Do you respect atheists?

Question

Personally, I respect them very little. I think they are cowards for the most part. I think they are cowards because they constantly bash Christians from the safety of the US or other democracies while basically refusing to touch other religions. Are they atheists, or just anti-Christian? While they act like they are standing up for what they believe in, would they dare say the same things about Islam that they say about Christianity if they lived in Tehran or Medina instead of Denver and San Diego? Of course not because they would stoned to death, beheaded, or imprisoned and tortured for life. How many atheists in the US will publicly denounce Islam? Sure, from behind a computer being anonymous, but even in the US people are afraid to insult Islam publicly. Atheists will say that they attack Christians because they are the majority here, but what about atheists in Syria or Yemen? Why don't atheists fight for the truely oppressed instead of being cowards and attacking christians?

harry tikos, you really expect me to feel sorry for you? so what if your family would be upset, would they commit voilence against you? would you be sent to prison? of course no. atheists always play the persecution angle, yet somehow they manage to get on tv and state their crazy views, like rosie and bill maher. the fact is, christians in the US treat atheists better than any other place in the world. like i said, go to tehran and say what you say about christianity and see what happens. instead you guys whine about someone putting up a manger scene on public property during the winter solstice holiday. that is your massive persecution i guess. grow up already!

Answer 1

well matt. the reason we can say what we want, and believe what we want, is because we are in the USA, we are not in the middle east. thats the simple fact. and even as you go on your little rant remember that if you where in the middle east you wouldnt have opened your little mouth to spread christianity. thats the great thing about this country. honestly i think you are one of those crazies who want this nation to stone those who dont believe in christianity. and most atheist dont FIGHT for anything...thats the whole point, there is nothing to fight for. if you get into an argument with an atheist you can bet that 99% of the time they were provoked by religious fanatics who do as you and insult them. so as it was your right to insult, it is their right to insult right back...its that whole freedom thing i mentioned earlier. so silly matt just admitt that there is no question you want answered here, apparently you know it all, such a smart boy and not a day of school, all you wanted was to provoke.

Answer 2

I really don't see what the point to this question is. A lot of Christians don't respect atheists, and a lot of atheists don't respect Christians. So what? Yeah, the atheists in the western world are more outspoken than those in the rest of the world. I feel bad for those atheists in the rest of the world. I lived for about a year without telling my parents that I wasn't a Christian anymore. I felt like I was living a lie. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be them and have to live like that my entire life. It looks to me like you're using the misfortune of others to make a point here, and it's a bad one at that. Atheists aren't going to become any less outspoken. Once the Christians stop trying to turn this country into the United States of Jesus, we'll shut up. Until then, get used to us and quit being such a whiny little ***** about it.

Answer 3

Well, this is an English-speaking site, so most of the viewers are going to be from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and NZ. So Christianity is much more relevant to our lives, since all five of those countries are historically majority Christian.

But atheism is not the central feature of my life. I am a student, a musician, a linguist, an American, a libertarian, a brother, son, cousin, an MMO player, and a Tigers fan in addition to being an atheist.

Cowardice is relative, and martyrdom isn't wired into all of us. I think Islam is just as ridiculous as Christianity in its particulars, but one should also consider the relative effectiveness of what work one would do.

Answer 4

I don't really care if you respect me or not, I don't respect all christians either. The truth is, I live in a free country, with free speech and I practice it. Of course there are many things I would not dare say in other countries, out of pure self-preservation. I'm not quite sure what you are angry about, the fact that we have free speech in the US, which, oddly enough, gives christians the right to bash atheists? Or is it you just can't accept that others might not believe as you do?

Answer 5

Oh my! This is quite the incendiary question! I'm very sure you will get a lot of negative feedback. But to answer your question...

I absolutely do respect Atheists. They have the same rights to believe what they believe just as all religious people, be they Christian or some other faith, have. What I do not respect...

Is bashing of any kind. If someone puts up a well thought out salient argument, they should be answered in kind. Consequently...

Regarding the remainder of your remarks, calling Atheists "cowards" is the same as negatively labeling any other group. It's a gross generalization and not worthy of a dignified, well thought out rebuttal.

Answer 6

I'm not a coward, but I do protect myself and my family. I live in the US, but I have to be very careful about openly professing my atheism. If you are US, you should not be very proud of that. I can't even talk openly to my parents (christians) about being an atheist without risking loss of their love. Am I a coward for not coming out to them?

You are clearly angry because you feel that atheists pick on christians more than other religions. So this makes you accuse us of being cowards??

You need to consider what it's like to be a minority. How would you behave if you were the only christian in a world of nonchristians, or even christian-haters? If you decide to be too courageous you will die.

I only debate with christians more than others because there are more of them on Y Answers than any other religion.

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority; the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority." - 17th century theologian Ralph W. Sockman

Answer 7

Atheists from the "safety" of the US "bash" Christianity more often than any other religion because Christianity is the one shoved down our throats at every turn. This *is* a Christian nation, after all.

I'm sorry i can't do it in a more public place.. what would my neighbors think if I stood on my front porch and screamed it at the top of my lungs? I live on a military base, so I'd probably get reported to Social Actions. I think I'll refrain from that if you don't mind.

HERE I have the freedom, and the voice, to say what I want. As do you. Come on admit it, didn't you feel better after your rant? :)

Answer 8

Muslims do not go around telling people you will go to hell if you do not believe in my god. Christians do.

Atheist will speak against Theist as a whole and not specific religion. It just happen Christians are the ones who do not like this a bit thinking all should be like them and hence bashes them using their bible's quotation.

I said the same thing I want to my Muslim friends, they are fine with it. In fact, Moderate Muslims are the more rational ones compared with Christians.

The Fundamentals are the same, between Muslims and Christians.

Atheists does not denounce a certain god, they denounces all gods.

Why should atheist be so stupid to pay to fly to middle east just to do something as stupid as denouncing a religion who did not bother us a bit, a religion that did not curse atheist to hell because we do not believe in their christ or in this case mohammad?

Atheists are perhaps rational being and since we do not have an imaginary master, there is no reason for us to spread the religion, Atheists do not follow a master christians call god.

Do you use your mentality of "We must spread christ and our god" to atheists. We do not have such mentality.

Answer 9

Whether I respect an atheist depends on the atheist. Some I respect and some I don't. The same goes for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, and so on.

Answer 10

I try to respect everyone. I think that we bring a lot of the bashing we receive upon ourselves. I think that everyone should be entitled to their own opinions about religion, and should be allowed to express them ( as you and I are doing now). The difference between American and Tehran or Medina is that they don't have the Bill of Rights or the Constitution to protect their freedom of expression - the same freedom of expression that lets you say what you have just said. You might not agree with them, but try to respect them as one human being to another.