Atheists, why do you feel threatened by Christian belief, when you "know" God doesn't exist?

Answer 1

Because it is Christian belief that is leading to our rights being hampered.

It is Christian belief that makes our secular government favor one religion over others.

It is Christian belief that is preventing rape victims from getting an abortion.

It is Christian belief that is allowing racism and bigotry into society.

It is Christian belief that is denying homosexuals the civil rights that they deserve.

It is Christian belief that is allowing religion disguised as pseudoscience into our publically-funded schools.

It is Christian belief that gives non-Christians and atheists second-class citizenship in society.

It is Christian belief of the President that motivated him to start this pointless war, and the continuation of our military men and women being killed overseas.

Quite frankly, we're tired of the nonsense. We're tired of being forced to "respect religious belief". It's about time people started putting it into the spotlight and exposed it for what it really is.

Answer 2

That is because deep inside they know that some type of creator do exist, yet even though in denial some come to truly believe at some point and time in their life that there is a God. Atheist are not threatened by the christian belief and I believe they awaits some type of sign toward their belief before they will believe. For example Moses turned his rod into a snake and his opponent did the same. To sum things up in the end Moses got the victory.

Answer 3

Atheism is a negative definition. It describes an absence of a believe in god. But it does not answer the question "in what does an atheist put her faith?" And certainly there are atheists, nihilists, who have faith in nothing. They believe that there is no truth to be found in religion, no meaning or purpose in existence. Others might agree with those mystics who argue that god does not "exist" because god by definition is beyond being. These atheists have faith that there are some things beyond what a mind can comprehend. They have faith in mystery. Many argue that since the advent of science, all that was mysterious to our forbearers can now be explain logically, and god is no longer a necessary construct. These atheists have faith in science and reason. Other atheists, such as Kenneth Patton who wrote our meditation, look with awe at the beauty of nature, the wonder of the human neural system, the tides, the movement of stars, a beautiful machine evolving for its own survival, they have faith in the natural forces beyond control of a single human.

Some have faith in the self and in humankind. These atheists cast their lot with the Humanists. Though one does not have to be an atheist to be a humanist, the two are often linked. In the first third of the 20th century as Humanism entered our denomination, the Unitarian movement began to center around the existence, rather than the nature of God. The Humanist Manifesto of 1933 describes "the universe as 'self-existing and not created'…Religion, in other words, is human life, and 'the end of man's life.' for the Humanist, is 'the complete realization of the human personality.'" [Robinson p. 147] This re-understanding of the purpose of religion and the importance of human life, while not unique to our movement, became a driving theological force in our denomination. In fact, the three most prominent Unitarian humanists had been forced to leave other more conservative denominations, and brought their ideas to the Unitarians, who were willing to give space to what they had to say.

And so for many 20th century Unitarian congregations, Unitarian, Atheist, and Humanist became synonyms

The reason your threatened is because everyone has faith in something, but to whom provided our faith and our hope is the question?

Answer 4

Which Christian belief? If it is their belief about their god and book, I feel as threatened as I do around anyone who shows a lack of reason and/or honesty, especially when they wear such "faith" as a badge of honor. But it is their belief in evangelism, and that their government should reflect their values, that makes me feel more threatened. 7 US states still have laws prohibiting Atheists from holding political office. Tax money is given to organizations that do not allow Atheists to join (like the boy scouts. It is such real conflicts within our society created by Christian belief that are the problem.

Answer 5

The threat comes from individuals that want to limit my rights because I don't belong to some church. There are laws on the books that tell me I can not hold public office in some states because I'm an atheist. Political leaders including G. H. W. Bush, former president and Little Georgies daddy have said we should not be considered as citizens. I don't feel threatened by the belief, its the believers that scare me.

Answer 6

Nobody's threatened by Christianity. Disbelief in God doesn't imply being threatened by a religion that does. And by the way, about the "know"...do you "know" that God DOES exist? No. There is no proof of God. Anywhere. I know absence of proof isn't proof of absence, but I'm leaning toward the nonexistent side. If there is a God, where the hell has he been? What was he doing during the Holocaust, Belgians in the Congo, the World Wars, the Civil War, slavery in America or anywhere else? I could go on and on. And how come nobody believed in Christianity before Jesus? Just because he's his son doesn't mean there couldn't have been a God before. I think religion is a bunch of crap. No one is threatened by it.

