Why are religious people scared of atheists?

by jamesmahon 69 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jamesmahon

  Just read bublegum's post and was going to post there but realised it would be off topic.

  It got me thinking - as did some of the other atheist threads - why are religious people scared or atheists? Or indeed are they scared? If not scared why are they so angry with them? Is it simply they feel their beliefs are being insulted (which I can understand), feeling they are being told they are not allowed to believe or is it something deeper?

  And I suppose to swing it around, what is it about religious people that freaks out those without a belief so much?

  I guess to start this I would give two examples to help show my feelings.

  I told my son (my daughter is still a bit young) when he asked about god that I didn't believe but it was up to him to make his own mind up. He goes to school and he is basically told that god exists. This got me really cross and I had to think really hard as to why. I thought it was because children are so impressionable but then I realised I was raised as a witness and still ended up as a non-believer so it wasn't that. Although I was also angry (not with him) when he told me he didn't believe in god because I don't want to force my views onto him. I think it boiled down to the fact that I am willing to give my child room to make his own mind up and my experience with religious people -rightly or wrongly - is they don't give the same room to their own children. In addition I think the education system has enough to do educating children without wasting their time on something that they can decide upon later on with no detriment to their lives. In contrast to say maths, English or history.

  Second example relates to George Bush and him praying to god for direction on whether to go to war with Iraq. It still makes me feel sick inside that a man in charge of the most powerful war machine the world has ever known is unable to weigh evidence and advice and make a decision without divine inspiration. It is an extreme example but the need for support and guidance from the supernatural rather than just sorting out your own problems with the help or real people I find a bit odd in day to day life and scares the crap out of me when it is part of the decision making process of powerful people.

  Anyway, not the world's most interesting thread and probably been discussed to death before but thought better to start a new thread rather than have the pointless debate of 'Dawkins said this therefore you dirty atheists are all Nazis’ on the that of Bubblegum.
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  cantleave

  Because logic always beats fantasy!
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  sabastious

  Tell your son that there is more to life than belief and that everyone has to make their own choices. Many people try to make their belief appear bigger by grouping up with others of like mind. However grouping up doesn't make a certain belief any more true, but it can make the people grouping up feel that way. What they are feeling is power because people who group up behind a belief are saying they want that belief to effect the world outside their own minds. Power is the ability to change your external environment and therefore believers are susceptible to corruption because power comes from belief. This is why non believers exist because the beliefs that have become mainstream are just ideas that were inflated by agreement and self delusion and encroach upon their lives. They stand in opposition to oppression and believe in true freedom of mind.

  Religious people are scared of atheists because the atheists do their homework. This is a cultural change that is being brought on by a surge of non believers. To believe in the world of today you have to do more homework than the atheists which is a real challenge.

  -Sab
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  jamesmahon

  Cantleave

  I don't think so. People are rational - in the sense that with the information set they have they try to reach the best conclusions. Now I might disagree on the conclusions they reach with that information but they will believe it is logical. If they knew it was fantasy they would stop believing. So must be more than that.

  Still got any twilight down south by the way? love this time of year when there is always the light on the horizon over the sea towards Fife. Completely off topic I know but hell it is my thread.
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  jamesmahon

  Interesting Sab. Sometimes I think I am just too liberal. In a year or two he will not believe in Father Christmas which will not bother me in the slightest so why do I feel so uneasy that he is already professing a non-belief in god? I see it as a fact like any other. I guess I feel uneasy about how it sounds to others in his school who do believe (because their parents' do). Makes me realise how tough it must be to be a non-believer in the states and try to bring up kids the same way.
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  sabastious

  Interesting Sab. Sometimes I think I am just too liberal. In a year or two he will not believe in Father Christmas which will not bother me in the slightest so why do I feel so uneasy that he is already professing a non-belief in god? I see it as a fact like any other. I guess I feel uneasy about how it sounds to others in his school who do believe (because their parents' do). Makes me realise how tough it must be to be a non-believer in the states and try to bring up kids the same way.

  You said it in your original post you don't want him to choose non belief because of you. This means that you have a strong interest in free will and that's always a good thing. Sons look up to their fathers and they often choose similar ways of thinking and behaviors, but they are just test driving. When they become a young adult they might choose to shed what they initially picked up from their parents especially if the parent focused on teaching them freedom of mind throughout their childhood.

  -Sab
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  sizemik

  Believers feel more threatened by Atheists than alternative religions. It's because Atheism doesn't question religion as such . . . it questions the "virtue" of faith without evidence, and exposes it's foolishness. And nobody likes to be seen as a fool.
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  cantleave

  James, All the twighlight has gone! But it was lovely whilst it lasted

  When the logical fallacy is pointed out what does the believer resort to?

  Faith! How often have you heard statesments like "Supernatural phenomena cannot be measured by scientific techniques!", or "god works in mysterious ways!"?

  I know when I was still a JW, I really hated anyone asking me why I believed in god. I felt somewhat embarrassed by trying to justify my world view from a 2000 year old book, that I knew contained many inconsistencies and was primarily allergorical in nature.

  Was that fear? Probably not, but I was scared of researching further, because I didn't want my faith shaken. I think many believers feel the same. They WANT to believe, the fear that the logic atheists use will undermine what they hold dear!
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  cofty

  love this time of year when there is always the light on the horizon over the sea towards Fife

  Sounds like you are not far from me.
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  jamesmahon

  Sab

  And this in a way is the paradox. I want him to grow up to have the freedom to make his own decision on god. However, if he chooses to believe in god I will feel I will have failed because I feel you can only reach that conclusion by putting aside the questioning mind I am trying to help him develop. Joys of parenthood. I did once say I could convince him god existed and went into a JW routine about design and complexity etc. He didn't buy it. Just looked at me like when I try to tell him an orange gets its skin from an animal in Africa called the borange.