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  • That we despise people who have religious faith. I don't despise people with religious faith - I despise what religion does to people who have faith.

  • That I can't do religious stuff! I don't have to believe in the religious components to participate in an event that holds meaning to you. To me it's not sacred -- all just normal words being said and ordinary matter being handled according to some rules. I do that every day at work at the direction of a different kind of "higher power" (clients) without anger or discomfort, it's really not a big deal!

    I'm not angry at god for not existing, nor am I angry at all the people who believe otherwise. If the invitation to your religious event is in good faith, I'm honored to attend, and will just keep to myself or make small talk. Plus I've studied enough faiths I can probably fake it, if keeping the situation under control requires it ;)

    I've discovered that in practice, many people of different faiths are not sure what to think about this position. Most are OK with it, some not (I just give them their space). With the interesting exception of Buddhists! They've always been super excited to bring me along to the pagoda somehow. No one ever tried to convert me, and the monks often speak a surprising number of languages and are interesting and well traveled. It's become a set of surprisingly wholesome memories (I immigrated to a primarily Buddhist country)!

  • I don't hate religion or religious people. I just don't believe. I do find religions really interesting, though, historically and culturally.

  • Looking for an argument on every corner. Especially on the stupidest and most inhumane situations. That’s reserved for Christians.

  • I think we're stereotyped often as the militant and belligerent atheists quite a lot. We have been painted as unsympathetic assholes who like to talk down to religious people to make us feel better about ourselves, not to mention a weird overlap with some parts of the far-right, usually by way of transphobia, homophobia, racism, social darwinism and the enforcement of poorly understood or straight up incorrect "science"

    Eugenecists inhabit this space, as well as people who might call themselves "race realists", as well as people who think their middle-school-level understanding of genetics and sex encapsulates the entirety of gender and sexuality. It's those atheists who claim to love science, hate ignorance, but remain ignorant of science. They give us a bad name, and their loudness makes it seem like they represent us

    • I've wondered if most of those atheists were brought up very religious. They seem to take a very religious attitude towards their atheism. It would kind of explain why they're so obnoxious, too. Kind of like lashing out at their upbringing.

      • I suspect a whole lot of atheists were brought up religious. The heavy religiosity is the push they need to even think on the subject. I think a lot of people who are what I'd call passively religious (non-practicing, don't really care, but might say say they believe in god if asked) don't have to engage with the material critically, so it's not as much a part of their world. For sure there are atheists out there who have a dogmatic approach to atheism because of their former belief systems

        But even beyond that, I think it runs deeper. Christianity, if you're in the west, is foundational to our culture, even in secular nations. It still informs traditions and morals and perspectives that can trace themselves to a Christian origin, and that underlying religiosity in our cultures does inform the way in which we view the world. I concluded this when a friend pointed out to me the language we use in evolution

        We describe evolved adaptations as serving a purpose. We'll say things like "we evolved opposable digits to better grasp things", and yeah, we all know that's not strictly true, but language informs our perspective and reflects it. We didn't evolve thumbs to hold things; We just got thumbs, and were able to hold things with them. These are not the same, and the former still has that kernel of creationism in it, some subconscious belief in a greater purpose

        That said, I generally agree that an atheist might be made more militant if he had a particularly religious upbringing. Really, though, I suspect it's also a lot to do with insecurities. I grew up in a passively religious household, and was sent to a catholic extracurricular just so that I could choose for myself what to believe, and in that brief time, I actually became easily the most religious person in my house. Religion spoke to my insecurities and fears. I was bullied a lot at the time, and the thought that my righteousness would be rewarded and my bullies wickedness would be punished was wonderful. In turning atheist after that, it didn't undo the bullying. Instead, the self-righteous idea of "I'm smarter than you dumb Christians" was the new salve for insecurties

        I'm way more tolerant now. Maybe the issue is just age. Maybe most of those awful ones are just obnoxious teens and young adults who would be obnoxious either way, and they'll grow out of it. If they don't, they get to become Ricky Gervais without the money or fame. Kinda rambled more than I meant to, but yeah, just throwing out some perspectives

    • I've ran across a few in real life as well. The main thing they have in common seems to be religious recoil. They used to be religious, but realised that it was false. Unfortunately, losing the nostic part is harder than losing the theistic part. They tend to over shoot, and become quite radical.

      On the plus side, they tend to settle down. It takes time (sometimes years) to find their new equilibrium. I wasn't particularly religious growing up, but even I had a bit of that recoil effect for a while. I'll still go toe to toe with a religion enthusiast, if required, but try not to instigate the "discussion". I just step in when their public views need balancing out.

  • That when we see a fish on the back of their car, we know we're going to be following a really considerate driver.

  • Not believing in anything, which is very true as people just replaced "believing in something bigger" with "numbing depression with consumerism".

    But there can be atheist christians (like, they should be if they read the damn bible) and you can be spiritual and social without believing in some random interpretation of other people thousands of years ago, word by word.

125 comments