Happy Atheist Forum

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.

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

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.

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.

Quote from: "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.

Why do hispanic people shut you up quick?

All Atheists are unhappy.

All Atheist are immoral, and cannot have morals.

Atheists eat babies.

Atheists worship themselves.

-Sighs-

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd109%2Fgotanksdude5331%2Frandom%2FMonkeyfacepalm.jpg&hash=b9376d3ae2e453fd887e0eea5c2de47b9032f97d)

Quote from: "karadan"

Quote from: "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.

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?

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.

I haven't heard anything...

Quote from: "BadPoison"

Quote from: "karadan"

Quote from: "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.

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?

Quote from: "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. :)

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

Quote from: "Cecilie"I haven't heard anything...

Me neither.

Quote from: "karadan"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.

Quote from: "karadan"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.

Quote from: "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.

Quote from: "ForTheLoveOfAll"Atheists eat babies.

Atheists worship themselves.

That's just ridiculous!  :hmm:


 

The craziest thing to me has always been that "All atheists believe in god"

Quote from: "karadan"

Quote from: "BadPoison"

Quote from: "karadan"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?

Well, it was hard for my chathoic wife to tell her parents that I was an atheist. They got upset with her for going out with me, but they got over it though. I just found it funny for some reason. And to answer karadan's question. I do not know why the shut you up. I'm guessing they take it as blasphemy and think I might get smited by God and they do not want to get hit for standing to close to me or they just rather not here somthing else other than what they have been taught by the church. It's like they cover there ears and yell, "LA LA LA LA LA LA THERE IS A GOD! THERE IS A GOD!" And they block everything else.

What does "worshiping yourself" even mean? Does that mean being nice to yourself? If so, then yes, I worship myself.

-All Atheists are dirty communists (btw, did you know Fidel Castro was atheist?)
-All Atheists want to destroy America.
-All Atheists need to have their citizenship revoked.
-No one dies an Atheist (seemigly implies that all atheists have deathbed conversions)

Being that I live in the bible belt, i've heard some whoppers. But thats all I can think of at the moment.

Quote from: "terranus"-All Atheists are dirty communists (btw, did you know Fidel Castro was atheist?)
-All Atheists want to destroy America.
-All Atheists need to have their citizenship revoked.
-No one dies an Atheist (seemigly implies that all atheists have deathbed conversions)

Being that I live in the bible belt, i've heard some whoppers. But thats all I can think of at the moment.

It's funny. Whenever i see people like tea baggers calling other folk communists, fascists or socialists, i always laugh because i know the majority of them have absolutely no idea what those terms mean.

I'd love to quiz Glenn beck because i'm sure he'd be stumped.

Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"What does "worshiping yourself" even mean? Does that mean being nice to yourself? If so, then yes, I worship myself.

I'm thinking it means something like you do believe in God (cause how can you not believe in God), but view yourself as more important that him/she/it.

Quote from: "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. :brick:

They can't wrap their minds around the fact that to the Atheist, THERE IS NO GOD, or at least not enough evidence to support the existence of a god, therefore we live as if there is not. They're so used to feeling like they and everyone else HAS to worship something that they refuse to admit that an Atheist does not. Apparently my mother is skilled in telekenesis, because she tells me that I'm committing self-worship or Science worship for being an Atheist.  

Quote from: "Asmodean"

Quote from: "ForTheLoveOfAll"Atheists eat babies.

Atheists worship themselves.

That's just ridiculous!  :hmm:


 lol  And at the same time, it scares me a little.  

Quote from: "karadan"It's funny. Whenever i see people like tea baggers calling other folk communists, fascists or socialists, i always laugh because i know the majority of them have absolutely no idea what those terms mean.

I'd love to quiz Glenn beck because i'm sure he'd be stumped.

This is exactly why the popularity of Fox News in the US is so terrifying. My father sits in front of Beck's fist pounding, red faced, Nazibama tirades every day, and he has gotten noticeably less intelligent since. The amount of misinformation and perpetuation of completely unfounded "facts" just...wow. I'm left shaking my head at a lot of liberal media as well, but this is just brainwashing to a scary level.

