It, and life simple exist. It is up to each and every one of us to construct our own meaning through what we think, believe, and do. And, we are personally responsible for our decisions and actions and their consequences, for in each case we could have chosen otherwise. . .

@wordywalt Couldn't agree more with your recommendations.

@Storm1752 THank you, I think that my last was to be adressed to both you and wordywalt but it seems both read it anyway.

3

Because 90% of Americans believe in god and we have to live with these people.

A new Pew Research Center survey of more than 4,700 U.S. adults finds that one-third of Americans say they do not believe in the God of the Bible, but that they do believe there is some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe. A slim majority of Americans (56%) say they believe in God “as described in the Bible.” And one-in-ten do not believe in any higher power or spiritual force.

In the U.S., belief in a deity is common even among the religiously unaffiliated – a group composed of those who identify themselves, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” and sometimes referred to, collectively, as religious “nones.” Indeed, nearly three-quarters of religious “nones” (72%) believe in a higher power of some kind, even if not in God as described in the Bible.

Source:

Yes, the majority do believe in a god, but I think the 90% figure is greatly overstating the percentage.

2

Because they need to vent. Are trying to find their way. Need advice on how to negotiate the subject without being murdered by fanatical family members, in order to save their soul.

2

You do know you don’t have to respond to religious conversations although many of the groups have religious themes you can pick something else. Also wondering if there is an atheist.com so there is no question at all if people are on the religion fence.

I do not respond to them. I am simply observing that the volume of such posts seems to be increasing significantly.

2

If something very common, distant and powerful had an inordinate amount of influence over your life, your culture, your family, your world, your society, your education, your behavior, your thoughts and conflicts, your sexuality, your country, your money, your planet, your children..........

yeah I'd think you'd might wanna talk about it.

twill Level 7 Apr 6, 2019

I worked through that over 40 years ago and left it behind. Even as a non-believer, if one is still preoccupied with talking about religion, it still has a hold on your thoughts.

@wordywalt Congratulations to you! You left religion young enough to not have too much of it imprinted on your psyche. You didn't have a lot of indoctrination to unravel yourself from. For many people here, the departure from church and from belief may be much more recent. And painful. I don't spend a lot of time thinking or talking about religion, either, but I can certainly understand that for other people there is still a lot to process, a lot to understand about how belief affected them, how it affects the people that are still in their lives, etc. As someone else said, if you find it uninteresting, scroll right on by. There are always going to be people who need to talk about religion and their departure from it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

2

I think you might find that the new members discuss religion almost exclusively which makes perfect sense, why wouldn’t they. It’s probably why they are here. My observation is that, generally, members from around Level six upwords engage in more diverse subjects with religion not quite so defined, if at all, in their opening discussion point.

2

I’m beyond bored with the subject, but I understand if others have interest.

1

Probably because some of us still have a lot of believers in our lives whether that be friends or family and I think it can be helpful to talk about with other people who share the same views on religion.

1

Ure F-ing kidding, right?!? I mean the site is called Agnostic.com - and in the About Us, the first sentence is "Agnostic.com is a non-profit and non-prophet community for people who are naturally good without any gods." The whole site is built around our disbelief.

I joined this site over a year and a half ago to communicate and share thoughts, ideas, questions, and philosopies with fellow non-believers, not to commiserate over the damage that religion has done to me and others. I left religion in my rear view mirror 40 years ago.

1

As long as we keep the public aware of tje dangers religion cause ( especially at an young age then we shall carry on the good fight

That is my entire focus.

0

...it may reflect a push back to what is
experienced in society at large by the
members.

0

The feed on this site (if you click the "A" ) is curated and tends to focus on the same talking points about "religion, lack of religion" day in and day out. If you choose to just browse the forums you will find lots of interesting discussions. Youll never be rid of those obsessed with religion, but they become part of the background noise.

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