First of all let's get the fact that I am a die hard atheist out of the way. I do not believe that there is a God or higher power of any form, nor do I believe that human beings have souls or that after we die we will be rewarded or punished based on the way we lived our lives.
Now that that's done let's get to the point of this thread. Atheism, as described above, is the lack of belief in any God or higher power. Atheists are typically open minded individuals who respect the views of others. We don't step on anyone's beliefs as long as they don't step on our beliefs (Or lack thereof). So why do we atheists get so much attitude from the religious community?
Several times in my past I have met someone and become friendly with them. We might even remain friendly with each other for a while, but as soon as the topic of religion comes up it can ruin the entire relationship. For instance, I had met a girl (Let's call her Jane for the purposes of this.) at a dinner party and we hit it off. We had similar interests in music, film and books and things seemed to be going well. Until the actual dinner was getting started and most of the people there stood to say grace.
When the praying was done she sat down next to me and asked why I hadn't stood up. When I replied that I was an atheist and that praying would have been very hypocritical of me, she seemed shocked and even slightly offended that I didn't share her Cristian beliefs. Needless to say, we didn't exchange numbers.
This was not a one time thing, and I'm sure it's happened to others of you who are atheists (Or even have different religions and have been turned away because of it.)
I've been trying for quite some time now to understand what it is about religious people (Predominantly Christians, because where I'm from is a mostly Christian society and I don't know of many people of other faiths) that makes them so closed minded, and so disrespectful toward other people's beliefs. After some serious thought and looking into this, I came across what I believe to be the reason:
Anti-theism.
Anti-theism, while commonly confused with atheism, is an entirely different thing. Anti-theists do share the same lack-of-belief that atheists do in that they do not believe there is any God or higher power of any kind, but they are not as open minded or tolerant as we atheists are. A question for any religious person reading this: Have you ever had someone who claimed to be an atheist talk down to you because you have religious beliefs, or even attempt to convert you to atheist by arguing with you about your faith?
This is not an atheist, this is an anti-theist. Someone who is completely against the belief in a higher power (Theism) and who takes pride in disrespecting and looking down upon religious people as if they were an inferior, less enlightened form of human.
Now let's be clear, non-believers are not the only one's guilty of this. I've had my fair share of persecution from religious people. I've had people claim I was the anti-Christ, or that I was a Satan worshiper when I told them I didn't believe in god. And when I informed them that I don't believe the devil exists either they get even more put off and usually leave the room.
I actually once had a teacher fail me in a class because we were asked to write our final essay on a controversial topic of our choosing and I chose religion. She deemed some of what I wrote to be blasphemous and failed me because she was a devout Christian. Needless to say I took this up with the board of directors, but because they were all Christian as well they took her side and I had to re-do my entire essay.
So what's my point here you might be asking yourself, and it's simple.
In the short term people need to recognize the difference between atheism and anti-theism, because frankly I'm tired of being cut off and viewed as a blasphemous heretic based on passed experiences people have had with anti-theists. Whether in person or seeing them argue about it on television or some other medium. And I'm sure others of you are tired of it as well.
In the long term people need to become more respectful of other people's beliefs. If you believe in God, that's great, I respect that. If you worship Allah, that's great too. If you believe in nothing at all then that's also great.
Why can't we all think like this? And to use the age old cliche:
Why can't we all just get along?
Now that that's done let's get to the point of this thread. Atheism, as described above, is the lack of belief in any God or higher power. Atheists are typically open minded individuals who respect the views of others. We don't step on anyone's beliefs as long as they don't step on our beliefs (Or lack thereof). So why do we atheists get so much attitude from the religious community?
Several times in my past I have met someone and become friendly with them. We might even remain friendly with each other for a while, but as soon as the topic of religion comes up it can ruin the entire relationship. For instance, I had met a girl (Let's call her Jane for the purposes of this.) at a dinner party and we hit it off. We had similar interests in music, film and books and things seemed to be going well. Until the actual dinner was getting started and most of the people there stood to say grace.
When the praying was done she sat down next to me and asked why I hadn't stood up. When I replied that I was an atheist and that praying would have been very hypocritical of me, she seemed shocked and even slightly offended that I didn't share her Cristian beliefs. Needless to say, we didn't exchange numbers.
This was not a one time thing, and I'm sure it's happened to others of you who are atheists (Or even have different religions and have been turned away because of it.)
I've been trying for quite some time now to understand what it is about religious people (Predominantly Christians, because where I'm from is a mostly Christian society and I don't know of many people of other faiths) that makes them so closed minded, and so disrespectful toward other people's beliefs. After some serious thought and looking into this, I came across what I believe to be the reason:
Anti-theism.
Anti-theism, while commonly confused with atheism, is an entirely different thing. Anti-theists do share the same lack-of-belief that atheists do in that they do not believe there is any God or higher power of any kind, but they are not as open minded or tolerant as we atheists are. A question for any religious person reading this: Have you ever had someone who claimed to be an atheist talk down to you because you have religious beliefs, or even attempt to convert you to atheist by arguing with you about your faith?
This is not an atheist, this is an anti-theist. Someone who is completely against the belief in a higher power (Theism) and who takes pride in disrespecting and looking down upon religious people as if they were an inferior, less enlightened form of human.
Now let's be clear, non-believers are not the only one's guilty of this. I've had my fair share of persecution from religious people. I've had people claim I was the anti-Christ, or that I was a Satan worshiper when I told them I didn't believe in god. And when I informed them that I don't believe the devil exists either they get even more put off and usually leave the room.
I actually once had a teacher fail me in a class because we were asked to write our final essay on a controversial topic of our choosing and I chose religion. She deemed some of what I wrote to be blasphemous and failed me because she was a devout Christian. Needless to say I took this up with the board of directors, but because they were all Christian as well they took her side and I had to re-do my entire essay.
So what's my point here you might be asking yourself, and it's simple.
In the short term people need to recognize the difference between atheism and anti-theism, because frankly I'm tired of being cut off and viewed as a blasphemous heretic based on passed experiences people have had with anti-theists. Whether in person or seeing them argue about it on television or some other medium. And I'm sure others of you are tired of it as well.
In the long term people need to become more respectful of other people's beliefs. If you believe in God, that's great, I respect that. If you worship Allah, that's great too. If you believe in nothing at all then that's also great.
Why can't we all think like this? And to use the age old cliche:
Why can't we all just get along?
