Happy Atheist Forum

It seems that theists don't realize that when they attack atheism they should really being attacking every other religion but their own. And in fact they are. But why is it they seem more hostile toward us than say a believer of another faith? Is it that they recognize the sensitivity of another's religion whereas they sense none toward us on the topic? They're right but I find it odd that they neglect to see what they're doing. To put up a sign that says "Allah is Great" or "We Have A Friend in Jesus" has the intent to influence every bit as much as our "God probably doesn't exist, anyways" bus sign. Yet they claim it is an attack on every religion. Everyone needs to stop being so offended.

I think you hit on it. They understand why someone exposed to a different set of religious options and experiences might choose to believe something different about god. It's all about opportunity. We atheists, though, are profoundly disturbing. I don't pretend to fully understand why, but I have certainly observed the fear we elicit. I think we are scary because we are right. In the end,our lack of belief is the only thing that makes sense, and that is a direct and serious threat to religious faith. Plus, we make them feel stupid with our frequent use of logic.

Change "faith" to "food". That's how they see it. American evangelicals (to pick on an easy target) don't mind if the Mexican Americans eat empanadas. They don't care if Chinese Americans eat fish soup. They couldn't care less if Indian Americans eat curry and jasmine rice. They'd like them to eat burgers and fries, but, in the end, they just want people to eat some kind of food. For someone to say to them, "I don't eat any food," they just can't wrap their heads around it. It simply does not compute. It may sound like an analogy, but many of them really cannot understand how someone can survive without some sort of faith (in this case, food), some sort of "God sense." To go without faith (food) is to stop living.

It's sad, really.

I think it may be that the Theists associate Theism itself with the human capability of contemplation. An Atheist to them must be someone who chooses not to believe in a god no matter how much they contemplate nature and the universe. Therefore, something must be wrong, perhaps even disturbing, about the Atheist.

All very good thoughts here.  I think a lot of the theist function under the assumption of the afterlife and that you have to do certain things here in order to have a good one.  If you believe in an afterlife and have to behave in a certain way here to keep from being tortured for eternity and someone says they do not believe in any of that then what kind of person must they be?  They have no fear of doing anything bad because they'll burn in hell, so maybe they sit home and eat the brains of babies?  Christians are tolerant of other religions because they believe they can sway those God fearing people over to Christianity (much like they did to the Natives in America).  My catholic grandmother gave up quilting for lent so she could take time to pray for the Muslims "that they change their thinking".  On the other hand she just worries about me and my son because we don't know god and he won't help us becuase we don't know him.

Quote from: "Sophus"It seems that theists don't realize that when they attack atheism they should really being attacking every other religion but their own. And in fact they are. But why is it they seem more hostile toward us than say a believer of another faith? Is it that they recognize the sensitivity of another's religion whereas they sense none toward us on the topic? They're right but I find it odd that they neglect to see what they're doing. To put up a sign that says "Allah is Great" or "We Have A Friend in Jesus" has the intent to influence every bit as much as our "God probably doesn't exist, anyways" bus sign. Yet they claim it is an attack on every religion. Everyone needs to stop being so offended.

I think I disagree with everyone so far.

The reason that American theists (we'll choose Christians) are hesitant to virulently attack other religions is due to the fact that they live in America, where citizens have a constitutional right to free religious practice.

That's the only thing keeping them from being pissed at every other religion for defaming Christ's name, ignoring the "real God!", etc.

They see atheists as the only ones having no religion and subconsciously feel perfectly unlimited to attack us and criticize us, touting their book as backup.

This reminds me once again of a great quote by Dawkins, "We are all atheists about most of the gods humanity has believed in, some of us just go one god further."

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Change "faith" to "food". That's how they see it. American evangelicals (to pick on an easy target) don't mind if the Mexican Americans eat empanadas. They don't care if Chinese Americans eat fish soup. They couldn't care less if Indian Americans eat curry and jasmine rice. They'd like them to eat burgers and fries, but, in the end, they just want people to eat some kind of food. For someone to say to them, "I don't eat any food," they just can't wrap their heads around it. It simply does not compute. It may sound like an analogy, but many of them really cannot understand how someone can survive without some sort of faith (in this case, food), some sort of "God sense." To go without faith (food) is to stop living.

I agree and it is interesting to see how they react to us ... we seem to be far, far more threatening to them that people of other religions. It's probably because everyone else is at least in the ball park if not playing the same game whereas we're on the sidelines wondering what the frakking point is.

Kyu

Quote from: "chuff"The reason that American theists (we'll choose Christians) are hesitant to virulently attack other religions is due to the fact that they live in America, where citizens have a constitutional right to free religious practice.

That's the only thing keeping them from being pissed at every other religion for defaming Christ's name, ignoring the "real God!", etc.

This is a good observation. As religious freedom progressed we notice more tolerance among Christians for other religions. I suppose we also need a freedom from religion movement.

Theists do need to recognize though the reason they don't find Judaism or Buddhism as offensive as atheism is because it's the promotion of a belief. They view atheism as a destructive attack on others beliefs when in fact it is only a promotion of a belief as well.