An honest question for Athiests?

Question

First, know that I'll respect you, and I expect to be treated with respect in return. The same freedom and rights and culture that allow you to believe there isn't a god allow me to believe there is.

Okay...

I know that many athiests will rail on a Christian's belief in God, and many will go out of their way to ridicule or bait Christians. All you have to do is browse Christian message boards, chat rooms, and especially this catagory on Yahoo Answers, to see that.

My question is, do you feel as strongly about Muslims, Islam, Allah, Mohammed, Jews,Hinduism, Buddha, Pagans, Wiccans, Pagan gods and goddesses that you do about Christians, Jesus and Jehovah God?

I can't figure out if the animosity for Christianity is really stronger, if I'm imagining it's worse than it is, or if it's simply that Christians are the biggest group you take issue with and there are more opportunities to bait, argue, etc.

I can't read whole names on here, so bear with me.

A Dane's....: Yeah, you make a good point. Something I didn't think about at the time is that Christians are the only ones who say you're going to hell because they're the only religion I can think of that believes in hell.

Syntheti....: The listing of the various religions, dieties and religious icons in the question was to let the reader know I was referring to all religions, and the use of capitalization and proper names was out of respect for the people who believe in the other gods or religions. If your comment about it was aimed at the latter part of the sentence, where I mention Jesus AND Jehovah God, that's the unlimited power of being God. If you believe in the Bible, and the miracles that it says God can do, then it's not out of the realm of possibility that God can do something else we can't do: be three beings at once.

voice_of_...: You raise some solid points, so I hope you don't mind if I correct you on one fact where you're mistaken. No one who has actually read the first half of the New Testament would ever say that Paul was the first Christian. He rose in prominence quite some time after Christianity and the church was established, not as a member or leader, but as a persecutor named Saul. He killed Christians. It was on the road to Damascus that he was confronted by God and converted, and he rose to be probably the most well-known Christian of the time, and in the Bible, but he definately wasn't the first.

richard....: For the fun of it, I looked up "religion" and "cult" in the dictionary. They're similar but not the same. "Cult" is defined in part as "a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader." The majority of religions don't fall in this catagory.

saintmeg...: You're absolutely right. If it did any good to apologize for others, I would apologize for the actions of some of the misguided people who claim the same faith as me but don't act it out, I would.

NH Brit...: It seems to be poor logic to say Christians have been in charge of the government for at least the past 60 years when the past 60 years has seen the government legalize abortion, take prayer out of schools, ruled for courthouses to remove the 10 commandments from the walls, give gays and lesbians more rights than they've ever had before (granted, not all rights, but they have gotten more than they had 60 years ago), etc. "In God we trust" and "One nation under God" aren't new phrases in the past 60 years, they've been around for quite some time. I'm certainly not saying our government isn't still mostly Christian influenced, but I don't think it can be argued that it's gotten worse in the past half-century.

Gastounet: What a spectacular example of a person who has completely missed the point of a conversation. It's a good thing that Yahoo!Answers is not a "congregation of the saints" or that we are not "in the churches." There is nothing un-Biblical about a woman asking or answering questions in this sort of forum.

Answer 1

People will always voice a stronger opinion against the group that bothers them the most in their daily lives. It really has nothing to do with religion.

I'm an atheist, I actually like religions, I can understand why many people need religion.

When the women's right movement started, they opposed strongly against middle aged men. Not against 6 year old male kids, not against the elderly. Of course not. It was middle aged men that had always kept them down.

When the black people started fighting for their rights, they opposed the strongest against the white people that oppressed them for so long. Of course. What reason would they have to march on the streets, protesting against chinese people?

It's the same with Christianity. I'm a white male, I'm 27 years old. I don't take the old footage I see of the female rights movement personal, simply because I agree with them. I don't take Martin Luther King's speeches personal, simply because I agree with him.

Atheists are being discriminated, specially in the USA. In 7 states it's not allowed to hold a job in public office for an atheist. The president calls atheists 'not true patriots'. National Prayer Day, One nation under God, God in a pledge, the 10 commandments on courthouses, all those things are not only an insult to atheists, they are an insult to every other religion. It's impossible to have freedom of religion, when one god is favoritized over all the other gods.

