Theories on Why Atheists are met with Hostility

[SixFoot]

You could choose to see it that way. But as for myself and many other atheists that I know of we decide to forge on and derive what meaning we can. Even if our very memories will one day turn to dust we still choose to see the bright side. That we are conscious in the here and now and it could've so easily turned out differently. So we cherish what time we have and do what we can to improve the time that those after us will get and so on and so on until the end.

And I think people are better on the whole then you give them credit for. I think their is a great potential for good in human nature. I'm an optimist

Optimism vs Realism. This can't end well. lol

Yeah but if you are honest with yourself can you say that the belief that there is an afterlife is anything more than optimism?

The more I learn about science, the more I can honestly say "yes".

A little background:

I'm fascinated with the Big Bang, String Theory, Quantum Mechanics etc. (one of several hobbies of mine). I'm just geeky enough to set a lot of Science Channel shows on my DVR. The more I learn about the inner-workings of the Universe, the more I revere God. All these things help explain "how" He created our existence.

Its very obvious that God would create all the laws of science along with the dirt that gathered to create us in a very specific and (so far) unique manner.

Christianity (my specific religion) has gone through reform on more than one occasion, getting more and more peaceful as time moves on and as we learn more about our Creator. The next reform I believe will happen as soon as we confirm life on one of the thousands of newly discovered exoplanets.

 

[koshergrl]

Below, I have posted a link to a video I recently watched that I feel gives a good explanation for the hostility that many theists have towards atheists and why they often feel threatened by our nonbelief. My purpose for posting it here is to encourage others here to watch it and then post some of their own explanations of why they think atheists are so hated.

Theists don't like to hear stupid things like, "We're all here by some universal cosmic accident and all life is meaningless in the end."

There's my theory.

You'd rather hear other stupid things like "a man lived inside a whale?" Oh, sorry, it was a big fish.


.

I'd rather live with the fact that I'm intelligent enough to understand the different between parables, historical occurrences, and cultural mythology. It only takes a two dimensional mind to have faith, but a three dimensional mind to understand that faith. That's why I believe one's faith should be a one-on-one conversation between the Soul and the Lord.

I certainly agree with you there!


.

I'm glad we could come to an agreement. God bless you, regardless of what you believe or don't believe in.

Thank you kindly.

When I have more time, I'd like to start a thread about parables, and why Jesus used them. It seems to me that his teaching methods were ineffective. Maybe you could help out there???

Anyhoot, nice to meet you.

His teaching methods were excellent. Something just seems to be lost in translation.

I think a lot of things got lost in translation quite literally where the Bible is concerned and that's part of the problem.

Only in the minds of the biblically illiterate. Nothing has been *lost in translation*. We still have the ancient texts and verification of each of the "translations".

Biblically ignorant people think we have no connection to biblical days, that nobody knows what was said by whom...they think this because they are ignorant, they don't know the history of the bible..and if they don't know it, they assume it can't be known.

It's the same way they approach God and everything else. If they don't get it, well then, obviously it means it doesn't exist/is fraudulent/stupid etc.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

You could choose to see it that way. But as for myself and many other atheists that I know of we decide to forge on and derive what meaning we can. Even if our very memories will one day turn to dust we still choose to see the bright side. That we are conscious in the here and now and it could've so easily turned out differently. So we cherish what time we have and do what we can to improve the time that those after us will get and so on and so on until the end.

And I think people are better on the whole then you give them credit for. I think their is a great potential for good in human nature. I'm an optimist

Optimism vs Realism. This can't end well. lol

Yeah but if you are honest with yourself can you say that the belief that there is an afterlife is anything more than optimism?

The more I learn about science, the more I can honestly say "yes".

A little background:

I'm fascinated with the Big Bang, String Theory, Quantum Mechanics etc. (one of several hobbies of mine). I'm just geeky enough to set a lot of Science Channel shows on my DVR. The more I learn about the inner-workings of the Universe, the more I revere God. All these things help explain "how" He created our existence.

Its very obvious that God would create all the laws of science along with the dirt that gathered to create us in a very specific and (so far) unique manner.

Christianity (my specific religion) has gone through reform on more than one occasion, getting more and more peaceful as time moves on and as we learn more about our Creator. The next reform I believe will happen as soon as we confirm life on one of the thousands of newly discovered exoplanets.

