Anything But An Atheist. How come?

[Ziploc Surprise]

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DarkMatter2525 did a fairly good job at explaining some of the reason why Atheists are so hated. I would also like to suggest that, particularly in America, Atheism is somehow associated with loosing the right to practice whatever religion you wish. It is somehow associated with loosing freedom of religion. Obviously if you look at the big picture Christians and Mormons (and I suppose Muslims if they were in a large enough majority) are the ones who try to destroy freedom of religion (except theirs) any time they get. This is not rational but we aren't dealing with rational people. We are dealing with a group of people who think that Atheists have crossed the line when they won the battle to teach evolution in classrooms and ignore intelligent design or when they booted out mandatory school prayer. Christians are the victims and the evil Atheists are winning. For whatever reason people have an odd sense of separation of church and state here in the U.S.

It also keys into their millennialistic paranoia. Even in the very moderate churches there is a belief that when the world enters the "end times" religion will be outlawed.

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So then those that don't fear atheists or atheism must have something to cling to better than a collection of stories in one old book.

Umm, yes, things like reason and science provide better answers and better models for problem solving.

You still haven't shown where religious belief is opposed to or fear critical though, however you reword your cynicism.

I'm assuming you are trying to say "You still haven't shown where religious beliefs are opposed to critical thought and where religious people fear critical thought." If this is what you were trying to say then I suggest you read (or reread) the previous posts on this thread and watch the videos. It would also be useful to see how these points have been established on other threads on this forum. I could dissect the posts above and do a rebuttal via cut/paste/respond but I am not going to facilitate the need to have arguments spoon fed to you. I apologize if what I said sounds a bit harsh but if you said what It seems you said then your statement is a bit asinine. BTW I don't make it a habit to be rude or harsh but sometimes, as in this case, (if indeed what you said is what It seems you said) your lack of critical thinking is inexcusable.

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I see I missed over responding to your post, and I apologize, allow me to address your points.
1- I’m glad we agree logic, reason and science provide better answers and better models for problem solving and determining reality.
2- I did watch the videos and I’m fairly certain I showed where emotional reactions are equally applicable to anti-theists. Congratulations, people exhibit reactions consistent with rejection, it still doesn’t validate the generalization. No one’s addressed the points so far so feel free to take a crack, I’ll even lay them out neatly for you.
a. The U.S is not the only place that’s screwed up, I don’t think anyone’s close to a utopian society yet.
b. Some Christians do exactly the opposite of what Jesus wants them to do.
c. Unwavering faith wouldn’t feel threatened by atheism. Again doesn’t apply to all Christians.
d. Ignorance is accepted because the majority are ignorant, regardless of their theological views. Address education not theological belief.
e. The Quran speaks about not questioning God, often enough. I've yet to find a verse in the Bible where God doesn't ask us to test and question what we believe. Although there are many verse supporting introspection. Rebut with mainstream Christian dogmatic belief please. If not it’s an Islamic belief not Christian.
f. Intolerance is not justified, but when exhibited, it doesn’t come from people feeling like atheists are committing a big crime. At worst case it could be an overly concerned care for their afterlife. Regardless it’s not justified.
3- Atheism is associated with loosing the freedom of religion/speech, generally. I can even use this particular community to show an example, as I hijack the thread to talk about freedom of religion.
a. If I were to close all my posts with “God Bless”, or say things like, “’l’ll be praying for you” how many instances would it take before I got a note from the moderators. Not many I promise, I know. This is an atheist community and I knew coming in and during my tenure as a moderator that it is not accepted practice. Why am I not free to express myself and my religious practices? Simple, because atheists don’t want to hear it here. I fully support that. Why then in a larger society would the minority not expect to have their opinions censured? Perhaps theists get sick of hearing “Fuck God” or “This one time in bible study..”. I’m sure all of the atheists on here have very good reason for being atheist. I’m of the mindset, you can believe what you like. I’m even willing to discuss those beliefs and mine.
b. Then you use your broad brush to paint all Abrahamic theists as opposed to atheists having their freedom of speech. Then you toss in “we aren't dealing with rational people”. I’m not even diving into those logical and intellectually repugnant fallacies. Here’s some change to add to your intellectually bankrupt posts, just so your piggy bank won’t be empty.
c. If you review your law, it’s not banning of mandatory prayer that happened, it’s banning of all prayer and bible reading. That’s not limiting another’s rights how? Wouldn’t the true null position when someone else is praying, be not to pray? I agree in the past it was forced, which is wrong in public school, but if your child goes to a religious based private school, should you really expect them to ban bible reading and prayer so your delicate ears don’t have to hear?

