Why do people not understand atheism?

Question

I have seen people just today refer to atheism as a religion and as thinking satan is real...even worshiping him.

I think Christians and well anyone thats not atheist do not even known what we think...

There seems to be a vast misunderstanding on what atheism is.

momof2 you are the main reason I had to post this from your..post in this thread.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlsMgPD82vlrlcH084GkX4Hsy6IX?qid=20070301090515AAccPXk&show=7#profile-info-9bf15bcb064503bbb696183ea31f7ba1aa

Answer 1

religious individuals have difficulty accepting anything that falls outside the parameter of their own belief system. All perceptions are governed by scriptures and that places lables on certain ideas and concepts. Christians believe that all mankind worships something and that's how it's portrayed. Anything outside monotheistic ideology is just interpreted as the worship or idolatry of something else. Therefore, atheists are viewed by Christians as worshipping themselves or humanity..

I DO NOT carry the view though. I actually believe that most atheists carry personal moral convictions that actually does not allow them to accept certain outlandish ideas to be considered true. And I would typically trust the judgement of an atheist over a religious individual because it's usually non-bias and based on actual evidence. Alot of religious individuals are very quick to make statements as fact, that are based merely on faith without evidence.

I don't believe that atheism is a religion. It may be considered a philosophy but in all honesty, it's just human understanding and curiosity. And it's that same curiosity that has enabled mankind to go from making fire to launching rocket ships. Atheism is a word that was invented by the church in order to refer negatively to free-thinkers (those willing to research outside the box).

Answer 2

I think im agnostic at times but i cannot understand atheism. Im pagan so please dont plaster me as christian.

Things are not black and white sometimes so atheism seems to fail at times especially when it comes to metaphysical stuff. If you believe or experience energies,ghosts,entities or some unusual phenomenon then there is something outside of regular physical stuff..that by itself would make me agnostic and not atheistic. Not everything is defined by science as of yet so some things are just practical and given over to faith etc. Granted not everything paranormal has been able to be proven all the time but at the same time I cannot discount certain things that I've experienced in my life as just coincidence, fantasy , optical illusion or hallucination or some kind of mental abberration.

I hope im making some sense.

Answer 3

To be truthful, i've got no longer met a single Christian who is familiar with atheism. They the two think of it extremely is: A) a faith B) devil worship C) Hating god and that i'm no longer speaking approximately human beings on R&S, i'm speaking approximately those i've got met in the time of my existence. Edit: "e.citizen" down there in basic terms did an extremely astounding pastime of proving my factor.

Answer 4

Remember, the original christian sin was seeking knowledge. Their whole religion was based on the premise that looking for the truth is a bad thing. So, of course, the modern christians are discouraged from actually doing any research on things like atheism and just take the word of their preacher: Who says it's bad. Anything they don't understand must be of Satan.

Answer 5

Many Christians seem to think, "It's my God, or no God at all"

The universe is complex and probably required a Creator. But which one? It seems that all cultures throughout human history have recognized the role of a Creator God.

The Creator defined by the North American Native Americans only asked that humans live in harmony with all nature. In exchange, the Creator provided plants and animals for humans to use as food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Early Native Americans showed their respect and appreciation to the Creator by making small offerings of tobacco.

The Creator God defined by Hebrew scholars, 6000 years ago in the Middle East, was a jealous, and often cruel God. He demanded that humans make sacrifices of animal blood in order to appease Him, and set out Old Testament laws of behavior that often required the stoning-to-death of your neighbor for sins as minor as eating shell fish or working on the Sabbath. These laws remained in effect for over 4000 years until Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and commissioned the first Bible from a collection of Hebrew scrolls and stories of Jesus. Religious scholars of today claim that the Old Testament God decided to change his original requirements for animal sacrifice and for stoning-your-neighbor-to-death for disobeying His written laws. This God, rather than having his human scribes re-write the laws on new scrolls, he decided to have His only Son sent to earth to be tortured and murdered.

I believe there is a Creator God. I just believe that his personality is more like the compassionate Creator God of the early Native Americans. If He turns out to be the cruel Middle Eastern God, and He throws me in Hell for thinking He is more loving than He really is, then I’m willing to accept with that fate.

Answer 6

Really, Atheism is almost meaningless because it refers only to disbelief in something.
I'd be a lot happier if we were having more discussions about what we do believe, whether it's representative government, science or freedom of speech, etc.

Answer 7

They don't want to understand because we frighten them. Their life is founded on meaningless theological dogma and atheists regard it as complete rubbish and that sows the seeds of doubt in Christian minds- they're terrified we might be right so they're continually trying to disparage atheism.

Answer 8

You can argue that, mentally, in order to understand something you momentarily have to believe it, even in the hypothetical. You have to put yourself in another person's shoes, so to speak.

When you believe something as ridiculous as Christianity, putting yourself in an atheists shoes could be dangerous for the survival of your faith.

Answer 9

People trust others of their kind. Theists have been hearing from their most trusted leaders, teachers, and peers that atheists are evil. Who are they going to listen to and believe?

Answer 10

People only view things through the lens of their own perceptions, and if the lens is extremely narrow then their whole "world" will be the same.

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