Believing/disbelieving whatever story about the existence/nonexistence of “god” (or anything else) matters not one whit to me. This obsession with stories that you people share. I do not share it.
That “you gotta be obsessed with stories like me” stereotype.
Well said Dr Satan.
That we do abortions for fun.
I mean, I do do abortions for fun. But not because I’m an atheist.
Were you paraphrasing MiB3 there?
I miss the awards only for this kind of things.
Thanks for the laugh good sir.
That we “hate” god. I don’t in believe in a god, how the fuck could I hate something I don’t think exists? It’s moronic
That’s always weird. Like, do we hate the Easter Bunny too?
I think we’re stereotyped often as the militant and belligerent atheists quite a lot. We have been painted as unsympathetic assholes who like to talk down to religious people to make us feel better about ourselves, not to mention a weird overlap with some parts of the far-right, usually by way of transphobia, homophobia, racism, social darwinism and the enforcement of poorly understood or straight up incorrect “science”
Eugenecists inhabit this space, as well as people who might call themselves “race realists”, as well as people who think their middle-school-level understanding of genetics and sex encapsulates the entirety of gender and sexuality. It’s those atheists who claim to love science, hate ignorance, but remain ignorant of science. They give us a bad name, and their loudness makes it seem like they represent us
I’ve ran across a few in real life as well. The main thing they have in common seems to be religious recoil. They used to be religious, but realised that it was false. Unfortunately, losing the nostic part is harder than losing the theistic part. They tend to over shoot, and become quite radical.
On the plus side, they tend to settle down. It takes time (sometimes years) to find their new equilibrium. I wasn’t particularly religious growing up, but even I had a bit of that recoil effect for a while. I’ll still go toe to toe with a religion enthusiast, if required, but try not to instigate the “discussion”. I just step in when their public views need balancing out.
I’ve wondered if most of those atheists were brought up very religious. They seem to take a very religious attitude towards their atheism. It would kind of explain why they’re so obnoxious, too. Kind of like lashing out at their upbringing.
I suspect a whole lot of atheists were brought up religious. The heavy religiosity is the push they need to even think on the subject. I think a lot of people who are what I’d call passively religious (non-practicing, don’t really care, but might say say they believe in god if asked) don’t have to engage with the material critically, so it’s not as much a part of their world. For sure there are atheists out there who have a dogmatic approach to atheism because of their former belief systems
But even beyond that, I think it runs deeper. Christianity, if you’re in the west, is foundational to our culture, even in secular nations. It still informs traditions and morals and perspectives that can trace themselves to a Christian origin, and that underlying religiosity in our cultures does inform the way in which we view the world. I concluded this when a friend pointed out to me the language we use in evolution
We describe evolved adaptations as serving a purpose. We’ll say things like “we evolved opposable digits to better grasp things”, and yeah, we all know that’s not strictly true, but language informs our perspective and reflects it. We didn’t evolve thumbs to hold things; We just got thumbs, and were able to hold things with them. These are not the same, and the former still has that kernel of creationism in it, some subconscious belief in a greater purpose
That said, I generally agree that an atheist might be made more militant if he had a particularly religious upbringing. Really, though, I suspect it’s also a lot to do with insecurities. I grew up in a passively religious household, and was sent to a catholic extracurricular just so that I could choose for myself what to believe, and in that brief time, I actually became easily the most religious person in my house. Religion spoke to my insecurities and fears. I was bullied a lot at the time, and the thought that my righteousness would be rewarded and my bullies wickedness would be punished was wonderful. In turning atheist after that, it didn’t undo the bullying. Instead, the self-righteous idea of “I’m smarter than you dumb Christians” was the new salve for insecurties
I’m way more tolerant now. Maybe the issue is just age. Maybe most of those awful ones are just obnoxious teens and young adults who would be obnoxious either way, and they’ll grow out of it. If they don’t, they get to become Ricky Gervais without the money or fame. Kinda rambled more than I meant to, but yeah, just throwing out some perspectives
A lot of people like to say that atheists traffics with demons to solve their daily problems, routinely play with Satan’s gigantic cock, and do a fuck ton of drugs and I’m here to put the rumors to rest. I have never once even seen Satan’s gigantic cock, nonetheless held it in my hands.
That we despise people who have religious faith. I don’t despise people with religious faith - I despise what religion does to people who have faith.
That when we see a fish on the back of their car, we know we’re going to be following a really considerate driver.
I rarely eat babies
Honestly I am mostly bothered by the “reddit atheist” stereotype. Most of the atheist even on Reddit, that I have met, even in Reddit, were as annoying or pleasant as everyone else. But it feels like if you oppose religious nonsense as it gets pushed in your face online, “everyone” thinks you are some radical who hates all e.g. christians, while in reality you might intentionally buy some handmade crafts for the local church to support some charity and support your elderly local community by rewarding their social efforts.
I don’t care what others do with themselves in the privacy of their house, or what goes on between their ears.
I take a very big exception, however, when people try to tell me how to act and live based on their own scriptures.
A person’s religion only affects them. It defines what they can or cannot do.
It doesn’t affect me in the least, nor should it ever do so to any degree.
Absolutely. Just because I think religion is stupid and don’t want it shoved down my throat everywhere I go, doesn’t mean I dislike the people spending their time on it.
People who don’t keep religion to themselves and start bothering me or others with it (Jehovah’s witnesses and whatnot), they bother me and I do dislike those few
I shave my neck
Answering that question is pointless: I couldn’t give a single solitary flying fuck what a mentally deranged person thinks of any demographic unless it becomes a threat to somebody other than themselves.
An untrue stereotype is that you’re all like this poster above lol
Honestly, I think a good stereotype that religious people have about athiests is that the average athiest would consider the religious ones to be the “normal people.” Blatantly not true, we view them as willful ignorants, less functional human beings.
I don’t hate religion or religious people. I just don’t believe. I do find religions really interesting, though, historically and culturally.
Atheist and Athlete look too similar
I live in a country that is on the surface quite ateist and nobody is openly religious, not even Muslim immigrants.
So i really got nothing.
Where is thi magical land?
I don’t know, who is “us”? Are you asking for opinions from atheists about stereotypes about Christians that aren’t true?
