What's the craziest thing you have heard about atheism?

[rawrdog822]

I'm talkin' people that have completely mistaken atheism for something else.

For me there is the classic, we pray to Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins is a high priest.  But another good one I got was that we pray to the god Atheos.

[Whitney]

Some people are under the false impression that atheist is another word for satanist.

[The Magic Pudding]

Some people think there is an atheist escape ark being constructed on the far side of the moon.
This is entirely false, and any probes to confirm this are a total waste of time and money.

[father nicetouch]

I get this most of the time. "what, You don't believe in god? Do you worship the devil?" When i came out to my family my dad and his pastor tried to pray the demon out of me! Lol so in my experience people tend to take atheist as devil worshipers. But i have talk to more hispanic people about atheism and they tend to shut you up quick. The white people i have talked to are a bit more open mined. But I have only talked to a few.

[karadan]

I get this most of the time. "what, You don't believe in god? Do you worship the devil?" When i came out to my family my dad and his pastor tried to pray the demon out of me! Lol so in my experience people tend to take atheist as devil worshipers. But i have talk to more hispanic people about atheism and they tend to shut you up quick. The white people i have talked to are a bit more open mined. But I have only talked to a few.

Why do hispanic people shut you up quick?

[ForTheLoveOfAll]

All Atheists are unhappy.

All Atheist are immoral, and cannot have morals.

Atheists eat babies.

Atheists worship themselves.

-Sighs-

[BadPoison]

I get this most of the time. "what, You don't believe in god? Do you worship the devil?" When i came out to my family my dad and his pastor tried to pray the demon out of me! Lol so in my experience people tend to take atheist as devil worshipers. But i have talk to more hispanic people about atheism and they tend to shut you up quick. The white people i have talked to are a bit more open mined. But I have only talked to a few.

Why do hispanic people shut you up quick?

I can't speak for father nicetouch but I can tell you of my own experiences.

My girlfriend of a couple years has a hispanic father and a white mother. Both sides of her family are Christian, though the hispanic side is more catholic. Her mother's side knows that I'm an atheist, and sometimes it's a casual jest - it really hasn't been a big deal for any of them though I'm sure a few of them say their .02 cents behind our backs.

However, my girlfriend is mortified of the prospect of her father's side finding out that I'm an atheist. These people seem a little more crazy for some reason about their faith. (I'm sure it wouldn't be that big a deal - we just might not be invited back to thanksgiving, )

The difference in attitude is probably more because of her mother's family's particular flavor of protistant christianity versus her dad's family's more strict type of catholicism. One side just happens to be white while the other is hispanic.


Meh, who really knows?

[Ulver]

I agree with these, definitely a lot of confusions about atheism and satanism. I'm often annoyed by the seemingly common mistake that atheists worship science as a god... "There's no such thing as an atheist, your GOD is SCIENCE! HA!" No, the point is that a supernatural power isn't required to explain every little occurrence in life down to farts, get over it.

Also, a self-professed pagan professor of mine once told me there is no such thing as atheism, only people who are still too hurt by past events to accept spirituality. I loathe this, it is so arrogant.

I've heard that all atheists are gay (????), as well.

[Cecilie]

I haven't heard anything...

[karadan]

I get this most of the time. "what, You don't believe in god? Do you worship the devil?" When i came out to my family my dad and his pastor tried to pray the demon out of me! Lol so in my experience people tend to take atheist as devil worshipers. But i have talk to more hispanic people about atheism and they tend to shut you up quick. The white people i have talked to are a bit more open mined. But I have only talked to a few.

Why do hispanic people shut you up quick?

I can't speak for father nicetouch but I can tell you of my own experiences.

My girlfriend of a couple years has a hispanic father and a white mother. Both sides of her family are Christian, though the hispanic side is more catholic. Her mother's side knows that I'm an atheist, and sometimes it's a casual jest - it really hasn't been a big deal for any of them though I'm sure a few of them say their .02 cents behind our backs.

However, my girlfriend is mortified of the prospect of her father's side finding out that I'm an atheist. These people seem a little more crazy for some reason about their faith. (I'm sure it wouldn't be that big a deal - we just might not be invited back to thanksgiving, )

The difference in attitude is probably more because of her mother's family's particular flavor of protistant christianity versus her dad's family's more strict type of catholicism. One side just happens to be white while the other is hispanic.


Meh, who really knows?

Hmm, that is interesting. I know of a few stereotypes (which i'm not about to use here) but it would be interestng to see figures for religious vs. openly atheist ratios in various South American countries.

Anyone else here have personal experiences with religious attitudes from various Hispanic countries, and how fervently they worship?

[karadan]

I agree with these, definitely a lot of confusions about atheism and satanism. I'm often annoyed by the seemingly common mistake that atheists worship science as a god... "There's no such thing as an atheist, your GOD is SCIENCE! HA!" No, the point is that a supernatural power isn't required to explain every little occurrence in life down to farts, get over it.

In this regard, atheists have it easy because we have an easier time conceptualizing both sides of the coin.

[Tom62]

I haven't heard anything...

Me neither.

[Ulver]

Anyone else here have personal experiences with religious attitudes from various Hispanic countries, and how fervently they worship?

Latino cultures have extremely high levels of religious affiliation per country, I believe I saw Venezuela is something like 98% Christian. That is huge, and they take it very, very seriously. My boyfriend is Latino and I am lucky to have found him as an atheist haha, but his parents are very religious, and I believe it is common to ask elders for blessings, even in casual conversation. His parents do not know he is an atheist, but they can sense he is not on board enough, and make a big deal of it. Latino religious beliefs tend to be more fundamental, as well. I believe this is a result of being some of the last of the strict Roman Catholics on earth.

[Ulver]

I think it is logical to assume many religious people have a hard time dealing with the theme of non-belief. Their religiousness has no frame of reference for such a concept which is probably why atheists are so maligned in the US. Because of this, they have to believe an atheist actually worships something because you cannot worship nothing, right?

In this regard, atheists have it easy because we have an easier time conceptualizing both sides of the coin.

Absolutely. It's quite unnatural for them to imagine someone not having a constant sense of a higher power, so turning science into god is the logical result.

It's funny, because Christians I have bantered with online always say I cannot possibly comment on faith, because atheists cannot know faith. Well, wrong... Faith is an extremely basic and simple human emotion, religious faith is just the unquestionable mutant mega power version of this every day feeling.

[Cecilie]

I haven't heard anything...

The weird thing though is that I've told my mother countless times that I don't believe in a god or anything supernatural, yet when I mentioned I was an atheist she seemed surprised.