Do the religious hate athiests in America?

[WelshBloke]

No it is not irrelevant. Some have expressed open contempt for people because they aren't atheist. That there is no codified manual does not change this in any way.

"I hate you because you are religious and not an atheist like me"
"So atheists can't hate the religious because of their difference?"
"No, because we don't have a Bible".

Hardly valid reasoning.

But that says nothing about atheism. There's nothing in atheism that says that it's wrong to act one way or another. Your behaviour has nothing to do with your atheism and your atheism has nothing to do with your behaviour.
Christianity tells you not to behave in some ways and to behave in others. If you're not going to follow that what's the point in being Christian?
Atheism is just a non belief in a divinity, any other behaviour is irrelevant to atheism.

 

[Atreus21]

There's nothing in atheism that says that it's wrong to act one way or another.

Then from what source does an atheist derive objective morality?

 

[Matt1970]

Correction: Hateful people hate. It's what they do. Religious hateful people may use their religion to justify hate. Non-religious hateful people will find a different excuse. The problem is the person, not the religion or lack thereof.

Good post.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

But how many Christians do you hear quoting that publicly rather than telling gays, Muslims, scientists, (insert non believer here) that they are going to hell?

I hear the massive argument that religious people seem to be having about trying to get science to follow religious teaching but not about religion to follow religious teaching.

Yes...there are some "Christians" who judge in a very public way and some who try to twist science into what it isn't. But all you see are the outliers because that's what you want to see. Nearly 80% of our country's population is Christian. If Christianity was even close to what you falsely imagine it to be then teaching evolution would have been banned in our schools a long time ago and you wouldn't be able to go out in public without you or somebody else constantly being told they're going to hell.

 

[soulcougher73]

I voted other. Im an agnostic athiest and dont hate religious people per se. But i do hate that these ignorant people can vote on things. Its scary.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Then from what source does an atheist derive objective morality?

Obviously the culture in which they feel they belong to/live in.

 

[brandonb]

Since I clicked "other explain in thread"...

I'm religious. I don't hate atheists. I was one in the past. However, in general, I'd say they are pretty close minded, and fairly stupid. It's ok. I've heard that about me plenty of times (almost every time we have a thread like this x1000). The feeling is mutual.

For example:

I watch the science channels pretty regularly, and I see ads for shows that say stupid crap like: "There are 4 billion other planets out there, and 50% of the people in this nation think we're alone in the universe. Watch this show to see what the other 50% think." Seriously. Where did they come up with the 4 billion other planets out there? I know. I've seen the programs. The star light "wobbles" because of the gravity of the planets around it. So more the wobble, more planets. But since we can't verify that, its only speculation. It's not like we've been to those systems to see if that wobble is from planets, or maybe stars just wobble, or perhaps its a black hole that sucked up a portion of light on its way to our solar system.

Blah blah blah blah. Who cares. We're all stupid and hateful of others who aren't like us. 4 billion years of evolution has put that into our soul. If you believe in such a thing, right atheists? :/

 

[ThinClient]

No one ever said they were any good at following it.

It's pretty easy to pick out the immoral and unethical actions endorsed by the Abrahamic god from that magical book of fairy tales. The Bible is hardly a bastion of morals and ethics and goodness.

 

[soulcougher73]

Religion and intolerance seem to go together like a hand and a glove, peanut butter and jelly, penis and a vagina.

 

[soulcougher73]

The sad fact is that most Christians can't quote any scripture. They can tell you what the preacher told them the Bible says, but they can't quote any of it.

How many Christians have you honestly heard tell someone they are going to hell? Please give me an example of the last time you heard that with your own ears.

As for your last argument, I can only tell you that no one is perfect. Also the loudest ones tend to be the ones with the most imperfections.

My closest uncle who goes to church every sunday said this to me when he found out i was an agnostic athiest. He said im going to hell.

 

[WelshBloke]

Then from what source does an atheist derive objective morality?

I can't speak for anyone else but for me it's probably a combination of my parents influence, what's acceptable in my culture and built upon the natural sense of empathy that humans have.

Atheism isn't about morality, or rules. It doesn't try to address any of those. Might as well ask a Ford driver how driving a Ford helps him pick which type of apples to buy.

 

[theeedude]

The difference between the religious and the atheist is that atheist doesn't believe the other guy is a sinner and going to hell.

 

[TerryMathews]

The difference between the religious and the atheist is that atheist doesn't believe the other guy is a sinner and going to hell.

No, they just believe that the religious person is beneath them.

 

[Ventanni]

I admit, I laughed at the sign

The same is true for any religion or lack thereof though. It's unfortunate that people often take their beliefs and apply them in a rather hateful fashion of acceptance and non-acceptance. Many Christians have been guilty of this, and it's not what Christianity teaches.

