What is it about an atheist that inspires such negativity in believers?

Answer 1

Little kids that believe in Santa clause dont want to be told he doesn't exist!!
Grow up and leave these little kids alone already!!

Answer 2

To theists, atheism is an attack on the most fundamental element of their lives. (It's really not an attack because as an atheist I don't care what anyone believes as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on me.)

If someone doesn't believe in (or ridicules) that which you hold in highest esteem then it reflects negatively on you as a person. So you would naturally feel animosity toward that person.

Most theists get it right and just live and let live. Like many other areas in life, it's the ignorant and insecure who feel the most threatened and lash out the most viciously.

Answer 3

I think Christians are raised to believe if they can't bring people to God they are failing. I am a Christian so I remember what I was taught early on and beyond. I'm not saying it's the right or wrong way to think. I am just answering your question. I happen to believe, much to the chagrin of most Christians that when God wants me to really reach someone he brings our paths together. I don't think I need to push uninterested people, or knock on their doors. We will be brought together in a more significant way. I have had non believers ask me why I believe. I have been able to answer that . That is what I see as an open dialog that is a given opportunity. Just an example.
Qwerty..That's exactly what's wrong with the pushing and door knocking. It is counter productive to what someone should do. I get what your saying.

Answer 4

probably the refusal of that person to accept that there is a reason for everything; a meaning and true purpose for everything that happens and has happened. believing in a superior being displays faith on that person's part, which assists in trusting people easily. i suppose not believing in this would make a person hesitant to trust or have faith in such a person who does not have the same creed.

Answer 5

I am not saying that ALL atheists lack self control on here when they post things that are offensive. One posted something last night that said that he wanted to teach His child about Jesus and to do so he would have her taped to a chair or something and watch porn.
Not all are this perverted, and some even have regard and respect for what others deem as Holy and Sacred. But I was not just offended but disgusted since I have young daughters myself and am raising them to know that the Lord Loves them.
You can choose to NOT believe in God, and that is your choice. But when an atheist decides to take that free choice to cause damage to others. To be perverted. To be even evil then even THAT is morally irresponsible as a human being.

Salt preserves things .. if you put salt on meat it will keep it from rotting. Sometimes when our atheist sharers of this forum open themselves to contribute here it is like smelling rotted meat. And the key word here is SOME.
Just as there are some Christians who have not allowed the Lord to control their tempers and rage. Still there is hope for us who get offended. Its not the easiest thing to read lies and negative things about someOne WE love
Jesus Christ.

Answer 6

There is an old saying: "The truth hurts"

Its not just believers. ANYONE who is suddenly faced with doubt about a belief becomes negative. It is a natural human reaction. If you believed that the Purple People Eater lived on the dark side of the moon all your life, then suddenly when you were 50 years old and were told you were wrong, you'd get a little defensive.

Answer 7

You asked: "What is it about an atheist that inspires such negativity in believers?"

We are the little boy pointing out that the Emperor has No Clothes*. This can be very upsetting to have your core beliefs questioned. The overreactions we are witnessing are indicative of their own insecurities in their belief system. We are simply holding up a mirror to these inadequacies - ones they themselves know deep down are true. It is far easier to shoot the messenger than to be honest with yourself about the merits of the message. Methinks they doth protest too much!

The misplaced hostility and negativity of believers towards atheists could also be due to the psychological condition of denial**. Another poster succinctly defined this as the "Truth Hurts" syndrome. "Denial is a defense mechanism in which a person is faced with a fact that is too painful to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimisation) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference)."

New ideas are always criticized - not because an idea lacks merit, but because it might turn out to be workable, which would threaten the reputations of many people whose opinions conflict with it. Some people may even lose their jobs.
— anonymous physicist

We are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, but find ourselves filled with an illicit passion for them when anyone proposes to rob us of their companionship. It is obviously not the ideas themselves that are dear to us, but our self-esteem, which is threatened.
— James Harvey Robinson, (1863-1936)

Fantastic doctrines (like Christianity or Islam or Marxism) require unanimity of belief. One dissenter casts doubt on the creed of millions. Thus the fear and hate; thus the torture chamber, the iron stake, the gallows, the labor camp, the psychiatric ward.
— Edward Abbey

Persecution is born of intolerance, and intolerance is the child of certainty. Before we can tolerate we must doubt.
— E. Royston Pike

People are zealous for a cause when they are not quite positive that it is true.
— Bertrand Russell

You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths, or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow.
— Robert M. Pirsig

Truth does not demand belief. Scientists do not join hands every Sunday, singing, "Yes, gravity is real! I will have faith! I will be strong! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down. Amen!" If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about it.
— Dan Barker

Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief.
— James Russell Lowell

Faith is to the Christian what sand is to the ostrich.
— Anonymous

Answer 8

It's very threatening to have your delusional fantasies challenged so directly. An atheist doesn't even have to TALK to a theist to challenge their entire system of well-being, an atheist only has to exist. It is easier for a theist to accept another theist with conflicting beliefs than for a theist to deal with the possibility that the world doesn't comply and respond to their emotions and careful fabrications. Imagine the general opinion about anarchists versus the general opinion of various forms of government...the fear that wells up in people about the lack of government is far more unnerving than the minor differences between types of government.

Atheists actually living successful lives is terribly unnerving to those who think success and happiness is an exclusive gift from their one god.

Answer 9

Geez. Hello. Knock Knock. What the hell do you think organized religion and its followers did in its begining? They ran around the world inspiring negativity into everyone they could get their hands on. Laying their BS on those who were great believers in their own ways. They destroyed entire cultures in order to instill their beliefs upon them! Pay back's a *****, ain't it!

Answer 10

Atheist are the antithesis of their world view. It is very hard to accept that someone would WILLINGLY reject what (in their opinion) gives life meaning.

In addition, there are those who believe the "culture war" nonsense. Further, it is an atheist led movement to eliminate god.

Answer 11

There's a sort of implied insult inherent to the very existence of atheism -- when I say, "I am an atheist", the unspoken corollary is, "If you aren't also an atheist, you are delusional, a liar, or intellectually lazy"...