Why Are People Still Afraid of Atheism?

Why Are People Still Afraid of Atheism?
By Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com

http://www.alternet.org/story/153194/why_are_people_still_afraid_of_atheism


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I'm atheist. I don't blame believers for fearing me. Believers naturally fear superior beings.

ren wrote: I'm atheist. I don't blame believers for fearing me. Believers naturally fear superior beings.

ROFL, yea I was wondering what atheists believe, now I know. :whistle:

Oh, after some of the wacky things I've seen and heard "Religious people" say and do.. I'd trust an Atheist before a zealot ANY DAY!! Whereas "religious" people proclaim to know where their soul will reside after they die, Atheist's actually tell you the truth. They don't know! How can they speculate?! How can anyone really be certain that worshiping an invisible god isn't a complete waist of time. However, I do know monotheism wasn't always around. Many gods have come and gone in the age of man. All of them served the times! Hell wasn't always a part of religious doctrine. Neither was the devil.. Polytheism still exists in a few parts of the world. Why hasn't the one true God shown those heathens the way to eternal life?.. They're still half naked and praying to Shiva, the destroyer! Sh*t! I've eaten cow!! Shiva's gonna b*tch slap me when I die.. No he won't, God will reward me with 70 virgins cuz I took an infidel with me. That's not it, I'm gonna wait in Abraham's bosom till the REAL son of God comes? Abraham had bosoms? Weird! I mean.. If I just tell Jesus that I want him in my heart, I'll live an everlasting life! Really! There's not much room in my heart for Jesus.. barely enough room for the cholesterol from all that pork... Wait that's not Kosher! AAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Has anyone played the game civilization? I think any creator good would be just like someone playing civilization. they create disease/war/religion for their own entertainment. for all you know, god and allah are good mates at a LAN party.

Planet of Chaos wrote: Oh, after some of the wacky things I've seen and heard "Religious people" say and do.. I'd trust an Atheist before a zealot ANY DAY!! Whereas "religious" people proclaim to know where their soul will reside after they die, Atheist's actually tell you the truth. They don't know! How can they speculate?! How can anyone really be certain that worshiping an invisible god isn't a complete waist of time. However, I do know monotheism wasn't always around. Many gods have come and gone in the age of man. All of them served the times! Hell wasn't always a part of religious doctrine. Neither was the devil.. Polytheism still exists in a few parts of the world. Why hasn't the one true God shown those heathens the way to eternal life?.. They're still half naked and praying to Shiva, the destroyer! Sh*t! I've eaten cow!! Shiva's gonna b*tch slap me when I die.. No he won't, God will reward me with 70 virgins cuz I took an infidel with me. That's not it, I'm gonna wait in Abraham's bosom till the REAL son of God comes? Abraham had bosoms? Weird! I mean.. If I just tell Jesus that I want him in my heart, I'll live an everlasting life! Really! There's not much room in my heart for Jesus.. barely enough room for the cholesterol from all that pork... Wait that's not Kosher! AAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Just some minor corrections, and things to think about....

A zealot is any fanatic... There are Atheist and Agnostic Zealots as well... A good friend of mine is one or the other, I can't tell which... His Facebook posts get people stirred up... I ask him if he was an Atheist Preacher one time, due to what seems like a personal crusade he seems to be on... When ask why, he said, "To make sure they aren't duped, and educated"... lol, hmmm, sounds like a bizarro Chirstian crusader, doesn't it?

Atheist say there is no God, Agnostic acknowledge they just don't know....

Now, for a little opinion...

When the concept of a deity was conceived, cavemen and the like, there were gods of everything it seems... Monotheism didn't exist, wasn't a word (ok, wasn't a grunt)...

Then, as humankind evolved, the boss gods came into light... And honestly, since my Greek and Roman god knowledge is shaky, I'm going to stick with the big example of Zues... Zues was the boss god of all the others, Aphrodite, and her kin folk...

Then came the one God of the Abrahamic religions....

