Does there need to be conflict?

[John Eric Tiessen]

After observing the religion debates unfold on this forum I have some serious questions. For example, I have noted that many people have gone into the religious debates and came out more or less angry and dissatisfied with the others in the discussion. Some people have been very strong on their opinions and have jumped on these debates like a dog on ham.

My question is, why does there need to be this huge conflict between religions, and between religions and atheism?

I ask this because the only reason I can see for conflicts is people don't really believe strongly in their position. If they did, they wouldn't get upset if someone contradicted them. That is they themselves are not 100% confident in their conclusions. For example, if someone came up to you and said, "the earth is flat." You would probably laugh. Clearly they are in the wrong, and you know that they are! They could believe fervently in their perspective but it wouldn't really bother you. On a deeper level then I am asking a secondary question:

Why are neither the nonreligious or religious confident in their faith?

[Donna Bella]

You are definitely right; a lot of the people who get into those kinds of debates don't believe in their position well enough to defend it in a way that doesn't seem overly defensive. But I also think it is because almost everyone has an eternal need to feel right or superior. I mean, some people will keep defending a argument that they know is wrong just because they want to keep defying the other person. It's just human nature in a lot of cases. But even so, I stay away from those debates because they can get pretty nasty.