How Do You Feel About Atheists?

[Blue Man]

First, allow me to introduce myself. I am an atheist < staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit > . < staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit > . The religious section of < staff edit > < staff edit > is over run with people, both theist and atheist that tend to fight with one another. The fighting is irrational, and the forum is plagued with it. Obviously it's not true to life as my best friend is Mormon, and we've had several very civil discussions on theology.

However, the fact that being able to speak anonymously gives people courage to act out, I tend to question whether or not real Christians actually hate atheists. I was a Christian before, and everything I know tells me that Christians are supposed to be above it all, and that they're supposed to turn the other cheek (not that I've ever hit on any Christians, if you know what I mean).

Here are some quotes that lead me to believe that Christians secretly hate atheists:

"The ONLY ideology in the would to be based on deliberate intolerance of others is atheism."

"Evidence of atheism inability to use evidence properly or logically, and that its base rests almost entirely in emotional hatred. "

"Atheism = knocking others down to make yourself 'feel' better. And we ALL know what that is."

< staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit >
So how do you feel about atheists?

 

[OzSpen]

Blue Man,

First, allow me to introduce myself. I am an atheist < staff edit > < staff edit > . < staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit > . The religious section of < staff edit > < staff edit > is over run with people, both theist and atheist that tend to fight with one another. The fighting is irrational, and the forum is plagued with it. Obviously it's not true to life as my best friend is Mormon, and we've had several very civil discussions on theology.

However, the fact that being able to speak anonymously gives people courage to act out, I tend to question whether or not real Christians actually hate atheists. I was a Christian before, and everything I know tells me that Christians are supposed to be above it all, and that they're supposed to turn the other cheek (not that I've ever hit on any Christians, if you know what I mean).

Here are some quotes that lead me to believe that Christians secretly hate atheists:

"The ONLY ideology in the would to be based on deliberate intolerance of others is atheism."

"Evidence of atheism inability to use evidence properly or logically, and that its base rests almost entirely in emotional hatred. "

"Atheism = knocking others down to make yourself 'feel' better. And we ALL know what that is."

< staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit >
So how do you feel about atheists?

For me, the language, "feel", is not a good fit unless I understand that what I feel is related to what I think about that person and/or that person's beliefs.

I love all people, whether righteous or unrighteous. Jesus said we are to love our enemies so I want to be faithful to Him and love you, an atheist. That's difficult to do through electronic means on a forum. The only way I know how to do that is to speak with you respectfully and never engage in labelling or name-calling.

You stated:

I was a Christian before....

Would you be so kind as to answer two questions for me?
1. When you say that you were a Christian. How did you become a Christian?
2. What caused you to leave Christianity for atheism?

Sincerely, Spencer

 

[wayseer]

First, allow me to introduce myself. I am an atheist from a forum call politicalforum.com. I realize this is a "Christian only" forum, but I see no better place to ask this question.[//quote]

Then you appear to follow in the grand tradition of other atheists who also chose to ignore the rules of the forum.

There are other boards where you can post your thoughts.

So, how do I feel about atheists - I feel they are probably somewhat arrogant.

 

[Howard Cneal]

I personally have no problem with them.

Some of them are incredibly intelligent, kind, decent people.

I dislike the militant ones who make it their mission in life, however, to talk smack about my God.

Otherwise, I can get along just fine with them. Believe me, there are some good arguments for why God is not real. (But He is! lol)

 

[resistingrexmundi]

I feel about athiests the same way I feel about all others in the world that differ from the Bible in their views. They are wrong but still human. It is easy to become emotional when people challenge those paradigms in our life that mean the most. Those emotions can be destructive if not tempered with kindness and reason. Having said that please remember that Christians are SUPPOSED to behave a certain way but we are still human and prone to make mistakes. But I can assure you anyone who hates CANNOT be Christian. Not just because I say so but because it stands in direct contradiction to what Christianity is.

 

[Blue Man]

You stated:

Would you be so kind as to answer two questions for me?
1. When you say that you were a Christian. How did you become a Christian?
2. What caused you to leave Christianity for atheism?

Sincerely, Spencer

I became Christian because I was born into a Christian family.

Why I stopped is a bit of a long story. The short answer is that I didn't like the local church and stopped going. Then as time went on I heard a lot of good arguments against religion, so I became agnostic, and I finally took a philosophy class which had a great deal of discussion on the concept of god, and I converted to atheism.

 

[Saint Polycarp]

First, allow me to introduce myself. I am an atheist < staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit > . < staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit > . The religious section of < staff edit > < staff edit > is over run with people, both theist and atheist that tend to fight with one another. The fighting is irrational, and the forum is plagued with it. Obviously it's not true to life as my best friend is Mormon, and we've had several very civil discussions on theology.

However, the fact that being able to speak anonymously gives people courage to act out, I tend to question whether or not real Christians actually hate atheists. I was a Christian before, and everything I know tells me that Christians are supposed to be above it all, and that they're supposed to turn the other cheek (not that I've ever hit on any Christians, if you know what I mean).


Here are some quotes that lead me to believe that Christians secretly hate atheists:

"The ONLY ideology in the would to be based on deliberate intolerance of others is atheism."

"Evidence of atheism inability to use evidence properly or logically, and that its base rests almost entirely in emotional hatred. "

"Atheism = knocking others down to make yourself 'feel' better. And we ALL know what that is."

< staff edit > < staff edit > < staff edit >
So how do you feel about atheists?

They are fellow human beings and children of God. I don't differentiate between religious beliefs that people have and how I treat them. The whole human race (including me) is in my prayers.

