Americans distrust Atheists the most

I'm pretty sure being an atheist gets the death penalty in Saudi Arabia - while in America atheists apparently feel 'persecuted' just because 'not enough people like them' - and after endorsing spokespeople who publicly diss religious beliefs held by the majority, or seek to remove 'cross-shaped memorials' - how can you blame the public for having a negative opinion of them?

if that isn't a testimony to how juvenile this 'atheist persecution' mindset is, then I don't know what is.

 

I certainly don't feel persecuted. I just think it's stupid that so many Americans are afraid of those with non-religious beliefs. I could care less what church a politician goes to as long as they get the job done.

 

Atheists are too different from them, so they feel most uncomfortable about them. When you reject not only their bible, but the entire theistic model as well, well, you represent the thing they hate the most, because they tend to convince themselves that humanity is absolutely wretched and dangerous without the control of a god. I see it in their debate responses all the time - they think that without god, there is no morality..

 

When people think of 'atheists', probably the first people who come to mind would be someone like Dawkins or Hitchens, who are openly hostile toward religion - or one of the atheists like Silverman who spends his spare time putting up billboards bashing Christianity, or suing to have cross-shaped memorials taken down.

With spokespeople like that atheism is going to be viewed in a negative light by the mainstream, but instead of owning up to their own bigotry, militant atheists will just use it a an excuse to whine and feel persecuted.

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As a general rule that's true, yes. Less religion = less morality.

 

I'm a atheist, and I don't like most atheist.

 

And they don't much like you...

 

What about places with radical islamists? More religion doesn't equal morality.

 

Well there's a great standard to hold yourself to, vis-a-vis human rights... Saudi Arabia!

And I'm pretty much sure the chrisitans on this board are continually claiming that they are being oppressed... the LULZ is huge!

 

True. I hear more whining from the Christians in America than I see from the Atheists, even though they have their fair share of whining.

 

That's the only way I would have it.

 

I wouldn't vote for an atheist. Their moral foundation is built on swamp land. No stable foundation. Easily manipulated by external forces.

 

The bad reputation is undeserved. People do not need the carrot of an eternity in Heaven or the stick of an eternity in Hell to make them feel like it is good to strive for moral excellence, and there are people out there who do horrible things in spite of their faith. Perhaps part of the problem is that U.S. propaganda during the Cold War established a link between atheism and socialism as practiced by the Soviet Union while portraying capitalism and the values of mainstream American culture as indivisible from Christianity.

I already do, in a sense. It offends me when some atheists espouse anti-religious views and adopt aggressive, even hateful attitudes toward devout followers of systems of religious belief. Despite identifying as a secular humanist, earlier this year I chose to distance myself from a local secular humanist organization at least in part because of the antagonistic stance toward organized religion most of its members seemed to embrace. But why should there be guilt by association? I as an atheist should not be prejudged by the conduct of other atheists any more than should Christians, Jews, etc. by the conduct of some of their adherents.

There is more than one Bible in my household, a Quran, and a handful of books that have Buddhist themes or discuss Native American spirituality at length. I would not desecrate such things, and have respect for those whose beliefs differ from mine. The clashes over monuments with religious content on public lands - for me at least - has more to do with concern about the state being used as a tool to legitimize some belief systems over others.

Being atheist used to be something one could face significant workplace discrimination against over, and even in my lifetime it took until my third year in college to stop meeting peers convinced I was evil, Hell-bound, and un-American - things they informed me of, mind you - for not believing in a deity. I do not claim to be persecuted. Rather, a culmination of experiences bring me to believe Christianity is the dominant, de-facto religion of the United States, that minority perspectives on matters of the sacred and supernatural are to varying extents subjugated, and public policy reinforces that status quo. I don't want everyone to be atheist or even for the government to give the interests of atheists as much weight as those of Christians. I just want to live in an America where my beliefs are respected, deemed worthy of celebration alongside those of theists, and institutions of government are neutral on religion instead of picking sides.

