Why are people afraid of atheism?

[luluc 6]

luluc,

How can they hate god if they don't believe in a god?

a struggle of understanding i have as well~

[green 6]

Any atheist who announces that he hates god sounds like an agnostic to me.

[MrsFlipFlops 2]

So BJean, if a president prays for help is knowing the right decision to make in a situation, is that mixing church and state in your mind?

Realistically, putting the burdens of society onto the shoulders of churches and communities is not only logical, but financially responsible! The federal government is overburdened with welfare, disability, medicare and what not that I HOPE that churches take some responsibility for it. I'm GLAD for faith based programs because it eases our federal gov't financial burdens. Faith based programs simply allow churches and governments to take part and have some financial relief. Yet that's mixing church and state... I think we should talk to the mothers who have trouble feeding their kids at night where they care where their money comes from or if they care about the programs that brought it to them.

[MrsFlipFlops 2]

Any atheist who announces that he hates god sounds like an agnostic to me.

Yes, but clearly the atheist doesn't know enough about what they believe to distinguish the difference.

And people blast Christians for not thinking on their own...

[Froggi 4]

Any atheist who announces that he hates god sounds like an agnostic to me.

I agree with this.

[Fanny Adams 7]

Fanny, I enjoy your posts - but surely in your everyday life your able to encounter those who have much to offer on various subjects - that are a member of a religious organization.?. Some don't wear their Christianity or other Faith on their sleeve, nor feel comfortable talking to others about their value system, so you wouldn't know if their irrational/weak persona comes from their faith or lack of faith w/in oneself.

I am no expert in Atheism, I only know 2 closely - and they both profess a hate of God - constantly; that is severely bothersome to a social setting crowd of predominantly Christians. What makes is more so, is the lack of an ability to articulate their position. I've learned more about Atheism here on this thread, than either of my friends can possibly think to muster up. They were born to Atheists; have not known anything else.

I have been respectful enough to allow them an oportunity to speak their mind at many dinner parties in our home - but not while insulting others in the process. I've always hoped they would be able to speak to others with enlightenment - but when you start off saying "well I hate god", you can hear the crickets in the background, and I'm ususally looking to pour more wine or turn up the music...Says the Catholic girl:)

My comment was badly worded and even after I edited it, it didn't really convey the sense that I meant. With that said, there are several instances where I see a "believer" as being ostensibly weaker than a non-believer - although in the overall scheme they have the same strengths.

One is the believer who has that "conversion" moment after a major life crisis or failure. You know, the ones the Salvation Army claim when they help an alcoholic out of the gutter. Most of the stories I have heard on those lines speak of crying out to the heavens for help and feeling the answer unmistakeably. Their belief ever after is unshakeable because they have FELT the power.

The other is the day to day believer, who prays for guidance and help with their daily lives. These people will often say god speaks to them in their hearts, they pray and the answers come to them. They feel a personal connection with him.

What all of these people, the hallelujah convert and the daily devout, don't seem to take into account is that ALL of this interaction, emotion and divine response takes place between the bone walls of their own skulls. It is all a state of mind. The human mind is an amazing and powerful thing and it is more than capable of deluding our conscious selves into anything it wants us to believe. We reach out into an uncaring universe and cry "God save me!!" and we hear an answer - that's our own selves answering, in a disguise we can accept. At a conscious level we have no faith in our own ability to make decisions, find strength to face life, etc, so we pray to a god for strength and guidance - what we find is our own inner strengths and our underlying feel for what we should be doing.

To me the desire for religion is a remnant of the childhood desire for a loving nuturing parent. As human beings, we NEED that in childhood as a survival thing - without love between parents and children, we would not survive as a species. When it comes time to grow up and face the world alone, many of us are afraid to walk without that comforting parent as our shield. So we create our own "parent" and give "him" all the powers that we need to help shelter us.

[Baires 0]

Again: someone who says he hates God implies that there is such a person, and therefore that he is a believer. That person should not call himself an Atheist. There are, though, believers that become Atheist, either because they were believers during childhood and what they were told didn't ring true anymore when they developed critical thinking (my case), or because later in life for whatever reason they realized that supernatural beings only exist in the realm of the imagination. Indoctrination that takes place during the more impressionable early years is very difficult to put aside as an adult, it becomes deeply ingrained in our personality.

Other people, of course, believe in God as a metaphorical reference to the good in all of us, more a philosophical construct than an actual sentient being that exists in reality. I would say that I believe in the innate goodness (godliness?) in people, but I don't think that makes me any less of an Atheist in practical terms.

There must be many believers who come to hate God because they blame him for something terrible that happened to them (either for being responsible for it or for, while being omnipotent, failing to prevent it). Those people don't count as Atheists, but perhaps are mistaken for Atheists because they are another group whose position about God most believers disagree with.

Before anyone asks, Satan worshippers are not Atheists either: worshipping Satan requires belief in the supernatural in general, and in the Bible in particular, Satan being a biblical character. An exception to this may be Anton LaVey's Chuch of Satan, who doesn't believe in Satan as a real entity, but as a metaphor for the basic human tendencies that are commonly suppressed by moral and ethical restraint. Some of the things they believe in are indulgence in whatever their heart desires without concern for others, vengeance instead of turning the other cheek, greed instead of responsibility for the less fortunate, etc. Pretty much the entire Republican platform. When they speak of Satan, they refer to those human tendencies that other religions aims to rein in.