Quote from: "terranus"-All Atheists are dirty communists (btw, did you know Fidel Castro was atheist?)
-All Atheists want to destroy America.
-All Atheists need to have their citizenship revoked.
-No one dies an Atheist (seemigly implies that all atheists have deathbed conversions)

These are great examples, I find it funny when atheists are painted as inhumane and looking to destroy fellow citizens. Atheists tend to be humanists, no? ;)

Also, the thought that impending death would change my entire life's worth of logic is pathetic. Most people think about death when they consider their beliefs about theism, that's not something we just skip over and save for seconds before. pffft.

Another one I just recently heard is that atheists are "just hardened to Christ". This person told me she would pray I would let go of my pain and no longer be an angry shell (obviously the false assumption that drives the mission of this forum!). Thanks! I guess? Um. Now, I will not make a joke...ok, I will. Nothing about Christ makes me hard. heh

Quote from: "Whitney"Some people are under the false impression that atheist is another word for satanist.

This.

I've heard so many atheists being accused of worshipping Satan. They clearly don't realise that atheists believe in neither God nor Satan.

Quote from: "Ulver"Another one I just recently heard is that atheists are "just hardened to Christ". This person told me she would pray I would let go of my pain and no longer be an angry shell (obviously the false assumption that drives the mission of this forum!). Thanks! I guess? Um. Now, I will not make a joke...ok, I will. Nothing about Christ makes me hard. heh

hahahahahaha. I just found your comment very amusing!

Well all the "good crazy" ones are already taken, but there was a recent quote in FSTDT that got my attention, and as I checked the first post of that thread the title says a lot:

Quote from: "bjhulk"Atheists are pagan worshipers who started another religion

Now this wasn't so bad, but when this guy explain what (by his defenition) a "pagan" is, it turns into a facepalm:

Quote from: "bjhulk"Pagan worshipers are people who worship their own ideas other than the true God. There are millions of different groups in this world today who worship all sorts of ideas. Each idea forms a unified thought that can deceive many people from the truth because the truth can't be seen or understood by them.

Funny, I always thought that pagans worshiped thier own god(s), with interesting myths as a side. Oh well.

You can find the whole thread here (yup, its an atheist forum...another theist troll   ):

http://atheistforums.org/thread-5963.html (http://atheistforums.org/thread-5963.html)

QuoteAtheists tend to be humanists, no?

Tend to be, yes. But I bucked the trend and went Machiavellian  

"All atheists are controlled directly by Satan." -My pastor in church this morning.

Before you ask why an atheist goes to church, I'm 16, still live with my parents, and they don't believe in religious freedom.

Quote from: "skwurll""All atheists are controlled directly by Satan." -My pastor in church this morning.

If I'm directly controlled by Satan, then he isn't as fun of a guy as I thought.

QuoteBefore you ask why an atheist goes to church, I'm 16, still live with my parents, and they don't believe in religious freedom.

Same here.

Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"If I'm directly controlled by Satan, then he isn't as fun of a guy as I thought.

True 'dat. Who would've thought Satan could be in a loving relationship? Although, I guess that explains the sadism...

QuoteBefore you ask why an atheist goes to church, I'm 16, still live with my parents, and they don't believe in religious freedom.

QuoteSame here.

Yeah, waking up at 7 am on a sunday is not exactly my definition of fun.

Quote from: "skwurll"

Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"If I'm directly controlled by Satan, then he isn't as fun of a guy as I thought.

True 'dat. Who would've thought Satan could be in a loving relationship? Although, I guess that explains the sadism...

QuoteBefore you ask why an atheist goes to church, I'm 16, still live with my parents, and they don't believe in religious freedom.

Same here.

well, i have to say that you guys have alot of balls! when i was your ages i was a pussy about telling my parents i was an atheist! Good job on standing up for yourselfs. I was a closet atheist for the longest time. I was like, "yeah, Lets go to church! I love Jesus! I love giving half of what little bit of allowance you give me to the church!"

Quote from: "father nicetouch"well, i have to say that you guys have alot of balls! when i was your ages i was a pussy about telling my parents i was an atheist! Good job on standing up for yourselfs. I was a closet atheist for the longest time. I was like, "yeah, Lets go to church! I love Jesus! I love giving half of what little bit of allowance you give me to the church!"

