- Atheists hate Christians and Christianity. No, we don’t. Personally, I do hate the atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion, the dishonesty of most religions, and the way that they encourage people not to think or question, and not to trust or use their minds. But I don’t dislike someone just because of their religion.
- Most atheists started out as Christians, and stopped believing because of some bad experience with other Christians. Or maybe we simply started to question, to wonder what happened when we applied the standards of logic, reason and burden of proof to religion, as we already did to everything in our lives. Or, perhaps, we were never believers at all. It happens, you know.
- Atheists have no sense of morality, since morality comes from God. Ah, the old “without fear of hell, there would be nothing to stop people from being bloodthirsty monsters” argument. It may come as a surprise to most Christians, but there are reasons for being “good” other than fear of punishment – which isn’t really a reason, anyway, and only shows Christians in a very bad light. Reasons like human empathy, genuine feelings for others, and, most importantly, rational principles. Behaving yourself just because daddy will spank you otherwise does not make you a nice child.
- Atheists are a unified group, like a church. Are we? I must have missed the memo, then.
If anything, I’d say atheists are more diverse than Christians, because we’re less “sheep-like”, and don’t accept things on faith, or from authority. - Atheists actually know, deep inside, that there’s a God, as that’s perfectly obvious; they are simply too proud and arrogant to admit the existence of something greater than themselves. Not exactly. You see, the existence of a god is only “obvious” if you’ve been brainwashed (either by others, or by your own irrationality) into believing it. We are truly convinced that there’s no god, and are not in denial. Really. I’m serious.
- Atheists don’t really know anything about Christianity. Again, it depends. Some certainly know more than others. However, religion is so ubiquitous that, like it or not, we’ve all had varying degrees of contact with it, with its teachings, and with believers. Besides, a lot of atheists are naturally curious. I, myself, have read the Christian Bible – more than once, in fact. Now, dear believer, ask yourself how many atheist books, magazines or essays you have read. Oh, I forgot, they’re all the work of Satan.
- Atheists’ lives are cold and empty, as they can’t feel the joy and love that comes only from God. Really? I’d never call my life “cold” or “empty” – I have the joys of friendship, love, family, and doing the things I love to do. And, what’s more, I’m self-sufficient, unlike anyone who says “I don’t know how anyone could live without God in their lives” – as many Christians do.
- Atheists are depressive and nihilistic, since they believe there’s nothing after death, and therefore there’s no point to anything. On the contrary, we, unlike you, know how precious life is, because we’re aware that it’s our only one. And, this may come as a shock to you, but we can love our lives, we can feel the joy of being alive, because we don’t believe that “this is the devil’s world”, or that “this is just a test before the real thing”. Life is precious, and it’s our own – not any god’s.
- Atheists are cold and uncaring. No, we are not. Having delusions doesn’t make anyone more “caring”. And, again, we treat life as precious, and do what we can to improve it, both ours and that of our loved ones. On the other hand, many Christians believe life is suffering, and that there’s nothing we can do about it.
- Atheists are arrogant. What, because we dare to use our minds instead of asking “who are we to know”? No, we’re not.
- Atheists want to forbid religious worship. Wrong. We just don’t want to be harmed by it. Want to believe in God, Jesus, Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? Be my guest. Want to teach your kids to do the same? I feel sorry for them, but it will still take many years until people realize how crippling one’s reason in childhood is like a bird crippling its offspring’s wings. (*) Want to give all your money to a guy with a Lexus and a bad haircut? Fine. But don’t try to “save” me, don’t harass me in the street or at my home, don’t get politicians to enact laws to give power to you, don’t try to teach your religion in science classes by dishonestly giving it a new name and disguising it as “science”, and don’t use my tax money to write your idiocies in public places. In short, do as you want, as long as you keep it to yourself – just like I don’t go to your place trying to un-convert you.
- Atheists are incapable of feeling awe at simple things, like a beautiful sunset, as they see everything in terms of cold science, instead of miracles. Ah, unweaving the rainbow – the idea that beauty and poetry only exist if we know little to nothing about how things work. But I ask you: does the fact that you know about astronomy, physics and light make the sunset any less beautiful? Was it beautiful only because it seemed “magical” – or “an act of god” – to you?
- Atheists live their lives in constant fear of death. Few people actually want to die – those that do are either depressed and suicidal, or are Christians who believe that the world is evil, “please, Lord Jesus, take me”, and all that. A reasonable fear of death is perfectly natural. Also, we may believe that this life “is it”, which makes us treat it as precious, but, at least, we don’t think that there’s a chance of going to a place where you burn and are tortured for eternity…
- Most criminals are atheists (or, alternatively, the percentage of atheists among criminals is higher than among the general populace). Oddly enough, the opposite is true.
- Atheists are stubborn and closed-minded. Not unless you define “closed-minded” like this. But, as Ebon said, Ask any believer what would convince him he was mistaken and persuade him to leave his religion and become an atheist, and if you get a response, it will almost invariably be, “Nothing – I have faith in my god.” Although such people may well exist, I personally have yet to meet a theist who would acknowledge even the possibility that his belief was in error. Many theists, by their own admission, structure their beliefs so that no evidence could possibly disprove them. Atheists, on the other hand, are easy to convince – all it requires is for God to show himself in some unfakeable way – say, for instance, by doing any of the many things he supposedly did in the Old Testament…
- Atheists make bad parents. Again, there are good and bad atheist parents, and good and bad Christian parents. Atheist parents, however, would never do what Abraham was about to do to his son Isaac (and Christians see Abraham’s behavior as laudable!), because, to most atheists, our lives are our own. In fact, even if there was a God, it would not follow that our lives are his.
Note: There’s already a list, The Top 10 Atheist Myths, by Dave Silverman, but mine isn’t inspired by that one. I agree with what Silverman writes, but I don’t think all of those are necessarily the top myths. Not to say my list is better, but these are what I think are the top myths… and a couple of them are actually in both lists. Besides, my list has more myths than his, which obviously makes it better. 