Now, we are removing the name, and calling it a "Force"....

Of course, this evolution is slow in human time, but quick in planetary time...

Early on in my posting here, I referred to everything returning to neutral, to the point of... I don't have a term yet, so i just keep saying neutral... Some idea I'm toying with... ..

I did love the story!!

See! My only exposure to zealots has been my evangelical upbringing. The kind of people who feel it's right to blow up an abortion clinic! I've seen zealous atheists but none that I know who keep a blog and are on a personal mission to dissolve the notion of God... When I think of god, I think of the force. I can't picture an all knowing, all present god being a conscious being. More like a NEUTRAL force. I guess I'm agnostic... but no! I'm a jedi! There's actually something I'm called now that doesn't sound so wishy-washy! lol

Funny thing I perceive.. those who are zealously proclaiming that there is no god and take it upon themselves to take every opportunity to talk about how there is no god... It seems, god might be on their minds a whole lot! Pretty amazing for someone who doesn't believe in god!

As far as I know noone fears atheism. I have met thousands of people in my life from birth til now because I moved so much, and no one ever said they have feared atheism. Some said it sounds depressing where you live a sad cold life then die and nothingness. Where as in Highschool most people were atheist in a way to rebel or seem cool or because they didn't quite fit in with the ideas of a "saintly religion" when they rather be teenagers and make a million mistakes (we have all done that whether we were atheist or not. Now I am not saying all athiests fit in this category this is just my high school. Now Planet of Chaos has a very valid point people of religion think of religion in passing or when the subject arises (such as now) but most of the time they let it be as it shall (for the average religion person) but athiest or anti-religion people think of it more so and search for it, that is a little funny to me and I haven't noticed it til now. Minus the people who try to cram beliefs down other peoples throats people who are religious barely speak of it in person or will just say "God Bless you" other than that it's like the law of gravity, it's there it works but you don't really ever think of it because to you it's just a fact lol.
Now anyways back to the subject at hand, I have never met anyone afraid of atheism in my life, heck more people are afraid of Muslims more than anything, and this is coming from someone who has shaken more than enough hands. The most and religious person thinks of atheism is either "depressing" or hope that they find happiness in it (of course that is omitting the fanatics who say 90% of the population is going to hell.)

My views on Atheism are simple:
Do I believe in it? Not personally
Do I see that atheists are evil? Nope
Afraid of it? Certainly not
Is it the right way? There is no right way there is only a mountain and many roads to the top.

I personally say god bless everyone no matter what they believe and hope that everyone doesn't obsess over religion and just be happy with what they believe.

I think a problem with Atheism is that religion has long been associated with being the source for morality, and Atheists havent realized that they currently are seen purely as a counter-culture which is not a self supporting system of its own equivilant to the religions. Since morality is so integral to religion, when a culture rejects religion it can be seen as rejecting those aspects of morality. While this might not be true individually as atheists sometimes argue morality exists within all humans as a choice, the problem is atheists are not associated with having a definition of morality. Some people might fear that in terms of measuring trust, and this could be amplified by terms used by some atheists to label all religious people as crazy, and not just the crazy religious people are crazy.

For me though, Atheism is a fine choice for some, but its like going to a theme park and not going on one the rides IMO.

Having said that I definatly dont prescribe to what I call liturgical suffrage and blind doctorinal faith, but I do think that blind faith can be a tool, and the religious content can be the raw materials, together for accessing 'spirituality', whether that be higher human functions or metaphysical natures.

So for me most religions are better represented as models for metaprogramming of the brain to allow our minds to access, and be accessed by, the subconscious and through that, hopefully, the metaphysical realm. If the metaphysical realm does exist, then because the subconscious mind not only has access to the senses, but it has access to the full range of capabilities of the senses, it might be the pathway to it. The conscious mind only gets what the subconscious mind considers relevant to interaction and survival in our environment as a function of available brain capacity, apparantly.