You remind me of myself before I was an atheist. I too am very geeky and a lover of science and technology and study into topics like string theory as a hobby. As a result my concept of what God was became much more abstract and fit into the ideas of the Christian God less and less over time until eventually I concluded that it was very unlikely that there is such a being at all, though if there were I still think that it would be much more abstract and far less like any depiction we have seen so far.

 

[SixFoot]

You could choose to see it that way. But as for myself and many other atheists that I know of we decide to forge on and derive what meaning we can. Even if our very memories will one day turn to dust we still choose to see the bright side. That we are conscious in the here and now and it could've so easily turned out differently. So we cherish what time we have and do what we can to improve the time that those after us will get and so on and so on until the end.

And I think people are better on the whole then you give them credit for. I think their is a great potential for good in human nature. I'm an optimist

Optimism vs Realism. This can't end well. lol

Yeah but if you are honest with yourself can you say that the belief that there is an afterlife is anything more than optimism?

The more I learn about science, the more I can honestly say "yes".

A little background:

I'm fascinated with the Big Bang, String Theory, Quantum Mechanics etc. (one of several hobbies of mine). I'm just geeky enough to set a lot of Science Channel shows on my DVR. The more I learn about the inner-workings of the Universe, the more I revere God. All these things help explain "how" He created our existence.

Its very obvious that God would create all the laws of science along with the dirt that gathered to create us in a very specific and (so far) unique manner.

Christianity (my specific religion) has gone through reform on more than one occasion, getting more and more peaceful as time moves on and as we learn more about our Creator. The next reform I believe will happen as soon as we confirm life on one of the thousands of newly discovered exoplanets.

You remind me of myself before I was an atheist. I too am very geeky and a lover of science and technology and study into topics like string theory as a hobby. As a result my concept of what God was became much more abstract and fit into the ideas of the Christian God less and less over time until eventually I concluded that it was very unlikely that there is such a being at all, though if there were I still think that it would be much more abstract and far less like any depiction we have seen so far.

I remind everyone of someone at one point or another. lol

It all boils down to that one-on-one conversation I alluded to earlier in the thread. Your faith may have depended on it.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

Below, I have posted a link to a video I recently watched that I feel gives a good explanation for the hostility that many theists have towards atheists and why they often feel threatened by our nonbelief. My purpose for posting it here is to encourage others here to watch it and then post some of their own explanations of why they think atheists are so hated.

Theists don't like to hear stupid things like, "We're all here by some universal cosmic accident and all life is meaningless in the end."

There's my theory.

You'd rather hear other stupid things like "a man lived inside a whale?" Oh, sorry, it was a big fish.


.

I'd rather live with the fact that I'm intelligent enough to understand the different between parables, historical occurrences, and cultural mythology. It only takes a two dimensional mind to have faith, but a three dimensional mind to understand that faith. That's why I believe one's faith should be a one-on-one conversation between the Soul and the Lord.

I certainly agree with you there!


.

I'm glad we could come to an agreement. God bless you, regardless of what you believe or don't believe in.

Thank you kindly.

When I have more time, I'd like to start a thread about parables, and why Jesus used them. It seems to me that his teaching methods were ineffective. Maybe you could help out there???

Anyhoot, nice to meet you.

His teaching methods were excellent. Something just seems to be lost in translation.

I think a lot of things got lost in translation quite literally where the Bible is concerned and that's part of the problem.

Only in the minds of the biblically illiterate. Nothing has been *lost in translation*. We still have the ancient texts and verification of each of the "translations".

Biblically ignorant people think we have no connection to biblical days, that nobody knows what was said by whom...they think this because they are ignorant, they don't know the history of the bible..and if they don't know it, they assume it can't be known.

It's the same way they approach God and everything else. If they don't get it, well then, obviously it means it doesn't exist/is fraudulent/stupid etc.

Alright. Let's break it down then. If you're game I'd like to go back and forth presenting our knowledge of Biblical times (for the sake of this discussion, just the New Testament, otherwise it would be a massive discussion worthy of its own thread.) Matter of fact, I would be happy to start up a whole other thread just for such discussion if you were up for it.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

You could choose to see it that way. But as for myself and many other atheists that I know of we decide to forge on and derive what meaning we can. Even if our very memories will one day turn to dust we still choose to see the bright side. That we are conscious in the here and now and it could've so easily turned out differently. So we cherish what time we have and do what we can to improve the time that those after us will get and so on and so on until the end.

