Why are Atheists so Scary?

coolie13 wrote:

I'm with you there, philosophy really can be anything, its universal in its avenues, you can take it any which way with just a smidget of logic. You are right, we are destroying ourselves being authoratative but then again, humans are intellectual beings and part of knowing or learning is attaining information from a source so those in a way are rules that your following. Why do we put such philosophers as socrates and kant in high regard if in reality, we really could simply dismiss all there works?

Lord of the flies.

How are we any different? It's such a funny book if you take the concept and just place it onto society. People no matter what age they are, just simply think themselves as knowing what is right and what is wrong with the world. However if this were true, that there was some fundamental ability to know with absolute certainty what is right and what is wrong, it would be painfully obvious to set these rules into place. However; we can't because there are no fundamentally right or wrong things, they are completely subjective and even require contexts.

But we are still childish mentally. Sure we might age but our mentalities are still childish. We come up with theses compete BS statements like right and wrong are fundamentally known but they aren't. Others get carried off by these lies and society continues to be duped by simple logical fallacies.

Adults are just tall children who believe they know better. In in fact they are only guessing and assuming they are right.

The point of philosophy is to find away that we can agree on a method in which will cause the least amount of damage. Religion obviously has failed that and people are starting to realize that religion is not the answer to the humanistic problems. The sooner we all realize this, the sooner we can take steps to find a better solution. But those who want to drag their feet and muddy the water with nonsense and logical fallacies only hold back progress.

We will get there, but it requires that humanity does some growing up mentally. Shed these superstitions and make believe fantasies called religion.

The reason why you fear intolerant atheists is they call you stupid, ignorant, irrational etc... there is a social prestige premium on these things, no one wants to be called stupid ignorant and irrational. On the converse side the intolerant religious call atheists immoral, base, and currently unworthy of a diety's compassion. There is also a prestige premium on morality, worthyness, and sanctity. It really doesn't matter that the theist might be very intelligent and savvy, or the atheist is very moral and sancified in his realm. The issue here is not the belief system it is manner in which the practitioner approaches their own ideaology.

An intolerant person is going to draw lines about many things, especially if s/he feels threatened by the people who do not share their ideology. This is often the case in situations where one grows up in one ideological system and later changes. This change is never done without sincere and sustained internal trauma. This intolerance can also be an aversion to change when someone is raised in one system and is introduced to another but is so scared by it that they produce within themselevs or seek out externally an extreme reactionism or reactionist group in which to feel comfortable.

This intolerance happens in many more arenas than theology. It is one of the bases of racism, sexism, ageism, and every other culturally institutionalized form of discrimination. Both parties are participating in the root of discrimination, dehumanization. Oh you are stupid and irrational = you are less human than I because my ideology states that a human is a rational animal. You are immoral and unworthy = you are less human than I because human is one worthy of god's acceptance and guidance.

but life goes on I suppose.
I'll be awaiting the hate flames from both sides.

but a tolerant person will let you stay but make your life miserable.

Some people think there is glory in being a martyr.

A
R
T

Of course I am not saying atheists are lonely people, I am saying they are more likely to be perceived as such.

I will respond to this thread this one last time. Yesterday, I thumbed it down, to keep myself from saying something I should keep to myself.

The originator of the thread complains atheists are angry. That’s true, to an extent. It arises from frustration. When I was a kid, I struggled very hard to accommodate the religious way of life. Went to church and all. But, I lay awake many a night, struggling to resolve the inner conflict. Finally, I accepted my atheism and stopped going to church.
It was a complaint like what you go to the doctor for,
I am sorry if it or I came across as moaning and judgemental I try always my best not to be.

edgarblythe wrote:

At very nearly the same time, the Pledge of Allegiance was altered, to read, “One nation, under God,” in part. It was a slap in the face. After all that struggle, I am suddenly expected to say that phrase every school morning. I simply remained silent.

Mostly, I kept my thoughts to myself. But, at age 20, I became very nearly engaged to be married. Then, she asked about my religion. I told her the truth. A friend in the room stood up, aghast. “Well, you can’t marry him.”

But, the girl said she could. All that it would take to make it right would be for me to go to church every Sunday.

We did not marry.

From that point on, every time a person discovered my atheism, they got in my face and insisted I had to be like them. A friend that failed in his attempt to convince me brought over his friend. The friend says, “I don’t want to argue. I only want to discuss it.”

After I got a sentence or two out, he began screaming, until I had to walk away.

When I served in the Navy, three of the guys decided I needed to be harassed. They began putting a Bible on top of my rack (bed) every time I left the room. I told the one named Yancy, “The next time somebody does that, I am going to rip it in half.”

Yancy figured that nobody would do such a thing. He also figured I could not be that strong.

Well, I went down the ladder to our quarters that evening, and there it lay, on top of my pillow. A fat, black, Bible. I saw Yancy hiding, peeking. He had a smile on his face. I picked up the Bible.

When I opened that book to about the middle, and began tearing it down the spine, the grin became a look of horror. I pitched the two pieces of book on his rack and went about my business.

I am continually assaulted by slogans. “There are no atheists in foxholes.”
Theodore Roosevelt (of Thomas Paine): “That filthy little atheist.”

Wrote a letter to the paper, in defense of evolution. Went to my aunt’s house after that. She screamed at me for being an atheist, until I went away.

Worked with three different guys at three different times. All three took it on themselves to convert me. They did stupid things, like shut the door and grab a Bible to read to me. “You’ve got to get right with God,” one told me repeatedly.

At my present job, the other day, a woman came at me, hollering. “Some atheist judge in California made them leave.” I have no idea what that story was. Another guy said, when I admitted I don’t go to church, “Can I send someone to your house in the evenings? Teach you about Jesus.”

I have barely skimmed the surface of these nut jobs who can’t stand to let a person simply live. You think atheists are scary? Many of the so-called religious are monsters.

I may be a nut job but I am not a religious nut job sorry if you thought this of me.
Oh I know many of the religious are monsters, I will at a later date make an exposition of them if it helps, and I have never yet thought that atheists were monsters, only that I had an irrational fear of them I was hoping to in some small way with your help rationalise.

I thank you deeply for a beautiful heart felt and poignant post.
It really blew me away.

I hope I have never used my faith as a weapon against another especially someone who is with out it, merely as my shield against the world, others and myself.

Thank you again for a wonderful and enlightening post and contribution.

All my best to you.
sometime sun

edgarblythe wrote:

Many of the so-called religious are monsters.

Many? I'd say most. (I've got experiences of my own which I'm keeping to myself.) Not sunshine sun, though.