Are atheists angry?, Be respectful please. Options

[shortnsweet88]

Me and a friend of mine like to get into deep discussions about religion and so on and so forth. Just so that ya'll know where I stand, I am a christian...non denominational. I dont completely believe in certain aspects of organized religion...church is not my forte much lately. Anyways, to the point...

We were discussing how it seems to us that atheists seem to be angry. Either at Christians or just at the world in general. I like to do research on different religions and have explored many different options. I am simply inquiring about atheists just so I can understand more.

Do you think atheists are angry?
Are you atheist? Are you angry?

Explain why and tell me a little about what you believe so that I can understand.

Once again, please be respectful in everything you say and do me a favor and put a little thought into it...dont respond with a simple statement like "christians are hypocrites" or something like that.

Thanks...

[misoshiru]

I'm agnostic. I used to be Christian, until I realized that many of my beliefs clashed with Christian beliefs. The only reason I'm agnostic is because I feel that there is some sort of greater being out there, that caused the Big Bang, the creation of the world, the breakup of pangaea, evolution and humans.

But am I angry? Definitely not. I don't need to have faith in a divine being to be happy. My parents are atheist, and neither of them are angry people.


Let me ask you. Why do you think atheists are angry?

[shortnsweet88]

Well, one thing I was afraid of is that my question would come off as being judgmental of all atheists. Which...I am not. It seems though that all of my friends or all of the people I have met who are atheist seem to be angry. Mostly at Christians. I just want to learn a little more. I want to, more than anything try to help not do what is making them so angry. I like being open minded and looking at things from other peoples point of view. Thank you so much for your input!

[misoshiru]

But I don't understand why you think the majority of atheists are angry? Where's the evidence that shows that atheists are angry?

And by saying atheists, are you talking about people who don't believe in any type of god or just people who don't believe in a Christian God? For example, do you think Muslims are angry? Or Buddhists are angry?

[shortnsweet88]

No. Atheism is a religion in a sense. Its a seperate thing. To get a bit deeper into what I think is that its good to believe in some form of a God. And, I will say this once more, I am not against atheists...this was a form of research for me. I do not actually find other religions angry for the most part. I didnt say I have evidence...but the majority, if not all, of the atheists I have met and other people have met...have seemed to have some vendetta againsts christians and life in general sometimes. Its not even a generalization really...I'm trying to get some helpful feedback from an atheist who might have had a bad experience with another religion or a person from another religion or just with anything.

[misoshiru]

Well then, how is this a debate if we're not really debating about how atheists are angry and instead that a lot of atheists you've encountered appear to be "angry" and want to talk to other Christians about it?


I can tell you that I've had bad experiences with Christianity, being a former Christian myself. It was suffocating. I went to a Christian school for 8 years and I was literally brainwashed into believing that if I weren't Christian, everyone in the school would hate me, that everyone in general would hate me. When you're 6 and you're told that everyone will hate you if you don't believe in God is rather traumatizing. I was told that evolution is a lie and abortion is killing babies. That what George W. Bush is doing is completely right. But isn't it also mass murder? Think of how many innocent Iraqis have died.

Christians don't believe in murder, yet many still support capital punishment. Where is the justification in that? Doesn't the Bible tell you that when someone hits you, you just turn the other cheek? Or did George W. invade Iraq with "an eye for an eye"?

[shortnsweet88]

Well this is in the debate forum because I figured someone would have some sort of response that would turn this into a big issue...and second of all...i dont really see anywhere else thats completely appropriate to put it...so unless someone moves this...I'm quite content with it being in the debate section.

Also, I have to say i know the feeling of having christianity pushed on you...which is why I started being interested in other religions in the first place...I did, in the end...make my own decision to continue being a christian because I strongly believe in all of the stuff associated with it.


