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.