(*) There used to be something harsher there, where I seemed to (but didn’t) compare teaching religion to children to sexual abuse. I just meant to say that it was crippling, and should be seen as we see parents who refuse their kids medical treatment because they’d rather put their faith in god: bad parents who aren’t capable of being parents. As it was misunderstood, I edited it. Any (pre-edit) comments about it are still below, though.
EDIT: Don’t believe that many Christians actually think some these things about atheists? Please read my new post, Are the myths about atheists real or not?
EDIT 2: Because there are so many comments, and because most of them (including some of my replies) were getting too far from the original subject, I’ve closed the comments for this post, and created a new one: Christian myths about Atheism: discussion. If you want to comment, or reply to this post’s comments, please go there.
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I totally agree with your opinions. I am an atheist and I am somewhat offended that certain religious people seem to think this life is some rehersal for something better.
- Steven
Who we are and what we are is not determined by science,religion,or abstract ideologies.
Now i know i’m a true atheist. religion comes from way back when most people had no form of education and knew no better, a time when are ancestors did’nt know anything about science and the way nature worked. example- they see lightning and hear thunder they have no way of understanding it so inevitably they think it’s something greater than themselves. Basic example but you catch my drift.
Pedro Said:
So, what about the part that tells you to kill homosexuals? Or to stone to death anyone who works on a Saturday? Are you ignoring those? If so, aren’t you arrogantly implying that you know better than God?
Wow, and you claim to have read the Bible? Multiple times? Try reading it in contextYou’re working pretty hard to prove #10 and #15 are not myths.
[...] Man Of The Year looks pretty good. [...]
[...] While I am not an atheist – I do believe in god, but I don’t follow any religion; that’s just between the two of us – I often stand by their side. Read some of the points that I support in 16 Common Myths About Atheists. Want to believe in God, Jesus, Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? Be my guest. Want to teach your kids to do the same? I feel sorry for them, but it will still take many years until people realize how crippling one’s reason in childhood is like a bird crippling its offspring’s wings. (*) Want to give all your money to a guy with a Lexus and a bad haircut? Fine. But don’t try to “save” me, don’t harass me in the street or at my home, don’t get politicians to enact laws to give power to you, don’t try to teach your religion in science classes by dishonestly giving it a new name and disguising it as “science”, and don’t use my tax money to write your idiocies in public places. In short, do as you want, as long as you keep it to yourself – just like I don’t go to your place trying to un-convert you. Tagged as: argument, atheism, church, faith, god, religion [...]
on atheist morals.
look, just because you know killing a homeless guy with no friends or family wouldn’t get you in trouble doesn’t mean you feel free to do it. I’ve always based my morals more or less on “the golden rule”
Treat others the way you want to be treated
(ie don’t kill a homeless guy unless you want to be killed, in which case you’re suicidal and already have problems)
Based off empathy, it’s the idea that if you’re kind and respectful to others, then you will encourage them to be kind and respectful to you. of course you still run into the occasional asshole who just likes being an ass, but that shouldn’t stop you from at least trying to treat them as a normal person. I don’t need a fear of god to make me moral, just the understanding that if we really did all treat others how we want to be treated, the world would be a better place.(and yes I’m quite aware this will never happen)
and.. just for my piece of mind, a response to a particular unaddressed argument that caught my attention
steve:
“To be truly unselfish must surely mean to go against the grain of are very instincts. I.e. to die for the better of others.”
alright well going by your logic, I could want to die for the better of others just so i could be perceived by others as unselfish. but then I’m only doing it for my reputation! how selfish of me!
I’d say the only “truly” unselfish thing you can do is something that’s good for others but against your will. anything you willingly do for others is something you chose to do because at some level you wanted to do it for yourself (whether it be because it would make you feel better or a gun was pointed at you) and therefore selfishly.
my point being it’s not so bad to be selfish (it’s not so bad to want to live is it?) as long as it doesn’t harm others.
how embarassing..
*peace of mind
It’s funny how you prove your first myth is true by constantly picking on Christianity in all of your myths. All of the atheists I’ve met in my life are ex-Christians. If someone told me God had a son and there are 3 gods and “just have faith just because” I would reject that too. The problem is instead of rejecting Christianity they rejected God entirely. I’m not saying all atheists are ex-Christians but the majority is for sure. “And they say: There is nothing but our life in this world; we live and die and nothing destroys us but time, and they have no knowledge of that; they only conjecture.” (Quran 45:24)
You know the soul? The thing behind your eyes? The emotions you feel? Who created that? Where was that before you were a sperm?
“Has there not been over Man a long period of Time, when he was nothing – not even mentioned? Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: So We gave him the gifts of Hearing and Sight. We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful.” (Quran 76 1:3)
As an Atheist, i’ve never encountered any such myths or assumptions about my beliefs, or lack there of. So it comes as a surprise to me to read this and take into account that there are people out there who actually believe this horse crap. These ‘myths’ can be considered as propoganda to keep people in the dark and remain good wholesome Christians. After-all, what better way to discourage thought and logical reasoning than claiming that everyone who dwelved down that path ends up miserable and shallow? Meanwhile it’s usually the opposite, i’m very happy with my life and pity those who still blindly follow the words of child molestor priests and politicians claiming to do gods bidding while robbing the public blind and causing wars to further their own agenda.
On “There would be no morales without Christianity.”. This is the most illogical bull i’ve ever heard. Sadly I hear it too often. There was civilization long before Christianity, and there will be long after it reverts back to a myth and humanity moves on. To claim there were no laws before your petty religion came into play is like claiming there was no existence before you were born.