As far as your George Bush comment goes, I must say this...in the Bible there were wars...there will always be fights...in revelation it talks about wars in the end times...wars are not unbiblical. Also I would like to point out that this man has had it tough from the second he stepped into office and as much as everybody has to say to correct him I dont think they could handle pressure nearly as well as he can. Also, its really a lose, lose situation with him...some people wanted him to go into war sooner...and they are mad...some people dont believe in war and they are mad...but in the end...he is the president after all and I'm sure he knows just a couple more things than any of us do. Although you think of it as mass murdering...in reality its defense...we are defending ourselves. If someone comes into your house with a gun to your head...you are not just going to stand there and let them shoot it...you are going to fight back. The scripture "turn the other cheek" is taken out of context so frequently. I believe it to mean almost mentally...when someone is mean to you...just let them be...


OH and also...I dont personally believe in capital punishment. "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". A human being should not have the authority to punish another man's wrong doings in such a harsh way.

[alysaphobia]

If you define atheism as the abscence of a belief in a god(s), I am atheist- and I'm not particularly angry at the world.
I can kind of see what you're getting at though- some of my "atheist" friends are more the type to be "angry at the world" and tend to be ex-Christians. You know, the "teenage ranting, angst-y types". This is a pretty big generalization, but I'm guessing this might be what you're describing as the angry atheists?

Anyways, my situation- my mother is Shinto (Buddhist, basically) and my father is Christian. They never pushed their beliefs on me, so I never really went to church weekly or learned about my mother's beliefs either. I just grew up able to form my own opinions about the world around me. I didn't "become" atheist as a result of negative interaction with other religions or people of other religions, I was just able to form my own opinions about the world around me and never found a need for a belief in a greater "force" or deity to live through my life.

[misoshiru]

I understand what you're talking about, but you're still not showing me the "angry" types of atheists. Are you talking about angsty teenagers who're all emo and "i hate the world"?

[Mystic Eyes]

Why would Atheists be angry. It's more of an individual thing than a group thing.

[*kryogenix*]

I'm agnostic. I used to be Christian, until I realized that many of my beliefs clashed with Christian beliefs. The only reason I'm agnostic is because I feel that there is some sort of greater being out there, that caused the Big Bang, the creation of the world, the breakup of pangaea, evolution and humans.

But am I angry? Definitely not. I don't need to have faith in a divine being to be happy. My parents are atheist, and neither of them are angry people.
Let me ask you. Why do you think atheists are angry?

That's not agnosticism.

[*steve330*]

That's not agnosticism.

Deism imo.
I'm a Deist, but went through transitions of atheism/agnosticism. During none of those times was I ever an angry person. I have always like to think of myself as one of the nicest people in my family, and one of the nicest people around friends etc. I can be rude to strangers that don't give off a very amiable first impression. I won't intentionally be rude to anyone though. Unfortunately I still go to church due to the fact that I have younger brothers that look up to me etc and I don't want them to make their decision based on what I've done, rather let them come to the choice on their own.

But yeah, to answer your question, I would say no atheists are not angry people. I would say they are people who reject religion as it has been preached, and would rather just kinda forget about it all.

[shortnsweet88]

I have actually gotten a lot of helpful responses thank yall.

[Mulder]

Do you think atheists are angry?
Are you atheist? Are you angry?

That's a generalization, and a stereotype. Would you be offended if I said "why are all christians so pushy?" "why do they all want to save us?" ?

[31miracles]

I guess I'm atheists.
I don't believe in any spiritual thing.
And I'm not angry.
I enjoy life as it comes

The way I see it,
you die,
I die,
we all die,
so there's nothing to be scared of,
since we all end up the same.

[kimmytree]

Well, one thing I was afraid of is that my question would come off as being judgmental of all atheists. Which...I am not. It seems though that all of my friends or all of the people I have met who are atheist seem to be angry. Mostly at Christians. I just want to learn a little more. I want to, more than anything try to help not do what is making them so angry. I like being open minded and looking at things from other peoples point of view. Thank you so much for your input!

I dont think athiests are "angry", I think they are annoyed/irritated more than anything else, the same way a Christian would feel about a non-believer. At least that's how it's been for me lately. I'm actually Agnostic... I'm basically in misoshiru's situation, except my parents arent really Athiest... they're loosely Baptist.