Answer 7

Aside from being the most discriminated and hated minority in America?

There is a lot to feel threatened about when believers (and not just christians) are in control... We feel threatened that the religious are actively trying to spread confusion and information that is flat-out wrong. They want evolution out of schools despite being a fact of biology, they forbid the national park staff to tell people the estimated age of the Grand Canyon, they want to ban the most promising field of biology today (stem cell research - which other countries are using to make bones grow back in humans and can fix severed spinal cords in rats), and they want to abridge and remove our human rights based on their old books.

I won't have to get in to that Christianity and religion in general have been the leading cause of human death ever - that's about common knowledge. By contrast secular nations (and atheists in general) actually have the lowest murder/rape/crime rates, the lowest STDs and abortion rates, are the biggest contributors to foreign aid and so on.

The real fear is that humanity cannot survive as technology improves and we cling to outdated 2000 year old dogmatic beliefs about the world. Islam is an especially striking example of this... When you have people that believe God will grant you and your family eternal bliss for killing infidels and being a martyr... when you have these people celebrating martyrdom in control of nuclear weapons the odds of human survival plumets. We only survived the cold war from a mutual disinclination to die, but the religious that don't fear death and want to kill nonbelievers will not be so hesitant to literally blow human life off the face of the planet.

Christians are also bad in that 44% of Americans believe that Jesus will return in their lifetimes (in the next 20-40 years)... Obviously this is not a worldview that's conductive to long term planning. And they interpret tragedies as signs of Jesus's return. If Jerusalem was to be replaced with a giant mushroom cloud tomorrow there are many christians who would see a silver lining or even celebrate because they'd see it as a sign of end times.

I really hope I'm communicating to you how severe we can see the situation to be. Humanity itself in a technological age will not survive unless we get rid of the things we know are wrong, and get rid of the things that prevent humanity from living together - and this includes religion. There is a LOT more to this, but this is kind of some general ideas.

I hope that helps answer your question.

Answer 8

I am not threatened by Christian beliefs. However, the entire world is being threatened by Christians believing that they are obligated to force their beliefs on everyone else. The same goes for Muslims.

This is why so many people get so fired up when Christians come along spewing their doomsday prophecies and fear monger doctrines

Answer 9

Well things like Creation science are obstructive to learning. I dont want my kids learning that. Its not just Christians its also Muslims. In a age where we have the power to destroy the world few times over i feel very threatened that people who believe that ending the world will bring us closer to God have there finger on the button. There are some Christians who want to destroy a Muslim holy place to fulfill a prophecy of the bible.

Answer 10

I do not feel threatened by Christians in the least. What we get upset about, especially those of us who have taken many years and much study and have chosen our paths through education, is the way Christians feel it is their duty to "convert" everyone. Perhaps the better thing for Christians to do would be to really study the words of Jesus alone without the rest of the Bible. He taught compassion, being non-judgmental, being silent in your worship, loving - even your enemies, accepting everyone, and tolerance. I do believe he told certain people "he without sin cast the first stone." If Christians truely followed Jesus's example, this would be a much nicer world.

Answer 11

Atheists often have faith in evolution! yet which version is robust? What unites you men? you're top, lots of people who declare to be christians have faith in thoroughly relatively some issues. Even in an identical church. Why is that so? using fact they don't seem to be inspired to income the bible. there is frequently one clergyman who tells a team of human beings what's on. as a replace of encouraging his sheep to ensure the bible thouroughly and to coach what he says is robust. although, guy doctrines are a invention and the bible does not say something approximately it (eg. the definition of hell, trinity....). all and sundry who has a undemanding experience ought to truly coach lots of the so observed as christians communities incorrect in basic terms by using looking up particular bible scriptures and staring on the context of the bible. thank you to the church, atheists hate the bible or something to do with faith!