So for me belief in an 'other' higher conscious plane of existance that is caged in terms of reference which our conscious minds can understand, such as personified God/s, creates a shared language that our conscious and subconscious minds can use to communicate, other then the hackneyed physical feelings and emotions. From that greater awareness hopefully we can achieve greater access to the Force.

So I sort of see atheists just as people who are not interested in trying to use metaprogramming to increase their spirituality - nothing wrong with that but on the other hand it makes all the effort by many athesists to attack beliefs seem pointless. Attacking religions on the other hand can be more meaningul sometimes, but these are human institutions run by humans and humans are definatly not perfect, especially when we are talking about things occuring over thousands of years.

Adder wrote: I think a problem with Atheism is that religion has long been associated with being the source for morality, and Atheists havent realized that they currently are seen purely as a counter-culture which is not a self supporting system of its own equivilant to the religions. Since morality is so integral to religion, when a culture rejects religion it can be seen as rejecting those aspects of morality. While this might not be true individually as atheists sometimes argue morality exists within all humans as a choice, the problem is atheists are not associated with having a definition of morality. Some people might fear that in terms of measuring trust, and this could be amplified by terms used by some atheists to label all religious people as crazy, and not just the crazy religious people are crazy.

For me though, Atheism is a fine choice for some, but its like going to a theme park and not going on one the rides IMO.

Having said that I definatly dont prescribe to what I call liturgical suffrage and blind doctoral faith, but I do think that blind faith can be a tool, and the religious content can be the raw materials, together for accessing 'spirituality', whether that be higher human functions or metaphysical natures.

So for me most religions are better represented as models for metaprogramming of the brain to allow our minds to access, and be accessed by, the subconscious and through that, hopefully, the metaphysical realm. If the metaphysical realm does exist, then because the subconscious mind not only has access to the senses, but it has access to the full range of capabilities of the senses, it might be the pathway to it. The conscious mind only gets what the subconscious mind considers relevant to interaction and survival in our environment as a function of available brain capacity, apparantly.

So for me belief in an 'other' higher conscious plane of existance that is caged in terms of reference which our conscious minds can understand, such as personified God/s, creates a shared language that our conscious and subconscious minds can use to communicate, other then the hackneyed physical feelings and emotions. From that greater awareness hopefully we can achieve greater access to the Force.

So I sort of see atheists just as people who are not interested in trying to use metaprogramming to increase their spirituality - nothing wrong with that but on the other hand it makes all the effort by many athesists to attack beliefs seem pointless. Attacking religions on the other hand can be more meaningul sometimes, but these are human institutions run by humans and humans are definatly not perfect, especially when we are talking about things occuring over thousands of years.

I agree 99.99%. The only thing I don't agree with is attacking religions for it isn't just a "thing" out there but dear and close personal beliefs of people and people should all be treated with respect and so shall their ideas. I respect a Wiccan's religion even though there is some parts that don't make sense to me like dipping a knife into a cup of water somehow does something? Which I don't understand but I will respect that for it is their symbolism of something bigger of some sort. Other than that I say spot on.

Nameless3450 wrote: I agree 99.99%. The only thing I don't agree with is attacking religions for it isn't just a "thing" out there but dear and close personal beliefs of people and people should all be treated with respect and so shall their ideas. I respect a Wiccan's religion even though there is some parts that don't make sense to me like dipping a knife into a cup of water somehow does something? Which I don't understand but I will respect that for it is their symbolism of something bigger of some sort. Other than that I say spot on.

Dowh! You caught the pre-edit version where I said doctoral instead of doctrinal :pinch: LOL dammit. Yep Nameless3450, definatly agree respect of others is vital, perhaps moreso if its unfamiliar as respect could be the most efficient way to enable learning more about it.

As you will note below my icon to the left, I have the phrase “Fear is the lack of knowledge”. I believe, that in all things, the differences that arise among people are handled in a similar way. If there is a difference that the larger group does not understand or believe is the incorrect interpretation of social order, and if they do not try to understand the differences of the smaller group or individual, fear is born.

