Is atheism geared more toward christianity?

[SongsOfDragons]

Just to throw another word into the ARGH, I class myself as an Apatheist - a portmanteau word. At least it's what I put on the Census last year. It can most likely be fitted into lots of varying definitions of atheism and/or agnosticism...but as the name suggests, I'm not really entirely bothered. The UK, despite the presence of the Church of England, doesn't seem to be as bad as the US in terms of mad religious people.

I can only understand religious stories as somewhat regimented fairy tales...but many of them that I've been told are quite awesome. Muhammed and the Cat is one of my favourites ^^ and I had a set of children's illustrated Bible stories as a young'un. And I've read my (vaguely Christian) housemate's books on Church archaeology and architecture out of fascination and liking for shiny things.

[Rebel]

It also has to do with the fact that the Christian's (at least in America) have the most political power out of all the other religions.
I don't know how many times I've heard on the news about the the uproar when people want 'In God We Trust' off of the money there, or about their pledge having 'Under God' taken out. These phrases were introduced fairly recently compared to the age of the country. You can cry persecution all you want, but the fact of the matter is that the American government (in theory) is secular. Putting one religious group of peoples viewpoint and thrusting their beliefs it into the public sector is gonna make a few people angry.

If the Muslim's or Wiccan's, etc had the same sort of power in society and were trying to change the laws to suit them, you can bet the atheists and other groups would be fighting back on them.

Fact is, Christians in America are in a position of privilege.
Don't be surprised that the minority religious groups and the minority unreligious aren't completely happy with this.


There is this small cable tv show that runs for one hour every Sunday night in Austin, Texas. I watch it on YouTube.
It's 2 people sitting at a table explaining their beliefs, encouraging like-minded people to call up, and leaving the phone-lines open to people who want to call up if they disagree with the hosts.

It's called "The Atheist Experience".

It's funny how many times people identifying as Christian have rung up the show to threaten them with hell, to ask the hosts why they love satan, why they like to eat babies, and declaring that they're only atheist's because they haven't read the bible yet. There are also a lot of people asking why they are attacking Christianity and proclaiming that they're not atheist, they're anti-Christian. Some demand that the show be taken off the air because it's offensive to them and their beliefs.
On the other hand, a lot of the atheists calling up are doing it because it's their only chance to talk to another atheist.

[Gravekeeper]

So this gets back to the original topic and point of this thread. How many "Atheists" are really just "Anti-Christian"? They have no opinion of other religions, they just hate Christianity?

Again though, its not a matter of hating Christianity, its a matter of a lot of Atheists being former Catholics/Christians that became disillusioned, tossed out, repulsed, whatever. Now they resent the Christian Nation push in the US.

[guywithashovel]

Debates often break out over exactly what atheism is. I've seen it here as well as on other boards where religion is discussed.

Is it a lack of belief in gods?
Is it a mere rejection of claims that gods exist?
Is it an absence of belief?

Bottom line: An atheist doesn't believe in any gods, higher powers, invisible men in the sky, or whatever other deity you can imagine. I think it can be left at that, but obviously a lot of die hard debaters are going to disagree.

[crashhelmet]

The reason people don't agree on what "atheism" means is because it has different meanings in different contexts. When speaking of religious affiliation, the term amounts to "none," but when speaking of the base definition of the word (as opposed to the term), then it merely means without god or gods, and can include various religions in addition to all that self-identify as Atheist as opposed to religious.

^-.-^

So this gets back to the original topic and point of this thread. How many "Atheists" are really just "Anti-Christian"? They have no opinion of other religions, they just hate Christianity?

[Andara Bledin]

The reason people don't agree on what "atheism" means is because it has different meanings in different contexts. When speaking of religious affiliation, the term amounts to "none," but when speaking of the base definition of the word (as opposed to the term), then it merely means without god or gods, and can include various religions in addition to all that self-identify as Atheist as opposed to religious.

^-.-^

[Hyena Dandy]

The only time I've ever said such a thing to a theists face was when they were forcefully screaming at me that I was going to hell. "Cool Story Bro" works very well at that point and I feel no guilt for it because the theist has brought it to this point. Don't want your beliefs mocked? Don't scream them and try to force them on people.
That being said, you can believe in a god and I'll respect those beliefs, just don't expect me to agree with them.

Presents a very different picture of the situation than

Though any story of any god that people tell me is met with a "Cool Story Bro".
You can believe whatever you want. I can find your beliefs funny.

If it's 'any story of any god' then that's not just 'if I'm being yelled at.' And saying a situation is 'met with' implies that that is, in fact, your response.

To me, if someone is being outright rude and disrespectful, being dismissive makes sense. If it's 'any story about any god' that's just not an escalated situation, where it's already a hostile situation.

[Rebel]

My caps lock key was not stuck, I was trying to emphasize a point. I was thinking that it would have been clear since that seems to be pretty standard around the internet. I apologize for the confusion. Unless you were trying to nitpick my grammar in which case that's really rude... I was hoping that we wouldn't end up doing something like that on this forum.

If you reply "Cool Story, Bro," a statement intended to be dismissive of whatever someone said, when they talk about God then you are insulting them to their face.

