Believing/disbelieving whatever story about the existence/nonexistence of “god” (or anything else) matters not one whit to me. This obsession with stories that you people share. I do not share it.
That “you gotta be obsessed with stories like me” stereotype.
Well said Dr Satan.
If we just hear “the gospel” enough, we’ll come around. In reality, I hear street preachers, and see “Jesus loves you” stickers on street corners, and it turns me off even more.
Honestly, as an honestly pretty unspiritual Christian, Street preachers make me unnecessarily angry. Because it feels like they’re just bible bashing and aren’t actually doing anything to further Christianity’s goals, despite the fact they think they are. Individuals can’t win people over by shoving their beliefs down people’s throats.
I feel like the only people who listen to these guys are people who agree with them. Most people ignore them in my city.
I quite like them. And I don’t mind Jehovah’s witnesses. I can ignore or politely send them away without much hassle. But I think it’s nice that they believe they can save people and actively try to do so. If I believed, I hope I would be a good enough person to try to save everyone else, too.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to people who are trying to force people or demand poor treatment of people with different beliefs. It really depends where it comes from.
We don’t really eat babies.
Yeah, Satan is very strict on his new policies.
A lot of people like to say that atheists traffics with demons to solve their daily problems, routinely play with Satan’s gigantic cock, and do a fuck ton of drugs and I’m here to put the rumors to rest. I have never once even seen Satan’s gigantic cock, nonetheless held it in my hands.
That we despise people who have religious faith. I don’t despise people with religious faith - I despise what religion does to people who have faith.
I live in a country that is on the surface quite ateist and nobody is openly religious, not even Muslim immigrants.
So i really got nothing.
Where is thi magical land?
Like almost any marginalized group, atheists get caricatured by their most vocal members.
I probably would have become atheist a decade sooner if I hadn’t associated it with the logocentric, Western chauvinist, and plain old bigots who first represented atheism to me.
There are plenty of us who aren’t obsessed with religious debates; we don’t hate religious people; and our cultural, political, and philosophical ideas are not frozen in 18th Century Europe.
deleted by creator
That we do abortions for fun.
I mean, I do do abortions for fun. But not because I’m an atheist.
Were you paraphrasing MiB3 there?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/GNOZhAc26I8
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I miss the awards only for this kind of things.
Thanks for the laugh good sir.
(Ex-atheist here) That our beliefs are rigid, and won’t change.
What made you religious?
Oh, I would still consider that a form of atheism, colloquially if not formally.
I know nothing colloquial in the concept of igtheism. Formally, by its very existence, igtheism proves that atheism can only be conditional - hence it is not even a proper concept.
I know that, formally, you can’t lack a belief in a god that isn’t properly defined, and I agree with you that many religions’ gods aren’t properly defined. But I think the colloquially definition of atheist or agnostic could still cover igtheism.
As for theists, the gods are equally undefined for atheists/agnostics. For an igtheist, beliefs of atheists/ignostics (or lack of belief) cannot be taken any more seriously than those of theists, until definitions are provided.
Take an example. There are people who say that god is nothing but merely energy. Can someone call herself an atheist if this is definition of god?
Sans definition of god, theism/atheism do not make sense.
Not OP, but for me it was realising I was dronegender. I could either be an atheist whose identity was valid but not “real” as I conceived it, or I could embrace a religion that said my identity was achievable. That said mind melding with a swarm was possible and I could be who I am in a physical sense and not just a personal one.
Also I met a god. She’s nice.
Sorry, I didn’t really understand that. Can you please eli5?
I need magic in order to feel like myself. I couldn’t keep being an atheist once I started using magic.
How do you define magic?
That when we see a fish on the back of their car, we know we’re going to be following a really considerate driver.
I think we’re stereotyped often as the militant and belligerent atheists quite a lot. We have been painted as unsympathetic assholes who like to talk down to religious people to make us feel better about ourselves, not to mention a weird overlap with some parts of the far-right, usually by way of transphobia, homophobia, racism, social darwinism and the enforcement of poorly understood or straight up incorrect “science”
Eugenecists inhabit this space, as well as people who might call themselves “race realists”, as well as people who think their middle-school-level understanding of genetics and sex encapsulates the entirety of gender and sexuality. It’s those atheists who claim to love science, hate ignorance, but remain ignorant of science. They give us a bad name, and their loudness makes it seem like they represent us
I’ve wondered if most of those atheists were brought up very religious. They seem to take a very religious attitude towards their atheism. It would kind of explain why they’re so obnoxious, too. Kind of like lashing out at their upbringing.
I suspect a whole lot of atheists were brought up religious. The heavy religiosity is the push they need to even think on the subject. I think a lot of people who are what I’d call passively religious (non-practicing, don’t really care, but might say say they believe in god if asked) don’t have to engage with the material critically, so it’s not as much a part of their world. For sure there are atheists out there who have a dogmatic approach to atheism because of their former belief systems
But even beyond that, I think it runs deeper. Christianity, if you’re in the west, is foundational to our culture, even in secular nations. It still informs traditions and morals and perspectives that can trace themselves to a Christian origin, and that underlying religiosity in our cultures does inform the way in which we view the world. I concluded this when a friend pointed out to me the language we use in evolution
We describe evolved adaptations as serving a purpose. We’ll say things like “we evolved opposable digits to better grasp things”, and yeah, we all know that’s not strictly true, but language informs our perspective and reflects it. We didn’t evolve thumbs to hold things; We just got thumbs, and were able to hold things with them. These are not the same, and the former still has that kernel of creationism in it, some subconscious belief in a greater purpose
That said, I generally agree that an atheist might be made more militant if he had a particularly religious upbringing. Really, though, I suspect it’s also a lot to do with insecurities. I grew up in a passively religious household, and was sent to a catholic extracurricular just so that I could choose for myself what to believe, and in that brief time, I actually became easily the most religious person in my house. Religion spoke to my insecurities and fears. I was bullied a lot at the time, and the thought that my righteousness would be rewarded and my bullies wickedness would be punished was wonderful. In turning atheist after that, it didn’t undo the bullying. Instead, the self-righteous idea of “I’m smarter than you dumb Christians” was the new salve for insecurties
I’m way more tolerant now. Maybe the issue is just age. Maybe most of those awful ones are just obnoxious teens and young adults who would be obnoxious either way, and they’ll grow out of it. If they don’t, they get to become Ricky Gervais without the money or fame. Kinda rambled more than I meant to, but yeah, just throwing out some perspectives
I’ve ran across a few in real life as well. The main thing they have in common seems to be religious recoil. They used to be religious, but realised that it was false. Unfortunately, losing the nostic part is harder than losing the theistic part. They tend to over shoot, and become quite radical.
On the plus side, they tend to settle down. It takes time (sometimes years) to find their new equilibrium. I wasn’t particularly religious growing up, but even I had a bit of that recoil effect for a while. I’ll still go toe to toe with a religion enthusiast, if required, but try not to instigate the “discussion”. I just step in when their public views need balancing out.
That anyone outside of the US or the middle east even gives a fuck whether you’re an atheist or not
That’s weird guys come on
I don’t hate religion or religious people. I just don’t believe. I do find religions really interesting, though, historically and culturally.
I rarely eat babies
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Ham Sarris has no problem with it
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
That’s the best way. Well done is a sacrilege
