Question For Fellow Atheists...

[Angrboda]

How do you fellow Atheists reconcile the fact that most of the people that you know are basically mentally 'screwed-up'.

I don't view theists as mentally screwed up. People become theists for many reasons, but most of them have reasons for remaining theists. This is no different from the atheist who has their 'reasons'. We're all caught up in tendencies and biases which we didn't create and which we don't control. Some trend toward theism. Some trend toward atheism. In another world, I might've trended toward theism instead of away from it. I think this notion that theists are 'mentally screwed-up' comes from the fact that the theist's opinions are so far removed from our own that we can't fathom how they could come to them in their right mind. It's just an illusion that the distance between your and their opinions creates. It does, however, make one feel justified in having a negative opinion of them. It's self serving.