And I think people are better on the whole then you give them credit for. I think their is a great potential for good in human nature. I'm an optimist

Optimism vs Realism. This can't end well. lol

Yeah but if you are honest with yourself can you say that the belief that there is an afterlife is anything more than optimism?

The more I learn about science, the more I can honestly say "yes".

A little background:

I'm fascinated with the Big Bang, String Theory, Quantum Mechanics etc. (one of several hobbies of mine). I'm just geeky enough to set a lot of Science Channel shows on my DVR. The more I learn about the inner-workings of the Universe, the more I revere God. All these things help explain "how" He created our existence.

Its very obvious that God would create all the laws of science along with the dirt that gathered to create us in a very specific and (so far) unique manner.

Christianity (my specific religion) has gone through reform on more than one occasion, getting more and more peaceful as time moves on and as we learn more about our Creator. The next reform I believe will happen as soon as we confirm life on one of the thousands of newly discovered exoplanets.

You remind me of myself before I was an atheist. I too am very geeky and a lover of science and technology and study into topics like string theory as a hobby. As a result my concept of what God was became much more abstract and fit into the ideas of the Christian God less and less over time until eventually I concluded that it was very unlikely that there is such a being at all, though if there were I still think that it would be much more abstract and far less like any depiction we have seen so far.

I remind everyone of someone at one point or another. lol

It all boils down to that one-on-one conversation I alluded to earlier in the thread. Your faith may have depended on it.

I'm not sure which conversation you alluded to, my apologies. You'll have to remind me.

 

[koshergrl]

Good grief, I'm not going to recite my entire knowledge of *biblical times* for you. That's ridiculous.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

Good grief, I'm not going to recite my entire knowledge of *biblical times* for you. That's ridiculous.

Then what value does your claim have if you have no desire to back it up?

 

[SixFoot]

You could choose to see it that way. But as for myself and many other atheists that I know of we decide to forge on and derive what meaning we can. Even if our very memories will one day turn to dust we still choose to see the bright side. That we are conscious in the here and now and it could've so easily turned out differently. So we cherish what time we have and do what we can to improve the time that those after us will get and so on and so on until the end.

And I think people are better on the whole then you give them credit for. I think their is a great potential for good in human nature. I'm an optimist

Optimism vs Realism. This can't end well. lol

Yeah but if you are honest with yourself can you say that the belief that there is an afterlife is anything more than optimism?

The more I learn about science, the more I can honestly say "yes".

A little background:

I'm fascinated with the Big Bang, String Theory, Quantum Mechanics etc. (one of several hobbies of mine). I'm just geeky enough to set a lot of Science Channel shows on my DVR. The more I learn about the inner-workings of the Universe, the more I revere God. All these things help explain "how" He created our existence.

Its very obvious that God would create all the laws of science along with the dirt that gathered to create us in a very specific and (so far) unique manner.

Christianity (my specific religion) has gone through reform on more than one occasion, getting more and more peaceful as time moves on and as we learn more about our Creator. The next reform I believe will happen as soon as we confirm life on one of the thousands of newly discovered exoplanets.

You remind me of myself before I was an atheist. I too am very geeky and a lover of science and technology and study into topics like string theory as a hobby. As a result my concept of what God was became much more abstract and fit into the ideas of the Christian God less and less over time until eventually I concluded that it was very unlikely that there is such a being at all, though if there were I still think that it would be much more abstract and far less like any depiction we have seen so far.

I remind everyone of someone at one point or another. lol

It all boils down to that one-on-one conversation I alluded to earlier in the thread. Your faith may have depended on it.

I'm not sure which conversation you alluded to, my apologies. You'll have to remind me.

(all instances of "you" are to be taken in general)

Faith has to be a one-on-one conversation between you and the Lord. It can't exist between you and a holy man, he can't save you. I don't go to church on Sundays, so I don't receive biased, cherry picked teachings from <insert denomination here>. That's how you end up with religious zealots making decisions for you.

