The other day, my World History professor said something along the lines of: "Atheists are closer to Christianity than those who believe God is a man in the sky." I'm not sure what that means. Can anybody explain why this might be true?

Perhaps he meant that a recent poll showed that atheists were in the top 3 with regards to knowledge of the bible, and Christians were very near the end of the list. The article and poll were linked on here somewhere, I don't remember where though.

I would think he means that atheists tend to possess the supposed ideals of Christ, such as forgiveness, charity and tolerance, to a greater degree than people who call themselves Christian. It could also be what tack suggested.

Is it the case? I'm not sure. I know that when the religious get involved with charity work, it tends to come with the addendum of having to listen to a sermon, or getting Jesus shoved in your face in some other way. Secular charity is always superior in this regard.

It could be either of the above. However, I suggest you ask your professor.

(November 18, 2011 at 1:45 am)AhiestAtheist Wrote: The other day, my World History professor said something along the lines of: "Atheists are closer to Christianity than those who believe God is a man in the sky." I'm not sure what that means. Can anybody explain why this might be true?

The claim is clumsily false.

I'm not sure what he means. He seem to be trying to ascribe broad general (but unstated) qualities to both atheists and Christians which are not supported by evidence.


Your world history teacher should stick to teaching history and avoid pontificating on things about which he is ignorant.EG obviously doesn't know what the word 'atheist' actually means.


Atheism is not a religion or belief system,it's only a disbelief in god(s). A comparison with Christianity is meaningless.


What does he mean by "closer to Christianity"? Which Christianity? Does he perhaps mean real /true Christianity. That's called "a no true Scotsman fallacy" The man is an ignoramus.

Being a history professor, he probably has some ideas of what the early Christians were about and regards most modern Christians as farther away from early Christian beliefs than most athesits are. Just speculating, of course.

(November 18, 2011 at 3:41 am)tackattack Wrote: Perhaps he meant that a recent poll showed that atheists were in the top 3 with regards to knowledge of the bible, and Christians were very near the end of the list. The article and poll were linked on here somewhere, I don't remember where though.

I don't think he was referring to that. I think he was trying to say that the idea of God being this bearded man in the sky is far from the true ideals of Christianity. But is that really true? And is it so far away that atheism is actually closer to Christianity than that?

(November 18, 2011 at 4:19 am)ElDinero Wrote: I would think he means that atheists tend to possess the supposed ideals of Christ, such as forgiveness, charity and tolerance, to a greater degree than people who call themselves Christian. It could also be what tack suggested.

Is it the case? I'm not sure. I know that when the religious get involved with charity work, it tends to come with the addendum of having to listen to a sermon, or getting Jesus shoved in your face in some other way. Secular charity is always superior in this regard.

Secular everything is always superior in every regard.

What Tack said, the christians i know, know far less of the bible then i do. How very sad.

(November 18, 2011 at 4:27 am)Shell B Wrote: It could be either of the above. However, I suggest you ask your professor.

This is probably the best response you're going to get to your question. Speculation about what people believe he meant is going to tell you far more about those peoples opinions than it is your professors.