Romans 2:1-4 touches on exactly this topic, as it's directed at Christians who prematurely judge individuals for their sin refuse to witness to them, forgetting that God forgive their own terrible sins committed prior to becoming a Christian. That's a huge, huge sin for a Christian to commit.

 

[rudeguy]

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+2:1-4

I admit, I laughed at the sign

The same is true for any religion or lack thereof though. It's unfortunate that people often take their beliefs and apply them in a rather hateful fashion of acceptance and non-acceptance. Many Christians have been guilty of this, and it's not what Christianity teaches.

Romans 2:1-4 touches on exactly this topic, as it's directed at Christians who prematurely judge individuals for their sin refuse to witness to them, forgetting that God forgive their own terrible sins committed prior to becoming a Christian. That's a huge, huge sin for a Christian to commit.

:whiste:

 

[Atreus21]

I can't speak for anyone else but for me it's probably a combination of my parents influence, what's acceptable in my culture and built upon the natural sense of empathy that humans have.

Atheism isn't about morality, or rules. It doesn't try to address any of those. Might as well ask a Ford driver how driving a Ford helps him pick which type of apples to buy.

Well, that answers my initial question. But there's a larger and more important question. Why should an atheist follow the dictates of his conscience?

 

[WelshBloke]

Well, that answers my initial question. But there's a larger and more important question. Why should an atheist follow the dictates of his conscience?

Why should anyone?

People either follow their conscience or they don't. Religion or the lack of it doesn't really come in to it.

On a more basic level there's also the rule of law and the punishment for not following those.

 

[bshole]

Well, that answers my initial question. But there's a larger and more important question. Why should an atheist follow the dictates of his conscience?

Um, why should a Christian follow the dictates of his conscience? Oh thats right, because God will burn him in hell for eternity if he doesn't.

 

[Moonbeam]

Well, that answers my initial question. But there's a larger and more important question. Why should an atheist follow the dictates of his conscience?

The genuinely religious and the moral atheist derive their sense of morality from the same place. A religious person via grace arrives at his natural state, he has uncovered the holy spirit within and sees God via that connection. The moral atheist believes that his morality comes from within, he feels empathy within. And the empathy he feels, though he doesn't call it that, is the Holy Spirit. There is only love and one can come to it via different paths. It you go all the way up or all the way down, you arrive at the same place. As above, so below, the mystic says, the universe in a grain of sand, God or the true self. There is only love and unity.

 

[dank69]

Agnostic. Don't hate religious people. Don't like unsolicited preaching. Hate organized religion of any type.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The genuinely religious and the moral atheist derive their sense of morality from the same place. A religious person via grace arrives at his natural state, he has uncovered the holy spirit within and sees God via that connection. The moral atheist believes that his morality comes from within, he feels empathy within. And the empathy he feels, though he doesn't call it that, is the Holy Spirit. There is only love and one can come to it via different paths. It you go all the way up or all the way down, you arrive at the same place. As above, so below, the mystic says, the universe in a grain of sand, God or the true self. There is only love and unity.

No offense Moonbeam but everytime I read one of these Sonny and Cher posts it makes me glad that our marijuana is more potent than in the 70s.

 

[D-Man]

I voted other. Im an agnostic athiest and dont hate religious people per se. But i do hate that these ignorant people can vote on things. Its scary.

So you are superior basically to everyone else that is not an agnostic atheist and only people like you should vote. Fine with me just I do not Know what an athiest is.

 

[dank69]

Well, that answers my initial question. But there's a larger and more important question. Why should an atheist follow the dictates of his conscience?

Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

 

[child of wonder]

Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

This quote, disputably from Marcus Aurelius and sometimes known as "The Atheist's Wager," perfectly sums up my atheism.

If I live a good life but "god" will punish me because I didn't pick the right religion out of thousands, then god is evil and I don't want to worship it.

 

[Moonbeam]

No offense Moonbeam but everytime I read one of these Sonny and Cher posts it makes me glad that our marijuana is more potent than in the 70s.

Great, but I have no idea why you are so glad in relationship to what I said. I don't use drugs. I am also not interested in making a Sonny and Cher post, whatever those may be.

Atreus is of the opinion, I think, that religious morality is absolute morality that atheists can't match. I claim they can match it and exceed it because, in his case, his truth, in his opinion, I believe, is concretized in the words of the Bible, and do not derive sufficiently, as would more likely be the case of the moral atheists, from the Spirit itself. The issue is the difference lies in the understanding of what absolute truth is. For him is rests in the truth of a book and for me it lies in the actions of the God Conscious. In the case of the former we have rules based on love and in the latter the actions of love in the now.