I read the Bible for myself and I talk to the Lord on my own accord.

 

[koshergrl]

Good grief, I'm not going to recite my entire knowledge of *biblical times* for you. That's ridiculous.

Then what value does your claim have if you have no desire to back it up?

Ask me a specific question, and I will answer it. What exactly do you dispute?

But I'm not going to *validate* my statement by vomiting my entire store of knowledge of "biblical times".

 

[AtheistBuddah]

You could choose to see it that way. But as for myself and many other atheists that I know of we decide to forge on and derive what meaning we can. Even if our very memories will one day turn to dust we still choose to see the bright side. That we are conscious in the here and now and it could've so easily turned out differently. So we cherish what time we have and do what we can to improve the time that those after us will get and so on and so on until the end.

And I think people are better on the whole then you give them credit for. I think their is a great potential for good in human nature. I'm an optimist

Optimism vs Realism. This can't end well. lol

Yeah but if you are honest with yourself can you say that the belief that there is an afterlife is anything more than optimism?

The more I learn about science, the more I can honestly say "yes".

A little background:

I'm fascinated with the Big Bang, String Theory, Quantum Mechanics etc. (one of several hobbies of mine). I'm just geeky enough to set a lot of Science Channel shows on my DVR. The more I learn about the inner-workings of the Universe, the more I revere God. All these things help explain "how" He created our existence.

Its very obvious that God would create all the laws of science along with the dirt that gathered to create us in a very specific and (so far) unique manner.

Christianity (my specific religion) has gone through reform on more than one occasion, getting more and more peaceful as time moves on and as we learn more about our Creator. The next reform I believe will happen as soon as we confirm life on one of the thousands of newly discovered exoplanets.

You remind me of myself before I was an atheist. I too am very geeky and a lover of science and technology and study into topics like string theory as a hobby. As a result my concept of what God was became much more abstract and fit into the ideas of the Christian God less and less over time until eventually I concluded that it was very unlikely that there is such a being at all, though if there were I still think that it would be much more abstract and far less like any depiction we have seen so far.

I remind everyone of someone at one point or another. lol

It all boils down to that one-on-one conversation I alluded to earlier in the thread. Your faith may have depended on it.

I'm not sure which conversation you alluded to, my apologies. You'll have to remind me.

(all instances of "you" are to be taken in general)

Faith has to be a one-on-one conversation between you and the Lord. It can't exist between you and a holy man, he can't save you. I don't go to church on Sundays, so I don't receive biased, cherry picked teachings from <insert denomination here>. That's how you end up with religious zealots making decisions for you.

I read the Bible for myself and I talk to the Lord on my own accord.

Well I gotta give you credit for that. Honestly if more Christians were like you then I think I'd have a lot less to complain about haha. A lot of YouTubers would be out of a job that's for sure

 

[Unkotare]

No need for a "theory." It's because they often tend to be annoying assholes who can't deal with their emotional problems.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

Good grief, I'm not going to recite my entire knowledge of *biblical times* for you. That's ridiculous.

Then what value does your claim have if you have no desire to back it up?

Ask me a specific question, and I will answer it. What exactly do you dispute?

But I'm not going to *validate* my statement by vomiting my entire store of knowledge of "biblical times".

I'm not asking for your entire knowledge base just a few tidbits that would support your claim. A claim without anything to support it is essentially worthless which is why if you have anything to support your claim I would genuinely be eager to hear it. Well read it rather lol.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

No need for a "theory." It's because they often tend to be annoying assholes who can't deal with their emotional problems.

If you only knew how ironic this post was

 

[SixFoot]

(all instances of "you" are to be taken in general)

Faith has to be a one-on-one conversation between you and the Lord. It can't exist between you and a holy man, he can't save you. I don't go to church on Sundays, so I don't receive biased, cherry picked teachings from <insert denomination here>. That's how you end up with religious zealots making decisions for you.

I read the Bible for myself and I talk to the Lord on my own accord.

Well I gotta give you credit for that. Honestly if more Christians were like you then I think I'd have a lot less to complain about haha. A lot of YouTubers would be out of a job that's for sure

I always say that if more people were like me, the world would be a very boring, but peaceful place. lol

 

[koshergrl]

Good grief, I'm not going to recite my entire knowledge of *biblical times* for you. That's ridiculous.

