Why are Christians so hostile to Atheists?

I mean, really. Every time I come here there's at least 2/3 threads whose basic message seems to be "How DARE all you atheist's not believe in God?"

Look, if all we atheists are going to Hell, (*)(*)(*)(*)ing LET us, OK?. It's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHETHER I BELIEVE IN GOD OR NOT. If you want to, fine, believe away but LEAVE ME OUT. That seems, to me, a perfectly reasonable request, but I see very few Christians who seem to agree on that..

 

I’m going to say the same thing I say when Christians complain about us “militant atheists”. Most atheists don’t go around complaining about religion, you just notice the ones that do. Likewise, most Christians probably couldn’t care less about atheists. It is just that we notice the Christians that call us atheists out.

And of course this is a debate board so people are going to feel even more comfortable in calling out other people for their beliefs or lack thereof. I wouldn’t get too worked up over it.

 

You do understand that questioning your belief system, is not the same as being 'hostile'?

After all..... this is a "debate forum".... right? That's where people who disagree discuss things..... right? Obviously that would include people who believe in G-d, and question the beliefs of atheists............. *RIGHT?*

That's how this works.

As far as "leaving you out".... you are not required to read a single post by anyone, on any topic. You don't even have to read the thread titles. *YOU* choose to come here. *YOU* choose to read the thread titles. *YOU* choose to post on this forum.

*WE* did not force *YOU* to do ANYTHING.

None of us even have the power to force you to do anything. So if you really want to go to hell, would could not stop you if we wanted to... which we do. Amazingly, we don't want anyone to go to hell.

But don't blame others for your own choices. We had nothing to do with any of it.

 

The Lunatics claim we actually DO beleive in God but are angry and rebellious

 

Because of Catherine, I guess. It's always Catherine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl0q8f8nC8Q

 

I don't believe in any religion at all, and I don't believe that one goes to "hell" if one doesn't catch on during this lifetime. I DO believe that the entire purpose of human life is to come to an understanding of God, and to strive to answer questions like "what am I doing here?", and "what comes next?"
To me, a person who doesn't actively engage in the pursuit of this knowledge deserves a face palm. The suggestions are everywhere, but they still don't get it. It's like talking to a child, and trying to use every form of verbal illustration, but never getting through.
Lucky for me, I did talk to a little 6 year old boy today, and I found that he was very receptive to things I said, as long as I told the truth and tried to help him understand. He'll "get it".
I keep in mind that each one of us is at a different point in our maturation process. It's not for me to determine where you are in your spiritual development, or where you'll go from here. Personally, I can't understand how a being with human awareness can miss the ques.

 

Neat that you ignore the 12/13 about how God can't exist.

Not arguing with you, because I couldn't care less what you believe... but crying about those 2/3 threads is pretty hilarious.

Insecurity at it's most explicit.

 

I don't know. Scanning through the past month's worth of thread titles in the religion forum the anti-God and anti-atheist threads to seem fairly equal in numbers.

 

Well to be fair to Christians there is a general perception among the faithful of that religion within the United States that atheists are waging war on them by trying to legislate the removal of every aspect of that religion from public display based on the Separation of Church and State. From Wikipedia:

Fair enough, but then there are three other attendant issues involved. One there is a perception that most such atheists are leftwingers and so it is both a political and ideological attack by the Left against the generally more universally religious Right. Second, there is a growing perception that the same groups 'attacking' the Christian religion in the United States would be quite happy (as leftists) to support the establishment of autonomous Sharia Law enclaves. Finally there is the perception that it's an organized and dedicated effort from leftwing atheists to attack Christianity itself until the religion no longer exists inside the United States. So there is rather a lot of somewhat mutual hostility there, yes?

Aside from the above rationalizations there's the probability -- and I say probability rather than fact because I haven't actually looked in the thread archive -- that for every one hostile thread started by a Christian against atheists there is a hostile thread started by atheists against Christians; or against religion in general and yet it almost always ends up strongly inclusive of Christianity as well. While probably not dead even there are no doubt quite a number of Christianity hostile threads begun by militant atheists in the archive, and so it cuts in both directions.

