When I grew up in the midwest the Christians I met were fairly narrow-minded, depressed, grumpy, kinda uneducated, and always worrying about Hell. However, the freethinkers and non-believers that I came across always had a zeal for life, always reading new books, did volunteer work, enjoyed interesting hobbies, and like to converse about anything; nothing was taboo. Why the big difference?
2006-08-24 08:54:20 · 54 answers · asked by Mere Mortal 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because Atheists are more intelligent than religious believers.
My own observation and analysis of the various posters on Yahoo Answers clearly reveals that Atheists are without any doubt, far more intelligent, thought provoking, and capable of holding sensible debate compared to their religious counterparts.
My private research studies indicate that religious people tend to be below average intelligence, and also have a tendency to be more violent than non-believers. This also seems to be supported by profiling various YA religious posters.
Science suggests that religion is a mental illness and that religious people act irrationally because they are genetically predisposed to the “religious or spiritual” gene. Statistics indicate that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god.
In general terms, this summarises as Atheists are intelligent and religious people suffer from madness. The big difference is intelligence.
It’s a statistical fact that the higher your education, income, and intelligence, the more likely you are not to believe in a god. For every college student that converts to a religious belief system, 17 college students convert to atheist beliefs.
Atheists have an average intelligence of 25 IQ points above their Christian counterparts.
2006-08-24 08:57:27 · answer #1 · answered by Brenda's World 4 · 10⤊ 2⤋
I'm a very happy agnostic but I've met so many religious people who think that someone who is not a believer can't possibly be a happy fulfilled person. I've met Christians who were nice and seemed happy as well but I've also met many who are as you described. I think these people have a problem (personality, psychological, chemical??) and have taken religion too far. They can no longer be happy just having their personal faith. They obsess about other's sin and how they must get involved in stopping it. They obsess about their own sin and how they may burn in hell for it. They obsess about preaching the word and converting others. They worry about letting in new ideas (like science) that might corrupt them so they resort to a kind of mental suicide.
Being religion free means you are less prone to this obsession. I love to learn and I do lots of volunteer work which I find very rewarding and have made lots of friends through. Although I'm not religious, I love discussing religion with open minded people. I'm not sure why the difference except as I indicated before I think maybe some combination of environmental/genetic influences predispose some people to excessive, unhealthy religious tendencies. Of course this is highly speculative and completely unproven. Just something that I have wondered about and considered. Maybe free-thinkers, nonbelievers are less predisposed to this sort of thing? I have however, met some very depressed atheists but I think that most of them fall into the atheist because of some deep disappointment in life category. Whereas I am just skeptical based on intellectual and spiritual exploration and have found other ways of satisfying the needs religion usually fills.
2006-08-24 09:08:08 · answer #2 · answered by Zen Pirate 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually, the only atheists I know, are the ones I've met online, and, from what I've seen, for a great many of them, anyhow, their lives consist of trying to mock and humiliate Christians. Seems kind of boring to me. There are some rare exceptions...
On the other hand, I've met quite a few Christians online who do seem to fit your description down to the letter. Seems a shame to waste the life Jesus died to give you in mourning...why do these people think that if they are having fun, they just GOTTA be sinning? Doesn't make any sense to me, either, and I am a Christian...
Did you know that you can be a Christian and be a "freethinker"? You can dare to think for yourself, you can dare to challenge treasured "Christian Traditions", you can even enjoy your life! Jesus did! You don't have to be afraid of hell. You can read books besides the Bible, you can do volunteer work, you can have interesting hobbies, and you can converse about anything...I don't understand why more Christians don't get that.
(Maybe the ones you met were the ones who had been slain in the spirit...that would explain why they seemed so dead to you. Those people do seem to get more and more hateful as they get deeper and deeper into whatever it is they are into...scarey!)
