AIBU to find this slightly odd behaviour from atheist friends?

[handsandknees]

I am an Evangelical Christian. People who know me well know that. I am happy to talk about it if people want to, but I don't go on about it.

Last Easter one of my friends posted a long status on facebook basically ranting against the Christian Easter message and saying that she didn't want or need Jesus to have died for her, thank you very much. Up to her what she writes of course, but the tone was very aggressive and I wondered why. I didn't comment but later she sent me a personal message asking me what I thought of her post.

Then this week another friend posted a photo on my wall which said "Proud to say I'm an atheist". I haven't responded but just wondering why would someone do this? I am not offended just find it a bit strange.

Why do you think they would do this?

Yes loopsinhoops I agree, that's what I meant when I said if you post on Facebook surely you are inviting discussion of some kind. You can't be justified in feeling upset if someone replies to you.

I don't think the word "atheist" suggests you are part of a group. Neither does nihilist, artist, or any of the other -ist words I can think of.

madmouse - I'm happy for your DS but you should really tone down your smugness re how "prayer cured" his eyes.

There are people on here who have lost their babies, despite many thousands praying for them over long periods of time.

Happy for your son, madmouse , but what about all the other people who have thousands praying for them? Does God just ignore them?

With regards to the father of your dd's friend, who posted on your timeline, this was undoubtedly prompted by something, or a number of things, possibly even things said by your dd to her friend.
I say this because my ds1 has a friend whose parents are evangelical Christians. It's not such an issue now, but in reception ds would get quite upset about some of the things his friend had told him, eg the fate awaiting the unbaptised, the evils of celebrating Halloween etc. I was quite irritated about this at the time because of the way it affected ds. Just a thought.

Not everyone who posts on facebook is inviting discussion. I know that when I rant on there about whatever it is I'm ranting about I generally just want lots of 'likes' and some of my friends to say that they agree with me.

I would never put a sarky comment about God in response to a status update about religion - that's just asking for trouble. Yes, what she wrote was funny to me on a personal level, but even though I have no faith myself I wouldn't ever ridicule a friend who does. I just scroll past the God/Allah/whatever stuff because it doesn't apply to me. I know that my friends are happy in their belief, just as I am happy in my lack of belief, and that's fine.

It's a fact that there are no gods, fairies, pixies or flying spaghetti monsters. That some people are daft enough to believe in such things doesn't make them exist.
And the harm that some people do in the name of their imaginary friends means that it's very important to stand up for rationality rather than allowing people to demand 'respect' for their silly delusions when they mean either privileged status (such as the right to discriminate against others or restrict their behaviour) or when they want to do serious harm.

Cornflowers I really don't know what prompted the photo but I honestly don't think my dd would have said anything to her friend. I am wondering if he sent it to lots of people? I might mention it next time I see him.

Oxfordbags I was not offended and will not make a big deal out of it with my friend. but I did not just find her post aggressive, it was very aggressively worded. That was not me being sensitive. With regard to thinking my own views are the truth, well, yes I do, but that's my belief. I could of course be totally wrong.

In answer to the question about prayer FromEsme I suggest you try reading the book by CS Lewis the problem of pain

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_of_Pain

Wallison I think I'm the only person who's defining it as a belief system - and I'm not a believer in anything, I'm essentially an apatheist (in so much as you can find a label for anything, which is also what Cogito... appears to be, and no being an ...ist doesn't define you as part of a group)

I just find it extremely grating that this "absence of belief" is so much more defensive and aggressive proletysing about their lack of belief than any of the evangelical individuals I know are.

You might be surprised about what your daughter is saying, handsandknees. My son gets quite a lot of 'input' from the Xtian children he knocks around with along the lines of being cast into hell if he doesn't believe in God, and none of their parents are the tub-thumping type - it's just kids with their black and white views I realise (but maybe this father doesn't realise it and thinks it's coming from you).

Interestingly, he has plenty of Muslim friends and a few who are Jehovah's Witnesses but none of them ever say anything to him about what he should/n't believe in.

I think posting the status was ok, targeting it at the OP, definitely not.

I don't think I have proselytised on this thread at all, Fred, and I would certainly never do so in real life, largely because I don't have anything to proselytise about, what with not having a belief system and all. I may get aggressive/defensive when people say to me that my lack of belief is a belief, but that is because as I said above it pre-supposes that there is a being that I am stubbornly choosing not to believe in and also because I don't like people telling me what I am thinking, particularly when I have explicitly explained what I am thinking.

Well I guess I don't know for sure, but I don't think that's what happened. The man's current partner is a Christian though, so I would have thought he was ok with different views.

HopeForever I don't really feel the need to read about the ways in which people fool themselves.

PuddleJumper, 'It is a fact to you'...really? Epistemological relativism all the way, is it?

HandsandKnees, itsounds like you handled it well.

fromesme then why ask the question!

Can't you just defriend him? I would at least delete the post - if I was a believer, I wouldn't like having that on my timeline.

I did delete the photo. But he's still a friend, that doesn't change.

Atheism is not a religion. Nor is it a belief system. It is the absence of belief. Trying to define it in religious terms is a favourite trick of a certain type of believer, who cannot imagine the issue framed in any other terms than doctrinal, because they cannot see beyond faith. Not all believers are like that, thankfully

I agree. I've had conversations with believers who have really struggled, even on an intellectual level, to understand atheism.

Holofernese thanks. Human relationships are the hardest thing to get right.

Some religious people think atheists have an empty hole in their heart where a god should be. Some atheists think religious people have a god shaped patch in their brain where rational thought should be.

Realistically, very few people are like this. The majority of atheists and religious people are quite nice, quite rational, quite kind and quite clever, and quite capable of getting along. Polarising the discussion very rarely helps anyone achieve understanding of anyone else. Black and white thinking is something I try to discourage my young children from, but at least they can't help it.

madmouse It is great that your son has better than predicted sight. However, it is not a logical conclusion to say that it was the power of prayer. It is more likely that the doctors (fallible humans!) were wrong.

Hope It was a rhetorical question. We could sit here and argue about why the googly-eyed fairy who lives in your attic allows bad stuff to happen and it would be as rational a conversation to me.