A question for atheists.?

Question

Considering the reaction that many of you give to Christians, why do you think your reactions are so negative and vitriolic?
Please ignore for this question the reactions and negative comments you have received from some “Christians” about your future. There is no hell and there is no punishment for refusing the gift of salvation except not receiving the gift of salvation.
If you can, think only of why you feel such strong animosity toward any mention of God or the existence of God, and give that answer please.

It seems the reason for animosity toward a supreme being by, those who choose not to believe in such, is couched in real or imagined abuses by those who espouse organized religion. Personally I don’t like organized religion either; but I have chosen not to allow that animosity to color my belief in a supreme being.

My personal experience is more than adequate to prove the existence of a supreme being for me and; no I will not tell you what that experience is because everyone must find their own miracle. Don’t bother to make that snide comment about not wanting to know my personal experience as that only makes my point.

Since I used the word salvation in my question perhaps it requires some explanation. The term means to be saved from the cessation of my thought processes when the corporeal (organic) brain ceases to function. It does not mean protection from organic termination. However those who only believe in corporeal reality what do you look forward to?

Answer 1

I'm a Christian, so I won't respond - but great question!! And there have been some really great, thoughtful answers too...

Answer 2

Belief in 'God' is holding civilisation back. If people stopped wasting so much time bowing and praying and worshipping... (the concept of 'worshipping' gives me the creeps- does it really make any sense that a supreme being would rather have people groveling than out actively doing things to improve the world?) Anyway, the whole thing is a distraction from what really matters. The idea that everyone thinks that 'God' is on their side is laughable. If your football team wins, is it because 'God' likes them better? Did they pray more effectively? I don't like hearing 'God' invoked, because pretty much every time I do it's just a way to get around a lack of logic. Try a life without 'God'. Carry your own responsibilities. Behave as you know you should, and feel the joy of self-directed good works, and the long-lived sting of knowing you did wrong. It's all about conscience. Mine is well and strong.

Answer 3

Christians have no self control.
They live by the rules of the bible, and that scares us.
My theory;
Religion evolved as a result of our evolution. As humans began to talk and to wonder about our existence and the world we live in people started to theorize about reality. In the beginning religion was an early attempt at science and to create order in society. Religions evolved into social institutions creating a conglomeration of ritual, science, law, and government.

People didn't always know we live on a planet. They saw the sun and the moon and the stars and wandering stars that we now know are planets. There were storms, thunder and lightning, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. There were good years of plenty and bad years of famine and drought. Insects ate crops. People died of mysterious diseases. The world was a vast and mysterious place that created great wonderment and inspired the imagination, and the imagination went wild.

With no scientific information to work with people imagined that there were Gods that were good and evil and that they were powerful and controlled the universe. The sun and moon were gods. The thunder being brought the rains. Life was everywhere so people concluded that stars and planets and the sun and moon might also be alive. They wondered about beings that live in the clouds. They wondered about what happens to you after you die, or where you were before you were born.

Answer 4

There's nothing wrong with mentioning God.

I think you have misinterpreted our negativity.

If Christians and other people "of faith" lived a secular life, I don't think there would be a problem. If their personal god was kept their personal god, who could possibly criticize?

The unfortunate reality is that we STILL have things like:

- governments wasting time debating the definition of marriage because apparantly homosexuality is a sin.

- an American Senator who says he doesn't care about the environment because good Christians like him will be raptured long before global warming will become a serious problem.

- a Canadian Jehovah's Witness couple who gave birth to sextuplets and refused the proper medical treatment for the babies on the grounds that blood transfusions were against the parents' religion. Two of the babies died.

- "faith-based initiatives."

- a poll done in the US that said Americans would rather elect an ex-con or a pedophile over an atheist.

- creationism taught in science class.

When people put more faith in bronze-age mythology than modern science, we have a real, serious problem on our hands.