2006-08-24 09:12:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
atheists, christians, whomever, there are lots of positive,enjoying life,learning, helping poeple and I am one of them in that group. I am a christian.. I am not sure what christians you personally met but you cannot stereotype those things you mentioned and throw in hell on top of it all as we "all" dont worry about hell for one. No matter what people believe in, we are all "educated" people who read new books, volunteer, have hobbies, and converse about anything! Maybe you just met the wrong group of people or you didnt give them a chance and jumped to judgement! Come on over and meet our christians at our church and you will see that stereotyping is not an accurate observation. Also if you only MET that group of christians and didnt really give it time to KNOW them then that is not accurate as well. Perhaps, get to know christians, or anyone for that matter and not be so "narrow minded" yourself and you will see there are really "normal" people out there reguardless of religion if you want to call it that. Thanks for the question--hope this helped!
2006-08-24 09:08:59 · answer #4 · answered by yeppers 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe it's a lack of fear. I too have dealt with narrow-minded christians who were completely unsatisfied with their lives, yet they were constantly preaching and trying to get people to go to their churches and such. All I ever heard was "eternity is a long time to spend in hell" when they were usually more "sinful" than your average person. Ever since I gave up on religion several years ago my life has changed only for the better. I came to see all the hypocrisy behind it. Their lives are very unfulfilling because they refuse to live them. In my opinion, life is meant to be an experience, not constant servitude towards an unseen deity. If there is a god, I believe he would want his creations to live and not feel guilty about what they do. They are the ones who decide to live by a book written by man. It is their own fault for keeping their eyes closed and not seeing what life has to offer.
2006-08-24 09:12:22 · answer #5 · answered by MetaLHeaD 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately, you surely have run across some hypocrites. A true born again Christian will undoubtedly be known. I know everyone experiences days or times of being in ,what I would call , down in the valley; but, I would hope they wouldn't stay there. What does the Bible say: 1 Corinthians 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him. If your friends are worried about hell, they need to get to, or back to the paths of righteousness, fall on their faces before God and the atheists may say they don't believe, but talk to them when their on their death bed. I'm not trying to be cruel ...I would beg anyone that don't know the Lord, to open their heart to Him and feel the unspeakable feeling of the power of God.
2006-08-24 09:20:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Athiests realise that this is all there is and that you either make the most of this life or you loose it. I'm all for living life to the full. Being an Atheist doesn't mean being amoral or unkind, nor does it mean not valuing life. I value life more as an atheist than I ever did as a Christian. I also do a lot of volunteer work. I find satisfaction in helping people to make the best of their lives.
2006-08-24 09:02:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
i cannot really answer this question in regards to christians or atheists persay as i am not really either..
i myself do not really have a religion or belief in that sense..
but i do consider myself to be a free thinker and i have a zest for life and will converse about anything or nothing.
for me, life isnt about where we came from or why we are here... life is about happiness, family, friends and just being a good person. i was raised by very non religious people, but we are good people and we are happy. we would never hurt anyone and we do help others..
i think some christians are too worried and uptight about living life by the book, they dont have time to just enjoy being who they are.
im not trying to put down anyones faith in any way, i think its great people have something to hold on to when they lose loved ones or know they will go themselves, however, religion just isnt for me
2006-08-24 09:01:56 · answer #8 · answered by nicoles1504 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Brenda's world, I think I'm in it! Good answer!
I have to point out that I am neither atheist or christian. My fervent view being that most religions suggest the closure of ones mind to possibilities. Atheists are natural born philosophers, as are agnostics and Buddhists. To accept that the human brain may be capable of answering every question it can conjure up is astounding in my mind. We look to find a creator being because we remain limited in our scope of vision and enterprise.
Children look to their parents for safety and comfort, when we grow and develop Independence, we make our own decisions and carry personal responsibility.
It's all a question of emotional maturity...
I no longer play in the park with children, I drink beer with the grown ups. It's much more fun and my brain gets a little exercise in the process. That's where I find meaning in my life.
2006-08-24 09:12:33 · answer #9 · answered by CC...x 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Perhaps you must ask yourself a deeper question, a question about your perception of life and where you got it from. You are, after all, assuming that having a "zeal" for life and all the rest, is a "good" thing and worrying about hell and all that, is a "bad" thing? Why do you think that? And why does it matter? Is it an excuse for YOU not to believe in God? Most importantly, are the people that practise a relegion the authority on that religion, or the book and the prophet?
Think about it, friend....Open YOUR mind....
2006-08-24 09:03:06 · answer #10 · answered by monotol 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