Atheists,What are your thoughts about these......?

Question

"Top 10 Atheist Myths"?

http://humanists.net/avijit/article/top_10_atheist_myths.htm


I am especially interested in your views on #1 and #5.

Myth 1 : "Atheists are all the same"



Myth 5 : "Atheists seek to remove religion from society, and to force all
people to be atheists"



#1

If you say that all atheists aren't the same, then why do some of you think that Christians are all the same? We aren't!

Thanks for your respectful responses.

fiery_ember, I merely posted a link and asked a question.

Never have I criticized ant atheist.
ALL I did was ask why they assume we are all the same. We are not.

I am unhappy with some atheists' attitudes that we are ALL the same.

Thanks, crystal and queen!
Y'all are helping.


We are not the same, just because we believe in THE BIBLE.

My point is that if y'all aren't all the same, why would you say we are? That seems sort of........judgemental to me.

Of course, I knew the rest of these were myths, but some of you seem to want the world to be without religion, and some of you seem to imply that we are all the same.

Answer 1

Not all christians are the same, but a lot of them are radicalizing to fundamentalism. Still quite a bunch take everything out of their "holy" books literally, and not only christians. Atheists don't have supposedly "holy" books that tell them what the world and the truth should be, as seen trough stone-age eyes. The people who do have such doctrines are more actively trying to gain more power everywhere, not only in the US. They pose a potential threat to peace and tolerance (and other humanistic values). That's why we would like them to be a bit more careful and reasonable with how to interpret what they read in their books.
Worst case scenario, when there are religious tensions, I can easily predict you're gonna choose the "safe" side of christian fundamentalism too, because you're already on their side. Hanging out with atheists, or any other minority group, won't make your life any happier either when the sh*t hits the fan.
Atheists are considered the most distrusted people in the US, even worse than gays and muslims, and are considered not to be patriots by default by some people, like Bush Sr.
Shall we start again about who is prejudging other people?

Answer 2

I particularly like # 2 and # 4.

Myth 2 : "Atheists have no morals, since they don't believe in God" Being moral has nothing to do with God, as all the monotheist religions have proven time and time again. How many times through history have the two major monotheist religions approved of the cold blooded murder of those they consider the "infidel", and if murder isn't immoral I don't know what is.

Myth 4 : "Atheists cannot know there is no God, since you cannot prove he doesn't exist" This is a particular favorite and only theists with weak minds think they can get away with this one. A negative can't be proven until a positive theory has first been established. Without the positive, the negative theory cannot be subjected to analysis for verification.

I can't remember which myth said atheists think all Christians are the same (or that all atheists are the same) but heck no.
Christians can be individuals just as much as atheists can. It's only the fundies who are all the same (and by fundie I mean Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, whatever). The fundies are radicals and I don't like radical anything.

PS (Queenthesbian, great catch on JokeyJoe. I read Time magazine religiously (if you'll pardon the pun) and have never seen any such article. I may have missed it but I believe you're right).

Answer 3

One of the few things you can say definitively about atheists is that they are a diverse group. They cover the spectrum of outlooks in other areas and the only thing you can assume about an atheist when you learn they are is that they don't believe in deities.

I know for a fact that all Christians are not the same. I have Christian family members and I attended a liberal Unitarian Universalist Church as a nonbeliever because I liked the community and their social justice/community improvement programs. I know that Christians are also individuals and that aside from a belief in God & Jesus Christians might hold a variety of other interpretations of their religion and outlooks on life.

On this forum though people tend to generalize. Its hard not to do. They are also often responding to a certain subset of Christians that does define itself rather narrowly but that doesn't mean all of us think all Christians are the same. Although there may be some who do.

As for #5, I think its ridiculous to think that removing religion from society could be done. You can not control people's thoughts or beliefs and as a big believer in freedom I would never want to. I have heard a few atheists make statements like that but I think its reactionary when they are upset. Either that or its made in a statement that when read indicates the person is either actually or emotionally under 13 years old.
All I want is that religious people respect others rights to be different and exercise their freedom even if they may do so in ways they don't approve of.

Answer 4

We Are All The Same "ANIMALS" Just Like The Animals Of The Universal Stars No One Person Is Different In Any Way Except In The Way We Think About Ourselves Not Others Or Animals The Insect Want Your Blood The Beast Want Your Flesh People Want Everything All That They Could Get Out Of Life For Nothing! Life Is Life Live And Let Live Or Kill Or Be Killed Live And Let Die! Master Of All Able Paul!

Answer 5

I think most of it is absolutely on the mark. Like number one, All Atheists are not the same. It would seem that that would be self evident,I've known Atheists that are the most moral people you have ever met,and vice versa. Just as I have met Christians who are extremely decent people,and I've met Christians who would make Hitler look like an altar boy if they had enough power to do so.

I also found the part about Atheist "forcing" their non belief on others to be very correct,because historically going back all the way to the beginning of Christianity it has definitely been predominantly the other way around,that much is made clear to me every time I look at a US Dollar bill isn't it. Why not just post a sign at the door that says,all Christians welcome,others need not apply?

