People look down upon Atheism, why is this?

Question

Sometimes people ask me what my religion is, and I tell them, I'm an Atheist. What do they do? Look at me like im scum. I feel as if they want to spit on me. I'm not a very stereotypical person, but what I see is Christians and Catholics looking down upon me. Now, it's not like I walk around telling people, "Hey, there is no God, there is no God!", but people ask, and then they scoff. Pretty much what happens is they look at me like, "What makes you so special?", so I look at them like, "What room do you have to judge?". People see me around, they turn their heads, but why? Because I don't believe in Vishnu? Or Zeus? Or Jesus? I would rather say that I when I die I will be there, in a casket, or an urn, just to decay, rather than worship a carpenter. Who is to say that Jesus wasn't exaggerated? Religions in general, I have seen, and what I see is just to point out a reason for living, but would you rather live your life and do what you want, or be constricted by what we call society?

Dear spirenteh,

I'd like to point out you might want to say you were Atheist rather than Satanic, they are not the same. Atheism is the belief that there is no "greater or supreme form that watches over you".

Dear leslie b,

What you say doesn't do anything to me, I'm an Atheist, remember? I don't believe in god.

Dear don s,

Is it so paranoid of me to be living a normal life and have Christians and Catholics to come up and ask me why I'm an Atheist?

Dear onewhosubmits,

Thank you for pressuring me to read an old book like every other religion.

Dear ckrug,

I understand how you would be speechless, but lets say I don't run around telling people im an Atheist, like your co-worker. Nothing against your co-worker, its just I would rather keep it to myself until someone asked me what my religion is, do you get the difference?

Dear Katherine B,

I realize that, but what are acts of god? Coincidences? What do you define an act of god as? Does god feed your children, or take care of you? Obsession with a religion may feed your children (say, a church dinner), and you may think because someone is in good faith with God that they are great parents, not saying that Christian parents are bad, but the ones who take the religion to the extreme, the radicals, there is no stopping them, for me, from them to stop pressuring me into a religion.





(I realize that you cannot add another answer, I'm just responding to the answer publicly.

Dear Cyril_borg,

Thank you for summing it up. =D

Answer 1

I would rather believe in nothing at Christmas than Santa Clause!!

Most people have relied on experts for everything all their lives and feel disempowered in many aspects of our society.

The priest or the Minister is the Expert on God and the life "after"
The doctor and the Medical "complex" are the experts on health.
The Politician is the expert on the political and financial running of the country
the Banker and Market analyst is the expert on finances
The Carpenter is the expert on house building
the mechanic is the expert of "machines" (cars etc...)

and so on and so on...

So when you say that you do not believe in "God" they immediately think that you, not being a expert, don't know what you are doing or saying. What are your "credentials"? Who are you anyway? Do you have a degree? What is your "authority? etc..

The problem with Atheist vs Theism is the word "GOD" itself representing the CREATOR, the ONE, and also the other Personal minor tribal "gods" who are jealous, lustfull, angry, have favorites, and warring or "war-lords"...With the the Jesus and GURU groups, it's even more complicated as Jesus and/or the Guru is also GOD, "in flesh and blood in front of you"!!!.
they say.

When I say what I believe in terms of the CREATION and the UNIVERSE, I say I believe in the ONE!!

ONE is numeric, not gender-based, and neutral. ONE does not demand anything but it fullfills my "hard-wiring" for the "mystical" experience without believing it fantasies and fairy-tales and mostly in the GODS that have kept mankind in conflict and at war among themselves for millenia.

The ONE is very scientific (such as TOE (theory of everything), mathematical, (ONE is something and is in ALL), and includes everyone and everything. ALL (CREATION) can be broken down to ONE simply by adding energy in the form of HEAT. The are eight transitions between the matter ("crystal") and ONE ("energy"). (ice, water, steam, plasma etc...) When ONE is there, there is MORE that Before. ONE even includes Aliens if we ever meet some!...lol ONE will make us into a "global civilization" and allow us to become part of the FEDERATION of PLANETS...We will finally become ONE and part of a larger WHOLE. A galactic consciousness.

The word "ONE" has two vowels (energy), enclosing one consonnant (matter)
The word "God" has two close sounding consonnants (matter) enclosing one vowell (energy)

God is from the Goths, a barbarian Germanic tribe that invaded Rome in the 4th century. The other barbarian tribes from that area are the Visigoths (sons of Goth or God) and the Vandals (who gave us Vandalism)...No wonder our religions are always at war with one another....

The ONE is a galactic UNIT (God) with a geometric paradigm of the "spiral" arranged in an octave or (seven steps and the octave (eight) as in light and sound etc..) The spiral does not trap anyone "inside" or keep anyone "outside"...The spirial is an open concept. The ONE is a spiral that is like a circle that does not complete but always goes higher or lower in or in 360 degrees in all directions and more in "n...dimensions"....

