(December 25, 2014 at 11:24 am)strawdawg Wrote:(December 25, 2014 at 9:10 am)Tonus Wrote: That sounds a bit like "I always thought that the people who don't believe as I do are flawed in some way." For a very long time, my only impression of atheists was a very short clip on a TV show sometime in the 1970s or very early 80s. It was of a talk show where they would get the guests in three or four seats next to one another. In the clip I saw, an atheist was standing over a theist and shouting "god doesn't exist, and if you're too stupid to understand that, then it's your problem" and stomping off the stage. So for the longest time, atheists to me were very angry and irrational people who used rage to mask their fear of the truth. Religious people, of course, like to feed those perceptions, so until I got to know some actual atheists that is what I believed about them.
It's tempting to put people into groups and categorize groups very narrowly. It's one of the ways that our brains help us to sort through lots of information-- by simplifying some of it to an extreme. It's one of the things that makes it very difficult for societies to overcome certain prejudices. We do it to people of various races, religions, political affiliations, and so on. When we are a part of the group in question, our desire to reject such restrictive labels allows us to view the group more comprehensively. Your view is --as mine was-- a convenience that has a side effect of confirming a bias that is not true for the group.
No, people that don't believe in any God or gods are broken.
Really? Citation needed.
Quote:Like a radio that won't play music, a car that won't start, like a cloud with no rain.
You are aware that there are plenty of clouds that don't produce rain, right? From the wispy to the puffy.
Quote:Empty, shallow and put themselves in the same class as an animal and assume a lot.
Ironic, then, that the only one assuming here is you.
"I was thirsty for everything, but blood wasn't my style" - Live, "Voodoo Lady"
