Is atheism geared more toward christianity?

[Seifer]

My beef with Atheists I deal with is that they think they know what Christianity is and try and cite random quotes from the Bible that are either taken out of context or laws that are no longer held.

I don't know how many times I've seen an atheist try and use the Laws of Leviticus in an argument. Save that for the Jews, not the Christians. They sound just as idiotic as the so called Christians that try to cite them themselves.

I think the point Atheists try to make by doing that is that Christian bigots like to pick and choose what parts of the bible to follow. As far as I know, the ONLY part of the bible that mentions stoning/killing homosexuals is the Old Testament, which is of course the Jewish bible. The Christian bible (The New Testament) states that you should love your fellow man, let he who has never sinned cast the first stone, etc.

Unfortunately, the bigots who use the bible as a reason for their hatred aren't going to listen when you point out how much evil shit is in the Old Testament - things that, in this day and age, you'd be arrested for following.

[smileyeagle1021]

My beef with Atheists I deal with is that they think they know what Christianity is

I actually do know atheists who know a lot more about Christianity than the average Christian. That's not to say that all or even most atheists are like that, but it isn't uncommon for someone to start out as a Christian, learn something they aren't comfortable with, study it more, get even more uncomfortable but want to have faith and will keep looking for something to redeem what has been causing them discomfort and keep finding things that bother them until it gets to the point that they can no longer consider themselves Christian and leave the church. By that point yes, they do know a whole lot about what Christianity is.

[Nyoibo]

I don't know how many times I've seen an atheist try and use the Laws of Leviticus in an argument. Save that for the Jews, not the Christians. They sound just as idiotic as the so called Christians that try to cite them themselves.

Usually the only time I've heard leviticus used is in response to someone using leviticus to justify their actions.

[Andara Bledin]

Religion vs Science is a false dichotomy, anyway. They don't have to conflict, but so many people seem to want to bring it down to one or the other, and all that does is alienate whoever is on "the other side."

^-.-^

[crashhelmet]

Well to be fair, I've heard it used as a counter to the bible literalists, the ones who accuse others of picking and choosing. It seems to work against those who focus on specific issues (like homosexulity).

But for the most part, it's a stupid arguement. I think if people are going to criticize a faith, at least criticize the parts of the faith that are practiced! Aside from a few nutty offshoots, I can't think of anyone who follows the leviticus laws.

Read through sites like Reddit and 4chan and you see a lot of them. Even my friends list on Facebook shows at least 1 or 2 anti-Christianity posts a day. They try to show how science is better than religion and use things that can't compare, but make their side look better

[Rageaholic]

My beef with Atheists I deal with is that they think they know what Christianity is and try and cite random quotes from the Bible that are either taken out of context or laws that are no longer held.

I don't know how many times I've seen an atheist try and use the Laws of Leviticus in an argument. Save that for the Jews, not the Christians. They sound just as idiotic as the so called Christians that try to cite them themselves.

Well to be fair, I've heard it used as a counter to the bible literalists, the ones who accuse others of picking and choosing. It seems to work against those who focus on specific issues (like homosexulity).

But for the most part, it's a stupid arguement. I think if people are going to criticize a faith, at least criticize the parts of the faith that are practiced! Aside from a few nutty offshoots, I can't think of anyone who follows the leviticus laws.

[Andara Bledin]

I dunno, it's the very common accusation of practicing "Pick-and-Choose Religion."

This always amuses me.

The type that does this first rails against the religious for the perception that they lack critical thinking, and then jumps on any one that actually thinks for themselves rather than blindly following whatever their favorite preacher says about it all.

^-.-^

[crashhelmet]

My beef with Atheists I deal with is that they think they know what Christianity is and try and cite random quotes from the Bible that are either taken out of context or laws that are no longer held.

I don't know how many times I've seen an atheist try and use the Laws of Leviticus in an argument. Save that for the Jews, not the Christians. They sound just as idiotic as the so called Christians that try to cite them themselves.

[Nekojin]

The problem with talking about the "vocal" evangelicals giving the rest of Christians a bad name, is that often times the majority goes along just enough to "prove" the evangelicals right.
Do the majority of Christians think that homosexuals should be put to death like the evangelicals demand? No, but enough of them vote against employment protection laws for gays and lesbians and marriage equality to make it look a damned lot like they are silently agreeing with the evangelical right.

