What are the psychological reasons behind this phenomenon? Why is it so important to have somebody else believe in what i believe in? Any thoughts?

The first probelm is many people be follow, follow and them no  open eye. Secondly, people love to be part of the latest trend such as religion, fashion and music etc.

Because it give you a sense of security in numbers, and it helps reinforce your beliefs. It is ego soothing to be able to convince other to abandon their beliefs and follow yours. Then there is the sense of arrogance at being more knowledgeable and special than others.

wirinet:

Because it give you a sense of security in numbers, and it helps reinforce your beliefs. It is ego soothing to be able to convince other to abandon their beliefs and follow yours. Then there is the sense of arrogance at being more knowledgeable and special than others.

While i very much agree with this view, this does not apply only to religious folks alone, does it? Atheists also want their views to be taken onboard by others as well, don't they? It is a human trait all across the board, is it not?

Jenwitemi:

While i very much agree with this view, [size=15pt]this does not apply only to religious folks alone, does it? Atheists also want their views to be taken onboard by others as well, don't they? It is a human trait all across the board, is it not?[/size]

Thank God u know this

Jenwitemi:

While i very much agree with this view, this does not apply only to religious folks alone, does it? Atheists also want their views to be taken onboard by others as well, don't they? It is a human trait all across the board, is it not?

Well, it applies mainly to the Christian and Muslim religions, they are the ones that are ready to go to extremes to get others to believe what they believe. The Jews, Hindus and Buddhists are contented with their beliefs and post stringent conditions on becoming a believer. I have not known any Atheist who tries to impose his beliefs on others, most of the time a lot of them react to the aggressive approach of christians and muslims at trying to convert them.

wirinet:

Well, it applies mainly to the Christian and Muslim religions, they are the ones that are ready to go to extremes to get others to believe what they believe. The Jews, Hindus and Buddhists are contented with their beliefs and post stringent conditions on becoming a believer. I have not known any Atheist who tries to impose his beliefs on others, most of the time a lot of them react to the aggressive approach of christians and muslims at trying to convert them.

That's flat out false. Atheists on these boards are a prime example.

davidylan:

That's flat out false. [b]Atheists on these boards are a prime exampl[/b]e.

That might be because atheists on this board are merely reacting to the theists' overzealousness in spreading their beliefs as the only ones valid. A counterreaction to balance things out, so to speak.

davidylan:

That's flat out false. Atheists on these boards are a prime example.

Please show me an atheist post soliciting for converts to atheism. What will he promise converts, prosperity? heaven or any special privileges?. As as said most atheists are reactive to denigration and ridicule by religious people. Some get overly aggressive.

toba:

Thank God u know this

Of course, i do. But it is a trait that is much more emphasized in henotheists like christians and moslems, is it not?

Going outside this webboard for a moment, i can name one atheist fundermentalist who is also aggressively looking for converts. He goes by the name of, Richard Dawkins.

Jenwitemi:

Going outside this webboard for a moment, i can name one atheist fundermentalist who is also aggressively looking for converts. He goes by the name of, Richard Dawkins.

And so what? In my opinion he's only explaining his own worldview. He dosen't encourage people to go out knocking on peoples doors or handing out leaflets preach on buses like what christians do to get us to convert to thier own religion dose he?

manmustwac:

And so what? In my opinion he's only explaining his own worldview. He dosen't encourage people to go out knocking on peoples doors or handing out leaflets preach on buses like what christians do to get us to convert to thier own religion dose he?

Hes no different.He should have kept his belief to himself&not sell his books or advertise it like christians publicly display bibles

oh what a sweet day it will be when i will wake up in the morning without the noise of the street preacher waking me up from my sweet dreams.

and no knocking on my door heralding the coming of the house to house preachers.

peacefully napping on the bus without any religious chorus songs keeping me awake amidst shouts of repent for the day of the lord is coming.

and of course not bothering to catch the nine o clock network news to know whether another religious riot has started as a result of some people making some silly drawings.

such a day is what i long for. a real peaceful day it will be.

wirinet:

Because it give you a sense of security in numbers, and it helps reinforce your beliefs. It is ego soothing to be able to convince other to abandon their beliefs and follow yours. Then there is the sense of arrogance at being more knowledgeable and special than others.

Spot on!

@poster I think is sheer ignorance.

wirinet:

Because it give you a sense of security in numbers, and it helps reinforce your beliefs. It is ego soothing to be able to convince other to abandon their beliefs and follow yours. Then there is the sense of arrogance at being more knowledgeable and special than others.

Could there also be a fear factor playing in the background here as well? The fear that one might be backing the wrong horse? The insecurity of not being sure of one's mental position or ideological beliefs?

Jenwitemi:

Could there also be a fear factor playing in the background here as well? The fear that one might be backing the wrong horse? The insecurity of not being sure of one's mental position or ideological beliefs?

It is human to seek security in numbers, imposition of one's beliefs is a main vice we have been living with. It happens in the religious, political, intellectual domains - and even mundane areas like sports (arsenal vs Chelsea). People and societies go to war over imposition of beliefs, remember the cold war was mainly about a belief of capitalism vs communism.

wirinet:

Please show me an atheist post soliciting for converts to atheism.