I am not an athiest to begin with but i am not religious and do not beleive in religion either due to many horrible crimes comitted in the name of the church and other close minded beleifs. I do think many athiests respond only to how religious ppl view god and not in any other way. I for example do not see god as a person or thing, he/she or w/e is a universal mind that is everywhere with no shape or form and cannot be seen because he/she is not material. Because of this universal intellegance the big bang happened due to its magnificant purpose and from then on evolution happened to where we are now. Some ppl say that there cannot be a god bcuz there is too much evil in the world, well if u really look at it, it is us that cause all theese hardships and we are still evolving until one day there will be no more evil among us is my beleif. Well i truely accept athiests and do not have a problem living around any and god does not hate u like religion says, u have not been given any reason for u to beleive in god, soon u will see though maybe in the next life. Some ppl have personal expirience that lead them to god but in ur case(athiest ppl) that has not happened obviously therefor u have no reason to beleive and its perfectly normal..you got to also think about the mysteries that modern science hasnt been able to explain, how can some ppl see something they have never seen before in the past or future? read on edgar cayce its hard to beleive but even skeptics are boggled on his predictions
sry for writting so much i just enjoy the topic =)
All religions are lies, myths, and stories. Every single one of them. How can anyone have respect for people who believe such primitive stories? We don’t respect insanity, do we? Talking to invisible people who never answer back? Accepting as fact and truth that which has not ever been nor will ever be proven? Sounds like insanity to me. I guess when a bunch of people with the same flavor of insanity get together and form a group, it’s called religion. I’m supposed to respect you for believing in an invisible man? That’s funny.
[...] 16 Common Myths About Atheists Views of an atheist who, judging by the tone of the article, seems more angry than patient in trying to refute some common myths about atheists. (tags: religion blog opinion) [...]
I found myself nodding “yes” a lot while reading the list. Having grown up in the Bible Belt I have had nearly every one of those arguments before. But I’m older now and less militant and more of a mindset to try to quit changing others as long as they’re not trying to change me. I think the main problem is extremism. Once someone completely buys into dogma (any dogma, including the dogma of Atheism) then life becomes much harder because you spend so much time and energy defending your beliefs.
At one time I considered myself an Atheist, but it never really fit because I don’t KNOW there isn’t a god… I can’t rule out the possibility that there might be a higher power, but frankly, he/she/it (if he/she/it exists) just doesn’t influence my daily life. One day I thought, “I don’t really care anymore about whether there is a god… its not relevant… I’m an Apatheist!” a word that I believed I had coined until I did a web search and found I wasn’t the first to have that thought. (Victor, you asked what your position makes you… maybe you’re an Apatheist too… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism).
Frankly, I don’t really need the mental support that theism offers. I find it to be unconstructive to depend on some external force to direct my life. If something good happens to me, it’s either luck or because I got off my butt and made it happen. If something bad happens to me, it’s either luck, because I made a bad decision, or I didn’t do something I was supposed to do. In all cases other than fate it hinges on me and my actions. My life is my responsibility, and I have to accept the consequences of my actions or decisions, good or bad.
And that’s where the “morals” question comes in. Look, we all live in our own “reality tunnel”. We all have different experiences and influences collected throughout our life that cause us to act or not act in certain ways. We have different aversions and priorities because of that. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not reality is, well, in a word, relative. No two people can experience it in exactly the same way. Ultimately we all choose for ourselves what guidelines we’re going to live by based on our life’s influences. It doesn’t really matter if the rules are “backed up” by a supernatural being who may exact retribution for noncompliance or not. Maybe your life rules come from the Christian Bible, the Quran, Buddist texts, Hindu scripture or other religious sources. Mine can too and some do, but I follow them because they seem like sound advice, because I’ve thought through what life would be like if me and everyone else DIDN’T follow them, and decided, for myself, that they are the right course of action. I am at liberty to adopt my rules from many different sources and that those sources have varying degrees of external authority, but adopting them is still MY decision. And its YOURS too. Once we’ve adopted those rules, they are under our personal authority and no more external validation is needed. That’s a heavy responsibility: I think many people are frightened by it and that’s why they desperately need to believe that the authority comes from somewhere outside themselves and so find solace in theism.
If you realize that your life is up to you, that you (and only you) have the power to change it and that the rules you live by are your own (and so challenge their validity occasionally), then the world would be a much better place. We need to concentrate on improving ourselves and from that improving life for others will naturally follow.
One of my favorite quotes from _The Buddhist Bible_, page 3, speaking of Gautama Sakamuni the “original” Buddha:
“He distinctly tells us that every one must bear the burden of his own sins, that every man must be the fabricator of his own salvation, that not even a God can do for man what self-help in the form of self-conquest and self-emancipation can accomplish.”
It doesn’t mean that god does or doesn’t exist, but that we need to quit worrying about it and get on to the business of improving ourselves and humanity. Too much time, energy and lives are being wasted on the arguments. Let’s agree to disagree and start focusing on what’s important.
“As to politicians enacting laws to give power to Christians, I think the meaning should be clear: no tax breaks, no financial aid. It’s discriminatory, and an abuse of tax money. Here, it doesn’t have anything to do with religion, but with the fact that governments shouldn’t even be allowed to do such things. ”
You’ve hit the nail on the head on this one.
Politicians being politicians needs to ‘buy’ votes….
I’ve not done research on this, but I believe that USA has a very high (>50%) population of christians (including its denominations).
If the politician’s want to target the people not living in cities, they reckon that this people will go to church more often for their social life.
So kind of makes sense for the politicians to do this to get votes…….
Even if others get disadvantaged by this laws, the two big politcal parties know that this is something you cannot go against.
[...] O texto a seguir foi traduzido do Way of the Mind. [...]
[...] 16 Common Myths About Atheists » Way of the Mind (tags: religion atheism Philosophy) [...]
Leave the colors, they’re good.
right on brothe!!
some of thses thing are somewhat true
Dangit, you changed them.
On all religious topics — In my opinion, the best comment is that made by famous entertainer Dave Allen: “I’m an atheist, thank God.”