 

I'm quite happy with these threads, in fact, I wish there were more of them. I get discouraged when I see a thread that gains five pages in a few hours or before I even notice it's there. I wouldn't mind there being enough threads for everyone to satisfy their appetite for debate. It's not like we're obligated to answer all of them, we're not Christians after all.

 

I find it very encouraging that superstitious people hate us .

 

Actually from my understanding of the 'good Christian' concept they are more or less obligated by the dictates of their religion to 'love' you. It must generate at least some mixed feelings among them.

 

I don't know that Christians are hostile to anyone. Cynical 'fundamentalists' are of course, for the same reason they hate homosexuals and want to do something to their donkeys. Repression is a wonderful thing!

 

oh my, that must be very scary, ......and "offensive". You should tell your mommy. Nobody should have to put up with that type of bullying.

 

The religion of love exterminated my people and forced the more bright ones to hide in Iran , i can tell you that there is no such thing as a good Abrahamist by just reading local history .

 

You would be wrong since there are good and bad in every organization on Earth. Some simply have a predominance of bad, however. You sort of have to go on a case by case basis if you are striving for fairness and honesty. Otherwise, of course, one can simply paint all organizations with the same broad brush. It's a personal choice.

 

It is not really a personal choice . Obviously you are not from the Balkans where religion indicates nationality and in every case religious dogmas were involved horrible things happen . We are not talking about any organization on the planet but dogmatic ones .

 

I suppose you could say that, given the imperialist history that mucked up the Balkans, if there weren't religions to blame they'd be fighting over eye-colour, or cheeses. When politicians work up hate they use what they can find - and I've known plenty of excellent people from the Balkans to know how it comes about, and how 'Those to whom evil is done/Do evil in return.'

 

You lumped all Christians into that category and therefore you are wrong. But that's your perspective and onus to bear through life, not mine. I am an atheist with no grudge against any religion.

 

I have never considered myself to be an atheist. However, I do think that God is a creation of historical leaders of men to provide them with a mythical being to call on when they didn't have an answer. It may also have been a means they used to control their people. This has certainly been true of the Catholic church, who may have learned that from the Jewish leadership. All sects use myth and legend to somehow keep their power over their groups. Politics is rife with it. It's as true today, IMO, as it ever was in society as a whole.

But I do believe that God (good without one 'o') is seen in all humans daily to a greater or lesser extent. Just as the devil is (evil with a 'd' added) also. Its all a matter of a normal probability distribution measuring good and evil. Evil being at one end of the distribution and good at the other, with most people being at the mean.

So I do believe in God as the average g(o)odness of all mankind. But watch also for the badness (devil) in everybody too.

 

No and before i go on with examples you don't have to know consider the split of Yugoslavia , Serbs, Croats and "Bosnians" are the exact same people with identical language , their only difference lies in who occupied them and religion.

 

I know. Who divided them, and why? Not theologians, I think.

 

Much of the time, it's because atheists and agnostic ask questions...

that the Believers have no answers for, or even hadn't even considered themselves. And without logical or consistant answers, they feel embarassed or stupid or even...see a twinge of DOUBT creep into their minds.

This results in anger, same as if you tell a guy that the girl he loves slept around a lot....or a "sure thing" stock investment is a company run by a guy with a reputation for bankrupting companies.

 

I was brought up in Anglicanism and never came across anything of that sort, fair play. You all tend to be talking about manipulated fanatics.

 

Interesting post...easy to agree with. In the minds of most Christians/Muslims...whatever, you are Agnostic. It seems that unless you accept the man made version of "That which Is", you cannot believe in God...and are destined to a very nasty ending when this body ends. Seems a very limited and evil way to live while here....there is a certain amount of Pity I feel for those who do so.