Do you think they do this out of hate, ignorance or is it just of case of trying to serve their own ends by trying to demonize those who don't share their beliefs ?
2006-11-27 06:37:56 · 23 answers · asked by Carpe Diem 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It's "it just of case of trying to serve their own ends by trying to demonize those who don't share their beliefs"
They are jealous that you can have as much fun as you want and feel there is no higher power you must answer to.
Weird but that's the way it is!
2006-11-27 06:43:37 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe it is almost entirely out of ignorance. They only know what they've been told by their church. And to the church, the atheist is synonymous with the devil-worshipper.
Many people literally believe that atheists "hate" god, and purposely go against this god, for the sake of being evil. The concept of actually not believing this god exists is completely unfathomable to some people. They can't understand how someone could live without a belief in a god.
They can't understand, because they've never tried to. To do so, does tend to make a person's life a bit chaotic and confusing, when your entire perception of reality is based on such a belief.
2006-11-27 14:44:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yup. Not all atheists are evil. If it's not right for atheists to call religious people backward and ignorant, it's not right for them to call us all evil. Bad people are everywhere, in all walks of life. Nobody's immune, nobody's perfect. To say someone is better than another is not only arrogant, but false.
As far as why some people try to misrepresent atheists as evil and hedonistic, I imagine it's all of the above, depending on the person. There might be somebody out there who hates atheists and tries to smear them. There are probably plenty of people out there(like a lot of people in my hometown) who don't know any atheists or anything about atheism, so they think things like people are atheists to ignore morals and be selfish.
But it's been my personal experience(My experiences have involved a lot of mean people hiding behind the Bible. I'm in no way saying every religious person does this because I know not all of them DO.) that people who misrepresent and smear atheists do it because it is either taught in their religious doctrine or they're just trying to demonize religions they don't like. I've had the misfortune of meeting a LOT of these people who found out I or someone else wasn't the same faith and was immediately treated as something less than human.
I think very few people do it out of actual hatred. Maybe whackos and nutballs, but I don't think any decent person, religious or otherwise, would misrepresent someone out of deliberate hatred.
To me, it's probably either ignorance or demonizing someone of another faith. Some people don't understand atheism and people tend to fear what they don't understand, especially if all they have to go by are the stereotypes of those who are doing the demonizing. Nasty, vicious circle I unfortunately see all the time here in my hometown.
There are people who demonize other faiths, especially those of no faith, then people who grew up knowing only their own faith, never getting a chance for various reasons to explore the world and learn about what others believe(not necessarily convert, just understand what someone else might believe) and they buy into the propaganda spread by those who are smearing others. Politicians have made an art form out of this.
People just need to learn to look into things for themselves instead of relying on others to tell them what they need to know.
2006-11-28 12:59:15 · answer #3 · answered by Ophelia 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, that is wrong. I am Christian, although not overly so, and I believe that part of being a "good" person is accepting others and their beliefs. The school that I went to was dominated by a particular branch of the Christian religion who had very strict rules about hair, makeup, lesiure activities, and lots of other things that I don't believe have anything to do with God, or a lackthereof. When I say that I'm not overly Christian, I mean that I don't ritualistically follow the rules of any particular branch. I believe that its most important to be a good, moral, understand, person, and to be a productive member of society. That is much more important to me than religious fasting or other silly, meaningless rituals. Yes, I believe in God, but I don't think that he cares about those silly rituals either. I know people who are atheists, and they are very caring and accepting people...alot more so than people who claim to be "good Christian folk" yet they can't accept others with different veiws than them.
2006-11-27 14:52:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I say this as a Christian: Most of the atheists I know have better morals than most of the Christians I know. Personally I think that's pathetic, but it shows to be true.
If Christians were to do something like actually follow the rule laid out, that might be another story, but it seems atheists follow the word of the Bible better than Christians, and most probably haven't even read it.
2006-11-27 14:45:10 · answer #5 · answered by Give me best answer 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, it's not a case of hate or ignorance; I used to be an atheist myself for 20 years just like you and I used to be terribly immoral, and in God's eyes, that was evil. I had no moral guide, and what passed for an atheist's morals changes as often as they change their underwear. Because they are atheists, they believe that humans came from animals and are worthless, so we may as well kill as many of them as possible - something that fellow atheists Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc. took full advantage of during their reigns of terror. Today, atheists believe that killing an unborn child is perfectly acceptable, because "humans are worthless" and it's "just a blob of tissue". Fellow atheist Jacque Cousteau believed that we should kill off all but 1/4 million people in the world. (Gee, I wonder who he thought would be "good enough" to stay alive? The rich, I wonder?) Yes, those atheists are good, sweet people.
2006-11-27 14:50:59 · answer #6 · answered by FUNdie 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think it's wrong, but consider the source. Are these "groups" really with it? Do they have their heads on straight? Maybe they'd rather point out the "faults" of others rather than looking within themselves for the so-called evil they so desperately want to find.
2006-11-27 14:43:13 · answer #7 · answered by Maria Isabel 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They demonize us because we are the greatest threat to religion. The Christian faith's strength is Jesus. Jesus' teachings were very good and they are the reason for many people converting to Christianity. If we take God out of Christianity we have Buddhism. The Christians know that they cannot prove God, even with Jesus so they demonize atheism.
2006-11-27 14:42:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Yes, its wrong, and it stems from a little of each.
Someone of faith may have a hard time understanding how a person can be moral without a higher power; and at the same time, the tenants of most systems of belief blatantly state that you are evil, or wrong if you don't follow their faith.
2006-11-27 14:41:42 · answer #9 · answered by Bill K Atheist Goodfella 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Yes!! whenever find out I'm Atheist, their next question is, " do I believe in the devil"? Some actually thought I was a christian by the way I carry myself before I told them.
2006-11-27 14:46:08 · answer #10 · answered by curtis_lloyd2002 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