 

[Blue Man]

Then you appear to follow in the grand tradition of other atheists who also chose to ignore the rules of the forum.

There are other boards where you can post your thoughts.

So, how do I feel about atheists - I feel they are probably somewhat arrogant.

Why do you feel we're arrogant? I've always thought one of the problems atheists have is that it's impossible to make an argument for atheism without making an argument against theism. So it comes off as arrogant.

 

[Blue Man]

I personally have no problem with them.

Some of them are incredibly intelligent, kind, decent people.

I dislike the militant ones who make it their mission in life, however, to talk smack about my God.

Otherwise, I can get along just fine with them. Believe me, there are some good arguments for why God is not real. (But He is! lol)

Whether or not there is such a thing as militant atheists is questionable to me. If a person is enthusiastic about Christianity, they are a zealous Christian. If a person is zealous about atheism, they're labeled militant.

 

[tansy]

There's no reason why Christians (or anyone else for that matter) should hate atheists. Definitely not in our remit. And as God loves everyone including atheists, that's what we also ought to do.
Doesn't mean to say that we don't screw up a lot though

 

[Dark_Lite]

Moved to Exploring Christianity. As the OP is aware, this was originally posted in a Christians-Only section. Exploring Christianity is the proper place for this thread.

 

[seashale76]

How I 'feel' about an atheist really depends on the particular atheist in question. Some atheists I really get along with quite well and consider friends. Others just annoy me so I tend to limit my interactions. It's the same way I deal with non-atheists too. I try to treat everyone in a polite and nice way because everyone is made in the image of God.

As to how I 'feel' about atheism- I obviously disagree with it.

Regarding hatred- I don't have any energy to expend in that area.

 

[AlexBP]

So how do you feel about atheists?

Here's what I posted in a thread on the same topic from a couple months ago:

I pity them. Because I started out as an atheist, beginning from when I first had a conscious opinion on the matter and continuing until age 23. I remember vividly how much suffering I underwent at the time, and how much I could see mirrored in many of my relatives and other people around me who were also atheist or agnostic. So, when I look back on that period in my life, I sometimes wonder at the fact that I survived at all, and I certainly would not wish to inflict the things that I remember onto anyone else.

As for the posting of nasty anti-atheist quotes on a message board, the internet tends to overflow with nastiness from all sides. As you said, it's the anonymity and the ability to post insults without facing any real-life consequences that does it. Personally I've been hit by much harder insults than that from atheists on other boards. I've been told numerous times that I should be killed, tortured, placed in an insane asylum, or castrated because I'm a Christian. I brush it off; it's just juvenile stupidity. (Not so for those Christians in countries like Cuba and China where persecution of believers is still alive and well, but I digress.)

 

[MacNeil, D.]

...So how do you feel about atheists?

I don't think about them at all as atheists. The world beyond the internet is not an ongoing mudslinging contest as it is here.

 

[drich0150]

So how do you feel about atheists?

How do you feel about black people? What about Koreans or Jews?

It is hard for a rational person to answer a question that paints all people of one nationality or idealogical group as being all bad or all good. Why not simply establish yourself here, and ask what people think about you specifically.

 

[Kalasin]

There are atheists with all sorts of different views and backgrounds. Some are very educated and intelligent - I'm thinking people like Camus and Sartre here - while some, frankly, aren't. In the very highest levels of academia I think atheists respect the Christian worldview, but there's a strong concentration of atheists, at least from my observations in New Zealand, in the moderately educated bracket. This is why the 'new atheists' like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris have become so popular. They say exactly what this large group of moderately educated atheists want to hear.

This makes my life very difficult at times. I've finished high school recently, but in class people often quoted Richard Dawkins at me or used his arguments with very little knowledge or understanding of the Bible. It never ceases to amaze me how much people judge the Bible never having read it.

But like I say, not all atheists are like that. There are some very good atheists. In fact, in general, the atheists I've met have been much nicer than the Christians I've met.

However, Jesus commands us to love everyone, and that's exactly what I try to do, whether they're atheist or Christian or Hindu or Muslim or Orthodox Jewish.

 

[razeontherock]

Just putting my +1 in for those posts that have said we can identify non-Christian attitudes and behavior via hatred. And not to end your thread but:

Here are some quotes that lead me to believe that Christians secretly hate atheists:

"The ONLY ideology in the would to be based on deliberate intolerance of others is atheism."

This really begs to have a comparison pointed out that would invoke Godwin's law. So no, that's not the only ideology like that ...

 

[Blue Man]

Just putting my +1 in for those posts that have said we can identify non-Christian attitudes and behavior via hatred. And not to end your thread but:



This really begs to have a comparison pointed out that would invoke Godwin's law. So no, that's not the only ideology like that ...

You have a rather interesting line in your quote. Why do you think atheism is the result of a desire, rather than a logical conclusion?

 

[razeontherock]

Because you really can't logically conclude a (hard, literal) a-theistic stance. The desire, whether recognized or not, is to shake off our responsibility to G-d. Truth be told, we all feel that desire, at least sometimes. I didn't pen the line though, just saw another poster post it. Forgot their screen name before I could give them credit for it.

 

[Blue Man]

Because you really can't logically conclude a (hard, literal) a-theistic stance. The desire, whether recognized or not, is to shake off our responsibility to G-d. Truth be told, we all feel that desire, at least sometimes. I didn't pen the line though, just saw another poster post it. Forgot their screen name before I could give them credit for it.

Would you like to hear my logical arguments against god?