For me, atheist, my feelings against Christianity aren't personal against you. No worries about that. I wish Christians could see that and understand that. It is nothing personal. Just as the female rights movement wasn't personal against me or my dad. Just as Martin Luther King didn't have anything against me personal.

It's about politics. And equal rights for all. I believe in equal rights for all. That includes things like the right for homosexuals to marry, even if I'm straight. I will fight for that. It's Christianity with its role in politics that excludes certain groups from basic human rights.

It's nothing personal, really. And it has nothing to do with your God, and it hardly has anything to do with religion.

Thanks for your honest question. I hope my answer didn't offend you, I really can't explain it any more honest than this.

Answer 2

First of all, I don't go to this site to ridicule Christians, and there are many things posted here by other atheists that I don't like because I agree that we should treat each other with respect and I try not to be offensive. Most of the questions I answer in the R&S section are those asked to atheists so I can explain some things.

However there is a problem that I have specifically with Christianity and Islam and that is that these religions teach that people go to hell for not believing in the "right" religion. I know that not all Christians believe this, but still. I don't come from a religious family, but I think many of the atheists who act aggressively here come from a religious background and have made bad experiences with Christians, like people telling them they will go to hell for not believing and such things. I've made the same experiences with Muslims, and I've read the Quran and what is says about atheists is not nice. So I have certain problems with these two religions but I still don't post a bunch of questions here to insult them.

But I have a higher opinion of religions that don't have a concept of eternal punishment for "wrong" beliefs, i.e. all the other religions but Christianity and Islam, and those branches of Christianity that don't believe in it.

Answer 3

In my opinion, Christianity is slightly more harmful to the human race, but Islam is worse.

Hear me out, though. I'm not saying that all people who follow these religions are bad, I'm saying that they're the easiest to misinterpret. It's very hard to be a violent Jain, for example, but it's not difficult to find violence in Christianity, and if not violence, then hate. The problem isn't the religion itself, it's people who misinterpret it.

All faiths are somewhat irrational, because they involve faith. Faith is a declaration of what exists, rather than an investigation. This is why faith is irrational. However, most faith is fairly benign. For example, I'd venture to guess that you're not a harmful Christian. I wouldn't verbally attack a Christian who actually does love their neighbor, but I would if they were, say, The Westboro Baptist Church.

Not all Christians are bad. In fact, most aren't. The problem is that Christianity can be interpreted badly, and there are harmful fringe groups. This is also true of many other religions, and I verbally attack extremists/fundamentalists from these groups, as well.

Answer 4

Look up cult and religion in a dictionary, they are the same. In the US there are a lot of misguided religious fanatics, Christians being in the majority of them. Religion can certainly have a positive impact in peoples lives when they need it, but too many start thumping the Bible or whatever book they say is the truth and they really don't know what the truth is do they?

Answer 5

The backlash against Christians is proportional to their attacks on atheists and the other groups. More hatred and intolerance is displayed on this site by the "Christians" than all other groups combined. It stems from a sense of entitlement that borders on the pathological. Although a few radical Islamic groups call for the United States to become an Islamic nation, many Christians feel that the United States is a Christian nation and any form of pluralism is persecution.

Answer 6

If you're an American, your perceptions are in many ways correct. There are no hard and fast rules concerning atheism, and one atheist may differ greatly from any other in matters of belief. Nevertheless, there is a weak trend in American atheists that tends to be biased against Christianity specifically. This is largely due to the strong Christian influence on American culture and politics. This is a standard and understandable trend. Chinese atheists tend to bias against Buddhism, Morrocan atheists tend to bias against Islam, and Israeli atheists bias against Judaeism. Nearly everywhere in the world, atheism is a minority position. It only makes sense that atheists would show more animosity towards the particular groups that they have personally had bad experiences with.

Personally, I do discriminate between religions and religious beliefs, based on reason. For instance, I find Unitarianism to be a much more agreeable faith than, say, Scientology. Similarly, if you're a Christian who believes in rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's and maintaining the seperate sovereignty of religion and politics, I can get along with you a lot better than a Christian who believes that homosexual sex should be punishable by law.

