format_quote Originally Posted by
Pygoscelis
Hi Bilalkid, I am an atheist. I read this board and post occasionally when I think an atheist viewpoint is needed. And it is needed here.
This is simply false. We don't choose what we believe. If you don't believe something, no matter what I offer as a reward, you are not going to be able to genuinely make yourself believe it. If I offered you ten million dollars, you still could not make yourself believe what you don't, say that you have an invisible space alien sitting on your shoulder that wants you to eat lemons. You can't be SURE that there isn't such an alien on your shoulder, since it would be invisible, but you see no reason to believe this is true. You probably think I just made it up (I did). No matter how I bribe you or threaten you to demand you believe in this space alien, you can't just make yourself believe, right? You could lie about it, sure, and pretend it is there, but you couldn't truly make yourself a believer. This is no different for an atheist when it comes to Gods. We see no reason be believe these beliefs to be true. We see them as myths; Zeus, Thor, Jehovah, Allah, etc, as non-existing as faeries, demons, ghosts, etc. And we see your holy books (Quran, Bible, Vedas, Egyptian book of the dead, Tao Te Ching, etc) as fables, not much different than the native american folk tales of "how the eagle got its wings" etc.
Short of providing real tangible evidence, beyond just your holy book, etc, you simply are not going to convince an atheist. And that is ok. Despite what you may have heard, we are not miserable hopeless sad people with nothing to live for, just because we don't believe in God. We live lives full of wonder and happiness and the meaning that we find it and give to it, just like you do. Most of us are happy to live and let live and won't attack your beliefs, and we would like that you not try to push your beliefs on us or tell us we must behave in accordance with the rules you have chosen for yourself to live by.
There is no need to give Dawah to atheists. Those of them that are curious about Islam, will seek it out and learn about it, and some of them will be convinced by it and convert. That will not be because of you dong dawah. That will be because of their own thinking. Many more will never become Muslims. And that is ok. Some Muslims will lose their faith and become atheist too (or Christians or Jews or HIndus, etc), and that's ok too. Live and let live, yes? Each their own path.
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