Oh god, I can't believe this. Do I really need to spell this out for you? Do I really need to go point by point and show you where you were wrong? Do you have any analytical ability?

1) I assume you said "You still haven't shown where religious beliefs are opposed to critical thought and where religious people fear critical thought"
a) In the video the man was skeptical, the reasons for his skepticism were listed. The believer opposed the skeptic in that she reacted emotionally instead of have a non emotional point by point civil discussion on the matter. As pointed out a belief can cause such emotions.
2) I will group the next two together "b, Some Christians do exactly the opposite of what Jesus wants them to do.
c. Unwavering faith wouldn’t feel threatened by atheism. Again doesn’t apply to all Christians." The purpose of the thread is to whine and also to theorize reasons for the negative reactions to atheists. b describes the behavior but not the cause/reason for the behavior which has been theorized to be rejection and fear. furthermore we aren't addressing those you say have "unwavering faith" because these people, if they exist and perhaps they do, would logically not be abusive because they theoretically would obey the teachings of Jesus regarding dealing with people who hurt you and they won't feel threatened because they so strongly believe that god will win in the end.
3) quote: "Ignorance is accepted because the majority are ignorant, regardless of their theological views. Address education not theological belief." Compare theological views with those of Science. Theological views are ignorant because Theology chooses unprovable stories over proven fact. If you are going to believe in, for example, the fundamentalist theology on the Genesis stories then you must ignore science and numb your critical thinking; this is ignorance.
4) You are confusing freedom of speech with the separation of church and state. While they go well together they are not the same thing. I was referring to the irrational practice of breaking the separation of church and state in order to impose Christianity on other people. The separation of church and state is the thing that protects Christianity. It is irrational to break the thing which protects you. Christians routinely do this, the practice of doing this is preached and supported in many churches. What is mind numbing is how they don't see how irrational this is. Mandatory school prayer (which I is what I was addressing) is one of those areas where the line has been crossed, intelligent design is another .
On some points Atheists (and some non atheists) have crossed the line as well and disallowed Bible reading and prayer during free time in public school (though quite a lot of schools don't enforce these rules) this practice is acknowledged by other atheists to be crossing the line and is criticized. Irrationality is not in just practice and policy it is also in unwillingness to self regulate.
b) "I agree in the past it was forced, which is wrong in public school, but if your child goes to a religious based private school, should you really expect them to ban bible reading and prayer so your delicate ears don’t have to hear?" Private school is a choice....and an expensive one at that. It is not mandatory. Public school is mandatory. Those who put their child in private school have consented to any religious education that may have come with that schools curriculum. If you don't agree with the curriculum then choose a different school or homeschool your child. Your inclusion of this last point makes no sense and does not support your argument.
5) Quote: "Why am I not free to express myself and my religious practices [here on this forum]? Simple, because atheists don’t want to hear it here. I fully support that. Why then in a larger society would the minority not expect to have their opinions censured? " You are confusing public with private domains. This forum, though it is on the internet and viewable to visitors, is technically a private domain. It is a place, like a private house, where atheists can let down their hair, so to speak and say things that are not acceptable in the public domain like the grocery store, work, etc. It is a place where things that are not socially acceptable in the public domains because they infringe upon the rights of others are acceptable because it is assumed (and rightly so) that those of like beliefs would not be offended by like beliefs. If you come here you should expect some impolite behavior. People are letting off steam. If you don't want to deal with this don't come here. In the same way, if I were to go on a Christian forum and express my disbelief, I would expect to get a lot of abuse and censure. Christian forums are their private domain where things that are not socially acceptable in the public domains because they infringe upon the rights of others are acceptable because it is assumed (and rightly so) that those of like beliefs would not be offended by like beliefs. In public domains, what is socially acceptable is different because you run the risk of being around those who might be offended at your comments or infringing on the rights of other's. In other words it is socially acceptable to let off steam and confide with others in private but it is inappropriate to do these things in public.