Happy Atheist Forum

I have often wondered whether a member of a given religion would view an athiest as being better or worse than someone who followed a different religion. Eg would a catholic see someone who didn't believe in any form of god as being better than a hindu who would believe (to them) in the wrong god? What do you think?

I dont have personal experience, but form what I hear form people's experiences (on this forum and other places), religious pople will not care if you follow another religiou, but will hate/fear you if you are an atheist.

I think you're right about them fearing me - Mormans used to hassle me all the time, but I haven't been approached by one for about a decade now. How do they know to steer clear of me or have they simply recruited and converted enough people to meet their quota already?

QuoteMormans used to hassle me all the time

thats the basics of the morman religion. go house to house and harrass people. and the wearing of magic undies. dont forget about the anti sex drawers.

Quote from: "strikemedown"I have often wondered whether a member of a given religion would view an athiest as being better or worse than someone who followed a different religion. Eg would a catholic see someone who didn't believe in any form of god as being better than a hindu who would believe (to them) in the wrong god? What do you think?

Well I'm in Catholic school and from my experiences in religion class it seems that people just look at them as strange and crazy. "How can you believe in reincarnation? That's absurd!"

When you mention atheists though, it's a different story. They will simply look at you and say "Have fun in hell!" or "How can you not believe in anything, there has to be something, there has to be something after death". Ironically, I've met more atheists in Catholic school than I ever met in public school.

Being an ex-Catholic we would simply just look down on other view points. We would look at them as wrong, mislead, etc.

Hope that helps, trying to be as clear as possible. I feel like I'm overcomplicating things or something.

Hmm, my two cents: In my family it would probably be better accepted to at least belong to some religion rather than to none at all, simply because that means you at least "believe in something rather than nothing," which would "obviously" mean you have no one to answer to morally and are therefore an immoral person.
My dad, however, is extremely against Islam because of the terrorism and violence that has stemmed from it, so I don't think he would be too thrilled if his atheist daughter decided to convert.
It's all relative.
I've always wondered... I'm pretty sure America will never have an atheist president (or at least not for a very long time still) but would there ever be a non-Christian one? What is the American public more open to, or are they vehemently against all non-Christians no matter what? (when it comes to the religious majority with regards to politics. I'm sorry about generalising )

Thanks for all your replies. I have been an Athiest since I can remember ( I also found out the truth about Santa when I was very young). When I was about seven - I was spending the holidays with my catholic grandparents when they woke me early on a sunday to go to church. I said I wanted to go back to sleep and that I didn't believe in god anyway. My grandma nearly had a heart attack and told me that if my auntie and uncle heard what I said I would never be allowed to play with my cousins again. I learnt to keep quiet about my beliefs - it was just easier. I assumed that I would be an athiest for the rest of my life, but I think I'll become a morman if I can get a pair of magic undies - sounds great. What are they?