But back to the whole angry thing. I'm not angry at Christians at all. I'm glad they have something to have faith in and live for. I just sometimes feel like they dont understand things the way I do. Not that I'm totally right, but it's normal for a person to think they are right concerning something like religion. So I guess Athiests just dont get why Christians dont see things the way they do.

[misoshiru]

That's not agnosticism.

I don't believe in a God, in the terms of a Christian god or Allah existing. It may be possible that a greater being exists and there's no way for humans to find out. Perhaps a greater being exists and maybe it doesn't.

[shortnsweet88]

That's a generalization, and a stereotype. Would you be offended if I said "why are all christians so pushy?" "why do they all want to save us?" ?

No, first of all I hear that quite often and second of all if someone stated a point clearly that it seems to them christians are coming off as pushy and they are interested in why...then I would not be offended. I will not repeat the same thing again and again...so it was not meant as a stereotype...you can take it or leave it.

[bat19]

I've already given a similiar reply to another topic but I will repeat the main points.

I don't think it's possiblle for there to be a god. Creationists give the argument that it's just not possible we're here out of the blue, that there has to be some grand scheme behind everything. What they rarely question and never give a rational answer to is the creation of God. The answer they always give is "Well, you need to have faith." Faith in what? If I need to have faith in God, why can't you have faith in the big bang theory. This has to be why "Atheists" appear so angry. Believers have a sense of superiority because they believe they have the answer to the question of our existence. What they really have is an easy way out because it is just too hard to believe that we are in fact not special and just an abherration of nature. It is a hard fact to swallow, that we are just another step of the evolution of the universe. It has always been the dream of all humans to be Gods. We've always assumed we were the supreme beings which is why it is so hard for people to believe we came from less intelligent creatures. Well, believe it. We are not supreme beings, we only use 10% of our brains and most don't use that. I know that the majority of people who actually read this will just blow it off as conjecture and guesswork, but that is exactly what ALL religion is. Guessing. No one knows anything for sure except that all logical evidence points to evolution, not higher powers. Realism, not magic. I find it so funny that the church has decreed things like Pokemon evil because it promotes evolution, or Harry Potter because witchcraft is evil, yet they believe in a magic God who is able to do anything he wants. Whatever, I'm not angry at any one type of religion, they're all stupid. That might make me sound like an ignorant ass, but that's exactly what these jesus freaks sound to me. And yes, Christians are extremely hypocritical. Their "golden rule" is "Do Unto Others..." yet every uptight Christian conservative I know has nothing but bad things to say about teenage mothers, or people on welfare, or drug users. I have bad things to say about them too, but at least I'm open about it. I don't pretend to love them publicly and hate them privately, I'll hate them whenever I want regardless. So I guess that's the answer to your question.

Atheists appear angry because they are not held back by any misguided beliefs that teach them to love the things they should hate.

About Me:

1. I'm not gonna say I approve of abortion, but I'm not against it.
2. I'm completely for the death penalty and I think we should have stricter punishments on rapists and Child molesters.
3. I don't care too much about the environment, as long as any dumping occurs in the ocean and not in rivers and lakes that people swim in.
4. I'm for stem-cell research and I think the idea that it's murder is just completely retarded. Anyone who doesn't agree with Stem-cell research has obviously never had a life threatening disease or know anyone with one, and if they do, then they are just heartless motherf**kers who's opinion shouldn't even matter.
5. I'm for Gay marriage. I think it's a common misconception that the gay people on tv or at the supermarket who wear belly shirts and whore themselves out represent the entire gay community and I'm sure they don't like those people at all.
6. I don't care about George Bush, he's just another figurehead who's only real job is to be the person we fling our blame and our insults at. He's just the president, he doesn't come up with all this shit himself. If we all stopped blaming people, maybe we could work at helping the situation.
7. I'm not gonna say I'm for the war, but I would say I would be more inclined to agree if someone would just state our true reasons for going. Just someone, anyone in the political field just have the balls to stand up and say we went in for the oil. Just be f**kin honest for once.

Anyway, I hope the three people who actually read through this whole post understand where I'm coming from and I hope I adequately answered the question.