On the topic of atheist congregation or church — In Rex Weyler’s book “Greenpeace” it is stated that Greenpeace was started by (a whole lot of) atheists with a couple of Quakers. They also invented a church (the name escapes me) in which each member (regardless of sex) was also an ordained priest, and the process of ordaining someone was as simple as a touch of finger to the forehead and a couple of words. It was also the age of Vietnam war, so ordained priests from USA didn’t have to participate in that war. The concept of atheistic church is therefore quite old and practical.
On the topic of myths — Robert A. Heinlein, one of the great writers of the 20th century, effectively triggered a creation of a religion — When he was fed up with fellow writer’s stupidity he told him that he is so stupid that he couldn’t make anything, even such a simple thing as starting a new religion. That stupid person turned out to be L. Ron Hubbard who succeeded in creating “Dianetics” and church of “Scientology”. Some may argue that church of “Scientology” is not a proper church and that other churches are proper ones because they have existed for centuries, but even those established religions have had their beginnings, and who is to say that the next great religion is not some strange idea like “Scientology”?
[...] This post talks a lot of sense. [...]
This is what religion does to you.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Oz7suwW4HiM
Re #3: “I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.” – Aristotle
Most of your theories are regarding the stereotypical Christian, which in most cases are no better than the stereotypical atheist. There are way too many nuances and this type of discussion goes too deep to comprehendingly put it all up in one blog. It’s fine to believe in no God. What’s funny is that Christianity is one of the only religions that will possibly let you in heaven despite not believing in their God. Most other religions will tell you you’re already going to hell. I think that’s pretty cool for the Christians.
As for tax breaks and such for Christians, I have two points. 1) we are a democracy (more of a republic really.. but that’s a whole different issue), and as a democracy, basically the majority rules, and if most of Americans want something more Christianly in their society, that’s how democracy works. 2) it sucks because it completely goes against the division of church and state. One of the main reasons that the United States came into being was so that each and every individual could practice their religion, any religion, freely and without prejudice or persecution. I agree that no laws should promote or demote any religion, or non-religion.
I believe in God. I believe in science. Science is a human way of perceiving the world. Just because we can’t prove God doesn’t make him any less there, however. Christians don’t necessarily “know” either, but they -believe-. I don’t know that he is there, but I believe he is.
My father is a Christian minister. My morality does not come from a fear of hell and nor was it instilled into me like that from birth. In fact, my morality comes a lot from your “atheist morality”; the belief in humanity, sympathy, empathy, and all such things. No, morality does not necessarily have to come from God, but for some people, morality came to them through God.
The fact, and i use that loosely, remains that human beings as of now are thoroughly incapable of truly understanding this world or whether or not there is a God. As for your observation proposition that your morality comes from your ability to reason… I can reason, I’ve thought plenty on this question of the universe, of God, of not God. I’ve believed, and I’ve doubted. In the end, I came to the conclusion that I still do believe in God. While I may have been spoon fed Christian propaganda, I’ve questioned all of it. I don’t believe in a lot of it, but I still believe in God. When I raise my children, I will tell them about God, and I will give them reasons why they should believe in him. BUT, I will also tell them to come to their own conclusions, to let them reason on their own. You forcing your children (if you have, or were to have them) to -not- believe in God, is just as crippling as those forcing children to believe in Him. In a way, you forcing your beliefs is crippling their own ability to reason; which, reasoning is something you laud.
Most of these “myths”, while true, are from right-wing, closed-minded, propagandists such as Jerry Falwell. People in general are usually incapable of having a full-fledged intellectual conversation, especially those who have not thought deeply upon their beliefs. So instead of setting up arguments against arguments from the intellectually weak, try seeking out someone who isn’t. Your statements alone show an ignorance to what the real religious folk know and think.
Einstein believed in God.
it never ceases to amaze me, people debating the existenece or non existence of a supreme being called the god concept. In my lifetime (im sixty seven years old) this has always been a waste of intelectual effort. No matter what arguments are proposed from either side it always ends up the logicality of the infantile mind. The amount of charlatans in life espousing a religious concept that pop up in every religion year on year should be more than enough proof to give the thing a wide berth and find something more constructive to do in your life. Accept the fact that there never will be a wordwide acceptance either from the atheist nor the agnostic nor whichever religion you wish to propose an acceptable concences for all. The human condition being as it is at present makes such an ideal imposible my simple concept is I dont care what your belief is whith regard to your religion but if you have a god concept then you have a morality that is acceptable to the majority of the human race and if its good enough for them its good enough for me
Interesting site. I live in Greece where almost 98% of the population is christian orthodox (probably less as time goes by) and religion is strongly connected to our culture and life. Each person ‘s religion was written in their id cards until a few years ago (sad but true). My parents are both atheists but never told me anything about it. When I was 17 (now 30) I told them I am almost sure I don’t believe in God and that’s when I found out about them. My younger sister believes in God and of course thats fine. I myself believe that religion is just something to ease the pain, and from that point of view anything that provides comfort for people we have to respect (even though I personally cant understand that). The problem is that because religion is so strong here, people like me are considered (not openly but it is strongly implied) to be a bit of a problem I guess. I ve felt left out in many occasions because of my beliefs, and now I dont open up and discuss the issue as much as I would like. Also I hate the fact that women are considered to be inferior in many religions. But I am happy to say that I see things changing (slowly but changing) in Greek society.
Greetings to all.
[...] One thing I’ve seen, both in the article comments and in the Reddit discussion, is people who doubt that these myths really exist – in other words, that there are Christians who really believe that about atheists. [...]
PL:
Which Christianity? Certainly not the one which says that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God. The New Testament specifically says that nobody is saved except through Jesus Christ. And it doesn’t mention any exceptions for, say, somebody born in a deserted island, whose parents die before teaching the child any religion (or are simply atheists).
Face it: according to the Bible, most people are going to hell. The only ones who don’t are those who accept Jesus as their savior. No exceptions.
Of course, that’s pretty fundamentalist, and most Christians are “moderate”. But that’s another story.
