It sounds like your implying the only point of religion is to have everyone be that religion, which its not. Why should Jews care what other people are? Jews don't even have the same concept of hell that most people do.
Please elaborate.... do you mean what are they trying to do if converting someone is against their religion, or what do they do if they aren't converting people? The answer to the second one would be living their lives....
I apologize, I should have stated that more clearly, but I assumed that I would not need to since the topic is debate.
Jews: If I am right, then what are you doing
when debating if not trying to convert people?
Is what I meant. Sorry for any misunderstandings.
1) Help others
How do you know that you are right? As an atheist, if you convert them, you might just be condemning them along with yourself. Ever heard of Pascal's Wager?
2) The truth matters
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality of happiness, and by no means a necessity of life."-George Bernard Shaw
Let's assume for a moment that atheists are right and God really doesn't exist. Even then, "the truth matters" is a personal opinion. If someone is happier believing in God, then who are you to burst their bubble? You may think that the truth is the most important thing in the universe, but you can't intrude on the happiness of others because you assume they believe the same thing. If someone is sadder being an atheist than they were being a Christian or Muslim or whatever they were, then you haven't helped them at all.
It's like if someone built a machine that could create any reality you wanted, but it was all fake. You could do whatever you wanted in it, anything could happen in it, whatever you wanted. Some people would use that machine and be happy for the rest of their lives, and some people would go on in their real lives, miserable by comparison. That's fine. But what's not fine is when people start yanking other people out of the machine without their permission.
If anyone really wanted the truth, they would be able to find it themselves.
There are many injustices that occur in the name of religion. There are laws we have to live under influenced by religion. We see religious people trying to stunt education in favor of religious doctrine. We see people of all ages being hurt because of such beliefs. This is just to name a little of why.
That's the fault of the people who are committing those injustices, not the fault of the religion itself. It's like destroying the Earth because of ecoterrorists who firebomb medical centers in its name, or destroying the United States because there are a few soldiers who killed Iraqi civilians. We need to address the people behind such things, not the beliefs they put in front of them. Because there are millions of people who follow their religion and are just fine, or even better off for it.
3) Religion often hinders Science in many different ways.
Currently?
I can think of the theory of evolution being taught in schools, but that's about it.
I actually think that problem is pretty simple. If you want to learn about God, go to a religious school. If you don't want to learn about God, buy a book and homeschool yourself or have your parents do it. School should not be sticking its nose in the religious debate, because there are atheists, Christians, and everyone in between paying taxes to fund the schools.
Basically it's a cheap and meaningless happiness. We can gain far more from the sober man then the drunk.
Happiness is happiness, and that's the only real goal in life. If someone is happier doing something and it doesn't hurt anybody else, then why would you want to stop them from doing it?