To be honest, I just got sick of pretending to believe in God. It was the little things that got to me, like being asked to say grace at mealtimes, having to go to church, etc.

I finally confronted my mother a few months ago, It was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done, she didn't take it too well.

Quote from: "skwurll"

Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"If I'm directly controlled by Satan, then he isn't as fun of a guy as I thought.

True 'dat. Who would've thought Satan could be in a loving relationship? Although, I guess that explains the sadism...

QuoteBefore you ask why an atheist goes to church, I'm 16, still live with my parents, and they don't believe in religious freedom.

QuoteSame here.

Yeah, waking up at 7 am on a sunday is not exactly my definition of fun.

Amen and amen. I'm 18, moving out in three months, but goddamn, not soon enough. Been forced to go to church since I was old enough to find my dick. About sick of it, and the rents know I'm not a part of their cult anymore.

I love my family to death, but hearing some of the things spouted by them and the pastor is enough to make me want to stand up in the middle of the service and yell "IF THERE'S A HELL, YOU ARE THE ONE GOING TO IT!"  

I've never heard any 'crazy' things so to say, however I have heard some amusing things: "Pfft...atheists, nothing but emo little nerds trying to disprove god", this was funny seeing as me and one of my friends had bumped into a group of 'emo nerds' who were in fact trying to disprove the existence of God, it was even more amusing for me seeing as the guy that said so was an atheist. The other thing I heard was from a good friend (very sheltered kid): "Atheists are all so mean". I have to say I've never heard some of the other stuff I've read in this thread.

I've never heard anything like "you eat children" or "you masturbate with the blood of aborted babies" however one thing I keep hearing is that we must be lacking a moral compass.

Hmmm... Which way is moral North again?

I had a Muslim tell me that all the Muslims in Darfur were Atheists... As in, there is violence in Darfur because the Muslims are actually Atheists...

Quote from: "Ellainix"I had a Muslim tell me that all the Muslims in Darfur were Atheists... As in, there is violence in Darfur because the Muslims are actually Atheists...

This reminds me of Arnaud Amalric infamous order:
"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius (Kill them all. For the Lord knoweth them that are His.)"

Quote from: "skwurll"

Quote from: "father nicetouch"well, i have to say that you guys have alot of balls! when i was your ages i was a pussy about telling my parents i was an atheist! Good job on standing up for yourselfs. I was a closet atheist for the longest time. I was like, "yeah, Lets go to church! I love Jesus! I love giving half of what little bit of allowance you give me to the church!"

To be honest, I just got sick of pretending to believe in God. It was the little things that got to me, like being asked to say grace at mealtimes, having to go to church, etc.

I finally confronted my mother a few months ago, It was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done, she didn't take it too well.

When I was 18 I was kicked out of my parent's house for refusing to go to church. I was basically told "if you're not at church next week you better not be here when we get home." So I got a shitty apartment and continued working my even shittier part-time job. I stayed in school (which I paid for myself anyways) and saw my first degree as a slap in my parent's face - "See, I don't need you assholes anyways" is what I thought.

All I can say is keep at it- you're basically being discriminated against in your own home and I understand how it can really suck at times. Especially when you're at an age where your parents will look down at you and think your atheism is just your way of rebelling.

Atheists are intellectually arrogant.  (I'd say it's better than being arrogant ignorant.)
Atheists are the Anti-Christ.

Quote from: "wildfire_emissary"Atheists are intellectually arrogant.  (I'd say it's better than being arrogant ignorant.)

To be fair, some are, though some religious people are arrogant as well.

Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"To be fair, some are, though some religious people are arrogant as well.

Many religious people see no difference between intellectual arrogance and simply superior understanding though. If I call someone a dumb shit for instance, from their perspective, it might sound arrogant, whereas from MY perspective, it may be a simple statement of fact.

I've read something interesting somewhere... Illustrated Science, I think. There it was claimed that people of high intelligence tend to undervalue their own intellectual worth to a degree, yet less-than-intelligent people tend to overvalue themselves. Basically, even if a "dumb shit" is obvious as such to like... The majority of the better educated population, the likelihood is that the "dumb shit" considers himself about as smart as any.