As fear grows, the divide between the groups widen. Alienation along with unrealistic and more often false accusations arises about each other’s group. Stories are told and become more and more outlandish. “FEAR those that do not think like us for they are the antichrist!” “Do not say prayers in the classroom or my child may become some religious fanatic!” Believe me, as a catholic and a PTA (parent-teacher association) past president, I have heard both of these things in many ways and from many people.

Could it be that a person that is spending so much time trying to remove prayer from everywhere, is thinking more about religion because he fears the unknown of the “here-after”? Could it be that the universal consciousness we call the Force is trying to reach out to that person and redirect their path?

Could it be that a person so wrapped up in their religious beliefs is actually having a crisis of faith and is overcompensating? Are they trying to talk themselves into faith because they don’t know what to actually believe?

What I am not saying is that people need a religion in one of the standard faiths, but in something. Morality has no religion because it is not religion based. It is humanity based. It is the idea that we are all here together and we all inherit an inalienable right to life. The fact is that people are inherently good and wish no harm upon another.

We learn to hate and that hatred is borne of our fears of the unknown.

The Force is no stronger in a Christian, Muslim, Hindi, or Buddhist than it is in an Atheist. The Force has no religion! The Force IS! We all must learn to tap into the Force, to understand the path we are on, and to follow that path to enlightenment. On our path, the journey to the end, we must remember that the total consciousness of The Force IS ALL OF US!

Fear leads to the Dark Side in which war is waged and senseless killing is committed against another one of US! Knowledge and Wisdom in all people are the ultimate weapons against war and hatred.

May the true nature of The Force find those that need to find their right path.

Phortis Nespin wrote: As you will note below my icon to the left, I have the phrase “Fear is the lack of knowledge”. I believe, that in all things, the differences that arise among people are handled in a similar way. If there is a difference that the larger group does not understand or believe is the incorrect interpretation of social order, and if they do not try to understand the differences of the smaller group or individual, fear is born.

As fear grows, the divide between the groups widen. Alienation along with unrealistic and more often false accusations arises about each other’s group. Stories are told and become more and more outlandish. “FEAR those that do not think like us for they are the antichrist!” “Do not say prayers in the classroom or my child may become some religious fanatic!” Believe me, as a catholic and a PTA (parent-teacher association) past president, I have heard both of these things in many ways and from many people.

Could it be that a person that is spending so much time trying to remove prayer from everywhere, is thinking more about religion because he fears the unknown of the “here-after”? Could it be that the universal consciousness we call the Force is trying to reach out to that person and redirect their path?

Could it be that a person so wrapped up in their religious beliefs is actually having a crisis of faith and is overcompensating? Are they trying to talk themselves into faith because they don’t know what to actually believe?

What I am not saying is that people need a religion in one of the standard faiths, but in something. Morality has no religion because it is not religion based. It is humanity based. It is the idea that we are all here together and we all inherit an inalienable right to life. The fact is that people are inherently good and wish no harm upon another.

We learn to hate and that hatred is borne of our fears of the unknown.

The Force is no stronger in a Christian, Muslim, Hindi, or Buddhist than it is in an Atheist. The Force has no religion! The Force IS! We all must learn to tap into the Force, to understand the path we are on, and to follow that path to enlightenment. On our path, the journey to the end, we must remember that the total consciousness of The Force IS ALL OF US!

Fear leads to the Dark Side in which war is waged and senseless killing is committed against another one of US! Knowledge and Wisdom in all people are the ultimate weapons against war and hatred.

May the true nature of The Force find those that need to find their right path.

You said mostly what i was going to say lol.

My significant other is a christian and so is her family what i've learnt from talking with them is different depending on the person. Her step-father is probably the most fanatical of them all and the fact that any other religion or point or view is just as valid or possible as his makes him angry. Some other family members who you can tell probably believe in a god mostly out fear and in this case the fear of death and there being absolutely nothing after death. So when science comes along and tries to challenge common conceptions of not just religion but everything that fear of what they hold true to them possibly being wrong would scare anyone in my opinion.

