Question for religious people regarding Atheists.

Hello.

I know that many religious people are frequently offended by Atheists. My question for these people is, are you offended because Atheists criticize religion, or because they don't believe in God? Or is it both?

 

Most often what I see seems to be religious people offended because they hold the belief that they should be able to dictate the freedoms and actions of others.

They seem to think they are the moral authority on the freedoms of all others.

 

Well I doubt they see it that way.

 

I am an atheist and therefore not bias against you, but that's a very general, very stereotypical statement. Some of the pious are like that, but to generalize in such a manner is wrong and flat out inaccurate.

 

Atheists do not offend me at all. I have never had an atheist try to force their beliefs on me. I cannot say the same about Christians.

 

I'm an atheist now, but I was raised Catholic. I think some (definitely not all) religious people don't like atheists because they like to wield power that their religion gives them. I've seen a Catholic look down on other Catholics for things like not donating enough money or not going to church enough and be judgmental. With me they would get no feeling of superiority because I genuinely don't care. I essentially don't exist to people like that. This isn't everyone, but I've seen this type of behavior in several churchgoers.

 

I don't care. I find the atheists a just people too.

 

I think it's necessary to say that a lot of the vitriol you may find between religious and non-religious people may come from the tone in which they talk about each other. If both sides are being moronic about the other, insulting, flaming, being dishonest, it only incites more disagreement and more argument and insult.

There are both atheists and religious folks who feel the need to attack the other side, for whatever reason. Sometimes it will be in response to an attack they saw, others it will be to validate their own beliefs.

Either way, I think the disagreements between atheists and religious folks end up being more about how they are disagreeing than what they are disagreeing about.

 

I agree. It is the tone and approach to dialog that gets both sides agitated and squabbling. I'm very spiritual, not so much religious anymore, but ...I don't have a problem with religion. My grandfather was an atheist and he and I were able to talk and never argue because he wasn't pushy about his beliefs or didn't feel the need to disparage or make fun of my beliefs. I thought all atheists were like him and didn't have any issues with it for a long time because I thought it was just another belief system.

On the Internet? Woah, nellie they can be serious dicks. They love, love making fun of people's beliefs and have no self-censor button, citing the Dark Ages as why this is acceptable behavior.

Religious people...same thing...if they are overly religious it can be taxing that their interpretation should always reign supreme.

 

I believe the mature atheists can be reasonable. The ones that have bothered me in past times are the ones who cannot add to a debate. They resort to calling God a fairytale and yet they have avatars of other Gods.

If they don't believe in God, I always suspect something happened to them or something turned them off about Christianity. It also could be that when someone's ego is too big, they are closed to a belief in a higher power. They want facts even if there belief in science and evolution aren't facts. That's what mystifies me.

 

I find that Atheists (not all perhaps), enjoy mocking Christians and mocking what Christians view as holy. When I was Atheist...I mocked as well. So of course...such mockery is offensive.

But I have many relatives that are atheists....and as long as they aren't mocking and laughing at my faith...they don't offend me and I love them very much.

I might add....that to be offended is to be free.

 

The only atheists that bug me are the ones that whine about silly things like God being on the dollar or if some kid wants to make a religious statement at their graduation. Those people annoy me to no end because the sit around criticize religions for imposing their views on everyone around them..........and then they do the exact same thing with stupid lawsuits.

As far as being atheist I just think they are stupid. If I die and I am wrong and there is no God then that is the end of it, I won't know any better will I? However, if an atheist dies and he is wrong, depending on which God it ends up being they either have to start life over as a dog and get neutered or spend along time in some purgatory or just go straight to hell for all of eternity. None of those sound very promising.

 

Atheist are often as dogmatic as christians about religious belief. In other words there is a certain proscribed way to be religious, which is ignorant in the atheist view, and anyone with a different spiritual path is simply seen as dishonest or foolish.

Simple atheism is non-confrontational, it is the personal choice to not believe in god.

Anti-theism is confrontational, it is the belief that religion is dangerous and destructive. The belief in god and an afterlife trivializes our current existence and situation, why should we worry about the environment, social injustice and so on when there is an all powerful god who will take care of everything in the end? To an anti-theist the belief in god is equal to abdicating personal responsibility.

