Trying to clarify things in my own mind. You may have noticed that, some people seem to think that atheists/agnostics, are the prefect targets, when they want to pedal woo and pseudo-gods. And you have probably been on the receiving end. There could be a lot of reasons its done, but there is, I think, at least one common theme, which I hope you may recognize as well.
The motivation seems to come in three parts.
First, the belief that, if you have no theist god, then you need a god substitute. ( Hardly proved ? )
Secondly, that only one special, or at least, a very few related ideas, are up to the task. ( Limited vision ?)
And thirdly, that you can not find substitutes for yourself, or yours are not good enough. Needing them of course, to give you their ready made and perfect answer. ( Preaching ? )
Does this chime with your own experiences, or am I mistaken and misreading these people? Are there other reasons ?
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9 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.If you merely glance at me you will wisely take your blandishments elsewhere....unless, i suppose, suicidal.
annewimsey500
Level 7
Feb 9, 2024
1
I am suicidal and even I don't know that I'd fuck with you. 
@ChestRockfield because there is an easy way and a hard way to do Anything......right?
Literally as you were posting this a patient was "blessing" everyone. Another nurse came to me and told me to go over and get mine. I simply shook my head no. When she asked why not, I told her I didn't believe in any of that nonsense. She walked away telling me she was "going to work on me".
ChestRockfield
Level 8
Feb 9, 2024
1
No…I can’t say have experience of being subjected to any of the above. It’s been a long time since my atheist views have been challenged by anyone..nor have I been targeted for conversion…it’s been decades probably.
Marionville
Level 10
Feb 8, 2024
5
No, it was not really, a post about challenging your atheism, but rather seeing you as a buyer of woo, now that you are no longer in religion.
@Fernapple. I don’t think I’ve been targeted by those peddling pseudo science or mysticism either. If I’m right in thinking that’s what you mean.
@Marionville That is right, though you certainly have on here, unless you have them blocked.
@Fernapple But that’s not personal to me…that’s targeting the Agnostics group in general, I thought you meant me personally being targeted in my everyday offline life.
"It’s been a long time since my atheist views have been challenged by anyone..nor have I been targeted for conversion…it’s been decades probably."
Leaving aside that invite to join the locals at the church group encyclical where for want of a better expression you said ty but no, and on yer bike?
It has been a long time since anyone has tried to address my atheism and change my position. My issues have been more along the line of their judgment of atheists, just implications in their minds of consequences for atheists, and blaming of atheists for calamities.
Switchcraft
Level 7
Feb 8, 2024
3
No, sorry perhaps I should have been more plain. It was not really, a post about challenging your atheism, but rather people seeing you as a buyer of woo, now that you are no longer in religion
@Fernapple one college dormmate expressed pity for me, no sense of it since but am sure someone has just bit their tongue.
My run ins with the religious were very limited until I moved into this 55 and older low income apartment complex.
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religious nutter asked if I'm religious. I stated "You do know God did not create religion, right?" She gets that deer in the headlights look. I add, "Man cooked up religion for his own purposes." She just walked away.
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A Catholic and I got into chatting and we had great conversations about religion. It is possible to talk to a religious person and be friends, she ended up moving to Philly to be near her grandson. I miss her.
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every other religious person in the complex by now knows I am atheist and avoids me. Works for me.
The really fun times are when I state I am atheist and they back up and looked shocked, scared, etc. and leave in a rush. Like there is a bolt of lightening gonna strike any minute.
silverotter11
Level 9
Feb 8, 2024
5
In my view it is fear that motivates their rhetoric. Fear that Agnostic/Atheists may be right and they have wasted their lives, made choices, dedicated their time, and money to a cause that doesn't exist. Fear that everything they learned about having faith was a lie. They fear death and in my opinion that fear tells me they know deep within that a deity doesn't exist.
Their arguments and preaching is motivated by their need to validate their beliefs.
Betty
Level 8
Feb 8, 2024
5
The issue is the "Spirituality" term!
The bottom line is; usually they are just Lazy Ass Theists with a new label!
You know, doesn't matter what's the God substitute! Finally you can't sit in two chairs with one butt!
Diaco
Level 7
Feb 8, 2024
6
Yes spiritual is the most general generic term used to cover a wide variety of pseudo-gods. Probably in part because it is so vague as to be virtually meaningless, so you can never really be pinned down as to a meaning.
@Drank_Spear By pseudo-god, I mean a lot of spiritual practice, since I am using the term in a very general way. Perhaps metaphor is not your thing.
@Drank_Spear But I also used the word Woo first.
@Drank_Spear My dictionary gives for spiritual. " Anything to do with the life of the soul." I would say spiritual to me, means anything none material, which enhances feelings of wellbeing or gives value. Gods fall perfectly within those definitions, and pseudo - gods even more so.
Since I would define pseudo-god as anything which appears to give the same things as a god, but is not called a god, including enhancing spirituality. Or are you saying that fictional gods, whether taken literally or metaphorically are not, sometimes, supposed to enhance spirituality, by some people.
@Fernapple Spirituality means your life is empty and aimless enough to need something imaginary to give you a better feeling. who is just a loser with reality and seeks an alternative reality to make things look better!
worshiping is just part of the believer's practices, and spiritual seekers are too lazy for any manner. so yeah, a Minimal version of God-like is the answer for them!
@Drank_Spear Quite the opposite, when I use God or even pseudo-god as a synonym for some forms of spiritual, it is I who am using it as a verb.
@Drank_Spear I know.
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