GiL- All jokes aside, if you're truly here to understand us better, to get to know us directly instead of believing the slanderous bullshit too many preachers and religious zealots assign to us (we make jokes about atheists eating babies, as a way of satirising these accusations), then you are more than welcome among us.
Unfortunately, we get a constant influx of bigots who come here full of those misconceptions, and rather than seeking to learn, they actually come here to preach and to tell us what we "really" think/feel/believe. If you're in that category, stand by for a massive backlash...we're sick of it!
Even if you're not in that category, I hope you have a thick skin. So many Christian zealots come here to abuse us, using so many deceptions to try to achieve their abusive ends, that few of us are quick to trust.
I hope you're one of the rate theists who listens and treats us as equally human and deserving of respect. We value the theists who do so; they are as much members of this community as any atheist. That's because atheism itself isn't a thing, but a lack of a thing, so our community isn't formed by mutual atheism but by mutual respect and intellectual inter/discourse.
Where you fit in (or don't) is entirely up to you.
Unfortunately, we get a constant influx of bigots who come here full of those misconceptions, and rather than seeking to learn, they actually come here to preach and to tell us what we "really" think/feel/believe. If you're in that category, stand by for a massive backlash...we're sick of it!
Even if you're not in that category, I hope you have a thick skin. So many Christian zealots come here to abuse us, using so many deceptions to try to achieve their abusive ends, that few of us are quick to trust.
I hope you're one of the rate theists who listens and treats us as equally human and deserving of respect. We value the theists who do so; they are as much members of this community as any atheist. That's because atheism itself isn't a thing, but a lack of a thing, so our community isn't formed by mutual atheism but by mutual respect and intellectual inter/discourse.
Where you fit in (or don't) is entirely up to you.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