That's largely a result of political apathy - the strident, vocal fringe is going to march out and vote come hell or high water, while the middle-of-the-roaders are much more likely to blow it off as unimportant or that their vote doesn't matter. There's a large percentage of the population that will vote or not vote based on whether they think their voice on one issue (usually the Presidency, but sometimes some other hot-button topic, like gay marriage) matters.

[Hyena Dandy]

Damn that's frusturating. I don't know why atheists would be so concerned about a Christian not living up to the stereotype. It's bad enough with fundies telling other Christians to follow things to the letter, but when non believers get involved, WTF? If anything, I think they should be more tolerant toward the ones who can be open minded and think outside the box. Then again, I don't consider myself an atheist... yet...

I dunno, it's the very common accusation of practicing "Pick-and-Choose Religion."

[Rageaholic]

What bothers me is when Atheists I know insist that I'm NOT really a Christian, 'cause I'm not... Whatever crazy thing I'm supposed to be.

The right tries to keep me from destroying Christianity, and the left tries to keep me from destroying homosexuality.

I'm gay. I'm a Christian.

Stop trying to protect me from myself.

Damn that's frusturating. I don't know why atheists would be so concerned about a Christian not living up to the stereotype. It's bad enough with fundies telling other Christians to follow things to the letter, but when non believers get involved, WTF? If anything, I think they should be more tolerant toward the ones who can be open minded and think outside the box. Then again, I don't consider myself an atheist... yet...

It's partly that the evangelical subculture has become obsessed with presenting themselves as the only 'real' Christians. Many other groups will call other people 'unsaved' but still Christian.

The Evangelicals are the ones who will tell you someone's "Not a real Christian."

Yup yup and yup.

I like to call them "True Christians" as they think they are better than everyone else. There was actually a video on youtube a while back called "why I love Jesus, but hate religion". While he raised some good points, he came across as so smug, as if he was better than all the religious Christians. Ultimately, he wasn't offering anything new. It was the same self righteousness you see from other fundies (while claiming to be "humbled"). It didn't help that he belonged to a megachurch with a controversial pastor.

It's that kind of dishonesty that makes it easy to paint all Christians in the same brush. I know better, but they make it really really hard.

[smileyeagle1021]

The problem with talking about the "vocal" evangelicals giving the rest of Christians a bad name, is that often times the majority goes along just enough to "prove" the evangelicals right.
Do the majority of Christians think that homosexuals should be put to death like the evangelicals demand? No, but enough of them vote against employment protection laws for gays and lesbians and marriage equality to make it look a damned lot like they are silently agreeing with the evangelical right.
Frankly, that makes Christians a very easy target, just enough of them go along with the general direction as the extremists and make no effort to distinguish themselves from extremists, that it makes for a very broad target to hit.

[Greenday]

Well, since we are usually talking about Atheism in the Americas, we tend to focus on what's going on there. The most common religion is Christianity. I mean, if I'm going to complain about a religious community, am I going to complain about a very small one that makes no noise? Or should I complain about a huge religious community who is extremely vocal and usually in a negative way?

It's a tough choice.

[telecom_goddess]

I'm an atheist, always have been and always will be. But I'm not militant about it and I don't bash anyone or protest any religions. I don't give a crap what other people are, just don't push it on me and I won't push it on you.

[guywithashovel]

Back around 2007, I got interested in the debates between atheists and Christians, and I spent some time on Youtube and Yahoo Answers talking about the debate points. I eventually got bored with it. There are intelligent people on both sides, but they are really bad about rehashing the same tired stuff over and over again.

For example:

Christian: How can you say there's no god?
Atheist: Because there's no evidence.
Christian: What are you talking about? The evidence is all around you!
Atheist: No, it isn't.
Christian: Yes it is. Everything is so complex. There has to be a creator. Something cannot come from nothing.
Atheist: Okay, then where did God come from, if something can't come from nothing?
Christian: God was never created. God just is. He doesn't need a creator.
Atheist: How do you know that?
Christian: From the Bible. It says that, and since it's the Word of God, I know it's true.

Eventually it became unclear to me why they even bothered to debate.

As for the OP, atheists probably single out Christianity because it's the religion they are exposed to the most. Though quite a few outspoken atheists have bones to pick with Islam, too. For example, back around 2006 or 2007, an atheist on Youtube took some heat for uploading a video in which he verbally bashed the Koran and Islamic faith and then proceeded to throw a Koran into a toilet. His screenname was CapnOAwesome.