{"id":37725,"date":"2021-01-15T12:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T12:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/"},"modified":"2021-01-15T12:10:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T12:10:00","slug":"atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Atheist Angel Eduardo argues that keeping our beliefs to ourselves, while avoiding confrontation and promoting harmony, is actually harmful and immoral. Beliefs are the &ldquo;engines of our actions. They&rsquo;re foundational to how we think and behave, and they have consequences.&rdquo; He admits when atheists tell Christians and people of other religions to keep their beliefs to themselves, they don&rsquo;t truly grasp what they are asking:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>We rarely think about this from the perspective of the believer. For them, every encounter is of paramount importance. They are truly convinced that you are in danger and that they possess the keys to salvation. &#8230; Their proselytizing is a moral act, even when we consider it a nuisance. However misguided or wrong they might be, their actions are motivated by a desire to make our lives (and afterlives) better. &#8230; It&rsquo;s hard to imagine how the consciences of the ethically devout are burdened by every skeptic they&rsquo;ve failed to convert. &#8230; How much worse would that guilt be if they&rsquo;d instead been unwilling to try?<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Eduardo wants atheists and skeptics to be more understanding:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Imagine us atheists indifferently watching the religious waste their lives believing nonsense. What would it say about us if we didn&rsquo;t try to talk them out of it, to help them save what little time they have left on this mortal coil, because we&rsquo;ve chosen to keep our beliefs&mdash;or unbelief&mdash;to ourselves? Sure, we&rsquo;re being polite in the moment. We&rsquo;re exercising tolerance, in our own myopic way. We are living and letting live, but at what cost? Not one I&rsquo;m willing to pay.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>This fresh perspective should give Christians even more motivation for sharing our faith.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3450,3477,3478,3653,3672,3675,3731,3887,3897,4120,4491,4530,4633,4877,4974,4991,5029,5168,5284],"tax_ctp_topics":[381,396],"class_list":["post-37725","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-atheism","tax_ctp_tags-behavior","tax_ctp_tags-belief","tax_ctp_tags-compromise","tax_ctp_tags-confusion","tax_ctp_tags-consecration","tax_ctp_tags-danger","tax_ctp_tags-eternal-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-harmony","tax_ctp_tags-morality","tax_ctp_tags-need-for-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-silence","tax_ctp_tags-skeptic","tax_ctp_tags-speaking","tax_ctp_tags-tolerance","tax_ctp_tags-witnessing"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atheist Angel Eduardo argues that keeping our beliefs to ourselves, while avoiding confrontation and promoting harmony, is actually harmful and immoral. Beliefs are the &ldquo;engines of our actions. They&rsquo;re foundational to how we think and behave, and they have consequences.&rdquo; He admits when atheists tell Christians and people of other religions to keep their beliefs Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/\",\"name\":\"Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-15T12:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-15T12:10:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-says-keeping-your-beliefs-to-yourself-is-immoral\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Atheist Says Keeping Your Beliefs to Yourself Is Immoral - CT Pastors","og_description":"Atheist Angel Eduardo argues that keeping our beliefs to ourselves, while avoiding confrontation and promoting harmony, is actually harmful and immoral. 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