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So,religious people actually,find the word atheist offensive,why? Been blocked by someone,who first told me that she is religious,and when I said,I am atheist,she took it personal. What's the problem with today's human beings?

Humanlove 7 Sep 4
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11 comments

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We're saying that the Emperor has no clothes, and it makes them uncomfortable to admit that they've been lying their whole lives.

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They fear atheists, and seek to dehumanize them, because atheists are a living rebuke to their failed epistemology of religious faith.

If atheists are hateful, vile, licentious, and so forth ... that's far less threatening than that atheists have a considered, rational, coherent reason for being atheists. That's something they'd have to address and engage with. And they know, intuitively, that they cannot.

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I believe People feel threatened by Athiests because they think they will lose their faith.

[twin-cities.umn.edu]

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Her pastor, and fellow believers, have told her she is putting her soul in jeapordy by associating with you.

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ignorance. fear. a certain comfort people find in being the 'us" in "us vs. them."

g

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I was raised to believe that the word 'atheist' was equivalent to Satan or the Devil. All atheists, according to my Christian schoolmasters and church leaders, were agents of evil, damned to destruction by fire. The very word was a trigger for fear and hostility, and especially guilt for anyone who dared doubt the 'evidence' for a god. To many Christians, the reason it is an affront to deny the existence of their god is that their very identity is closely interwoven with their religion.

But this is well known. So my question then is this: why does it seem so hard for many nonbelievers (who may never have been part of a religious upbringing) to understand and empathize with those who remain 'under the spell' of Christianity? Do you not recognize thought control when you see it?

We do have sympathy towards religious people,I never trash them,I do work for the church, they tell me about religion all the time, sometimes I reveal that I am atheist,and some religious people are okay with that,some get offensive and ask,how i even got the job.

@m0752532706 My apologies if I misjudged you ... it's just that your last question makes one wonder. The 'problem with today's human beings' is, after all, not very different from the problems of prior generations ... agreed?

what is well known, and by whom? you mean it is well known that christians are being mind-controlled, which christians tend NOT to know, or that christians think atheists are satanic, which isn't even universally true? most of the christians i have met in my life did NOT think atheists are satanic. also, i have never been christian, and yet i often see atheism presented as the opposite of christianity. i wasn't a christian even when i wasn't yet an atheist. and the christians i knew as a child tended to disallow me in their homes, throw things at me, call me names and more, and i wasn't an atheist as a child. that's just how they dealt with jews, even jewish children. but religious jews are not atheists and they don't think atheists are satanic, nor throw things at christians, or at atheists. meanwhile, regarding sympathy, yes i have a generalized sympathy for those whose minds are being controlled. i have more sympathy for those NOT telling me i am evil than for those who ARE telling me that.

g

@genessa What is well known, or should be, is that devout Christians view atheism, which is to deny or blaspheme the Holy Spirit, as the 'unpardonable sin.'

"Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin."
Mark 3:28-29 (NIV)

And what is well known, or should be, is that devout Christians often see themselves as Christians first, with an identity that is so strong that nonbelief (or the beliefs of other faiths) are viewed as threatening.

And what should also be well known to all who do not suffer from religious convictions, is that, like so many religions, the attitude of religious faith--which is to say, willful ingorance and believing in things one cannot possibly know--serves to police one's very thoughts--thought control.

Finally, what I did NOT say was that Christians think atheists are satanic. Please reread what I wrote. I recalled how I was raised to believe that atheism was equivalent (as in, on par with) the source of all evil. Devout Christians view all sinful behavior as being influenced by the Devil, but that's a far cry from Satanism.

@pnfullifidian lol you quote the christian bible to tell me what is well known, but i am not familiar with the contents of the christian bible, and i am guessing an awful lot of christians aren't either (or they wouldn't keep making up stuff about abortion, for example). as for what SHOULD be well known, that is not always what IS well known. also i didn't mention satanism as a religion. something that is satanic is simply devilish. it is an adjective that is often used just to denote being satan-like. i was not referring to satanism, the entity.

g

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It might not be so personal, possibly fear of the devil. This is the thought of the very religious. It may means your are of the devil or you are worshiping Satan. This is how it was were i grew up in Kentucky.

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Same problem it was yesterday.

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Insecurity wants to build walls to keep everything out that may pop the bubble or fog the rose-colored glasses. But the wall will also keep in the status quo. The feeling of security in a black and white only world. No questions! No other opinions! So comfortable. So simple.

Well put

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Some religions demand recent recent converts do not talk with those of other religions , because they want to totally indoctrinate you themselves .

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Thinking for one's self is a scary proposition for religious minded folk.

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