As far as those atheists on Y!A who bait, demean, and argue, their intended purpose is to just pick fights. Since the majority of R&S users are Christians, the easiest way to pick a fight is to say something derogatory about Christianity. You can disregard these people. They are not representative of atheists in general.

Answer 7

I feel just the same about all religions, although some of the more nature centric religion are easily tolerated, because members seem to have a different perspective on life.

The reason for such animosity towards christians is probably due to the major rise in fundamentalism in the states. It is a truly frightening occurrence. People so filled with hate and intolerance gaining ground within one of the most militarily advanced countries in the world should scare everyone.

Atheism. You know it makes sense.

Answer 8

First, atheism is the lack of belief in ANY god's, whether they are touted by Muslims, Jews,Hindus, Buddhists (who by the way are frequently atheists), Pagans, Wiccans, or Christians.

Second, you're speaking to a largely North American group on Y!A, and the majority of Americans are Christians. They have been in charge of the government for at least the past 60 years, and they have imposed rules on the rest of society that require the rest of us to live restrict our lives because of YOUR religion, one that we don't even believe in.

As such, the prophetic voice will speak truth to power. Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Pagans, and Wiccans generally have much less influence on our lives than do Christians, and because your faith has stuck its nose where it doesn't belong, do not be show surprise when, on occasion, someone takes a swing at it.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 9

I'm happy you chose to state your question without sounding patronizing; a lot of Christians on this site bait us too and I'm not sure why. A lot of Atheists single out Christians as well and I'm not sure why either.

I don't feel strongly abot Christianity or any other religion. I feel the same about all of the religions and I don't single anyone out. Not to sound disrespectful but it's all the same to me. I think it seems that way because if you look around here, Christians and Atheists are perpetually at each other's throats. Some Atheists here are very condecending and some Christians here are very mocking and patronizing. It goes both ways here.

It probaly looks like it's just Christians and Atheists fighting here, but that's only because none of the other religious groups present on this site seem to want to join in. I don't really see any other questions saying " Atheists: convert to Buddhism" or " Are Atheists stupid because they don't belive in Allah"?

Trust me; I can give you many names here on this site who regularly bait Atheists. I'm not saying that two wrongs mak a right here but I am saying that it's not just one group here doing all the teasing.

Answer 10

Muslims are almost as bad as Christians. But they don't get it so badly from everyone because there are fewer of them in North America and they don't usually push their religion on anyone.

Jews learned to keep their religion to themselves decades ago so no Atheist is going to have a problem with them.

The Pagans always knew to keep their religions to themselves too. Unless you ask them directly. THAT is the ONLY time they tell you about their religion. They don't expect that you have to live by their religion. They don't try to actively (or usually even passively) try to convert you either. They just provide you with information.

As for why the Atheists have such a hate on for the Christians... think about it. They expect you to live by their religion. They're the ones that stand on street corners to preach. They're the ones that knock on your door and follow you down the streat and hand out pamphlets about their god. They're the ones who do things like disown their children over it. They're the ones that try to get their religion made into secular law by attempting to ban abortion, ban gay marriage, and ban stem cell research (though those are only the start of all their religious/gvt causes). They're the ones that want ONLY their prayer allowed in schools while everyone else has to stay silent or do it in private. They're the ones that want to force EVERYONE to learn Intelligent Design in the science classroom.

Its the Christians that are causing trouble in North America (though mostly in the United States), not the other way around.

Its not that Atheists hate the religion. Atheists can live with the religion (even if they think the religion is crap), just like they do with all the other religions, IF THE CHRISTIANS WOULD ONLY LEARN TO BUTT OUT OF OTHER PEOPLES LIVES.

Its the actions of the Christian followers that prompt this kind of Atheist reaction.

Now, please let me further explain something very important..... we CANNOT live in a religious nation. The United States and Canada are about FREEDOM. The freedom to choose, the freedom to be, the freedom to love, the countries are about FREEDOM. If the Christians begin to rule the country, you will slowly see those freedoms washed away because the Christians think many of them to be morally corrupt.

And to be honest, the other religions, given enough power, would be the exact same way.

The ONLY way to ensure that freedom is for Atheism and Secularism to reign supreme. Because the Atheists want to ensure that everyone is treated equally and to protect that freedom in these countries.

And THAT is why the Atheists fight Christianity so hard.