In any case, I wonder why the religious have a problem with arrogance. IMO, someone either deserves the right to be arrogant - in which case it's ok - or does not deserve it - in which case arrogance serves nothing but making the person in question look like a fool. An arrogant fool. Seen many of those in my life, and only few of them were atheist, come to think of it.

Quote from: "wildfire_emissary"Atheists are intellectually arrogant.

I may be guilty of this. Or let's say I may look like I'm in this category sometimes. But when you debate with a religious person, and if the discussion is about God's existence, how else you're going to tell him that he's believing in something that has no scientific evidence what so ever. And when I tell them things like "Which god?" "Your god has as much proof and credibility as Thor, or Anubis or Zeus" or even "We are both atheists. I just choose not to believe in one more god than you do." I'm sure that, at least at times, it comes across arrogant.

Why? What can make us arrogant?

Quote from: "Asmodean"I've read something interesting somewhere... Illustrated Science, I think. There it was claimed that people of high intelligence tend to undervalue their own intellectual worth to a degree, yet less-than-intelligent people tend to overvalue themselves. Basically, even if a "dumb shit" is obvious as such to like... The majority of the better educated population, the likelihood is that the "dumb shit" considers himself about as smart as any.

Wikipedia article on the Dunning-Kruger effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect)

Original paper by Dunning and Kruger from Psychology (http://tinyurl.com/4rp45x3)

I think that "arrogance" may run in families.  I know that I and my siblings are often perceived as arrogant, and that members of previous generations (at least on my mother's side) were as well.  What others perceive as arrogance may simply be justified self-confidence.  I think of myself as fairly humble, having met many people who are more intelligent, wittier and stronger than I am, and acknowledged that. However, I know for a fact that in many respects I have superior abilities to a large percentage of the population.

So, am I an example of the dummköpfe who have an undeservedly high opinion of themselves? Perhaps so.  

Quote from: "BadPoison"When I was 18 I was kicked out of my parent's house for refusing to go to church. I was basically told "if you're not at church next week you better not be here when we get home." So I got a shitty apartment and continued working my even shittier part-time job. I stayed in school (which I paid for myself anyways) and saw my first degree as a slap in my parent's face - "See, I don't need you assholes anyways" is what I thought.

All I can say is keep at it- you're basically being discriminated against in your own home and I understand how it can really suck at times. Especially when you're at an age where your parents will look down at you and think your atheism is just your way of rebelling.

It sucks that people are so intolerant, I live in a pretty conservative area, and I've dealt with quite a lot of discrimination in school. Best thing I've found is to ignore them, and when they can't be ignored, make up ridiculous scripture and quote it to them. (Actually works on my parents.)

As soon as I move out, I'm never going to church again, telling my parent they're bigots, and living my own life.

Glad my parents weren't/aren't crazy like y'alls. My mom actually deconverted before I did. My stepdad is a math professor, he only worships the math gods (pi, golden-ratio, etc.).

Quote"you masturbate with the blood of aborted babies"

Ooo, that's a good one. Might have to put that in my signature.

In 60 years of convinced atheism, the two most common arguments against it by theists are..............

[a] They identify atheism as synonymous with communism.

They insist that atheism is a religion.

Both contentions are easily silenced except for one or two particularly dense theists who can't understand the arguments put forward by atheists  

In [a] They love citing the 20th century when we had some rather ruthless regimes that were communist. Theists seized on a book titled DEATH BY GOVERNMENT written by a Prof.Rudolph Rummell of the U of Hawaii, wherein statistics were slanted and misapplied against communist regimes and over-generalised by the theist reader.

In One need only ask what is the purpose behind their calling atheism a religion. To extol atheism or to denigrate it?
Obviously the latter. Just simple reasoning reveals that they want to REDUCE atheism to the same level as religious faith and by illogical association, burden it with all the clap-trap of religious doctrine, commentary and concordance, all the contrived thought processes that try to explain away contradiction, untruth, impenetrable analogy and allegory, fable, symbolism and anachronism.

IOW, they want to tar atheists with the same brush by which they have been tarred. And by this they acknowledge the original superior position of atheism............get it?

It is so rare to find a theist who rejoices in his faith and has no need of putting down non-faith in doing so.

