It seems to me that a lot of people on the R & S site are anti-religion rather than atheist. The atheists that I have known have no belief or interest in religion. Having a heated discussion with an atheist is near impossible becaue they have no passion for what they believe just disinterest. So why do so many apparent atheists come across as having an intensly emotional interest in religion or being anti-religion?
2007-08-19 10:53:20 · 25 answers · asked by purplepeace59 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I am admittedly curious about the negativity towards religion. This is UK & Ireland Answers. I'm living in UK. Religion isn't a big deal in Britain. Only a small percentage of the population go to church and have a faith. We are mostly agnostic or out right atheists. Ireland is of course an exception. Tony Blair (ex priminister) took quite a chance in admiting he actually followed a religion as this could have lost him the election. It certainly didn't do much for his immage. I gather American's are having a problem with religion. However, to blame the nation of Islam for 9/11 is simplistic.
2007-08-19 11:19:54 · update #1
Well, supposing you didn't believe in God, you might not care what other people believe, right? But then let's say people fly two jumbojets into skyscrapers, and say God told them to do it. Then, say, the President of the United States gets elected by giving your tax dollars to churches and says God told him to invade Iraq. Let's then suppose that you can't tell anyone you're a non-believer, lest you lose your job, etc.
You would quickly become anti-religious, I think.
It's similar to how peaceniks care about war.
For what it's worth, I'm mostly anti-religion because religion won't leave me alone.
2007-08-19 11:00:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
Judging by your Q`s you are a bit obsessed with the atheist thing. If you had a heated discussion with me then you would find out that i am passionate about a lot of things. How many atheists do you know or how many have you tried to have a discussion with? I have an emotional interest because i believe in a lot of things that are important to me and i also believe very strongly that a lot of people who feel the need to defend their religion constantly do not really have the faith that they say they have or they wouldn`t feel so defensive.
Try to be a little more mature with your reasoning because you could come across as being offensive- is that what you want?
2007-08-19 11:07:38 · answer #2 · answered by Sir Bobby`s Hairdresser 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm an Irish atheist but just to complicate things, I'm not an ex-Catholic but an ex-Lutheran (the Lutheran Church in Ireland is one of the tiniest churches there is, a weenchy minority within the already tiny minority of Protestants.)
I am in fact moderately anti-religious because I believe that religion has a nasty way of making good people do bad things. I also think that religion privileges 'faith' over 'truth' and sets more store by believing because god tells you to than in believing because you are convinced by evidence. No organisation has ever gone on a pogrom or butchered people because it believed in evolution by natural selection.
I also know that I have the kind of temperament that is susceptible to religious belief, and that's why I dislike the power it has over me; I know that it's a fiction and yet part of me still wants to believe. But the better part of me has too much self-respect and intellectual integrity to believe in the stuff I read in the Bible, the Tanakh and the Qur'an.
2007-08-19 12:38:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, this is my story.
My parents are buddhist. I live in a christian community. Every day at school, when I was 7, I was told that I would go to hell. I tried to turn christian and save myself, but my parents wouldn't let me. Then when I was 10, I was pushed around because I was buddhist. Christians kept saying "Hahaha... he worships a fat guy..." That's when my hate for religion started. It wasn't too serious yet, until I was 13. Then someone just took it too far and tried to jump me and my buddhist friend. At that time, I took the title atheist. He had his group with him, had a knife out, and was waiting for us. That just made me snap. I'm 14 now, and I hate any people that take their religion too far. If they're just people who worship God, and go to church like a casual christian, I've got no problem with that. Also, I have my doubts on whether God exists or not.
2007-08-19 11:10:29 · answer #4 · answered by WTP 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Atheists like Christians are strong in what they believe. But to say that Jesus didn't exist, would be dumb on their part. There are tons of evidence that Jesus did exist. But if we don't believe , then we condemn ourselves to hell. God sends no one to hell. Our actions and the failure to believe and accept Christ is what sends us there. Besides, I believe that Atheists do believe in Jesus. They just don't believe in God. How can an atheist find God, if he doesn't believe in God? There are no lies or contradictions in the bible. Regardless of what others may think.
2016-05-17 10:04:17 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only thing all atheists have in common is a lack of belief in God. Some atheists are also anti-religion, but that hasn't got anything to do with atheism.
2007-08-19 11:12:56 · answer #6 · answered by Let Me Think 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
that's a good question, but atheism comes in all forms, you can be passionate about it like Dawkins or just disinterested. They are both forms of unbelief. I think in this period of history with 9/11 in the States, UK bombings, the Danish cartoons of Muhammad plus the rise of fundamentalism in the US, with Creationism and Intelligent Design, it looks like our comfortable secular existence is seriously challenged. It does add more passion to the debate.
2007-08-19 11:34:24 · answer #7 · answered by numbnuts222 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am not anti religion as I think that some people need to believe in something like that for their own peace of mind. What I am anti is when the religious organisations use this need to exploit people and control them and fill their minds with silly ideas like it it a sin to masturbate etc.
2007-08-19 12:02:00 · answer #8 · answered by Maid Angela 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am an atheist, and I see the damage religion does in this world. I am also anti-religion. Just like I'm against pedophiles and murderers.
I've been seeing other posts today accusing atheists of being quite mean... apparently you are the only one who views us as having no passion.
2007-08-19 11:02:35 · answer #9 · answered by Ũniνέгsäl Рдnтsthέisт™ 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
"Having a heated discussion with an atheist is near impossible because they have no passion for what they believe just disinterest"
This is incorrect. Just as Christians may or may not have an interest in heated theological discussions, atheists may or may not enjoy it either. Personally, I enjoy such discussions and I do have a passion for atheism. I think you are generalizing atheists just as others generalize Christianity.
-Atheist
2007-08-19 11:02:01 · answer #10 · answered by eV 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