Why do `believers` look down on `none-believers?

Question

..when the reverse should be true because `non-believers` have proved they are able to think for themselves, stand up for themselves without having something or someone or a god to lean on?
Bible quotes will be barred.

Answer 1

I don't look down on you. You're probably taller than me anyway. I appreciate anyone who can think critically. There is far too little of that going on today. Stay tough.

Answer 2

My own feeling is that it is for the same reason as the Church has always had for condemning Science and trying to discredit it. Deep in their gut they have always been afraid that Science is right, and that would stand everything on it's ear that they ever grew up believing. It can be a bit of a scarey thing to grow up from childhood, indoctrinated into a certain way of thinking, and accepting as absolute truth things for which there was not a shred of actual proof, but relied only upon blind acceptance, generation after generation, after generation for thousands of years.........and then as you get older, you start hearing other things.... .. very different thoughts and ideas...... all going directly against everything that your whole life has been built on.
What is the most common reaction of people to something that they don't understand, and suddenly seems to pull the carpet out from under their very feet, and make a nonsense out of everything they had come to believe? They fear it, then hate it, then try their darndest to discredit it. "Believers" hate non-believers because somewhere in their gut they are afraid they actually could be right, and they have invested sooooo much in that particular belief system they grew up with and relied on for comfort, they cannot allow anything to destroy that, even if it means turning their backs on everything that is logical, rational, reasonable and valid.

You have to wonder, if these people were that confident and comfortable in whatever it is they themselves believe, why would they even have such a violent reaction to those who have other ways of thinking? If you are THAT sure that you are right, and the other person is wrong, why would that make you angry at that other person... (or whatever else it is that they get angry about)? I've heard some people say all kinds of really wacky things in my life... things that made it clear that particular person was sooo out of touch with reality he didn't even know which end was up. I darn sure don't get all bent out of shape over it. I just let it wash over me like water off the proverbial duck's back, and get on with my life. There's a very good reason why some people just can't do that - because they are fearful, not that the other person is wrong, but that they themselves might be.




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Answer 3

could be a ghost. My dad lived in a haunted house for about six years. My sister would hear people stomping up and down the stairs at night time when she was trying to sleep, and there were strange high pitched noises that would come from the vents. We had motion detectors in almost every room that were part of the security system. If something moved in the room a red light would blink on the detector. They would constantly go off at night time even if you were just laying in bed. There were a couple rooms that would scare the living hell out of anyone who would stand in them (without having a reason for being scared) And it wasn't until we moved out that our dad (who doesn't believe in ghosts) told us that every single night that he lived in that house he would lock the door to the basement (with a bolt lock) and every single morning when he would wake up the lock was unlatched and wide open. Nothing bad ever happened, it was just creepy. The house was a few hundred years old and in the middle of the country in Maryland. Unless something happens to completely terrify someone in your house I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Answer 4

We don't look down on non-beleivers. Some over-zealous believers get too excited about trying to change the world in one paragraph, so don't take it too hard.

Actually, when it comes to thinking for myself... I do. I choose to read the truth and decide whether I will follow Christ or not. I chose to follow Him for HIs promise of eterenal life is grand. HIs time on earth was put to bringing peace and love between people of different groups, ages, cultures, etc. He loves us all and wants us to love one another too.

That certainly sounds like a peaceful solution, if I ever heard one. God is there when we need HIm, He loves us and so we can depend upon HIm.

It isn't so complicated as to changing your whole life around, it is just opening your heart to others and to God. He will take it from there. Don't be afraid to be proven wrong, just give God a chance. Nobody has to know, but you.

Answer 5

To me it all comes down to respect. Some believers (and non-believers too, Im surprised to find) think that its their duty to prove someone's beliefs wrong. Which is laughable IMHO opinion because neither one can be proved w/ hard evidence; i.e; theists cannot prove god's existance and atheist cannot prove god's lack of existance, although atheists have a more logical approach, not just blind faith IMO.

So let us all have a some respect for those who believe in "the word" or lack thereof.

Let us stop attackin each other, just because our so-called beliefs.

Answer 6

This is weird. I always found it to be the other way around - that non-believers look down on believers, especially Christians. I've known so many staunch aethists who pooh-pooh the whole of religion and take a really arrogant stance when they come across someone who is a Christian. They see them as silly, fuzzy-minded, gullible idiots hanging onto their crutch.

A few days ago on Yahoo Answers I came across a question from a Christian which actually sounded as though he/she was looking down on non-believers & it was such a turn-around as to be a bit jaw-dropping.

I am an agnostic and I look down on believers and non-believers. Only kidding. :D

Answer 7

People will believe what they want to believe, and sometimes they believe what they are CONDITIONED to believe. They do the same thing their family and their peers did/do. It's kind of like a clique. If one person says they don't like your shoes (example of course) then the others will quickly follow suit whether they do or not. Over time, it becomes a habit.

Not saying it is bad or not, it just seems that's the standard way of the ones that have to put their 2 cents in on whatever your beliefs or thoughts are.

Answer 8

I have no idea. Do they feel threatened by the freedom of the non-believers? No one to tell them what to do and how to live? Make mistakes and learn from them is how it goes. These people seem to live their entire lives avoiding mistakes and torturing themselves when they do so. "God. I just had a sexual urge. I'm going to Hell."
A few years ago they found a man not far from here, laid by the side of the road with a pair of scissors and his bits cut off.
Why? Because his suicide note told everyone that he'd been having sexual thoughts about his neighbours wife. So what? Its only human. We are our own judge and juror, are we not?

Answer 9

*snerk* First of all, I'm pretty tall so I look down on a lot of people. Also have you ever wondered if maybe you are just perceiving this. Has anyone ever said that they felt that they were better than you? It could be that you think that you are superior but deep down you are not really as superior as you think. Btw, I didn't quote the bible.

Answer 10

A believer in Christ with some wisdom would never look down on a non believer. Patience and kindness will bring him to the light of truth. Having God to lean on is the best, try it.

Answer 11

I do not look down on Non believers-- just ignorance..
You are a sad person to only have "self" to depend on. Very sad that you don't even have a friend or family to lean on when you need it.. Why are you all alone? Is it choice? Even if God did not exist (Which by the way I know he does) I as a human being-would still need my friends & family..