Why are atheists hostile to christians in this section?

Question

helio: I can take the heat. Thanks for your answer.

Answer 1

Well the first problem that a question like this may run into is that it deals with things in very general terms. Not every atheist on here seems to be hostile with every christian and vice versa. There are a fair number of people on here who seek to openly debate things or share their experiences with like and unlikeminded people.

However what usually causes tension is probably a 2 part problem if you ask me (which you did). First, there are a lot of people with inflexible positions on the boards. When either side maintains positions that cannot reach much common ground, people are inevitably going to become hostile with one another. Faith is an important issue to a lot of people (theist and athiest alike) so when people become hostile it only begats more hostility. The second part of the problem is people accrue bad experiences and eventually just assume "the other side" is out to get them. Some people (on both sides) do seem to have malicious intentions and that is pretty unfortuante, as thats not a very fufilling way to spend your day. What is more unfortunate though is these people (on both sides, again) tend to cloud the critical judgement of people and create problems which become increasingly unresolveable.

Juding by your question i would offer you a bit of advice. Pray about the issue if you feel so compelled and try to always maintain a Christ-like attitude whenever you are posting on these boards.

Answer 2

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but i think when someone says that they are going to heaven but tell you that because you don't believe in their god that you could go to hell (especiall when you feel you are a GOOD person) it tends to make you defensive as hell. Why do you say Hostile? are people threatening you physically?

If they are not, and it is just the ferverent skepticism that bothers you, then stay out of the frying pan if you can't stand the fire