Why do atheist become so upset and irritate when a believer of God talks about him?

Question

If atheist believe there is no God, why does he or she get so emotional and shook up over the mention of GOD? If they don't believe why would they care, it seems to me they wouldn't allow themselves to become so apprehensive, right? Just want some light shed on this matter.

Answer 1

Not all non-believers who post to this Forum are hate-mongers. Likewise, judging by some of their written words, some self-professed Christians seem to have wandered away from the “love thy neighbor” reservation.

Please don’t make the mistake of extrapolating the behaviors in this Forum by believers or non-believers as representative of the populations of believers or non-believers. What you observe herein is a social aberration of the real communities of these groups. It is both interesting yet sad to see how some will behave when hiding behind the anonymity of the computer.

Why persons think that the anonymity of this Forum grants them a license to ignore common social graces bewilders me. I suspect that these persons would be truly ashamed if they knew their parents, husband, wife, children, etc., learned of some of the things they write herein. Clearly they do their loved ones a disservice and dishonor them with such behavior.

In answer to your question, I would argue that Christians and non-believers are just like other folks; some are overly sensitive, insensitive, kind of spirit or not easily ruffled. In short, we are all imperfect people in an imperfect world. I believe charity of spirit is the most important quality one should strive to obtain. Such a benevolent goodwill enables a person to peacefully co-exist with everyone and make this imperfect world just a little bit more tolerable. We all have our inherent biases and flaws, but there is no reason we cannot strive to be better, no matter what our personal circumstances may be.

Answer 2

I believe in God.

I do not believe in religion. Why? Because there are so many things through out history that have been done in God's name by people of religious faith (the Crusades is a good example).

Now when you get some moron telling me how Jesus died for our sins- please, he died cause he knew he was gonna die sooner or later and if he stood his ground and died then on the cross then he would be the strongest figure in history.

Why do I get upset? Cause I am usually talking to some idiot that has just gotten through all 12 steps of the program and he wants to share. Because people of religous faith are some of the most immoral people I have ever met (petaphiles, drunks, drug addicts, etc) and they act as though they are higher on the food chain then I am.

Ask one of these religious nuts when the last time was he gave to the needy or gave blood at the Red Cross or when was the last time he didn't look down his nose at the homeless.

Get off your thousand dollar computer, sell it, take the proceeds to the homeless shelter and give there instead of here.

Answer 3

They are of the opinion that believers have been hoodwinked by their chosen religion and are blindly following instead of thinking for themselves. This is similar to someone being irritated or angry at people falling for get-rich-quick schemes, miracle diets. On the one hand they feel sorry for those who are taken advantage of in this way, on the other hand they are seriously irritated that these gullible individuals are perpetuating the cycle by trying to turn even more people into sheep. Surely you feel the same way about those who join and recruit for cults... so look at it from the standpoint that atheists believe ALL religions are cults.

Also, they look at the world around them and see all of the strife and hatred and bigotry and war caused by the believers... all of the killing done in God's name... and they wonder how much better the world would be if people would give up the second-grade "my God can beat up your god" mentality once and for all.

(I personally am not an atheist, but I am also firmly against organized religion for the above-mentioned reasons, so I have a lot of respect for them.)

Answer 4

When I ask a question in daily life (like, "why would such a terrible thing happen to these people?") and someone says, "Because it's god's will," or when I'm sad about something, and someone says, "God will see you through it," I do get annoyed. In these instances, it upsets me because:
1 - It implies that humans are not responsible for the sad state or reconstruction of society.
2 - It makes me feel like people are trivialising my concerns, because rather than thinking about it, they're throwing a platitude in my face.
3 - It doesn't offer a practical action or solution that I can work towards completing.
WHEW. Having said all that, it's not like I get angry or overly emotional in any other case, and even in cases like that I don't get all crazy. I usually manage to keep my feelings to myself, but I will admit to occasionally rolling my eyes when I think no one's looking (I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings/tick anyone off).

For others, I can only speculate that it might be a control freak thing? Like, "I don't believe in this, so any use of the word OFFENDS me," which is, of course, a silly way to live life. You're going to spend a lot of time offended that way. Best to just let it go, right?
Also, the internet just naturally leads to a loss of respect and politesse. I am willing to bet that most people in real life wouldn't respond like the ones here do.

Answer 5

Why does this have to keep coming up? Live and let live, A true believer in God wouldn't terrorize others just for the sake of an arguement or for prideful reasons. I'm no Atheist, and I'm no Christian, but I have to ask why you throw your beliefs in the faces of others? Is this a teaching of your church?

Answer 6

have you ever been a minority? if not, then try it sometime. it can put you on edge. And it's not about the belief, its about the stupid actions people commit because of the belief that makes atheists nervous. Why do you get so shook up when Muslims bow to Allah five times a day? it's not the belief, its the things done in its name.

Answer 7

Wouldn't you get irritated sometimes if you found yourself constantly around people who believed the earth was flat and that the moon was made of cheese? That's how your ridiculous god fairy tales sound like to us reality-based folks.

Answer 8

athiest is singular, the plural is atheists.
and irritate is a verb.

I don't get emotional, shook up, or apprehensive, just annoyed.

Answer 9

When I first came into this area I had MUCH adversity ! When they saw that I had plenty of ammo, they dissipated. Stand strong and secure, because TRUTH always prevails. Patience is a virtue. Just keep putting out GOOD. I personally love the backlash because I know they are seeing and hearing the Word of faith , which will accomplish where it is sent.
PEACE, Kieth

What you "see" of me here on this cybernetics is what you see of me if you were a neighbor.

I would give a thumbs up for the previous entry...

Answer 10

I don't mind if you mention god. It's protected by your first amendment rights in freedom of speech and religion. But you cannot talk about him if you are trying to convert me, or if you are trying to tell me that I'm going to be going to hell just because I don't belive in things that you belive in. That's trying to go against MY first amendment rights.