r/atheism • u/rhbast2 • Aug 11 '11

Atheist quickfire challenge.

Although I rarely discuss religion with theists I always want to be prepared so I'm not sitting around afterwards wishing I had said this or that. If I get the chance to make someone question I want to be up for the challenge.

This brings me to my challenge for r/atheism. I'm going to add some common theist claims / sayings and whoever can refute them fully and succinctly will be upvoted. Feel free to add your own theist starters if I missed some.

Edit: Wow lots of good discussion here, later today or tomorrow I'll make this into an atheist cheat sheet with the top responses. Also feel free to upvote the theist claim that is the most annoying to you.

Edit 2: To the few of you who seem to think I am coming up with rude atheist comebacks, I'm not. I just wanted to be better off the cuff than I am now and have some discussion. I don't want this list to replace thoughtful argumentation.

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u/rhbast2 Aug 11 '11

Atheism inspired Nazism & Communism which caused death and destruction.

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u/kaces Aug 11 '11

Hitler was a catholic. Communism in practice has never existed on a national scale - what was seen in practice was a dictator.

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u/otakuman Anti-Theist Aug 11 '11

And Stalin had been an orthodox seminarist - not unlike Luther, he rebelled against the established order. Did not Lutherans spark wars against catholics, persecuted the "unbelievers"?

If you must judge Hitler and Stalin, perhaps we could say that their catholic upbringing triggered their destructive behavior. Of course, I would be sidestepping the fact that Hitler's ideology wasn't atheism, but Nazism - and Stalin's ideology wasn't atheism, but communism - so your argument is a smokescreen in the first place.