Finding Out [Whoever] Believes in God

[Ryantology]

The only time my opinion nosedives when finding out they are religious is when I find out their religious beliefs cause them to have extremely conservative political views.

This is precisely how I feel. It's really disappointing when someone you like, and think of as a good guy, one day rants about gay marriage and homosexuals going to hell. It makes me think that, if I was precisely the same person I am now, except gay, only the last part would matter to him and he would hate me.

[Creed of Heresy]

---

When you find out that someone you admire and respect -- someone who is very intelligent and otherwise full of common sense -- believes in god, does your opinion of him/her take a nosedive?

I do understand why people who have been indoctrinated since birth and surrounded/brainwashed their whole life by family, friends, authority figures and "millions of faithful" would tend to just accept what they've been told as gospel (cough)... but I'm still shocked and disappointed to discover so many otherwise smart people can't eventually overcome all that as they grow up, and instead continue to believe in an all-knowing all-powerful magical invisible superhero who chooses to not help anyone.

To me, it's like they believe in Harvey, the giant invisible rabbit. (One of my favorite flicks, btw... and yes, I know this hints at my age. Just between you and me, I'd take Harvey over Yahweh in a second!)

---

You know, it all depends on what the circumstances are. There's no blanket of "if they believe I hate them/if they don't believe I love them" that I can drape across the spectrum, so I look at it situationally. Now...it depends on the type of religious person. There are plenty who are not delusional and they do not think their religion is omnipotent and omniscient in its morals. My newest room-mate is a man who professes to be a Christian but admits his views are far closer to deism than Christianity. He openly mocks a lot of the shortcomings of Christianity and is actually very well-versed in the history of Christianity and judaism...which is where his criticisms of it comes from. Our first day with him living here he mentioned having been homeless due to a marriage gone really badly and that he "knew god had been watching over him" but really that was about it. When later we were talking about religion I confessed that I was an atheist and he just laughed and said "Known more of y'all to be nicer and closer to what Jesus taught than any Christians I've ever known, man. Most Christians be dumb as fuck." It was at that moment I realized we were going to be on excellent terms. We have 30+ minute-long discussions about stuff and we've yet to find anything we disagree on, and he even told me of some stuff I had not even known about involving the history of Christianity, which he then added were the exact same reasons he didn't believe all that much in the bible.

I asked him why he believed in god at all, out of curiosity, and he shrugged and said "It's just a feeling more than an actual belief," which is far more of a sensical argument than anything I've ever heard out of the "faithful."

And I find myself agreeing highly on his assessment about how Christians are supposedly "nicer" and how they're usually bigger assholes than atheists are by an order of magnitude. So to that end, I admit when someone starts saying they're a believer and they start going on about it I start feeling a strong instinct to maintain a certain distance. After all, just yesterday I was struck in the face by a very devout Christian who was also my room-mate after I got in his face to get him to stop yelling at my best friend over something as stupid as her not parking far enough up the driveway, so...

Oh and there was also the catholic this winter who almost attacked my Chinese former room-mate all because of some misconception about being locked out when he had actually locked himself out...and he had to be led away in handcuffs by the cops, too...

My experiences with christians are never good, I'll tell you that much right now.

[festive1]

I have to admit, that yes, my opinion does drop.
I view it as what it is, a prejudice. After being raised in the South, I also have a prejudice against Southern accents, in both cases my idea of the person's estimated IQ instantly drops.
But like any prejudice, if we can acknowledge that it's there, that's the first step to moving past it. I realize that upon learning a person believes in god my opinion of their general intelligence drops, so I try to remind myself that I shouldn't dock them presumed IQ points and give them the benefit of the doubt. I do the same when someone starts speaking with a Southern accent, because I have met some very intelligent people with heavy Southern accents. In my personal experience, I have met some very intelligent believers too, but they tend to have holes in their intelligence/logic surrounding their belief systems. I try not to form hard opinions about people until getting to know them better, but I am human and I've been burned more than a few times, so I'm not always good at it.

[Creed of Heresy]

Aw, I have a southern accent. :< A mild one, though; Virginia.

[Angrboda]

Here's a couple extra credit questions.

Do you have different "feelings of apprehension" / "dock them points" / whatever if they are religious, but from a non-Judeo-Christo-Muslim religion?

Which religions do you "trust" religious people from? Which don't you?

Do you think it's the people, the beliefs, the history, the abuses, the culture or something else that makes you feel differently about them?

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I've known my closest friend for nearly 40 years. His views can be very conservative .We often have a coffee and an argument.

His last pearler "in Australia,women are far better off than men, except financially"

What followed was a free and frank exchange of views. The discussion ended when I called him a misogynist prick and we both claimed victory. Yet he is my beloved friend, with whom I trust my life.

[CliveStaples]

This is precisely how I feel. It's really disappointing when someone you like, and think of as a good guy, one day rants about gay marriage and homosexuals going to hell. It makes me think that, if I was precisely the same person I am now, except gay, only the last part would matter to him and he would hate me.

Is atheism somehow inherently anti-conservative? I'd like to think that it isn't; if I became an atheist tomorrow, why would I have to suddenly vote for Barack Obama--or at least, not vote for, say, Paul Ryan?

[Minimalist]

believes in god, does your opinion of him/her take a nosedive?

Generally, yes.

The depth of the decline depends on how big an asshole they turn out to be.

[Ryantology]

Is atheism somehow inherently anti-conservative? I'd like to think that it isn't; if I became an atheist tomorrow, why would I have to suddenly vote for Barack Obama--or at least, not vote for, say, Paul Ryan?

It's really hard to argue that atheism and American conservatism have much in the way of compatibility, not because atheism is inherently anti-conservative, but that American conservatism is inherently anti-atheist.

But, of course, there are few absolutes. There are, as an example, the Log Cabin Republicans, gay men and women inexplicably affiliated with a party which seems largely proud of viewing them as less than human.

[Xyster]

It would depend on level of belief.. If they were a young earth creatard.... then I would place them at an education level of trained monkey.. Then I just throw peanuts at their feet and run...