Adopt an Atheist

I hope no one is offended by the title of the thread.. it was just the first thing I thought of.

I am pretty new to ATS. I've only been reading for a few months.

One of the main set of topics I like to follow are religious discussion. More times than none though, they really don't go anywhere. It seems ATS is very divided on the issue.

Anyway, it just made me think.. why are we divided? Why can't we look past those differences and find what does connect us.. and I assure you, there is always at least one thing that we can connect with another on.

I don't like fighting.. so please, none of that in here. I just wanted to try to start a little friendly way of overlooking our religious differences and finding what we can connect on.

Being a believer in a higher power as a Christian, I am dumbfounded by the hypocracy in today's world.. and the problems that so many followers of a loving.. tender God have caused for all of us.

Anyway, what I want us all to do is post in here what your beliefs are.. Christian.. Atheist.. Muslim.. meh, you get the point. WHATEVER you believe, post it here. Then I want you to pick a person out in the thread that doesn't share your belief. I want you to send that person a private message. Tell them a little about yourself, but NOTHING about your religion. Leave your beliefs or lack of beliefs in this thread.

After you make contact, I want you to start talking about things.. favorite things.. anything, as long as it isn't religion.

The purpose is simple.. to get us all, in these divided times, to reach out to those that are different to find common ground.

I hope I don't get ran out of ATS for this, but I love meeting new people.. especially people that are totally different than me. I always find after a little searching, that they can still be one of the best friends I have ever had. I would have never known that if I hadn't opened my mind.

Anyway.. my mind is a run on sentence at times, so if you are confused but a little interested, just let me know and I will try to slow myself down a little.

Please do not respond to someone elses post here. Send a private message and try to contact each other at least once a week.

Thanks.

great idea hope it works and i am a christian also and i will talk to anyone that wants me to

First of all, if anyone sends me a U2U as this OP suggests, I will not reply. So don't bother.

Thoreau1, what you are suggesting is what we already do here on the site. Only through our posts. I guarantee there are many people here who know me, know my beliefs and know that I'm an atheist. I don't need to be "adopted" as I have been befriended by so many great people here, both atheist and believer.

I am an atheist, but I totally accept and defend the right of others to their religion and religious beliefs. I don't have a problem with religion.

See, there. You learned something about me already.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Thank you for the reply BH (my initials, there you learned something about me). You are one of the posters that I always enjoy reading when I see you.

I guess I wasn't too clear about this, sorry. This is just a place to post if you want to participate.

reply to post by Thoreau1


I like this idea. To be honest, I don't think I know much about many here on ATS aside from their religious/political views. Getting to know a little bit more about the people that you'll be debating with is good because it puts a sort of human face on them, and you'll remember that you're actually talking to a person and not just words on the screen.

I'm a religious atheist- I am pretty sure Christianity's God and Jesus dont exist. Not they way they act.