On a side note i personally feel like atheist have a horrible name for themselves these days and it's not because of the bulk it's mostly the idiots that just want to cause mayhem and i personally think it's alot like one of the points i made earlier i think the people that go out and attack other religions or beliefs but for the most part its christians they attack but i think they may fear being wrong and thats their way of feeling more secure.

What NumbEffect said, but also:

I think people as less afraid of Atheism than they just dislike a lot of Atheists partly because of the ones that just want to cause mayhem, but also the general "My lack of religion is the only right way and you should believe there is no god too" attitude conveyed by many. This leads some to dislike Atheists for the same reasons that many Atheists feel the same about every other religion. As I always say, evil men are evil men no matter what they profess to believe in.

I sm not sure it's fear neccarily as it is to not know. I've been to many churches in my time and each one was a different way to God. If you didn't do it in that churches way you were going to hell. However, one thing that they did share was Jesus' is the only way. I think sometimes people fear atheism because there is perhaps their own fear within their insecurities about their own beliefs that is if there is a real fear amongst those who are of religous faith.

Although, that we're on the subject I personally believe that there is no such thing as Atheism. Doing studies and talking with so-called Athiests believe in something. Either it is the flying pasta monster or that they came from monkies or they believe in aliens and so on. Agonstic is greek meaning for "Not knowing" meaning they are undecided for the most part not saying their isn't and not saying there is a god kind of neutral. Now I may be wrong about my statements and I don't mean to offend anyone if I have because I respect everyone in the temple and I don't want any hard feelings.

Ooops pushed the send button lol...but I myself personally I still consider myself a devout believer in Christ and a Jedi. I have dealt over the years of people saying mean and hurtful things and I'm fine with that it's no different when I tell people I am a jedi. One thing I have really learned to excercise the last couple of years in tolerance. Learn to live with people, love people, learn from people. Often, there is just too much hate going around and too little peace. You don't have to like always what people do however, understand that not everyone is like you. Wouldn't the world be a little boring if were all the same? Yes, I love variety and I'm sure God does as well in my own beliefs. There is nothing to be afraid of nor should anybody be.

M.T.F.B.W.Y!

Sven

Uh, I'd like to point out when it comes to evangelism, atheists are far from being the worst. You don't see atheist adverts in hospitals, preachers in the streets, telling christians or whatnot they will eternally suffer for their evil ways. They dont knock at your door to give you the good news or whatever. Your atheist neighbours do not talk behind your back about how you failed to attend the weekly atheist meeting at that atheist place to do atheist things.

ETC

Agreed. I actually never see Atheists gather together at all.. But if they do, what do they talk about?
"Hello, everyone! There is no god! Let's begin the day with a group discussion on your experience of godlessness. I baked cookies and brought coffee for everyone, please, help yourself! There is no god! Now, I'll start and we'll go in clockwise order and begin with how you experienced a lack of god this week!"

I'd imagine it more like a support group.. They used to have an Atheist booth out on the Venice beach boardwalk but I think they got tired of sitting there all day talking about the futility of religion. They had pamphlets on the history of Atheism. Books by famous atheists. Seems a limited basis for discussion. The only fuel for conversation I would imagine atheists have would be all the crazy things the fundamentalists do and say! That would be a never ending source of amusement!

ren wrote: Uh, I'd like to point out when it comes to evangelism, atheists are far from being the worst. You don't see atheist adverts in hospitals, preachers in the streets, telling christians or whatnot they will eternally suffer for their evil ways. They dont knock at your door to give you the good news or whatever. Your atheist neighbours do not talk behind your back about how you failed to attend the weekly atheist meeting at that atheist place to do atheist things.

ETC

And neither should good Christians.... Judge other people... lol...

They should be available if you wanna talk about something.... The door to door thing, eh, they dont bother me.... I told last ones I was a Jedi, and explained my beliefs... I was just shy of a ramble.... lol...