Theists protect their own egos.

[Brian37]

[dyresand]

pretty much why atheists like me are hated.

[KUSA]

You just pissed off drippy.

[Drich]

pretty much why atheists like me are hated.

I think hate is a strong word.. Maybe dislike would be better suited.

I think you are disliked because you follow a very well worn and predictiable 'I just lost my faith path, and I have closed my mind to all other inputs excpet the inputs that support what I want to believe.' It gets old even among atheists.

Try blazing your own path. think for yourself and don't just ask the stock atheist question, and assume you are able to answer them with stock answers. engauge yourself with the information provided and follow it to it's logical conclusion.

Feeling rejected? If you click on the video provided in the OP you will find out why.

---

The col. Hound's response is a perfect example of what I was saying:

http://atheistforums.org/thread-29690.html

[Mister Agenda]

I can't see the video. Would someone summarize, please? It sounds like an awfully big generalization on the face of it.

[Tonus]

I think you are disliked because you follow a very well worn and predictiable 'I just lost my faith path, and I have closed my mind to all other inputs excpet the inputs that support what I want to believe.' It gets old even among atheists.

That sounds like pretty standard human behavior, to me. Our minds work diligently to reinforce what we already believe, especially if it's something we want to continue to believe. When that belief is shaken, our first response is to dig our heels in and hold on to the belief, not to let it go. Which is why large shifts in belief systems are usually so traumatic. It also leads to the new belief quickly becoming just as entrenched as the old one.

The atheist is probably holding to his beliefs with some degree of close-mindedness and protecting it with biases. But that's no different than what he was doing when he was a theist, and it's no different than what the theist is doing. And it only really "gets old" to the person who hopes for you to change, but doesn't realize that his mind works the same way. I think it's almost impossible for any of us to be truly open-minded, even when we make an effort to be. Our mind wants to be closed. We tell ourselves we are open-minded because it sounds like something good, and we hate to think that we are close-minded, because that would make us like everyone else.

[Brian37]

I can't see the video. Would someone summarize, please? It sounds like an awfully big generalization on the face of it.

It ultimately addresses human psychology. It is equating in this context christian reaction to outsiders rejecting their god claim, to the same reaction one might get if they hit on a potential mate and that potential mate did not respond with acceptance. It is addressing Christianity but I'd go further and point out this is our evolutionary behavior of flawed logic.

Humans survive through cooperation, from the family group dynamic, then to community, up to political. We evolved to seek patterns and as babies, in a very literal sense when we cry out for attention, our parents respond with comfort and food and protection. We literally have a positive chemical response in our brains when others respond positively to our interactions, and have other chemicals that produce negative affects in our brains.

"God" as a claim literally is the child in us seeking conformation and protection and control over our environment. The same can be said for political worship or worship of nationalism. It is protecting our ego, or perceptions of what patterns we think work as a species.

You get used to doing things a certain way you think work and give you an advantage on the world around you, you will protect that idea even if it is based on a falsehood, and even if that idea comes at the cost of the harm to others.

[downbeatplumb]

I think you are disliked because you follow a very well worn and predictiable 'I just lost my faith path, and I have closed my mind to all other inputs excpet the inputs that support what I want to believe.' It gets old even among atheists.

I never lost my faith and if you look at your religion from the outside boy is it silly.

Try blazing your own path. think for yourself and don't just ask the stock atheist question, and assume you are able to answer them with stock answers. engauge yourself with the information provided and follow it to it's logical conclusion.

What stock atheist question? I believe in what the evidence shows and there is no reason at all to think that the Christian god is anything other than an ancient "just so" story.

Feeling rejected? If you click on the video provided in the OP you will find out why.

In America atheists are hated because they show the uncomfortable truth that faith is really not as important as people like to believe.

God is not required to be good nor is it required as an explanation to anything.

God is surplus to requirements.

[Brian37]

Ethics to me is not label based. It is the human choice to chose between the dark side of evolution, or the compassionate side. If we accept first that the unfortunate reality is that force and dominance work in evolution, we can chose to avoid that. But if we as a species insist on force instead of debate and use taboos instead of question, we will divide more than cooperate.

The best we can do is agree to bitch, put the bitching on the back burner, put the labels on the back burner, accept ourselves as individuals first, allow the differences, but allow for questioning and bitching, and realize that all of us can chose which side of evolution we want to appeal to.

[dyresand]

pretty much why atheists like me are hated.

I think hate is a strong word.. Maybe dislike would be better suited.

I think you are disliked because you follow a very well worn and predictiable 'I just lost my faith path, and I have closed my mind to all other inputs excpet the inputs that support what I want to believe.' It gets old even among atheists.

Try blazing your own path. think for yourself and don't just ask the stock atheist question, and assume you are able to answer them with stock answers. engauge yourself with the information provided and follow it to it's logical conclusion.

Feeling rejected? If you click on the video provided in the OP you will find out why.

---

The col. Hound's response is a perfect example of what I was saying:

http://atheistforums.org/thread-29690.html

Hate is the right word just saying.
Then i really never had any faith to begin with going in with Christianity as a child.
I guess that was the biggest downfalls i had with blind faith it doesn't work.