Then what value does your claim have if you have no desire to back it up?

Ask me a specific question, and I will answer it. What exactly do you dispute?

But I'm not going to *validate* my statement by vomiting my entire store of knowledge of "biblical times".

I'm not asking for your entire knowledge base just a few tidbits that would support your claim. A claim without anything to support it is essentially worthless which is why if you have anything to support your claim I would genuinely be eager to hear it. Well read it rather lol.

This is what you said:

If you're game I'd like to go back and forth presenting our knowledge of Biblical times

You didn't ask me to support my statement, or even indicate you were disagreeing with my statement.

 

[AtheistBuddah]

Good grief, I'm not going to recite my entire knowledge of *biblical times* for you. That's ridiculous.

Then what value does your claim have if you have no desire to back it up?

Ask me a specific question, and I will answer it. What exactly do you dispute?

But I'm not going to *validate* my statement by vomiting my entire store of knowledge of "biblical times".

I'm not asking for your entire knowledge base just a few tidbits that would support your claim. A claim without anything to support it is essentially worthless which is why if you have anything to support your claim I would genuinely be eager to hear it. Well read it rather lol.

This is what you said:

If you're game I'd like to go back and forth presenting our knowledge of Biblical times

You didn't ask me to support my statement, or even indicate you were disagreeing with my statement.

Fair enough. Let me rephrase it then. Since you don't feel like having a lengthy discussion about it, would you be willing to give a few examples of things you know about biblical history that support your claim?

 

[koshergrl]

We know the history of the bible. It didn't just appear out of whole cloth one day, nor did various and assorted villains separately secret away the ancient texts in order to misrepresent them to the masses. We know who/when the ancient documents were translated/copied. We continue to find scraps of ancient scripture with writing on it that confirms that our current translations are correct.

"

• Circa B.C. 1400–400 - The manuscripts comprising the original Hebrew Bible (39 Old Testament books) are completed. The Book of the Law is kept in the tabernacle and later in the Temple beside the Ark of the Covenant.
  
• Circa B.C. 300 - All of the original Old Testament Hebrew books have been written, collected, and recognized as official, canonical books.
• Circa B.C. 250–200 - The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (39 Old Testament books), is produced. The 14 books of the Apocrypha are also included."

"

• Circa A.D. 45–100 - Original 27 books of the Greek New Testament are written.
  
• Circa A.D. 140-150 - Marcion of Sinope's heretical "New Testament" prompted Orthodox Christians to establish a New Testament canon.
  
• Circa A.D. 200 - The Jewish Mishnah, the Oral Torah, is first recorded.
  
• Circa A.D. 240 - Origen compiles the Hexapla, a six-columned parallel of Greek and Hebrew texts.
  
• Circa A.D. 305-310 - Lucian of Antioch's Greek New Testament text becomes the basis for the Textus Receptus.
  
• Circa A.D. 312 - Codex Vaticanus is possibly among the original 50 copies of the Bible ordered by Emperor Constantine. It is eventually kept in the Vatican Library in Rome."

History of the Bible - Timeline from Creation to Today

"We tend to read the Bible from our own viewpoint—that is, we tend to think of the Bible as if it came from a world of texts, books, and authors. But the Bible was written before there were books. As the great French scholar Henri-Jean Martin has observed, the role of writing in society has changed dramatically through history, yet modern analyses of biblical literature often depend on the perspective of the text in modern society."

NOVA Origins of the Written Bible

 

[koshergrl]

Whether or not you believe the Word is holy, it is inaccurate to pretend that "we don't know" whether the translations were accurate down through time, or where the body of the bible came from. We DO know.

 

[Derideo_Te]

Giving meaning to life without an afterlife is the same thing as worshiping your kitchen table, IMO; its a love of material things, with nothing to look forward to after departing this Earth (except of course the arrogant thought of, "Surely I'll be remembered for this!").

If you believe something as superficial as that then you obviously know nothing whatsoever about atheists.

What gives meaning to my life are the people that I love here and now. Making them happy now is more important that telling them that everything will be just hunky dory when they are dead. Cherishing the life one has now and those that I share it with is way more meaningful than wasting my life on an expectation that will never occur.