The only time I've ever said such a thing to a theists face was when they were forcefully screaming at me that I was going to hell. "Cool Story Bro" works very well at that point and I feel no guilt for it because the theist has brought it to this point. Don't want your beliefs mocked? Don't scream them and try to force them on people.
That being said, you can believe in a god and I'll respect those beliefs, just don't expect me to agree with them.

My original point was that you felt the need to put 'to their face' in Caps. That denotes yelling over the internet. I never said anything of the sort, in fact I was just explaining that I'm allowed to be disinterested or disbelieving in your heart-felt beliefs. I felt you were trying to put words in my mouth and that's just rude.

The thing I find amazing is how angry people get over a perceived slight to the beliefs. Saying I 'kinda did' insult people to their face actually says I kinda didn't. I expressed my views and some people took it as a personal attack. As always happens in religious debates.

That and the fact that Atheist seems to be viewed as a dirty word. Like the very thought of having the label apply to you in any way is absolutely sickening. Though some dictionaries don't really help. Some have Atheism described as 'wickedness' which very much shows a religious bias towards the definition.
And no-one seems to understand that definitions of words in society can change over time. Hell, even on this board we're still arguing over just the current definition of atheism and almost no-one is agreeing with each other. So the Romans example still stands.

[Hyena Dandy]

When someone online admits that they shouldn't say something/do something AFTER hitting send, that is always very impressive to me. I have a lot of respect for you right now.

[Jaden]

EDIT: You know what, nevermind. I jsut realized what a huge hypocrite I was for saying what I said here originally given my virtiolic post in that one thread in Social Woes just a few minutes ago. Even my currently alcohol-addled mind can notice that.

[Hyena Dandy]

Also, you seem to have got your Caps key stuck down there for a bit. Might want to get that fixed.

My caps lock key was not stuck, I was trying to emphasize a point. I was thinking that it would have been clear since that seems to be pretty standard around the internet. I apologize for the confusion. Unless you were trying to nitpick my grammar in which case that's really rude... I was hoping that we wouldn't end up doing something like that on this forum.

If you reply "Cool Story, Bro," a statement intended to be dismissive of whatever someone said, when they talk about God then you are insulting them to their face.

I believe you just did that to all of us who believe in any god, seeing as you just said you find the beliefs of people who believe in any god to be funny and basically eyeroll worthy. It may have been a broad statement, but it was still said to all of us.

Eh, not really... This is a debate forum, a place for free and open expression of ideas. It's totally fair on here to say "I find religion completely ridiculous." If people can't express something like "I believe in God" or "I find religion ridiculous" then we really can't have a discussion.

[Duelist925]

Well thankfully I didn't do that.
Also, you seem to have got your Caps key stuck down there for a bit. Might want to get that fixed.

Ya kinda did. To everyone here. the "to their face" part is the only part you didn't do.

In a very narrow sense, atheism is the rejection of all deities as you say.
In a broader sense, it is the rejection of a deity.
Hell, the Romans used to refer to Christians as atheists because they rejected the beliefs of the pagan gods.

In a very literal sense, atheism is the disbelief of god/gods, or the belief that there are no gods/god, as stated before. If one believes in a god, one is a theist. Theist, and Atheist, are completely opposite terms: It is literally impossible to be both.

There really isn't a broader sense or narrower sense than that. one either believes in a god, or does not believe--theist, or atheist. if one is ont he fence, thats agnostic.

[Jaden]

Well thankfully I didn't do that.

I believe you just did that to all of us who believe in any god, seeing as you just said you find the beliefs of people who believe in any god to be funny and basically eyeroll worthy. It may have been a broad statement, but it was still said to all of us.

In a very narrow sense, atheism is the rejection of all deities as you say.
In a broader sense, it is the rejection of a deity.
Hell, the Romans used to refer to Christians as atheists because they rejected the beliefs of the pagan gods.

You know what's funny is that the Romans weren't right about everything. The very definition of atheism is the opposite of theism. Theism is the belief in literally any god or gods. Therefore atheism is the opposite of that - the belief in no god or gods (or the disbelief in any god or gods). We can argue all day about whether the proper phrase should be "I believe there is no god" or "I disbelieve in any god," but I don't think there's any substantial argument in saying that a person is an atheist if they follow literally any religion that isn't accepting of all gods (otherwise known as every religion, as far as I know).

[Rebel]

There's not a problem with finding beliefs funny. There's a problem with telling people, TO THEIR FACE, you find their beliefs funny.

Well thankfully I didn't do that.
Also, you seem to have got your Caps key stuck down there for a bit. Might want to get that fixed.

Uh... no. Again, Atheism is the belief that are are no deities at all. It is not selective or deity specific.

In a very narrow sense, atheism is the rejection of all deities as you say.
In a broader sense, it is the rejection of a deity.
Hell, the Romans used to refer to Christians as atheists because they rejected the beliefs of the pagan gods.

[Hyena Dandy]

Though any story of any god that people tell me is met with a "Cool Story Bro".
You can believe whatever you want. I can find your beliefs funny.

There's not a problem with finding beliefs funny. There's a problem with telling people, TO THEIR FACE, you find their beliefs funny.