Reply to Distrust of Atheists

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Distrust of Atheists"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]As an atheist, I am not surprised by this study. People are generally shocked to find out I don't believe in god, and tell me things like, "But you're such a nice person." I do think that most Americans equate belief in god or participation in an organized religion with morality.

The reason I became an atheist is because I grew up christian and about 50% of the people in my church were awful people most of the time. Now don't get me wrong, I don't in any way think all christians are this way, but the fact that these "Sunday christians" were so willing to be terrible people and then come to church and raise their voices the loudest (and with the most judgment) made me question the faith.

Not only that, but the church's more literalist beliefs (in e.g., 2 Timothy wrt women's role in culture), seemed bizarre in a modern world with gender equality. Also, to restate what a few PPs have discussed, it was the teaching of my former church that a murderer who underwent a deathbed conversion would go to heaven, but that anyone who didn't accept Jesus as their personal savior and confess their sins (e.g., atheists, people who believed other religions, people in isolated cultures who had never heard of Judeo-Christianity) would go directly to hell, regardless of the decency of their lives. Years of this sort of dissonance between the church's teachings and my own personal views on morality led to me questioning and eventually renouncing my faith.

I do personally think that humans are predisposed to religious thinking due to brain anatomy, so I don't think less of people who believe in god. However, I do not in any capacity believe they are more moral or good people than those who do not believe in god. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics