Atheism MythsAs an atheist, I am frequently on the receiving end of odd questions and, ironically, general disbelief. People who believe that the universe is 6,000 years old question my reasoning. Others seem to have no idea what "atheism" actually means, or what an atheist is, so I decided to put up a page about it. As atheists are a disparate bunch, I can really only speak for myself here, but I'm sure a lot of this would hold for most atheists. I found a list online of myths that religious people have, after their own kind, believed about atheists, and adapted it for the stage, thusly: 1. Atheists hate Christians (or God): No, we don’t. Personally, I don't care what your religion is, and it's hard to hate a god you don't believe in. 2. Most atheists started out as Christians, and stopped believing because of some bad experience: I can't speak for anyone else, but I never had any bad experience with religion. I just started asking some questions and did some research. 3. Atheists have no sense of morality: It seems odd, given the overwhelming amount of hurt and pain caused by religious people all over the world, that anyone could take this seriously. 4. Atheists are a unified group, like a church - it's just another religion: Yeah, atheism is just another religion like not collecting stamps is just another hobby. Good luck making sense of that. 5. Atheists actually know, deep inside, that there’s a God; it's perfectly obvious: There is nothing “obvious” about the existence of a god unless you’ve been brainwashed. Gods are culture-specific. Atheism doesn't have that problem. 6. Atheists don’t really know anything about Christianity: As atheism necessarily involves curiosity and a willingness to research one's opinions, most atheists know about many religions. In my personal experience, I seem to know more about it than most people who call themselves Christians. 7. Atheists’ lives are cold, empty and uncaring: Having religious delusions doesn’t make anyone more “caring”. I would regard anyone who says “I don’t know how anyone could live without God” as living an empty life. He will never know what it means to live as a free man. 8. Atheists are depressive and nihilistic, since they believe there’s nothing after death, and therefore there’s no point to anything: On the contrary, we, unlike Christians, know how precious life is, because we’re aware that it’s our only one. 9. Atheists are arrogant: We defend the right to think for ourselves, which is not the same thing. Also, we're not going to tell you you'll burn in hell forever just because you don't agree with us. 10. Most criminals are atheists; the percentage of atheists among criminals is higher than among the general populace; atheists have a higher rate of family breakdown than Christians, etc.: Official government statistics indicate the opposite. 11. Atheists are stubborn and closed-minded: Many theists, by their own admission, structure their beliefs so that no evidence could possibly disprove them. Atheists, on the other hand, will believe anything that makes sense.
|