No, he didn’t – at least in the Jewish / Christian / Muslim sense. Many Christians mistakenly believe he did, because of his “God does not play dice” quote, but he also said “I believe in Spinoza’s God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.” (source). He called it a “cosmic religious sense”, or naturalistic pantheism, that is, “the universe, and everything, is God”. That’s quite different from a typical Christian’s view of a personal god, who concerns himself with morality, cares about humans and their belief, and sends some to heaven and some to hell.
Here is my take on the topic of myths about atheists: http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/01/truth-about-atheists-correcting.html
This was posted in January 2006.
vjack: nice one. We seem to have most of them in common.
(and, yes, I read the other 4 parts as well)
And, just for fun, here’s another list I’ve just discovered, by searching for “atheists” in Google News: Common Misconceptions About Atheists and Atheism. It’s from August 10, only five days before mine. Just five myths there, and, again, I have independently arrived at most of them here (the first one is suspicious, though – he seems to be saying that atheism is, in fact, agnosticism, which I don’t agree with).
A newer, related post: Are the myths about atheists real or not? Enjoy.
“Atheists, on the other hand, are easy to convince – all it requires is for God to show himself in some unfakeable way – say, for instance, by doing any of the many things he supposedly did in the Old Testament…”
Sorry. God already tried that. He took on the form of man in the person of Jesus Christ, lived on earth for 33 years, performed countless miracles, died, was resurrected and ascended to heaven, all in front of thousands of witnesses. Still, most were not convinced and remain so today.
When you’re ready to believe, see how simple it is at: http://www.sbc.net/knowjesus/default.asp
i guess the only religion in the world is christianity, or maybe that’s the only one you like to attack.
[...] Then, following the similarities of “you learn a new word and then you start hearing it everywhere” or you “just bought that car and thought no one else had it but look, everyone does” experiences, I came across an awesome post entitled 16 Common Myths About Atheists. And oh, there’s also a similarly good top 10 entitled The Top 10 Atheist Myths. Oh, hangin’ in a chow line, good times. [...]
[...] 16 Common Myths About Atheists » Way of the Mind Good list. (tags: Atheism) [...]
Not getting what you want, but believing you did anyway. That’s the true magic of faith.
Athiest, Buddhist, Catholic, Dervish or Embu,
Frisian, Gaoshan, Hopi, Islam, Jew,
Khasi, Lebu, Montauk, Naga, Ovimbundu,
Pantheist, Quaker, Raelian, Shinto or Tembu,
Ungwe, Vodoun, Wiccan, Xango, Yao and Zulu,
If you haven’t sent your thirty bucks,
You can all just go get f*cked,
That goes for you and you and you…
Prabob!
http://www.subgenius.com
Dude your a little miss informed, first most christians are not christians at all, and yes there are bad christians but they are the minority, most of the worlds food and medical aid is funded by CHRISTIANS!. And one more thing you say people should have open minds, but then you say religion should not be taught in schools, when there is no ( except for inter-species evolution) solid proof of evolution so why do we teach “guesses” in school. Having a open mind and exploring all posibilities is part of the christian religion, it was taught by Jesus, which is all the more to offer ALL different religious and scientific ideas in school. Oh and by the way, Christians are not called to push our religion on everone just tell everyone about it, so they may have a OPEN mind to explore the option if they choose. Which to the true Christian is one of the greatest gifts of GOD is Choice.
If Atheists spent a little less time marginalizing all beliefs but their own and trying to convince everyone around them how smart they are and how superior their thoughts and outlook on life is. Maybe just maybe the rest of the world might start taking them seriously.
Chuck: evolution is a scientific theory. Observation agrees with it. If it’s ever replaced, it’ll be by another scientific theory.
Creationism, or “intelligent design”, isn’t a scientific theory. It’s not testable, it’s not based on facts, and it assumes something supernatural, when we live in a – from all appearances – fully natural universe.
Scientific theories may be proved wrong, when reality differs from them. What about Creationism? The facts already oppose a lot of it (e.g. fossils), but fundamentalist Christians see no problem with that – if reality and the Bible differ, then it’s reality that is wrong.
Why do people still believe in the God of the Gaps – that is, I don’t know how something works or could have appeared, so “God must have done it”? We used to believe thunder and lightning were the anger of the gods; now we know they’re natural phenomena. So many things were considered “acts of God” ages ago, and have been shown not to be, so people – some people, at least, including most scientists – have learned to say “I don’t know yet” instead of automatically saying “I don’t see how that could be, so it’s surely an act of God”, only to be proved wrong some time after.
But I think I’m wasting my fingertips here – anyone who says evolution is “guesses” has probably made up his mind long ago, and won’t let any pesky facts interfere. Am I wrong? Can you tell me one thing that would convince you that there is no god?
You know this is what happenes when you try to hold a serious discussion and actually try to make sense to some people.
It is clearly obvious that both sides of this argument via comments have no respect or the open mind required to have a discussion that bridges the gap.
Basically, anyone who openly blasts an argument that they “believe” is wrong without proof is irresponsible and has no merit in this conversation.
You know, as a Christian, it is entirely normal to question your faith. It doesn’t make you a bad Christian, it makes you human. The argument of Athiests typically are, if you cannot see God then he does not exist. Thusly the argument against that would be, You cannot see oxygen, yet you need it to live, however if you cannot see it it cannot possibly exist.
Then the argument goes to morality. When are people going to understand that morality is an individual desicion based upon your enviroment. To say openly admit that our society is based on Christian ethos and yet say that your moral structure did not develop from it is just plain ignorant. You can be in denial about that all you want. Morality is is a relevant term. If you went to another country, you would discover differant moral structures that if you stuck around long enough you would adapt into your moral structure.
That being said, could it not be argued that even though there are tragic mistakes made in the past in the name of God, that you have adopted things that are right and wrong based on the society you were raised in.
