douchebag atheists

I'm an atheist, but i'm concerned about the direction and shape atheism apears to be taking, in actuality as well as in the eyes of the public.

a genuine question,

as an atheist, are you occasionally hesitant about telling people about your religious beliefs on the grounds that they might assume you to be a smug, sanctimonious, pseudo-intellectual, fedora wearing arse?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEtNlS9DfRg"]If You're an Atheist - Episode 3 - YouTube

and, as a side note, do you feel that the image of "the atheist" that many have is a result of the lack of prescribed doctrine; in that, as atheism lacks any kind of unified doctrine or official voice, the twats who speak the loudest assume the role of ambassador.

is this the price we have to pay?

 

Most atheists I know keep their beliefs to themselves unless asked or provoked. Maybe that's because of the type of treatment religious zealots bestow upon unbelievers, ie: the crusades. For me it's because it's a personal choice which is no bodys business but mine. They also usually don't criticize others beliefs unless they try to force them on others. Some of us don't need the threat of eternal damnation to do the right and moral thing. That is what our parents taught us. You may want to read your bible more carefully, the old testament was very brutal. Death to homosexuals, woman treated as chattel. The tone of your post is one of the many reasons I ignore religious zealots. The negativity pulls you down. I did notice that the atheist didn't resort to personal attacks and name calling as you did. He just stated a fact about religions' made up fairy tale. "IN DOG WE TRUST" (all others must be leashed). Peace:devil:

 

I'm an atheist, not a religious zealot. that's why i said "the price we have to pay" rather than "the price all you godless heathens have to pay."

I'll make that clear by editing the first post with a disclaimer to prevent confusion, although i don't think it should really matter. to be honest, ive been in a really shitty mood all day and there probbl was an element of goading to this thread, kinda nasty. apologies for that, i'll leave it as is though.
looking back, i can see how "douchebag atheists" could be read as "hey, atheists, you're all douchebags", although what i really meant was a thread about douchebags within atheism spoiling the public perception of it.

i know i called him a twat, but the first few things i said weren't necessarily a personal attack against the man in the video, its just a description of a certain atheist archetype which is now painfully familiar, and which the man in the video exemplifies so well that i genuinely believed it to be parody.

the tone of my post is negative because the guy in the video represents, for me, what is basically the uglier side of atheism. i've always seen atheism as a positive thing and it concerns me that those who exhibit and celebrate its most reductive aspects are making themselves self-styled ambassadors of atheism, and are altering the public perception of atheists in general. I am also concerned about the politicization of atheism. To a certain extent i think this trend can be evidenced by the fact that i can make a negative post about certain atheists, while making it clear that i don't see them as being representative of the whole, and be immediately told that i should go and read my bible. were we always so quick to draw up battle lines?

 

I never hesitate to let people know I'm an atheist and I'm very quick to convey my disdain for religion. I'm never rude about it though and I always make sure people know that I hate the religion, but not the people who follow the religion(with a few exceptions, of course). If anyone has a problem with my atheism, they can lick my gooch.

 

I will talk about it frankly, if having a frank discussion where it's appropriate and necessary. Mostly, I just try to work around subject, talk about specific issues about religion and not challenge their religion directly.

I believe in atheism very strongly. I like to share things I like about and within atheism. I like to promote it online, to the infinite audience of the Internet. But I want to try and respect other peoples beliefs as well.

 

The title of this thread was misleading... But after reading even your first post, auto, I knew what you were saying.

I'm not an atheist. I don't go to church, but I do believe in God. Don't worry, I'm not goint to prosthelytize/try to convert anyone. I think that kind of thing should be done by one's actions, jmo, and entirely not appropriate here, in this thread.

Anyway, I'm replying because my beloved brother is an atheist and gay. Do I hope he at least is really agnostic, keeping his mind open? YES! However, we never argue about this...we totally accept each other's beliefs. As far as the being gay goes, I couldn't care less, and I personally don't think it bothers God. What DOES greatly bother me is when other people, people calling themselves Christians, get on their high horses, judging. I LOATHE Westboro, as do a number of believers that I know.

For the very most part, I don't think you have to worry nearly as much about those who are atheist discussing their thoughts, as I would about the jack-asses calling themselves Christians (whose mouths are bigger than the state of Texas) and running people totally in the other direction.

 

I honestly fucking despise atheists as much as I despise religious fundamentalist whackos. I despise anyone who thinks they're smart enough to know what is unknown. Most atheists I have found to be just as indoctrinated and unquestioning of authority as those on the other side. Most of them are just a bunch of pretentious liberals who adopted a particular viewpoint that goes along with an image they want to portray of intellectual superiority.

Few people annoy me as much as atheists do... especially the ones who cannot keep their idiotic, self-important opinions to themselves and proselytize every bit as much as the worst of religious hypocrites.

 

Homosexuals.
Democrats.
Republicans.
Jews.
Catholics.
Feminists.
'The British'
Conspiracy theorists.
Counter conspiracy theorists.
The government you see.
The government you don't see.
The UN
The EU
Nato
Koolaid drinkers.
Females in general.
Men in general.
Er, I'm sure I've missed some out...