For me at least, the "persecution mindset" you speak of comes from feeling like others see me as a second-class or inferior citizen due to me not being religiously, economically, and politically conformist enough. That in turn makes me a bit alienated from society and prone to being offended by symbolic displays that seem to (but at times in reality may not) nudge people in the direction of continuing to marginalize and look down on atheists. The results of the poll speak for themselves, and Unifier serves as an example of the prejudice. I personally know conservative Republicans and libertarians who are atheist. But that does not matter, apparently, because an atheist cannot be trusted no matter what else one knows about their characteristics and convictions as individuals, eh?

And here again we see it, unfortunately.

 

If you look at it from a certain angle, it's logical. If you have two candidates and all you know of them is one is an atheist and one is a theist, what does that tell you? A bigot might say that means one is more moral, or that one is smarter. A wise person would simply point out that one of them believes they'll have to pay the piper no matter what, the other believes that there will only be a consequence if he's caught.

But thats not exactly how the study phrased it. The truth is, we are untrusting of Atheists: and any fringe group (this isn't unique to Americans). Pre-election studies found that LESS than 40% would vote for a Mormon. Also, think about how people think about the words used. Do you think the positive response numbers for 'Christian' would have been so high if specific? What if it said Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Southern Baptist, Irish Catholic, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox? Ask people if they'd vote for a Christian, and then break it down by denomination, and you'll get very different responses.

 

It's not a knock on atheists but Americans. It just means there are still a lot of Americans who judge a person not by character, but by the skin color, religious belief, and gender.

 

Forgive him, Father, for he knows not what he writes.

 

Because most politicians already aren't?..lmfaooo

 

How would God feel about a phony hypocrite like yourself, using the word of God to advance anti-Jesus politics ??

Republicans are against welfare (feeding hungry children.)
Republicans are against giving health insurance, to the 45,000 Americans who die each year, from not having health insurance (Jesus healed the sick.)
Republicans despise all forms of nation building (Jesus loved everyone.)
Republicans hate South Americans, and in the south they hate blacks (you republicans even attack Michelle Obama.)
And republicans want the worlds strongest military (and republicans love war.)

The above republican actions go against the most basic of Christian beliefs. And you're using talk of God to manipulate Christians to join the republicans.

You republican anti-Jesus manipulators also live your lives to get supply side/trickle down tax cuts.
If only your anti-Jesus brains could understand the camel parable.

Republicans don't follow the Bible, they follow Fox news and Rush radio.
Jesus loved welfare, he healed the sick, he loved everyone, and he hated war.

 

I know Athiests who are so right wing they are almost out of bounds. Two are close friends actually. We rarely talk politics, but socially great guys.

 

so what your saying is 45% of Christians would not vote for a Atheist... that sounds like most conservatives

my guess would be 100% of those voted for Bush Jr twice - LOL

 

yeah, cause history has shown us just how "moral" theists can be...

 

Dawkins is hostile against religion as it contradicts everything that he studies and he rightfully is allowed to argue against it, Hitchen's is a journalist and he is meant to commentate on things he believes.

Silverman's billboards do not bash Christianity, they just state it's a MYTH (as the existence of a deity is UNPROVEN). I've seen christian billboards that call atheists anti-american (yes, because that's "definitely" not bashing atheists, definitely not hypocritical). Atheists sue to have cross-shaped memorials taken down because it is a religious symbol (a cross) that came from a building that was built with crosses, then made to be religious which violates the FIRST AMENDMENT, as it was displayed in PUBLIC land and paid by with TAXPAYER's dollars, I highly doubt 12 percent of the Atheist population would love to have their taxes paid onto things they don't believe in.

Tell that rule to the extremists like Westboro Baptists Chruch, the Taliban and Al Qaeda, organisations which base their lives on religion. Yep, your logic applies to them as well, these organisations represent your "version of morality" as apparently "less religion = less morality" so "More religion = more morality"

 

Dawkins and Hitchen's were always acting in an incredibly arrogant fashion.

 

Nonsense. Americans distrust extremists the most.

 

The same America that voted for Obozo?

Not really a big surprise.

 

Explain how they are arrogant? They're critical to organised religion. However, they are agnostics, however they believe the chances of a deity is very low, and the chance that it is the Christian god to nearly 0%. They don't pride their atheism.