Why are people of faith so frightening to those who are not people of faith?

Question

...I really want honest answers to this question, and answers from more than Christians and other people of faith.
...Many people seem very afraid of evangelicals and other people of faith expressing their faith by exercising their Constituional rights - i.e., getting involved in politics, public office, voting, influencing public policy, etc. Some of these folks would go so far as to try and deny them their rights.
...What threat do people of faith pose to non-people of faith? What are atheists and non-people of faith afraid of - what do they have to fear from people of faith being good citizens and enjoying their rights like other citizens?

Answer 1

You will find that those people who claim they have no faith in God, really have great concerns about the devil. Most people who say they don't believe, have reservations because they can't see, feel, or hear God. You must remember, that it doesn't matter what the subject is, people who don't try to find out about the subject are lacking the information necessary to discuss the subject. In Christianity we call this a lack of faith. "Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eye can see."

Answer 2

It would seem to be the types of laws and policies that the louder Evangelicals most seem to favor. These tend to be restrictions on the freedoms and opportunities of marginalized and resourceless people, or enhancements to the liberties of those who are already influential and prosperous. It seems very un-Christlike. It's like a latent strain of Calvinism, favoring the favored, punishing the miserable, and endorsing the abuses of the status quo.

There are some evangelicals, such as Jim Wallis, who are showing concern about issues of environment stewardship and social justice, but there are so many more who seem interested only in preventing abortion and gay marriage and don't care about anyone or anything else. Sexuality and reproduction are not enough of a platform on which to construct a functional government. (And the issues would seem to be irrelevant to the lives of the evangelicals themselves.)

An example of the extreme version of this attitude would be the activities of the Reverend Fred Phelps and his family. Nothing they've done has been illegal so far, but the fear is that their special brand of hatred and intolerance could spread. Would Pat Robertson be that far behind them? And in light of the current administration's jaundiced view of the U.S. Constitution, there is a genuine fear of an attempt at "theocracy", which is obviously an illusion, as God has never shown an interest in governing any human institution.

That's the fear, that these so-called "people of faith" are trying to remake the law according to the intolerant ideals of their faith rather than the practicalities of the real world, and that a lot of helpless people will be hurt by it. Silly, huh?

Answer 3

I fear the U.S. may reach the point where the constitution is weakened and we become a Christian Theocracy.

If evangelicals would simply support the separation 1st Amendment and not try to force their religious views into public schools, and not discriminate against people for 'sins' that are legal, then I wouldn't mind their otherwise exercising political power. But evangelicals clearly want a Christian Nation and some even admit they want a Theocracy.

C.S. Lewis is frequentlly cited by Christians as a smart Christian. See what he has to say about theocracies:

"I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretensions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant a robber barron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point may be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely more because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.

And since Theocracy is the worst, the nearer any government approaches to Theocracy the worse it will be. A metaphysic held by the rulers with the force of a religion, is a bad sign. It forbids them, like the inquisitor, to admit any grain of truth or good in their opponents, it abrogates the ordinary rules of morality, and it gives a seemingly high, super-personal sanction to all the very ordinary human passions by which, like other men, the rulers will frequently be actuated. In a word, it forbids wholesome doubt. A political programme can never in reality be more than probably right. We never know all the facts about the present and we can only guess the future. To attach to a party programme -- whose highest claim is to reasonable prudence -- the sort of assent which we should reserve for demonstrable theorems, is a kind of intoxication,"

- C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, ch. 3.

Answer 4

People often become concerned with religious people in political positions mainly because that’s how religions are lost and won.. Constantine is a perfect example.

But in modern times because I am a religious person but wouldn’t want a political leader no matter what religion they were including my own, to try to use their political power to further their religious cause as much as I wouldn’t want a religious leader to try to further a political cause.

I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state. There is less tension among the masses and there is no way for irreligious political leader to be accused to favoring one religion over another especially when it comes to dishing out grants.

What it comes down to is that No one likes to have other people’s ideals thrust upon them, and no one like to see religious groups benefit more than any other group. If a Christian governor grants a church a 2 million dollar grant to build a Christian school Muslims and Jews would get upset. Other Christians who were not part of that church or their denomination might get upset, and secular or non-religious people would feel a bit ticked as well.

It’s not fear as it is fair. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

As for any other fear… I don’t know anyone who has a fear of evangelicals like just walking down the street.. For example the Christian Picketers.. I won’t hang out and picket with them but I don’t fear them.

As far as feeling threatened by people faith.. I guess if you work in a abortion clinic you might get a bit jumpy around fundies…. But even when some of the self-righteous ones start screaming at people I don’t really feel threatened, I feel sorry for them…

Answer 5

Religion and power need each other. The powerful (monarch) needs religion to control the peasants, and relgion needs the powerful to spread the relgion.

Democracy means majority rules. Our founding fathers had the foresight to separate religion and state, so that one religious group would not force its policies onto other groups. How would you like if the majority of the lawmakers are muslims?

I am an atheist. I am not afraid of religious people. But when you see some religious elected officials try to force the teaching of creation in biology classes, you know you need to fight them.

Answer 6

Because you blindly believe... and yes, it is blindly. Without physical and empirical proof of your god, it IS blind faith.

I am afraid of people of faith because they believe they are right and that they have the right to force everyone else to believe as they do on the premise that it will "save their soul" even without proof that we even HAVE a soul.

By "enjoying your rights as citizens," you really mean "implement god in every aspect of American life so there can only be one god worshipped." Repress everything that goes against your bible and pretend that that will make everything all right when how many of your religious leaders have been prosecuted for lying, stealing and what else? Oh right... they weren't "true Christians."

Why are people of faith so frightened of non-believers? Because we don't need a god to force us to do what is right... we're able to do what is right without threats and promises.

Answer 7

The fear comes from the ignorance of science. When people like this are in positions of power, it is scary to think what may happen.

For people that do not want to believe evolution, look what is happening with antibiotic resistant bacteria. Is your blind faith going to help you when you get sick? Are you not going to go see a doctor and just pray about it instead.

Look what is happening to our environment, but it does not matter because you think you have another life after this one, so who cares right?

It is not only wrong, but dangerous to put so much into something that has no evidence supporting it.

Answer 8

As far as the religious getting involved in politics, I would think it would be obvious why I would be afraid of that (and I admit I am). I don’t want to lose my freedom. Right wing Christians do NOT believe that I should have the right to be NONreligious. I don’t want them in my schools teaching my children that condoms are evil and the earth is 6000 years old and I don’t want them forcing their god down my throat.

I think you misunderstand honestly though. I am not afraid that you have faith. I even feel that you SHOULD have the right to come to my door and bother me in the middle of supper with my family, but I believe our founding fathers were secularists. I believe that they put a barrier between church and state for a VERY good reason.

There is a difference between a “person of faith” and a fanatic. I am not afraid of a person of faith, but I am afraid of a fanatic.

Answer 9

"Some of these folks would go so far as to try and deny them their rights"

You really have no clue, do you? We are not frightened by the "people of faith" (a highly questionable phrase) exercising their rights. We are concerned with them abrogating everyone else's rights, just as were the Founding Fathers who instituted the concept of separation of church and state in the form of the First Amendment.

Answer 10

Well....I'm not afraid of you, but......I do have a problem with people being elected to public office who follow a man who claims to be a Christian and runs around warning about the evils of homosexuality, and then it turns out that he is having sex with male prostitutes and snorting methamphetamine during the encounters.

All of this while being President Bush's spiritual advisor right up 'till the time he was outed.

On second thought, maybe I should be afraid......nah.