The concept of God is a "pyramid" with an circle inside. It is a solar system concept and replace the Sun god of the Egyptians and the mythical Pantheon of the Greeks, the Romans, and the Norse etc... Again the material Pyramid, enclosing the female arc of the circle or energy). God is on top, the priests are at the points of the pyramid and the rest of the "sheep" are inside the pyramid and can't get out. Then there is a them (in their pyramid-the bad guys who will go to hell), against us (in our pyramid- the good guys) who will go to heaven.



so here is a little poem for Believers in the ONE, or the UNITY, the SINGULARITY, the SOURCE, etc.. who used to be the Atheists and the true Theists, just not the believers in minor tribal "gods" of "boetian"desert tribes and their "camel dung-eating" (from the Christian KJV Bible) prophets.

B-4, B-3, B-2
Before Be Two, Be ONE!!

Cyril Borg, the Cyborg...

Answer 2

I think when you say you are an atheist people will become speechless because the door has now closed for them to discuss anything. Well I guess if you believe in nothing the conversation kind of stops right there. Actually this happened to me at work tonight. One of the guys I work with told me that he was atheist and I really didn't know what to say.. He's a smart individual that I'm sure he didn't want to hear what I have to say at the moment. so I guess the conversation ended right there on that topic. I believe as a Christian that I need to be an expression for this One that lives inside of me. I didn't want to insult him but instead will look for an opportunity later to speak to him when a better time comes up and I feel he won't take it offensively when I share what I believe.

Answer 3

Much of the population in the U.S. are theists. Many of them consider atheism just an all out denial of anyhting dealing with religion. Although not all people in U.S. are evangelical or something else related, they still do believe in a god even though a lot of people have different approaches to observance. The U.S hadn't made such a shift to atheism as many countries in Europe had, so a result, atheism is still atypical to some people.

Answer 4

I think it has more to do with those who are looking down at you than what you choose to believe. Many people, even in countries where there isn't supposed to be religious persecution, still judge others based upon their own belief system. So, if you don't want to be criticized, then don't hang with people who don't share your views. For those you have to be around, just ignore them. No this isn't easy, but for most of us it's life. Even those of us who have a religion are looked down at by most people who would ask that question so boldly. Most people who are open to all views simply wouldn't ask since it doesn't matter anyway. Those who do judge are very quick to ask this almost immediately. For them it's a way to find out if you are on 'their side' or not. Again, ignore them. They aren't open to learning anything and certainly wouldn't be a good choice for a friend.

Answer 5

Maybe it's because people who have seen and know the glory of God cannot fathom or understand why people would choose not to be open to recognition of His existence. Of course this does not give believers ever an excuse to scoff or mistreat, but perhaps they'd be better to ask why the lack of belief persists in the face of obvious miracles which have happened, even in the modern day, from God, Jesus, and the intercession of Mary - many of these which you can even read about online..
It has to be a personal and deliberate choice to deny proof of God's existence, when one looks at the resources on miracles (Eucharistic miracles, bleeding hosts, etc) and especially Marian Apparitions such as the sun dancing in the sky at Lourdes. For this reason, it's hard to believe athiests are in good faith when they deny the existence of God.

Answer 6

eh, maybe cross out people and add something about those with strong religious beliefs.

Personally, I don't understand. I tell people that I'm not christian and they'd never guess the religion so I'm not going to bother trying to explain and they have actually suggested I'm a Satanist. Then they don't talk to me and there's that awkward period where I tell them I'm going to hell and I'm pleased about it because I wouldn't want to be in the same place as them and all this and the entire thing sort of falls apart.

Answer 7

They are stupid and afraid. Fear and stupidity cause people to be hateful. That is why all hate crimes are committed by religious people. Christianity and Islam are very similar religions. They share a common history, believe in some of the same make-believe characters, and torture and kill non-believers every time they get the chance. Be careful that they don’t try to whack-off your head.

Answer 8

yeah, some place atheism, non-christian based religion and devil worshiping on the same level. I've had some one of the Christian faith call me a devil worshiper because my family follows the Buddhist traditions and I declined their invitation to their church. It's because non-believers are seen as having one place to go and if you declared yourself an Atheist, you denounce their God.

Answer 9

Many people have not actually had a real conversation with an atheist, so they see ogres or something. All they need to do is actually talk to an atheist and they will find them to be normal loving people with a different point of view.

Answer 10

Because discrimination against atheism is one of the last socially acceptable discriminations. Atheists are the most mistrusted minority in the US according to a recent pole. More then Islamics, more than African Americans, more than anyone that is routinely discriminated against.