AD

Answer 6

1 - Utterly wrong. Because atheists are only defined as atheists due to their LACK of belief, there is no real unifying characteristic. There is more division among atheists than perhaps any other religious category. However, it is usually political.
Also, there are different TYPES of non-belief. IMO, the two major ones are those who don't believe for logical, scientific, or philosophical reasons...those who are atheists because they believe it is unreasonable to believe in a god. They don't believe because they CAN'T believe. And then there are those who don't believe because they just don't like the idea, or they don't like religion. They don't believe because they don't WANT to believe.
The behavior and positions of either type vary perhaps more than you would see within any religious denomination, even within major ones like Christianity as opposed to Islam.


I recognize that Christians aren't all the same. But you do all subscribe to the same book. You do all have UNIFYING beliefs. You are more the same than atheists are because of that. At the very least, an unoffensive, peaceful christian has more in common with a fundamentalist militant than most atheists do with one another, with regard to their core beliefs.

That doesn't mean it's fair to treat you all as though you're irrational religious oppressors. But you will be called on any indefensible beliefs you have. For example, if you claim to follow the bible, do not be surprised if someone brings up obscure, insane parts of it to prove you don't.



5 - Some do. Most don't. Me personally, while I'd love to see religion gone, I don't believe that it can be forced. The only way to FORCE religion into oblivion is to replace it with something else that behaves just like it (see most Communist states)

Answer 7

I think the article does a pretty good job explaining all of their points, so I will cut and paste them here, then add my own thoughts:

from website:

Myth 5 : "Atheists seek to remove religion from society, and to force all
people to be atheists"


Absolutely wrong. We seek only the freedom for people to make their choice on their own, free of intervention from the government or public school system. We seek the freedom not to support religion through taxes, forced participation, or special privileges of any kind.

That being said, your thoughts are your rights, and none of our business. Wear your jewelry, celebrate your holidays, and pray in your house, church, or in public if you like. Just don't force your religion on other people. That's what we're all about.

This is in direct contrast to many of the world's religions, including Christianity, which include worldwide expansion as one of their central objectives. Isn't it amazing that they falsely accuse us of doing what they do openly, only with atheism it's evil?

To try to force atheism would by hypocritical, since we would be placing pressure from the state on people to believe a certain way. But let me give a good analogy to our objectives and at the same time answer this charge using the money we use every day.

"In God We Trust," is the government actively promoting religion.

"In God We Do Not Trust," would be the government promoting atheism.

We advocate the complete omission of the statement thereby rendering the money neutral.

We feel the same way about the rest of the government. It should be the "Switzerland of the religious debate," while at the same time being the protectorate of the individual.

OK, I don't think Christians are "all alike" because there are so many different branches, sects, denominations, etc. within Christianity. Catholics are different from Pentacostals, Batptists are different from Quakers, and under the umbrella of Christianity there is a lot of bickering about who is really a Christian or not. Also, I don't think "they are all alike" can describe any group, but certainly there are some commonalities otherwise, thew would seek the group identity of "Christian".

The only identifying factor of atheism is the disbelief in God. So other than that ONE similarity, there isn't much else atheists have in common as a group.

Also, I don't think atheist want to force atheism on anyone else, they are just trying to defend themselves from theist who are trying to put the strong arm of the law behind their faith. Just look at the big fuss some Christians put up the ONE time a Hindu led a senate prayer, after almost 200 years of Christian senate prayer. Golden rule anyone ? If having the gov't endorse a religion other than their own ONE time, after enjoying the perks of the gov;'t endorseing THEIR religion, you would think that they would come to their senses and see that their is good reason to NOT have the gov't play favorites amoung religions. But instead, they continue to INSIST that America is a CHRISTIAN NATION and that the gov't should favor Christianity. Bush Sr went as far as saying that atheists aren't citizens.

NEWSFLASH FOR JOKEYJOE2: The reason the link to the December 2007 link doesn't work, is because that date is in the future. I also highly doubt that any such article exsisted, it sounds like another deliberate lie to discredit a group.

Answer 8

Just as in christianity, there are several sects or groups each entitled to their own opinions. As an atheist I am slightly offended that you would post all atheists views are the same and that we are trying to wipe out religion from schools. In my own personal experience if you feel religion in school is a massive deciding factor then go to a private school. As people we know that not everyone thinks alike so why shove religion onto children when they have more important things to worry about in school i.e. their education, I feel as an INDIVIDUAL that nothing should be pushed on all members in an academic setting other then the curriculum that has already been planned. If less energy was spent on un-educated arguements such as this one and more on children learning and retaining information our country as a whole would not be in the desperate situation it is in with its lacking educations

Answer 9

I don't pretend to know much about Atheism. As far as I know they do not believe in anything except themselves. I find this interesting because in the grand scale of things that seems a very small source of information on which to base ones existence. It does not surprise me then that they should put all Christians in the same basket. Its simple and easy-gets a reaction for little effort. Just the sort of behaviour one would expect from the self-centred!
Oh and it reminds me to be grateful Ihave a faith. So thank you all you atheists out there,.

Answer 10

Hi, Well, I agree with #1, it is the abscence of religion, but not to discriminate against others for thier beliefs. I know people who don't hold it against others for their beliefs. I agree, not all Christisians are alike. Everyone prays and practices their religion in their own way!
I agree with #5, no atheists do not want to force religion from our society. They are NOT about that. That would be prettty hard to do, with all the people in the world Today!
Not much more I can say on either point!