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http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... on-rally/1

Man, these guys are all fired up! You would think they just had their counterpart to Pentecost. You gotta wonder what makes them want to convince others.

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Not all those who wander are lost.

Ps. 14:1 applies

many Christians were once them, tho perhaps less vocal -- others unknowingly worshipped Satan

Really? Your statement is dripping with irony.

-Dan.

No irony intended. Care to explain?

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Not all those who wander are lost.

In hindsight, "irony" may not have been the best word to use to convey my meaning, but my point is that many belief systems evangelize or proselytize to win converts, Christianity in particular. Why do you want to convince people to become Christians? Why do Mormons & JW go door-to-door? Why are the Freemasons recruiting on the radio? (a phenomenon I find completely hilarious, btw, given that they were long alleged to be a "secret" society)

Christians have been holding rallies and making converts for millenia; why should we be surprised if another competing religious (or anti-religious, if you prefer) group did the same thing? Given the way political discussions have gone, with regards to the ever-increasing amount of religiosity, it's no wonder that atheists feel like they're being muscled out and want to assert their right to have a voice in the process.

-Dan.

People who have Christ as lord and savior have eternal life. They can look foward to an eternity of joy and peace close to God, who loves them. People who do not have Christ can only look forward to a second death after physical death, and an eternity of separation from God.

Who wouldn't want to spread the good news of salvation when it can make the difference between believing and being saved or not believing and not being saved?

Atheists might believe that there is no god with just as much conviction as Christians believe what I've outlined above. But where do they get the urgency to go out and get people to share their belief in ... nothing?

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Not all those who wander are lost.

I'm skeptical that everyone who undertakes the task of evangelizing does so out of a true desire to spread the joy that is within their heart. For sure, some do, but I get the impression that there are often (at least for some people) at play elements of self-confirmation, self-congratulation, self-righteousness, and control. These are all traits of being human and I would expect atheists to be vulnerable to the same urges.

I would say that, within Christian circles, this seems to be considerably more prevalent in relation to promoting Christian moral beliefs through public policy than it is within straight evangelism.

And to flip things around a bit - many conservatives have expressed strong fears about the infiltration of Sharia law into American society. They are afraid of their country being taken over by religious forces with which they disagree. Atheists are expressing the same fear - the only difference is that the threat of Sharia is imaginary, while the threat ("threat" from the POV of an atheist) of Christianity heavily influencing public policy is very real. Can you blame them for getting riled up?

-Dan.

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Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!

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My perception of Christians is quite different from yours. Sure, Christians are human beings and susceptible to the foibles of humanity. But the vast majority of Christians that I know personally are deeply committed to the idea that Christ has commissioned all believers to spread the word so that more people will be saved. The Christians I deal with nowadays tend to be more on the conservative side, but their political beliefs are secondary to their Christian commitment.

There are some people who have no close Christian friends and who get their idea of what Christians are like from CNN, NPR, and sitcoms like GCB. I would expect such people to view Christians as borderline sociopaths. But I think that ongoing interaction with Christians would disabuse someone of those attitudes pretty quickly.

From the coverage I saw, the atheist rally was not particularly "anti conservative". I think devotees of Ayn Rand would have been welcome there.

While its premature to consider the encroachment of Sharia law on the US, it's not premature at all to ask whether Europe is about to become more Sharia firendly as the muslim population increases.

If I understand your view correctly, aheists worry most about Christianity because Christianity is more influential than any other religion, and that if Wicca were the primary religion, then Wiccans would be the primary enemy. Some atheists do think this way, but by no means all.

I think the fundamental conflict isn't even about whether there is or is not one God at all. I think the primary conflict is between a world view that I'll call "the fall of man", and one that I'll call "the ascent of man".

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Not all those who wander are lost.

Because once you believe the truth, you want to share it with people who haven't figured it out yet.

That said, this event was not about convincing or converting anyone. It was a rally to pull nonbelievers together as a community, encourage nonbelievers to come out of the closet, encourage them to work for secular causes, and yes to flex a little (very little) political muscle in Washington DC.

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"My object in all arguments is not to make any preconceived opinion of mine seem right, but merely to discover and establish the truth, whatever the truth may be."

-- HP Lovecraft, letter to Robert E. Howard 7/27-28/34

I like to keep up to date on what the New Atheist movement is doing. I recently read a book by Antony Flew, his book is entitled "There is no [no is scratched out] a God." This book documents his militancy as an atheist and his turning to Christianity. We as believers need to develop an apologetic to answer the atheists and those curious about atheism.

Gary,

Well said!

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Not all those who wander are lost.