What is it about aetheists that so offends Americans and makes them wary of aetheists?

Question

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/sunday/prog_details.shtml

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Answer 1

Hello! That's good! Americans are offended about a lot of non-sense! Jimmy.

Answer 2

good question. I know it sounds strange but you are right to a large degree. Im not saying all americans are like this as they are not but i think itsdue to a different culture. I do not know that answer fully but i worked for an american who was in fact an aetheist. He was not well liked by many other ameriacans. I think aetheism is a matter of choice. Religion is about accepting other people and thier beliefs. Are the relgious people who are wary of aetheists not as religious as they make out?

Answer 3

I am not American but I can tell you there are probably five major reasons for many people being wary of atheists:

1. Some are simply prejudiced. This includes assuming that all atheists are irrational, selfish and immoral, and dangerous, based on what they have seen happen in communist countries.

2. Some people have experienced, at least in the US, atheists claiming to support secularism, while the reality is that they are introducing a semi-atheist state, where no one is permitted to talk about or practise religion, or where they are unreasonably restricted in doing so. In many countries, for example, you can pray to different gods or no gods in the same classroom at the same time or at different times. You can find out what the teachers believe and what fellow students believe, and you are free to learn, challenge, agree or disagree with what you hear.

3. Some atheists assume that anyone who has any religious or faith beliefs is evil, closed minded, irrational and/or stupid, and does not have any evidence, even though this is completely untrue. Some people have a lot of evidence for what they believe. This is the atheist version of the prejudice mentioned in 1 above.

4. Some atheists argue without understanding the religions or faiths or texts they argue about. These same people argue without reference to any significant fraction of the scientific, historical, linguistic, translation, literary, cultural, anthropological, archaeological, geological, physiological, pscychological and philosophical (among others) evidence, techniques, debates, thoughts, concepts and/or ideas. These same people then attack people who believe in one or more gods as irrational and ignorant. Anyone, atheist or believer, who does not make themselves aware of the evidence and who does not keep an open mind and argue logically gets my hackles up immediately.

5. Some atheists take every intellectual discussion personally. There are crazy religious people out there who become very personal and who are jerks but there are people of faith who are rational, intelligent, educated, open-minded critical thinkers. Their attacks are taken as personal too by this particular group of atheists.

In other words, there are more than enough wilfully ignorant, closed minded and sometimes bigoted atheists out there to give the rational atheists a very bad name. This bad name problem is obviously exacerbated by the prejudice that atheists encounter from a lot of crazy people out there.

Answer 4

America is a highly Christian country. Interestingly enough, in other countries as their wealth and technology increased, their belief in God decreased, but in America it has not. My theory is that belief in religion is linked to suffering since although America is the richest country in the world, we are also one of the least happy. Back to your question, Americans hate Aetheists because Americans are Christians, and to Christians, all non-Christians are at least a little evil. As for Aethiests, Christians assume that you all most certainly must be devil worshipers and homosexuals, making you a far greater evil than any Muslim or Jew.

Answer 5

Septics are scared by anyone capable of independent thought. Blind faith in any religious or political ideology requires no cognitive ability, a state of affairs ideal for the average american. That someone has been able to use logic and deductive reasoning to conclude the non-existence of any kind of deity is far beyond their simple understanding, and as is true with all primitive peoples throughout history, the unknown breeds fear.

Answer 6

Uh...I'm an American...and I'm atheist....I think it's because Christianity is the majority...and anything against Christianity, people are wary of...look at what happened with the early settlers and the Indians (They were called, "of the Devil" all the time, if you didn't know.) I guess that's why...also, since we don't believe in their God...it frightens and angers them...so sad to see the majority of people being frightened by different lines of thought....

Answer 7

It's spelled atheists. But, anyway...

Nothing about atheists, inherently, should offend Americans. But many Americans who identify themselves as Christian are intolerant of atheism because they are psychologically and emotionally attached to a God figure. There are many reasons why they are attached, including fear, hope for a better life/eternal life, etc.

The fear and hatred Christians have of atheists makes about as much sense as racism or sexism - none.

Answer 8

I believe that the thing that scares the hell out of people about atheists are the fact that they cannot either predict, manipulate nor control their behavior. With someone that is Christian, you can always say to them "thats not Christian-like" or Chapter this verse that says, you should be doing this or that, but with an Atheist none of that applies

Answer 9

I think you should refine your question. Some Americans ARE atheists.

I'm an American Christian, but I'm not offended by your beliefs (or lack of them).

If you care to hear about Jesus Christ, I'm happy to share. If you don't... no problems here.

Warm regards,
Douglas

Answer 10

What's an aetheist?

Atheists scare believers because we recognize the insanity of their beliefs and are not afraid to point out self-contradiction and evidence to prove our views.