Does anyone else pity/feel sorry for atheists

[rosenherman]

and other non-believers.

Some seem to be so angry at believers or seeing us as stupid or uneducated.

Where does that come from?

 

[Dark_Lite]

and other non-believers.

Some seem to be so angry at believers or seeing us as stupid or uneducated.

Where does that come from?

A lot of it probably comes from deeply fundamentalist sects that discriminate, believe in illogical things, or even sometimes act to the point of violence because of their beliefs. Are they representative of all Christians? No. But they're what the media tends to broadcast. It's sort of like how many people think all Muslims are terrorists. Not true, but the perception is created by the media and a lack of research the peoples' part.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

and other non-believers.

Some seem to be so angry at believers or seeing us as stupid or uneducated.

Where does that come from?

LLOJ "warily" subscribes ehehe..

From what I understand, a lot of atheists, Jews, Muslims etc are ex-Christians.....and they only have to come to the GT board and perhaps get a sense of some "confusion" within Christianity....

A true atheist abhors religion/deists of any kind, though I get the sense they are more against the religion of Islam than Judaism and Christianity...Just my observations from debating all of those in the past.....
There are also religions that despise other religions and saying they are the True Religion.........

http://www.christianforums.com/t7404930/
Baha'is and Islam

 

[racer]

and other non-believers.

Some seem to be so angry at believers or seeing us as stupid or uneducated.

Where does that come from?

Whether or not we pity them, it is a huge mistake to approach them with pity. They will balk and close their ears to anything you have to say. Like you've observed, they see us as their intellectually lessers, beneath them intellectually. If you show pity, they will scoff and blow you off.

It is sad tho.

 

[Dark_Lite]

A true atheist abhors religion/deists of any kind

And why is that?

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

And why is that?

Why not ask them yourself

 

[squint]

and other non-believers.

Some seem to be so angry at believers or seeing us as stupid or uneducated.

Where does that come from?

The fact of the matter is that nearly EVERY 'christian' LOOKS upon all of these people and either in MIND or OPENLY condemns them to (burn alive forever or whatever other damnation they bring) and those people SEE THAT FACT. They also see the RIPE HYPOCRISY of believers who also at the same time they JUDGE the others that they heap FORGIVENESS and LOVE upon themselves in the name of God.

I say to look at any person IN THAT MANNER one is only looking through their OWN DEAD EYES.

Were these SEEN as LOVED as God LOVES us there'd probably be a LOT LESS ATHEISTS.

s

 

[Dark_Lite]

Why not ask them yourself

Maybe I should have phrased the question a bit more clearly. What I really meant to ask is: Why is a "true atheist" someone who abhors religion?

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Maybe I should have phrased the question a bit more clearly. What I really meant to ask is: Why is a "true atheist" someone who abhors religion?

Why do you or others here think they do?
Perhaps a misunderstanding of the Bible?

 

[Dark_Lite]

Why do you or others here think they do?
Perhaps a misunderstanding of the Bible?

A "true atheist" is someone who is just an atheist, which is someone who lacks a belief in some sort of deity. Indeed, there is spirituality within atheism; some forms of Buddhism for example.

What you are describing may be more accurately termed as "militant atheism" which is basically the fundamentalist group of atheists who make the same illogical arguments and rationalizations that seem to characterize certain areas of extreme fundamentalist Christianity. Militant atheists are the kind of people who think "all religious people are stupid" or "religion should be banned" or things like that.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

I am not here on this thread to debate this Dark Lite.

I gave my view and will now lurk awhile to look at other responses.....God bless..........

 

[Dark_Lite]

It's not really a debate. More of a ... dialogue.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

It's not really a debate. More of a ... dialogue.

No offense and that is all well and good, but there are plenty of members on CF that have not responded to this thread yet. And until more do, I am just going to "lurk" awhile...... God bless

 

[cobweb]

I don't pity them. I used to be one.

Quite honestly a lot of the hostility comes from the way they tend to be treated by Christians. I can remember a couple of door-to-door missionaries who cornered me against the house when I was holding my baby on my front porch. When I politely told them that I was an atheist and refused to take their tracts they screamed at me for 15 minutes that my baby would burn in hell and that it would be my fault.

I bet you would be a bit irritated too if you had to deal with that kind of stuff.

 

[Blackknight]

Hah, nice to see another former atheist turned Orthodox.

Yes, the fundies do tend to irritate them a bit.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Hah, nice to see another former atheist turned Orthodox.

Yes, the fundies do tend to irritate them a bit.

Just be careful how you word your posts when debating atheists

GT Fundies. Who are they? - Christian Forums

quote: From what I've seen, LLJ is a bit of a bible-quoting robot. Often he posts things in General Apologetics that are quite off-topic.
At least he doesn't call Atheists deluded unlike most Christians. I think that he's too far gone to be saved at this point.

 

[rcorlew]

My heart yearns to find a way to share the truth about God's revelation with them.

They are not victims of unbelief as many claim they are, the are victims of their own beliefs which is unbelief in the Messiah.

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

We are to help them with their unbelief in Truth, not condemn them for lack of belief.

 

[PaladinValer]

Like Dark_Lite, I believe that not all non-Christians (I really despise the term "non-believer"; they may not believe in what they do, but they do believe in something) think Christians, or at least all Christians or even Christianity itself as stupid or uneducated. A few do, but, again with channeling the above mentioned poster, they are militant/fundamentalist types who shouldn't be confused as representing their belief system or the vast, vast majority of its adherents.

I do however feel sorry for non-Christians who reject Christianity because of what many militant/fundamentalist Christians say and do. At Judgment Day, it will be harder for those who make others reject Christ than it will be for those they made reject Him. MUCH harder.

 

[E.C.]

That depends upon the individual Atheist.


I myself was a closet Atheist. I left Christianity because I was Roman Catholic most of my life in an RC school and the year I went into a public junior high happened to be the year that most of the clerical sex abuse hit the media and when the "DaVinci Code" came about.
Needless to say I was the brunt of many jokes and insults from Protestants, Mormons and Atheists - the three major beliefs of my junior high.

The spite from the Protestants is self explanatory. The hatred from the Mormons and Atheists had to do with the RCC's supposed covering up of so-called truisms like what REALLY happened in the 1st century *eye roll*
And all three of them said such things relating to the clerical sex abuse that discussion of it is not worth putting on paper (or public forum for that matter).

My faith collapsed and I hated religion in any and all shapes and forms, but kept it all a secret.


A late surrogate grandfather of mine was Agnostic when he died. That was because he was raised Baptist and told if he did anything than he would burn in hell. It scared him and so he spent the rest of his life searching for something. He believed that there was "something" in ways of a deity or God or god, but wasn't sure exactly what.


If the Atheist comes from a background such as my Atheist days or the Agnosticism of my late surrogate grandfather, you'd better believe that I feel sorry for them. I actually would not blame them for denying God since those who claimed to be "holier than thou" acted no better than the Pharisees.

If the Atheist comes from the background such as a household in which religion was just a non topic, I would probably feel some bit of pity for them as well since apathy is one of the greater evils.


All in all it doesn't matter what their background is. What matters is that they are still human beings which means they are still created in the image and likeness of God which means they still deserve to be treated as such.

Look down upon the Atheist? No. Look at him in the face since he is still a human being and therefore still your brother.

 

[Blackknight]

Well said. If it wasn't for the gentle, loving guidance of my Catholic and Orthodox friends I wouldn't be where I am today. God was there too of course. I kicked at the goads for many years but I finally came around.