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Have you been called a destroyer of religion!

To answer the above question yes I just was so described. I read the Webster's dictionary description of an Atheist to them "as one who denies the existence of god or gods". I pointed out it saids nothing of being a destroyer of religion and I think it is important as Atheists that we make this clear to others. My personal opposition to religion is only that they follow the Constitution which states that state and religion be separated. What they believe means nothing to me as long as they respect me as a person with a different view of the need for religion. My belief is to use science to prove facts which i then live by plus the Constitution. What I believe has no bearing on what you as a religious person believes.

Marine 8 May 24
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9 comments

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1

A Destroyer of Religion sounds like a super hero 🙂

1

No, but I was called a reprobate by a sociology professor who was also a Presbyterian minister.

JimG Level 8 May 24, 2018
2

I've never been accused of being a "destroyer of religion" but similar accusations are often used as a bludgeon against nonbelievers. Personally, I love this response by Robert G. Ingersoll in an interview in the Chicago Tribune, November 14, 1879.

Question. The great objection to your teaching urged by your enemies is that you constantly tear down, and never build up?

Answer. I have just published a little book entitled, "Some Mistakes of Moses," in which I have endeavored to give most of the arguments I have urged against the Pentateuch in a lecture I delivered under that title. The motto on the title page is, "A destroyer of weeds, thistles and thorns is a benefactor, whether he soweth grain or not." I cannot for my life see why one should be charged with tearing down and not rebuilding simply because he exposes a sham, or detects a lie. I do not feel under any obligation to build something in the place of a detected falsehood. All I think I am under obligation to put in the place of a detected lie is the detection. Most religionists talk as if mistakes were valuable things and they did not wish to part with them without a consideration. Just how much they regard lies worth a dozen I do not know. If the price is reasonable I am perfectly willing to give it, rather than to see them live and give their lives to the defence of delusions. I am firmly convinced that to be happy here will not in the least detract from our happiness in another world should we be so fortunate as to reach another world; and I cannot see the value of any philosophy that reaches beyond the intelligent happiness of the present. There may be a God who will make us happy in another world. If he does, it will be more than he has accomplished in this. I suppose that he will never have more than infinite power and never have less than infinite wisdom, and why people should expect that he should do better in another world than he has in this is something that I have never been able to explain. A being who has the power to prevent it and yet who allows thousands and millions of his children to starve; who devours them with earthquakes; who allows whole nations to be enslaved, cannot in my judgment be implicitly be depended upon to do justice in another world.

Link for those interested [gutenberg.org]

0

In a way they are right, because most atheists are as they are as a side effect of being skeptics and critical thinkers and not affording belief to the unsubstantiated. While it's not intended as an existential threat and isn't necessarily served up with anti-theism, our simply not buying their ideology is by itself in a sense a "destroyer of religion". It violates major taboos. Intellectual freedom is terribly threatening to them.

People like us used to be shut up by things like blasphemy laws and threats of great bodily harm. And we have generally been demonized throughout history. So this is no surprise.

Be loud and proud, O Destroyer of Religion!

I could use a few more supporters around the neighborhood.

@Marine I hear ya. In that case discretion may be the better part of valor.

Personally ... and this is just me, not necessarily you or anyone else ... my journey through fundamentalist-land tended to make me prone to over-sharing / TMI. I had to quit being such an open book in an overdetermined effort to be seen as "honest" and "transparent" and therefore having nothing to hide. I tended to over-explain. So ... I have learned to give people as little information as possible in these matters. I don't lead with my atheism and indeed most theists don't really lead with their theism (well maybe they do in the Bible Belt, but not anywhere I've ever lived). In most places, discussion of religion and politics is considered impolite and people are happy to avoid it. So there's no particular reason to be "outed" most of the time. That's one way to handle it ...

1

Only reason can destroy religion. Just one person talking reasonably will likely not talk a person out of their religion, but after hearing enough talk about reason, they might just catch it and lose their religion on their own. If someone is accusing you of destroying their religion, they must already have had doubts and are afraid of living without their religion. We all must speak our truth, and perhaps live by good example, but I don't think most of us have the intention of destroying religion, or the belief that one person even could, but oh wouldn't that be nice!

They (first time met on line) just asked if I was a catholic and I replied I was an athiest. You would have thought I droipped a bomb as they exploded . After I gave them the definition of an Athiest they discontinued the connection.

1

"Destroyer of Religion." It could be sign that you should be worried. If someone called me that I'd locate the nearest door, take one or two steps towards it, and ask "what if I am?" What kinds of folks do you surround yourself with?

Online on this site . I do not know they were on this site anyway. I cannot find them on this site after our discussion which makes me wonder how they got there in the first place.

2

Oh, I'm out to destroy it. Relegate it to the realms of myth with all the other failed ideologies. I know it won't happen for a very long time, certainty not in my lifetime, but it will and I'll be glad I did my small part in getting shed of it.
.
Religions seek to subjugate the human will.
That alone is reason enough to be rid of it, imo.

2

Wow, never been called that one, but would love the opportunity to destroy a couple, wouldn't know where to begin mind you.

5

I used to be all about "live and let live".
My problem with believers is that there are far too many of them who do NOT
respect the rights of other to believe something else, or to not believe anything
at all. They don't respect the rights of others to just "be", and to live their own lives.
I am not only an atheist, now I am an anti-theist.
I tolerate religious believers by law. I do not tolerate their constant interference into
my life, and the lives of others. Nor am I required to.

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