Always examine their motives and closely follow their reasoning. In almost every case one finds contempt, spite, ignorance and contumacy, all of which are totally at odds with their faith. Theists are so smugly conceited they never recognise this in themselves.

Extropian

Extropian

Just recently that atheists are giving some kind of power or something to god by using religious exclamations.

We can't possibly appreciate or understand positive emotions such as natural beauty, love, compassion, etc because we don't have god as a driving force to our morality or outlook on life. If you don't believe in miracles or creation how can you appreciate any of the good things life has to offer?

1.  Atheists believe in god, they're just rebelling against their parents.
2.  Atheists are devil-worshippers.
3.  Atheists don't believe in god because they want to be able to sin freely.
4.  Atheists are always angry and yelling at you.

Quote from: "Recusant"Original paper by Dunning and Kruger from Psychology (http://tinyurl.com/4rp45x3)

Sweet! Thanks  lol[/quote]
...OR maybe you are undervaluing yourself and are actually twice as brilliant as you think?  

Quote from: "Whitney"Some people are under the false impression that atheist is another word for satanist.

Hit the nail right on the head! I get "atheism is the devil's work and we worship satan." I counter with "who?"

Quote from: "Davin"Just recently that atheists are giving some kind of power or something to god by using religious exclamations.

Yes that one and some atheists think it likely life exists somewhere else in the universe so... I'm not sure what, invent a faith around it or something.  It's like your married siblings trying to hitch you up with someone.  Yes this alien worshipping faith doesn't look like much, but you must be lonely and who else is going to take you?

Quote from: "karadan"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?

I live in southern Brazil, but since I restrict my views to the internet and don't go around talking about my lack of beliefs IRL there isn't much I've been exposed to except behind my back. People know that I'm an atheist, and have varying views on what atheism is all about. Some think that I'm spiritually dead and lack that extra something in order to give in and have faith in fairy tales. My mother thinks that later on in life I'll "see the light", but that's only because that's what happened to her. I don't know, maybe...though I highly doubt it'll be any form of theism, those things just really don't sit with me. There's also plenty of the the generic 'atheists are demons' or 'worship the devil' (god doesn't exist but the devil does? Why do these people feel they need to worship something...anything?), 'atheists are nihilists, immoral and hellbound'. Pretty much the same things.

There's this one guy here that takes his personal relationship with Jesus very seriously and even goes as far as to insist that others respect him, on dates such as Christmas (thinks the holiday should be exclusively about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! He's an ignorant and close-minded one.

Pisses me off, especially since this guy does not deserve the respect he wants.

All in all it is a religiously tolerant society. I don't have the numbers, but there isn't a clearly dominant sect which concentrates influence on itself.

And just as in most places of the world, the religious fail miserably when trying to grasp what atheism is and what an atheist usually thinks about belief in gods. Out of all life's mysteries they have figured out, atheism is just not one of them...unfortunately their imaginary friends failed to give them proper insight there...

Get on Conservopedia and type in atheism

My mom thinks atheist conventions are for devil worshippers!

The only one i've heard was athiests are devil worshippers thing. I see you all have brought that up already, but it is still irritating, as how would one NOT believe in God, but Lucifer?

I don't get what's so hard to accept about people who don't worship Santa in the sky?  I love that my logic and actions not being religiously influenced.

Apparently there's some sort of George Soros-funded movement populated by the likes of Van Jones, Jeremiah Wright, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, ACORN, Organizing for America, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Secular Coalition for America, the liberal media, and Barack Obama.  The goal of this movement is to turn America into the Soviet Union... a socialist, atheist state. 

Nevermind that the Soviet Union wasn't really socialist, or that if we actually went truly socialist, billionaire Soros wouldn't be rich anymore, or that Jeremiah Wright is a preacher, etc.  Apparently "the atheist" is trying to take over America and get rid of all religion and take everybody's money to give it to lazy bums.

I've had people tell me that I'm only an atheist because I hate god and have something against him.

Not sure I can hate something I don't believe exists.

Communist Russia massacred millions of people because they were atheists and for the cause of atheism.

The pope said that it was atheism that caused the holocaust, when Hilter's anti-semitic motivations were justified by him through religion.

(though he really wanted their money as well...)