Answer 5

Mostly because religion is such an abysmal waste of time, effort and money, as well as corruptive of logical thinking. How many starving African kids could be fed with the money that theists spend on their edifice complex? How many wonderful inventions could be made if people thought about science instead of superstition? How much better would the world be without the miseries of Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Kashmir, Chechniya, and of course Iraq? How much better would Islamic society function if it had a proper understanding of the nature of money? The list is endless. As for "salvation", what evidence of any sort do you have that the concept is even meaningful? (No biblical quotes, please.) Note, of course, that your view of salvation is by no means universal among professed Christians.

Answer 6

Okay, I'm not an atheist, but I do have a friend who gave me the reason why he doesn't believe. And I respect, though I disagree, with his idea. He says the biggest problem he has with belief is having to be a "slave" to something that might not be. Now, I think that it may have a lot to do with shame. Some people just might be afraid that believing in a God makes them seem like a child, or foolish. Or that it may make them feel like they're a slave or servant to some unknown ideal. And those are powerful, understandable arguments. But my advice on the matter, is at least try and listen to their points. Though you might disagree with them...maybe they need to hear a non-hostile response from a Christian. WHY do we believe? Maybe they just want to find out what religion is on their own agenda? Who knows?

Answer 7

Because basing your belief system on the delusion that you are not responsible for your own actions (God told us to do this or think this...OR God forgave me so I don't need to examine why I did it and change.....OR the devil made me do it) allows people to justify insane and immoral behaviors.

Religion inhibits scientific progress, just look at the joke of a museum called the creation museum, the resistance to stem cell research, the joke called ID that people try and pass off as science, the persecution of early scientists for heresy, etc..., etc..., etc...

Religion tries to pass what they call morals as laws. It is not moral to discriminate and yet there are people who can't marry who they love. It wasn't that long ago that we were 'separate but equal' in the name of gods will. The KKK was a Christian organization and it was not only acceptable but they were viewed as heroes in their fledgling years.

The belief that you and only you know the truth leads to fanatics.

There are more reasons but these are the big ones in my view.

Answer 8

You realize that the Christians have made it against the rules for parks staff to mention geology concerned with the Grand Canyon but forces them to say it was created by a Great (Noah) Flood.
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol24/5100_flood_geology_in_the_grand_can_12_30_1899.asp
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,783829,00.html
http://www.usd.edu/esci/creation/grandcyn.html
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/12/29/bush-white-house-still-promoting-creationism
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801

Because Christians pull this sort of stuff and openly declare they want to teach that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time I find them very scarey. I think religious people are insane.

Answer 9

Substitute the word "god" with any other word, or nonsense phrase you choose. Let's use "blurg".

I have no animosity towards blurg, it means nothing to me. what the heck is a blurg? I know there are lots of people who believe in the existence of a blurg, and think that it wrote a wise book. However the book is clearly written by ignorant, superstitious men, and while parts of it have some nice sentiments, the rest of it is repulsively violent and absurdly silly. Furthermore, there is a country in the world that went so far as to write "In Blurg we trust" on it's money, somehow thinking that would scare away commies. It just scares away rational people.

Any mention of blurg just makes me laugh, then sigh, then roll my eyes. I get angry at peoples gullibility for believing in it, but not at blurg. Blurg is just a vacuous concept.

Answer 10

i don't feel animosity towards the mention of god. i get peeved by ignorance. especially when it's so obvious. the term salvation quite literally means being saved. so what is the gift of salvation? in your own question, you refer to it. what exactly are we being saved from? if it's something that's not dangerous then why do we need salvation? why not in stead of calling it "salvation" just call it a "different way"? you don't suppose people wouldn't be as scared into believing if they didn't believe there wasn't some fear associated with not believing, do you?

Answer 11

To be honest I think a lot of commited Christians are cranks. I don't have a problem with liberal Christianity but people who believe in fundamentalist doctrines like creationism, universal floods etc. are a sandwich short of a picnic as far as I'm concerned. Their attitudes have served to reinforce my atheism.