 

So I said "to go read your bible" and I'M drawing battle lines. I didn't say anything that isn't said in church every Sunday. The title of your thread was "douchebag atheists". The point was you were not behaving as Jesus would. I didn't realize you were an atheist because of your rudeness. I guess you were being a "douchbag Atheist". The posters point I think was that there is no scientific fact in religion. The worst thing he said is it's religions' job to make stuff up. Sounds pretty accurate to me. To the scientific mind religion is delusional thinking. I think most atheists, including the original poster, show amazing restraint. I was in a courtroom recently and "In God We Trust" was on the wall above the judges head. Imagine how an atheist would feel if he were on trial.
There is lots of scientific fact in evolution. The atheists I know refer to themselves as Humanists because the bible is no more than a fairy tale to us. It would be the same as saying we don't believe in unicorns and firebreathing dragons. Unnecessary. Atheism isn't religions' enemy, science is.:Angel_anim:

 

yeh, i totally support that.

i should make it clear that i have no objection to discussion, debate (of a kind, although a great deal of "debate" on this issue is just reductive name-calling which serves only to further entrench people in positions they already held) and dialogue, as i see these as being extremely valuable, if not of paramount importance, nor am i expressing disdain for people that wanna talk about their atheism.

what i object to is the atheist discussions which serve no purpose, the constant re-hashing of the same tired arguments with no goal at all, not even the hint of an attempt to reach a greater understanding or challenge one's own preconceptions. just regurgitating the same old cliche's and statements, quoting dawkins without context etc. its just self congratulatory and weirdly elitist, like intellectual masturbation.


my position is that those that do this have decided that their atheism is so intrinsic to their personalities that they self-identify as atheist when unasked and unprovoked (or see provocation where none exists)and that they constantly seem compelled to do repeat this tired rubbish in order to renew their membership to a select group, "the atheists".


the trouble is that because atheism has no formal doctrine, no voice, no official organ and is, at best, a grouping of individuals on the basis of only one lack of belief (which is atheism's greatest strength; it's not a religion) , these kinds of people can present themselves as representatives of atheism, our proselytysing preachers, working on our behalf to educate the ignorant masses, and they are taken as being so, because most atheists are content to just get on with things, and can't be arsed to contradict them. then when a normal atheist attempts honest discussion, he or she may find himself hampered by the stereotype that they have created, one which limits opportunities for debate.

although atheism is not a religion or in any way an organised body (as i said, its greatest strength) i accept that in order to challenge the role of religion in the state it can be enormously advantageous to organise, briefly, under a single banner for political purposes. i just worry that atheism, spurred on by these kinds of people and he kinds of people they attract, will grow more and more like a religion by the day, but one in which the rituals all involve patting each other on the back for how clever we've all been and how stooopid Christians are. i mean, they don't believe in thor, or the flying spaghetti monster, we just believe in one less god than them harhar

shouldn't we be more humble? isn't our defining characteristic a recognition of our own ignorance in the face of the universe?

and what THE FUCK is with those hats?

 

well, i sorta assumed that you had interpreted my original post as being that of a fundamentalist christian attacking atheism itself, whereas really i'm an atheist attacking a certain tendency within a subset of atheists. in the context of what i thought you had assumed about me, telling me to go read my bible for all the less than charitable parts would have been an attempt to undermine my presumed beliefs. you assumed i was a christian attacking your beliefs, so you responded in kind. in fact i wasn't a christian. That's what i thought was going on, and what i meant by "battle lines": christian versus atheist.

i wasn't after a battle, a purge, if anything :devil:

i don't think you should presume that all atheists are polite. some of us are absolute pricks :devil:

that would have been a very cunning satire on my part, i'm afraid i wasn't being nearly so clever

not sure i agree with the first statement, as to the second, well, separation of church and state is a political issue, and one which i support. and to the third; yes, it looks that way.

i like to think of myself as a humanist as well, as it goes. and it's a position that informs a great deal of my thought. I'd sooner identify as humanist than atheist, as it actually tells you a lot more about my beliefs, and doesn't come with so many unpleasant associations.

 

Science? You mean things like Darwin's theory of evolution and the Big Bang Theory? Darwin survived a major challenge in Dover, Pennsylvania, when a scientist, and evolutionary biologist named Kenneth Miller, managed to convince the court that Intelligent Design was unscientific. Was this another one of those atheist scientists? (They all are, aren't they?) No, this one was a devout Catholic who has written about his continued religious faith as well as his conviction that we evolved by process of natural selection. Apparently, he didn't think that science was his enemy, nor that his religion required believing in unicorns and fire breathing dragons. As for the Big Bang Theory, who originated that? A scientist named Georges Lemaitre-- Fr. Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest.

 

I'm atheist actually more agnostic, but don't rub it in everyone's faces.

Also when I die I want a catholic burial. because I was raised Catholic.

 

quite so,

furthermore, Darwin's theory of evolution is built around mengel's discovery of hereditary traits in living organism being passed on through reproduction; i.e. genetics. Mengel was an Augustinian friar. Plus, of course, the humanism that we mentioned earlier comes from a school of thought within catholic theology, having first been created by Erasmus. I reject this insistence that a separation be created and maintained between those with faith and those who do science. think of all the great scientists we'd lose if this was the case.

 

I think the atheists are looked on the same way as us new agers by thoes that are so locked in to there beliefs as they just cant see any thing else . I do believe in a God tho . More a createive life force of the cosmos , not a gray haired old man on a mountain top . I have scene and been helped by guardain angles. http://www.aznewage.com/new_age A.html

 

p.s. The wiki , and some links . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
http://www.atheistalliance.org/ http://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist.htm
I try to stay open minded , but I haft to believe this crazzy cosmos has a ring master .

 

The grave of Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey.



If Darwin has really killed God, when was the funeral?
A debate between believers and non-believers in Westminster Abbey was entertaining, but failed to change anyone's mind

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/may/13/charles-darwin-god-evolution-religion-belief

 

I think a lot of atheists come off as rude because they think they've figured it all out and are so excited to share it with others, and they feel like they've found the "real truth" and everything else is false.... hmmm, sounds familiar.

 

Here's a couple of good articles I read a few weeks back;

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8885481/after-the-new-atheism/

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/04/dear-richard-dawkins-can-you-hear-me/

 

I am the same way, quite the anti-theist.