Really the comment that pissed me off was this irresponsible peice of trash:
“Pedro Said:
So, what about the part that tells you to kill homosexuals? Or to stone to death anyone who works on a Saturday? Are you ignoring those? If so, aren’t you arrogantly implying that you know better than God?
”
You know there is a differance between being an athiest based on ideals and being one based on bad experience. The latter typically happens when a person is unable to make a difference between a person’s individual actions and that of thier faith.
That being said, if you read the Bible, it does in fact state that when Jesus came, it created new laws based on love and not punishment. Yes, it’s true that alot of Christians don’t respect that or an individuals free will but the same could be said for the statement.
You know these arguments are never truly about what people say they are about. It’s about stupid people. Stupid people can be any race or religion. Stupid people are everywhere and no one group is immune. If you could seperate the stupid people from the ideals then you’d have something but to say you are an athiest so you must be stupid or you are a christian so you are stupid, is not only in effect showing your lack of intellegence but cannot allow any merit to your argument.
Seriously, who cares what a person believes in as long as they aren’t a fucking bonehead.
[quote]Which Christianity? Certainly not the one which says that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God. The New Testament specifically says that nobody is saved except through Jesus Christ. And it doesn’t mention any exceptions for, say, somebody born in a deserted island, whose parents die before teaching the child any religion (or are simply atheists).
Face it: according to the Bible, most people are going to hell. The only ones who don’t are those who accept Jesus as their savior. No exceptions.
Of course, that’s pretty fundamentalist, and most Christians are “moderate”. But that’s another story.[/quote]
Pedro, you’re not listening!
The New testment does say that the only way to go to heaven is through Christ, but that does not mean believing in the dogmatic bullshit behind modern day Christianity. It has to do with living your life with Christ’s teachings in mind, more specifically, loving others and living to spread love rather than hate. Being unselfish, helping others, and finding worth in every soul is the path to happiness, and this is exactly what Jesus taught. It is this that denotes the way into heaven, not praying with some douchebag youth pastor who asks for your wallet two minutes later.
Here’s a little history lesson (with some theology mixed in for the “bible isnt history” folks): According to the Bible, the first covenent was made between the Jewish nation and God, making them his chosen people and allowing them to prosper when they adhered to his “rules” of sorts (the 10 commandments). When Jesus came along, he destroyed that covenent and established a new covenent, available to any who seek it. This covenent taught to move away from selfish ambition and move towards unity and relationships with those around you, regardless of caste or culture. Back in those days, the social laws and regulations were very strict. Being seen even talking to someone of low repute was extremely damaging to ones reputation, and this was one of the first things that made Jesus catch peoples eye. He was brilliant in the academic sense (debating with Temple leaders as a small child), yet rather than accepting a place into high society, he would rather talk to the people; rich, poor, or criminal. He taught messages of anarchy and anti-establishment messages. Worldly possessions were not important, but your soul was. This is a bit of the message of true Christianity.
Also, as mentioned by a poster above, Hell is a creation of the Roman Catholic Church. Never mentioned in the Bible, aside from Revelations (which is CHALK FULL of imagery and is not to be taken literally… and if you do…. wow.) Hell was created to control and manipulate people, when really the definition of Hell, in its factual form, is coinciding with the Athiestic point of view: When you die, your body turns to dust, and it is over. period. The question that is more pertinent is this: If we have a soul, and “heaven” (whatever it is) isnt available, what happens to it? Jesus implied that it would exist in isolation, which therefore *could* be considered ‘Hell’.
Unfortunately, you seem to take the Bible as literally and as out-of-context as the blowhards you slam in your list. If athiests are so much smarter than believing-folk, then how come they can’t do thier homework on the historical side of religious happenings? I can make broad, sweeping generalizations about things I don’t understand as well, but I know better.
I only have one comment. This is not meant to be a mean comment, just a fact. This country was founded on religious beliefs and our laws were written as such. From that moment on, this is a religious country, “One Nation Under God.” We who believe in God will continue to fight for our beliefs to be heard in our country. If you do not like it, then go somewhere else. Then you can spend your tax dollars somewhere else as well. Otherwise, live with it and stop trying to change our way of life.
Pedro says:
Why do people still believe in the God of the Gaps – that is, I don’t know how something works or could have appeared, so “God must have done it”? We used to believe thunder and lightning were the anger of the gods; now we know they’re natural phenomena. So many things were considered “acts of God” ages ago, and have been shown not to be, so people – some people, at least, including most scientists – have learned to say “I don’t know yet” instead of automatically saying “I don’t see how that could be, so it’s surely an act of God”, only to be proved wrong some time after.
But I think I’m wasting my fingertips here – anyone who says evolution is “guesses” has probably made up his mind long ago, and won’t let any pesky facts interfere. Am I wrong? Can you tell me one thing that would convince you that there is no god?
Jackrabbit responds:
The answer lies in what you think God represents. If you think he’s an old guy, in white robes, who stands over the world watching it and making changes here and there, then you’re retarded. God, in my opinion, is a being who transcends physical and mental boundaries, instead lying in the spiritual realm. I do not deny Evolution, I do not promote the fundamental view of Creationism. Its a moot point, and it does not matter. The creation story is a mythical story, but again, if you did your research, you would also see that in the original documents, it is stated that “one day relative to God could be thousands relative to us”. Seven days doesn’t mean Seven days as we know it, but a set amount of time in which the world developed. Hmmm maybe, if these days were, say, 100 million years in OUR terms, then maybe the creation story, combined with Evolution, would make sense? Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares. Its a stupid argument cause science doesn’t defeat God. Science cannot explain why we love or hate. Science cannot explain why music can make us cry, or explain our reliance on the psychological state of the Brain. Science is a part of understanding life.
