Why does the phrase "militant atheist" yield 63,000 Google hits, but "militant Christian" yields only 16,100?

Question

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Doesn't "militancy" imply a willingness to take up arms? Which one has more of a vigilante attitude? Which one has more trouble accepting pluralism?

Why are the media associating violence with atheists? Who ever attacked other people simply to promote atheism?

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Enclose the phrase in Quotation Marks to search for the exact phrase. Otherwise you'll just find articles that include both words.

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Answer 1

I put the following in quotes (which gives you accurate hits on the specific phrase) and searched Google

Christian Criminals - 1,520
Atheist Criminals - 419

Insane Christians - 1,380
Insane Atheists - 152

Deluded Christian - 1,090
Deluded Atheist - 556

Deaths from religion - 1,010
Deaths from atheism - 2

Christian Murder - 603
Atheist Murder - 189

Christian Arrested - 685
Atheist Arrested - 49

I leave the interpretation to you.

Answer 2

I admit, after living in the States for as long as I have, my Atheism is definitely shifting towards a more militant style.

I just cannot comprehend the amount of completely and utterly stupid people in a country with so much power. It is something the rest of the world is finally taking a much needed close look at.

The fact that Bush said 'god' told him to invade Iraq, is nauseating and truly scary. These nut cases have to be watched very carefully. Those of us, who are sane and rational have an obligation to the rest of the world, who do not believe the way the Americans do, to be very vigilant.

They have no qualms about incinerating entire countries, simply because they do not have the same imaginary friend!

Answer 3

A lesson in History is in order I suppose..

does Lenin ring a bell?

Militant atheism isnt taking up arms per se, its just an idiomatic expression to the ferocity of atheists who are against God and concepts of god.

And Id have to disagree with andy because Lenin was the first to use the concept. Not the americans.

Note: I get diff results when I search Google.

Answer 4

"Militant Muslim" blows both of them out of the water: 132,000. hits. Militant Buddhist only gets about 1,980. Militant Pagan gets a mere 647.

To a couple of the other answerers: make sure to put the phrase in quotes, otherwise you'll get hits that contain the words separately.

Answer 5

Militant atheism is the rough equivalent of fundamentalist Christianity, not militant Christianity; militant atheism exists only in principle, and barely even that because you can't really fight for a non-cause, while some Christians would actually bear arms for Jesus, so people are reluctant to say "militant Christian", because it has negative connotations.

So try "fundamentalist Christian". I got 514,000 hits. Tells you something, doesn't it?

Answer 6

If you're an atheist, and you think others should be atheists, then you're a "militant" even if you are a pacifist (and many of us are).

If you're a Christian, and you think others should be Christians, then you're a missionary doing God's work.



To be fair, though, this is mostly an example of a label sticking even when it doesn't apply. We have other words for nutjob Christians, though we tend to use them only for the real fringe. Even atheists like Richard Dawkins get labeled militant for some reason, and he's just a scientist!

Answer 7

We use the word militant less than Christians. Christians use militant, arrogant, evil, and many other words to try to disparage atheists. By the way, what about Christians who talk about wearing spiritual armor, engaging in spiritual warfare, and sing the song "Onward, Christian soldiers"? Extremism comes in all forms.

Answer 8

"Militant Atheist" scores numerous hits on Christian websites that target atheists in an organized fashion. It's ironic that they accuse a group that does little in the way of formal organization of militancy.

Answer 9

>>Doesn't "militancy" imply a willingness to take up arms?<<

No necessarily, but if it did, how worried should I be? The top hits for "militant atheist" are SELF-applied.

http://www.cafepress.com/antireligion/639030
http://www.atheists-online.com/store.asp?shop=03000
http://www.militantatheist.net/index.html

Answer 10

my Google search for militant Christian came up with 2,170,000 hits

Militant Muslims 2,110,000

Militant Hindus 928,000

militant atheist came up with 641,000

Militant Buddhist 590,000
So the christians are still on top