Edited June 9, 2008 by Baires

[ELENATION 0]

What all of these people, the hallelujah convert and the daily devout, don't seem to take into account is that ALL of this interaction, emotion and divine response takes place between the bone walls of their own skulls.

I respect your point of view, everyone's point of view really, I can't prove to anyone that there is a God, but the statement above cannot be proven either, it's an opinion.

I like the statement below, then again, I'm biased since I'm a believer.:biggrin:

"If a man without a sense of smell declared that this yellow rose I hold had no scent, we should know that he was wrong. The defect is in him, not in the flower. It is the same with a man who says there is no God. It merely means that he is without the capacity fo discern his presence."

--- Sir Ralph Richardson

[Fanny Adams 7]

I respect your point of view, everyone's point of view really, I can't prove to anyone that there is a God, but the statement above cannot be proven either, it's an opinion.

I like the statement below, then again, I'm biased since I'm a believer.:biggrin:

"If a man without a sense of smell declared that this yellow rose I hold had no scent, we should know that he was wrong. The defect is in him, not in the flower. It is the same with a man who says there is no God. It merely means that he is without the capacity fo discern his presence."

--- Sir Ralph Richardson

Yes, my point of view is an opinion, nothing more. However, I am not speaking from ignorance or a lack of capacity. I too have felt that "conversion" moment, have believed that I had a "personal relationship with god". I come from an atheist family and went seeking in my early teens, attending bible classes and going to many different churches over the course of several years. I had myself baptised into the Church of Christ at 15 years old and at that time, was convinced that I really felt "his presence" in my life. However, the older I got, the more I questioned it. The more I learned about psychology and the power of our own minds, the more I realised that all that emotional reaction to "hearing the Word" was just that - emotion, happening inside my own head.

Take an objective look at the language of prayer. Pretty much all of it comes down to "Daddy, help me. Daddy, love me. Daddy, please make the bad things go away". Now I love and adore my Daddy and will always be Daddy's Little Girl, but I'm a grown up now and I don't need him to shelter and guide me any more, and I certainly don't need an imaginary substitute in the sky.

[brandyII 9]

Baires,

I guess I'm more like what you described in your second paragraph, that there is a goodness (godlike) quality present in all things. I still choose not to put a label on myself but that sits well with me. brandyII.

[pennyt 14]

are you serious? who created your parents, and who created their parents and so on? why not read the Bible and find out who created God? why not read it-just out of curiousity? if you don't believe it, then why not just for kicks-read it. why don't you believe in God? is there one specific reason, or are there several reasons? i am just curious. i am not patronizing you. i just don't know any other way of life. how do you think we got here? i know...you parents created you...but, from the beginning? i just wonder what an aethist believes.

Why do you not worship Buddha? Why do you not worship K'nisha? Why do you not worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Why do you not worship the Pink Unicorn?

You have reasons why you do not worship those entities, right? Well, those of us who reject the idea of your god as a real entity have reasons why we do not believe. Why can't you accept that we have the freedom to worship or not worship as we choose? Why are you so concerned that you care about who why we don't worship as you do? You seem to want the freedom to worship as you wish, but yet you seem to be offended that we want the freedom to worship (or not) as we wish.

I sure hope you don't consider yourself a good American, because you seem to be against one of the major freedoms upon which this country was founded.

My ancestors fought in the American Revolution, the French-Indian War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II. They fought for this country to protect our rights as Americans; rights which include freedom to worship as we choose.

I have family fighting in the bondoggle in the Middle East right now. Unfortunately, they seem to be fighting to keep people from worshiping as they wish.

[plain 12]

I'd much rather her be an atheist than an evangelical Christian who I don't think can think for herself. I don't mean to sound harsh but it's just how I feel, brandyII.

Wow....that's incredibly offensive. I'm an evangelical Christian who thinks for himself. I believe that God gave me the ability to do so. I've said time and time again that there are nutjobs in every group that you can form, so don't let a few bias you towards the rest of us.

[plain 12]

I have family fighting in the bondoggle in the Middle East right now. Unfortunately, they seem to be fighting to keep people from worshiping as they wish.

Why do you think that?

[brandyII 9]

Wow....that's incredibly offensive. I'm an evangelical Christian who thinks for himself. I believe that God gave me the ability to do so. I've said time and time again that there are nutjobs in every group that you can form, so don't let a few bias you towards the rest of us.

Okay I'll rephrase for you Plain:

"I'd much rather my daughter be an atheist than an Evangelical Christian Nut Job who can't think for his/herself."

Is that better?

[plain 12]

Yes, lol....actually that is much better. It's the difference between saying "Muslims want to blow up infidels" and "nutjob Muslims want to blow up infidels", or "Jews are money hungry" and "nutjob Jews are money hungry"......get my drift? One rarely defines the group.