Jim Says:
“I only have one comment. This is not meant to be a mean comment, just a fact. This country was founded on religious beliefs and our laws were written as such. From that moment on, this is a religious country, “One Nation Under God.” We who believe in God will continue to fight for our beliefs to be heard in our country. If you do not like it, then go somewhere else. Then you can spend your tax dollars somewhere else as well. Otherwise, live with it and stop trying to change our way of life. ”
Jim, you are a fucking bonehead that cannot respect others way of life. You are a blight on real Christians.
Have some respect for people who have a differant view. To say if they don’t like it they can move would lead me to believe that you are biggoted and have no respect for others nor are you open to any other opinions on the subject.
Again it makes your argument have no merit and does nothing but give ammunition to the people on the other side of the arguement that is just as stupid as you are.
I agree with what you say in the most part. Christians are judgemental and uninformed about other religions and beliefs. I am a christian sort-of. The reason for the sort-of is because being a christian isn’t what it used to be, people have become judging of other christians as well as the other beliefs in this world. They don’t just judge atheists or muslims, hindus or other said belief, they gossip and talk bad about the people in their own church. These things they are told not to do in the bible. I’m not expecting any atheist to belive what goes on inside the walls of church and I don’t think they nessesarily don’t, but it’s completely crooked for the most part. Which is why I’m sort of a christian. I don’t like churches and what they have become. I don’t like most christians but I do love God and Jesus. Jesus would have never judged an atheist and told him how wrong he believed they are/were, He would simply acknowledge them and listen and answer. They are not the wrong ones, their followers are corrupt and wrong. Christian means to be “christ-like” which based on your definition of Christ is no one on earth christ like. Most atheists I know are kind and loving people who deserve all the same respect anyone else in this world is. I think religion is the one question on earth without a guaranteed answer. It’s all opinion and that’s your right as a human.
Atheist don’t believe in God? Then why do they work so hard to try to prove God doesn’t exist? P-L-E-A-S-E!
I believe in the one true Penguin. The protection of his feathers and beneficial guidance is a wonderful blessing to humanity and the world in which we reside. I shall squawk a blessing for all non-believers. Come to know The Penguin and you will be redeemed.
Gruntie
While the original article was informative and largely fair, I do feel that it is often self-contradictory, arrogant, and uses minor straw man assertions. I am an agnostic. I think that the article would’ve done much better to challenge religion with question whilst debunking the myths rather than make some blanket assertions (about thiests, Christians in particular, and athiests themselves).
By the way, Einstein did not believe in God, not in the ordinary sense. He most likely held a belief in pantheism, which is, roughly, the idea that the complexity of the universe and its workings are so incomprehensible and beautiful that it could be called miraculous and have a sense of the divine. This could be called “God,” but not God the Creator nor God whom we should worship nor God from whom we must take orders on how to live our lives. It’s a lot like athiesm but with a much more positive (vs. neutral) outlook. Thus, technically speaking, Einstein was athiest.
I agree with you Fred. It obviously worries them terribly.
The problem with some Christians, and some from any other faith for that matter, is the lack of questioning. Everything is neatly seperated into categories of right and wrong. Black and white. And while this may be an admirable trait to some degree, it soon becomes apparent that the whole blind devotion act can be easily manipulated and twisted by those who would deem themselves leaders of their respective religions.
So the problem isn’t religion. In my opinion, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism provide a great moral foundation in a world that is very confusing and more than a bit scary. It feels good to have a God looking after you. And the three aforementioned religions promote peace, unity, and understanding more than anything.
The problem stems from us. Human beings manipulating their fellow man into becoming so fanatical as they would kill in the name of some abstract idea or purpose. It’s the common man who no longer questions his own actions that causes the bloodshed we see so often today.
I think it’s wrong to blame religion for problems. Just as it’s wrong to hunt down and slaughter those of a certain race or belief system. Athiests who blame this fanaticism on religion are just as unquestioning as the zealots they blame and are guilty of the same crime of unquestioning loyalty.
Every time we place all the blame on a group we merely serve to continue the tradition of seperating ourselves from the whole. Alienating what we deem as wrong or incorrect so we paint ourselves as the ‘good guy’ and label everything else as ‘wrong’.
But… that’s just my two cents on it.
Whether there is a God is really not the question in this debate. Christianity and many other religions share a common belief in a higher power that chose to place humanity on earth. The name of this deity changes from one religion to another. From studying multiple religions, you can see the intent of writing down ‘the word of [fill in the blank]‘ was to give its people something to follow (rules, guidelines, inspiration, aspiration, etc.) Because it was the holy ones who were hastened to write these doctrines, you can expect that a higher morality was added to the list of rules.
You will note how many words in the Christian bible. (I’m sure someone has taken the time to count the total number of words.) Then consider how many of those words include a negative reference to homosexuality. How important this topic was it to the writers of the word of God can be judged by how few references there are to gay men and women. What has been drawn out of context by the vocalist of Christians are a few words in a book riddled with rules that no Christian on this planet could or would follow in their entirety. When you read the entire book of Leviticus, you can see that the list of rules clearly refer to a different century and time. If I can find just one Christian sect that follows the ENTIRE book (to the letter) of Leviticus, I will start to rethink my views on religion and homosexuality. But until then, they should just STFU.
As far as having a belief in a higher power, that is purely a personal decision. If you have the time and place in your life for it, such a belief can be a comfort. However, if you do not have a place in your heart for such a belief, then the Christian thing to do is allow you the freedom to be who you are. No other option is given to us.
The biggest mistake that early explorers brought with them when they arrived in far off lands was the thought that they were in some way superior to the natives they came across and that they should have the right to indoctrinate them with their religious beliefs. The assumption the early missionary made was they were dealing with people who had no belief system in a higher power. Christianity was better. End of story. This contamination of societies by missionary movements is what history should detail. It was a serious crime to humanity.