Try these:

huxley2:

Looks like this is going well thus far. Half way thru the year, looks like we have had 3 or 4 new rationalists members to make the case for reason and rationalism.

huxley:

Hello NairaLanders,


At the start of this year, I implored you all to make the year of Atheist Activism or Rationality Activism. Now, the year is nearly over, I wonder how we did. Did you spread rationality in your community? Did you have some good debates with your friends and family?

Would be interesting to hear how the year went for you on the atheism/rationality front? So, please, tell your stories now!

What do the quotes above suggest?

wirinet:

Because it give you a sense of security in numbers, and it helps reinforce your beliefs. It is ego soothing to be able to convince other to abandon their beliefs and follow yours. Then there is the sense of arrogance at being more knowledgeable and special than others.

All the above ^^ are found both among theists and atheists.

Viaro, own own dear Aristotle, i commend you for raising to to challenge and presenting proof of atheist activism.

But you must agree that out of all the tens of atheist and thousands of atheist posts, only very few attempt to convert others. In fact majority discourages evangelism, it is my believe that a person believes according to his needs, understanding and exposure, and as the saying goes, you will have to seek ask before you can find.

Even though you will agree that Huxleys approach is an exception to the rule, he cannot be said to be impulsive and imposing in his approach. He advocates for the subtle approach. Not the aggressive and sometime violent approach employed by Christians and Muslims.

viaro:

All the above ^^ are found both among theists and atheists.

Of course the above applies to everybody to some extent, but even within the theists, the Christians and Muslims take it to the extreme. It is said to be part of every believer's duty to convince everybody he comes in contacts with.  That is why it sometimes get violent when a Muslim attempts to carry out such injunction on a Christian trying to do same.

viaro:

Try these:

What do the quotes above suggest
?

mr researcher. U have researched into the archives as usual

viaro:

All the above ^^ are found both among theists and atheists.

i wonder how the atheist would react to this revelation

@wirinet,

I see your point though; but I do not agree with the basis of your conclusions. People feel a need to seek some commonality in whatever they believe - whether they are theists or atheists, it matters very little whatever the number of such maybe. Either way, there are some in both atheism and theism who do not care about 'evangelizing/converting/proselytizing'; but we cannot say at the basic level, this need is mainly a matter more about Christianity or Islam. One may only draw that conclusion on the idea that atheists by contrast are smaller in numerical strength; but we know that there are many efforts today by atheists to push their own beliefs to the fore.

Perhaps, it may be said without much risk that it is particularly agnostics (not atheists or theists) who may not be perturbed about seeking 'converts' or pushing their 'beliefs'.

That "looney" Richard Dawkins is always preaching atheism at any opportunity he gets. I actually watched a programme on on discovery channel were he was preahing atheism to some school children under the guise of "evolution"

^^ hehe, I stand to be corrected on this one, but Dawkins does not represent the atheism of many atheists. I understand that quite a lot of other atheists themselves are not impressed by the likes of Dawkins and his band of 'new atheists'.

KunleOshob:

That "looney" Richard Dawkins is always preaching atheism at any opportunity he gets. I actually watched a programme on on discovery channel were he was preahing atheism to some school children under the guise of "evolution"

Why are you calling him a looney for expressing and spreading his worldviews and wanting converts? Is he not acting in the exact way the christians do with their aggressive evangelizing? Are you okay with others calling christians looneys just because they preach their own doctrine at others whenever they have the chance? Is to evangelize equals to being a "looney"?

It's a natural human tendency to always want others to see things from our own perspective, whether theist, atheist or even agnostic. And as someone mentioned earlier, it is not even restricted to religious matters alone, but spans across all issues that demand a level of conviction.

However, it cannot be denied that theists (Christians and Muslims particularly) constitute the most nuisance in this act of belief imposition. After all, they're simply carrying out the injuctions that their individual religions have clearly spelt out to them. The atheist that actively attempts to talk others out of their belief is only being human, an overzealous one, perhaps; just like the Chelsea fan trying to make the Man Utd fan believe that his team is the better one. But for the theist, it will probably be counted onto him as a sin if he fails to not understand that people cannot just always see things the same way. I guess that explains the NEED for them to always IMPOSE what they think is true on others. To the theist, it is an OBLIGATION. He just cannot afford to understand the fact that since all humans are unique in their own way, they can NEVER all see the same things in the same way. Funny enough, even within same religion, and worse, same sect in same religion, there's still a lot of overt and covert proselytizing. Shouldn't that tell us something?

@viaro
how did you know about Huxley trying to convert Christians to athiests when you've only been a member of nairaland since October 2009? I guess you know because of your encounters with your former i d Pilgrim1

manmustwac:

@viaro
how did you know about Huxley trying to convert Christians to athiests when you've only been a member of nairaland since October 2009? I guess you know because of your encounters with your former i d Pilgrim1

my thoughts exactly, trust pilgrim viaro, she will write a long exposition to wriggle her way out as usual, 

^^^ ;d ;d ;d

IDINRETE:

my thoughts exactly, trust pilgrim viaro, she will write a long exposition to wriggle her way out as usual, 

Is viaro a woman?

manmustwac:

@viaro
how did you know about Huxley trying to convert Christians to athiests when you've only been a member of nairaland since October 2009? I guess you know because of your encounters with your former i d Pilgrim1

The same research that made u to know viaro became a member 'only' in 2009, same research was done by viaro to expose huxleys atheism campaign.