Obviously devout christians are offended by this philosophy.

Other theist who see god not as a judge or parental figure, but as part of the nature of reality, are dismissed by anti-theist because it is impossible nail them down with their own entrenched dogma. This is also at least slightly offensive.

Peace.

 

It was that well-known atheist and activist Madeline O'Hara who tried to push through a bill to have "In GOD We Trust" taken off our legal tender and off of other traditional institutions like on our court house walls for example. Atheists can do whatever they like from Satan's marching orders so long as it doesn't affect we Constitutional/American loving traditionalists. Atheists tend to be leftists as well, and need I say more than to the fact that America's foreign enemies have always been leftists, socialists, commies, progressives and marxists etc, who to a person have atheist ideals.

 

I don't think it is fair to generalize, and to make assumption about all atheists.

There are nice, polite atheists who generally keep their opinions to themselves.

There are rude, militant atheists who love to post anti-religious rants on web forums, and seem to spew hatred from every orifice.
And everything in between.

My favorite atheists are the ones who post nude or semi-nude photos of themselves on the internet.

I'm just saying.....

 

You do realize that a professed belief in God as you said would not really be a belief in God. If you are a Christian just to hedge your bet when you die then you are NOT a real Christian. I laugh when Christians pose this question because it is contrary to the entire Christian Dogma. The Bible specifically says: That God would prefer someone to be either hot or cold for him than lukewarm. If you are lukewarm God would spew you out of his mouth.

 

So Christians can try and have Congress put it in but Atheists can't try and have it removed? COngress in the 1950's removed the FOunders national motto "E Plurbis Unum" and replaced it with "In God We Trust" in order to placate the Fundamentalists in the face of the Communist scare of the 50's. I would rather go back to our Founder's original motto. However, seeing as many people, believers and non-believers alike have replaced their god with the new god, money, it might be fitting. "In God We Trust"="in Money We Trust"

 

I have no problems with people believing what ever they wish to believe in. I do not go around trying to make people Atheists so I do not want them to try to to convert me. I will also point out that you can't try to convince me that God is real because that is contrary to the issue of FAITH that one needs in order to believe. There ARE no facts that can be shown to PROVE the existance of any god. So....as long as they leave me alone and do not criticize my non-belief, I will say nothing other than "you're a Christian? Good for you."

 

Good one. Rep on that. I have a relative that is really into apologetics and he uses "Pascals Wager" all the time. What a joke.

So you want someone to believe just because if they dont and they are wrong they may go to hell.

 

People who try to convice others using this method either do not really know the doctrines of their own faith or they do not care and are trying to mislead people into joining their faith (which is also contrary to Christian Dogma).

 

The entire premise of the bible is based on carrot/stick. God doesn't say to believe in him and his son just because he created everything. He says if you want eternal salvation and don't want to be stuck in the DMV waiting lobby for eternity then you have to believe in them. There is no altruism in the bible that I have ever seen everything is based on punishment/reward. God isn't stupid he knows what makes us tick and know what it takes to get people to pay attention. He knew it would be pointless to just say "Everyone love your neighbor" and all the other rules unless there was some incentive involved. It fits perfectly with Christianity. If people would actually take a closer look at it instead just the utterly uninformed crap posted on websites they might learn something. By the way this doesn't just apply to Christians it applies to other religions as well. Buddhists do what they do so that they can become enlightened and turn into something better than themselves. That sounds like a carrot to me. They also have the concept of karma as well. Do good things and you will be reward, do bad things and you will be punished.

 

I chose other because this small group of people dictate to the rest of us what we should or shouldn't do...no mention of Halloween in schools or Christmas, but Kwanza can be mentioned. No Christmas tree in town squares because they don't want it and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...it never stops and never will until we are a Godless world.

 

That is why I love being an Atheist. There is no doom of (*)(*)(*)(*)ation hanging over my head. When I do something good it is only because it is the right thing to do not because some higher power tells me it is the right thing to do.

 

Actually those holidays are mentioned, and Christmas trees appears in town squares.

Do you have anything else to add?

 

As a Christian I am not offended by the fact that other people choose to adhere to a different faith or to no faith at all. I think these people are mistaken and wrong-headed, but that is their free choice to make.