[shortnsweet88]

I have to say that you have given me my favorite response yet. As far as your beliefs go...because I am a christian, I obviously have an argument for every point you mentioned. I do want to thank you though for taking the time to actually explain yourself and stay on topic rather then using this subject to argue over which forum I should have placed this in.

What I believe in response to what you have said:

-I believe in God because this is my point of view. If you believe in God and you are not some hypocritical son of a bitch who walks around judging everybody for their flaws...but you believe in the Bible and you worry about your own flaws rather than thoes around you...you will live a farely good life. You will have good morals...and you will have the beauty of the idea of believing in this amazing being greater than ourselves and a man who once died just so that you could live happily in heaven. If, as christians, we are wrong...then the worst thing that will happen is that we will rot...having lived decent lives. However...lets turn the tables for a second...what if christians are right? or buddhists are right? or so on and so forth...what will happen to you?

-I have to agree that some christians can be hypocritical...annoyingly hypocritical..however, its the same as saying all atheists are angry...its true for some..and not for others.

-I am stronly apposed to abortion...however I would never ever condemn or judge a person who wishes to or has gotten an abortion. I just personally view it as an amazing potential for a human being...your future president that you are taking away his life before he even gets to live it...

-The death penalty is something a lot of christians actually are all for...I however, am against it. Bible time: "let he who is without sin cast the first stone".

-Environment...dont really care too much.

-Stem cell research...ashamed to admit that I dont know enough about it to choose one way or the other...

-Gay marriage should be legalized because...eh, its forcing them to "live in sin" by being together before they are married anyways...just let them be...

-George Bush is a stressed out man who has been given crap since the second he stepped into office and I think we should all just do ourselves a favor and step back and let him do his job until his term is over.

-I am not against wars at all.



Thank you for your response it was actually extremely helpful

[misoshiru]

environment? O_o

[*My Cinderella.*]

The definition from dictionary.com states,

Atheist, agnostic, infidel, skeptic refer to persons not inclined toward religious belief or a particular form of religious belief. An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings. An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine. Infidel means an unbeliever, especially a nonbeliever in Islam or Christianity. A skeptic doubts and is critical of all accepted doctrines and creeds.

I don't think that atheist are necessarily angry. I mean, its possible that they just view life in their own "realistic" sense, where things are run and happen without spiritual beings mapping out what we do and what we will do.

[kimmytree]

-I am stronly apposed to abortion...however I would never ever condemn or judge a person who wishes to or has gotten an abortion. I just personally view it as an amazing potential for a human being...your future president that you are taking away his life before he even gets to live it...

So you hate abortions, but you still think that they should be allowed, since it's a womans right? I dont think anyone in the right mind, Christian or not, loves or encourages them.

-Environment...dont really care too much.

You dont care about the environment? What, do you believe that God will take care of everything or something?

-George Bush is a stressed out man who has been given crap since the second he stepped into office and I think we should all just do ourselves a favor and step back and let him do his job until his term is over.

Yeah, that'd be the easiest thing to do, but what if a person strongly disagrees with what the President is doing? So it's okay to go along with something, even though you might believe that what he's doing is wrong? He deserves our respect, but just because he's "the President" doesnt mean we should always think everything he does is right. It's like that with every President, both Republicans and Democrats.

I hope I dont seem like I'm attacking you. I'm just wondering what you're views are.

[*mishyerr*]

Yes, atheists are spiteful people who have no meaning in their imaginary-God-less lives.





-_-"

[cori-catastrophe]

well, i wouldn't say all athiests are. that'd be a bit judgemental, would it not?
however, i do know an older lady who's an athiest and she is angry. her brother-in-law used to beat his wife and kids and then go out in public and talk about how godly he was and how much faith he had. i hate to say it, but you're right about most christians being hypocritical. we're not all like that, but some christians are just so close-minded that they refuse to believe anything else exept their own ideas. it's those so-called "christians" that give us a bad name. i must say, i've really researched on the topic and there are good arguments on both sides. people liek to have control.