The Muslim religion is another powerful belief system that has been overtaken by fundamentalist leaders who insist on ruling not just the church, but the entire country. And they will not be happy until all lands in which Muslims live are under the control of the Muslim clerics. It’s not too strange that the most powerful ‘free’ country in the world is currently being ruled by such a hierarchy of fundamentalist Christians. It’s scary considering they are at their throats in a punching match. A wise person would find a way out of this mess without blowing up the world. A crazy person would just go on making matters worse.
Are the wise men among us those who decide there is no God and put aside the manmade belief system that rules us?
Wow, I feel stupider for having read that.
This is so telling. Those who believe in a god typically have a limited capacity to understand what atheists think, confined by their own dogged allegiance to their beliefs. In truth, virtually all religious people are also atheists – there are literally hundreds of gods they don’t believe in (and please don’t get into the lame and egocentric idea that all religious people actually believe in your god and just don’t know it).
The difference between theists and atheists is that atheists just believe in one less god than theists.
Only when you understand this point (and I challenge you to try), will you be able to understand how atheists see the world.
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John Says:
August 16th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
I like the articulation of your points and recognize that many of them are valid. However, I’d like to address them individually. Responding here is a poor place to do so. I’ll write my “rebuttal” and let you know where to find it. Thanks for your article. It has helped me to see another side of atheism (not agnosticism) and inspired me to try to find a way(s) for you to accept Christianity as being just as valid if not actually the right way.
John
You’re confusing the Pledge of Allegiance, written by a Baptist minister in 1892, with the Constitution, signed over a 100 years earlier in 1787. Even the words “one nation under god” were added later, in the 20th century.
The men who drafted the Constitution were very careful to keep religion OUT of government. Try reading it sometime to find the “facts” you are quoting. But they also recognized the right to practice religion as an inalienable right, meaning to allow people to believe any way they choose. Are you really unable to understand the difference?
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Jim Says:
August 18th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
I only have one comment. This is not meant to be a mean comment, just a fact. This country was founded on religious beliefs and our laws were written as such. From that moment on, this is a religious country, “One Nation Under God.” We who believe in God will continue to fight for our beliefs to be heard in our country. If you do not like it, then go somewhere else. Then you can spend your tax dollars somewhere else as well. Otherwise, live with it and stop trying to change our way of life.
Please don’t make us laugh! There are many of us all around you, and we don’t spend any effort trying to prove anything. Your mistake is in thinking that because you’re threatened by the idea that we don’t believe in something you hold so fundamental to your world, i.e., a god, that we must be similarly threatened by the idea that you do believe in a god. Trust me, we know what you believe – but you CLEARLY don’t understand us. To an atheist, the chance that there is a god is the same as the chance that purple cows fly over our heads all the time and we just don’t see them. Honestly. We have no need to prove to ourselves or you that those cows don’t exist.
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Fred Says:
August 18th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
Atheist don’t believe in God? Then why do they work so hard to try to prove God doesn’t exist? P-L-E-A-S-E!
JimmyT Says:
August 19th, 2006 at 2:03 am
I agree with you Fred. It obviously worries them terribly.
Or, you know, there’s no evidence to prove God’s existence, and therefore it’s unnecessary to try to prove his non-existence. The burden of proof is not on atheists.
I was replying to “Atheist don’t believe in God? Then why do they work so hard to try to prove God doesn’t exist? P-L-E-A-S-E!”
Ya know. You’re all just contradicting eachother.
One person said about 1/4 down the page “If everyone began to steal”, well.. if everyone stole, it wouldn’t be illegal. Infact, it wouldn’t be a crime. Why? Because everyone did it. Who would be the police then? “God”? How would he punish everyone? Send everyone to “hell”?
As for religion. If all religions would just hold hands for once, maybe we will see what true “power” is within it. Perhaps, a power of “nothing”? How can words spoken from a book (any book) be the word of god? Maybe a practice of religion, but definately not spiritual belief. There’s a difference, spiritual belief and religious belief. The religious belief are the morals globally shared. Then you have the spiritual belief, which is what you belief by choice.
Who are we to say that Christianity is bad? I for one do not have a religion, because, I believe that every religion has “good” factors and “bad” factors. But then, doesn’t that mean that I’m just contradicting myself for posting here? Because I’m judging what’s good and what’s bad, just like everyone else has been.
I do however, want to search for the reasons of existance, but the answer lies within “life”. There is no explanation. How does it work, why does it work? When did it start to work..
Answer me that, and you have yourself a new religion.
forty-two
[...] The original 16 Common Myths About Atheists post currently has a huge amount of comments, which may scare new readers off. Besides, most of them have diverged from the original purpose of the article (and I’m guilty of that as well, in my replies). [...]
People, this thread already has too many comments, making it cumbersome for new readers. If you want to comment, or reply to previous comments, please go here: Christian myths about Atheism: discussion. Thanks.
I’m closing off the comments for this post now. Just comment on the other post, if you want to, OK?
[...] And, yet, every time a post of mine, criticizing religious belief, is more popular than the usual, I get the same kinds of criticism – sometimes, “trolling” would even be a better word. Many commenters don’t even read what I write; they simply think “atheist… enemy!”. You can see, for instance, that most of the replies on my 16 Common Myths about Atheists post weren’t about the myths themselves, or about whether they existed or not, or about whether atheists were like that or not. No, most were about whether God existed or not (and almost everyone said he did, of course). And a lot of replies called me – and atheists in general – “arrogant” – again, not because of what I wrote, but simply because I, like other atheists, have the nerve to say that there is almost certainly no god, and that millions of believers are, therefore, wrong. Because, again, it’s not arrogant to believe without evidence, but it is arrogant to disbelieve, apparently… [...]
[...] The bad news is that the server where this blog was hosted, apparently, couldn’t cope with the StumbleUpon effect of so many hits per second. Who’d guess that my 16 Common Myths about Atheists post would get so popular again? Therefore, I had to temporarily move Way of the Mind to my old server, located at my home in Portugal. Bandwidth may be worse (though it should still be OK), but the server itself is much more powerful, and it laughs at the StumbleUpon effect. [...]
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