Narcissism

[robvalue]

Well, I'm under fedora investigation from my time in the States.

[Pyrrho]

Rob is trying to satisfy the atheist stereotype, but he has trouble meeting all the tough requirements.

Ooh. Ooh! Well, does he wear a fedora?

I refuse to wear a fedora.  If I have to wear a fedora to be an atheist, I will convert to theism.  But my choice will be Dionysus.  My argument for proof of his existence?  Have another drink, and keep drinking until you recognize his divinity.  You will feel his divine warmth thusly.

[Nope]

Ray Comfort used to claim that atheists didn't believe in his god because we wanted to sin. Robo, if you can't fake a proper accent could you at least host a few orgies?

[robvalue]

I'll have to check with the landlord... but sure

Ah, he'll be alright with it.

[Nope]

The Christians I've encountered who have thrown such accusations around think that atheists reject God in order to elevate themselves to ersatz Gods taking His place. This would then be perceived as highly narcissistic. They are so used to thinking in these categories that they cannot fathom how abolishing God can mean anything but wanting to play God oneself. In a sense, I can understand the sentiment on some superficial level, since as an atheist, you more or less have to assume the position of moral arbiter yourself. Of course, we are not isolated islands but are part of a society which shapes us, and we assume this position not out of boundless self-love, but out of necessity.

Some Christians believe that the existence of their god is so obvious that atheists must secretly believe and lie about their disbelief. Of course, that doesn't make sense. Perhaps that has something to do with the accusation of narcissism also? 

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I'll have to check with the landlord... but sure

Ah, he'll be alright with it.

Just be sure to keep your fedora on during the orgy.

[robvalue]

It's hilarious, really.

Something as amazing as God, being obviously there where we can clearly see him everywhere, yet he's so unimpressive we don't even notice him. Instead we see more interesting things like sweet wrappers and twigs.

So does he ramp up his game? No, he slinks silently off, drawing up plans for our eternal punishment.

Fucking weirdo.

Why does he want people to believe in him for irrational reasons only?

[Mudhammam]

 noun

1.
inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
. . .
2.
Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.

[url= http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/n...ionary.com[/url]

I begin with the dictionary, because I a puzzled but what is becoming a more and more frequent accusation against atheists on various forums:  narcissism.   According to many Christians, not believing in god is definitionally narcissistic.  Obviously it is not the second meaning of the word that's meant.  Even the most bent Christian can't mean that not to believe in god is to get off on your physical appearance.  So it must be vanity or self-love of the non-erotic variety that is meant. 

My question is how is atheism related to self love or facination with oneself?   Because it seems to me that one could either love or hate oneself and still not believe in god.  I really see no connection. In fact, self hate is another accusation commonly made of atheists.  Being a self loathing narcissist would be quite a trick.

It seems to me that Christianity can cut both ways on this too.  In the gospels Jesus asks people to be humble.  On the other hand believing that you are made in the image of god, hardly seems modest.  Nor does thinking that god takes the time to communicate with you personally.

The way I see it is that a lot of atheists think that because they've reached the age that religion appears to be bunk, and because they have to some degree grasped the principles of science, they suddenly act as though they have infallible knowledge about the world as it actually is and not only how it appears to human intuition (for which we're only marginally better off than when the ancient Greeks first sought out the very first principles or 'metaphysics'). A lot of atheists also come from religious backgrounds, so the dogmatism isn't necessarily shed when the original dogmas are.

[robvalue]

Ah, I've got no time to be a narcissist. I'm too busy looking at myself in the mirror.

[Jenny A]

Seems we've detoured into atheist stereo-types.   There are way too many of them:

1.  Snotty teen/college student who thinks he knows everything.

2.  Intellectual philosopher/English teacher/historian/scientist who might corrupt the youth by preaching atheism in the classroom.

3.  Hedonist who has had three wives, drinks to much, does drugs, and participates in orgies at least once a week.

4.  Feminist.

5. Communist.

6. Liberal of any stripe.

7. Gay.

 The first one exists and is undoubtedly an annoyance to his parents.   While many atheists are intellectuals and scientists of various stripes, I've never met one who would bludgeon a student into non-belief ala God is not Dead,  unless simply being an open atheist with articulated reasons qualifies as bludgeoning.   Hedonists come in all religious stripes including TV evangelists.
Of course many feminists are outspoken atheists or have moved on to Wicken or Budahism.  God as depicted by the Qur'an or the Bible is a very unfeminest being. Liberal because they hate all those blue laws and are just generally bad.  Gays because they've chosen to thwart god's plan.  

[Polaris]

Our views of stereotypical atheists are people who lack intelligence...mind you, this is the stereotypical atheist who proclaims they are an atheist and doesn't apply to the atheists who keep their mouth shut in public about their atheism. The assumption among Christians is that people only make anti-religious claims so that they appear smarter since there are a lot of studies that show the average nonbeliever is more educated (they also don't seem to care about their lack of belief...they're just atheist because they're atheist) than the average theist....kind of like jumping on the bandwagon to overcompensate for feeling inadequate especially when they compare themselves next to people from that WBC.

One can be elitist and uneducated. Even though Brian Griffin is just a cartoon character, he would be a good example of that stereotype. Portrays himself as intelligent, but doesn't really have a solid foundation to stand upon when it comes to academic conversation.

Mind you, these are just stereotypes and I have never once met a nonbeliever (I have family members who I can tell are atheists) who exemplified those traits. Then again, only met one theist who talked about the Earth not being older than 6,000 years.

So real atheists are so far above theists in education and intelligence that with all the dim witted high school dropout bandwagon jumpers diluting the pool the overall intelligence and education of the adulterated group still rates above theists?

I knew theists are dumb as shit but not quite that low grade of shit.

WTF is a real atheist?

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Wow... I'm pretty sure you just offended a whole bunch of people with this comment.

I graduated from high school in 1989. June 4th, to be exact. It was a Sunday.

Based on my history, I do NOT fit your assumption.

It's about what you expect from polecat.  He's an asshole.

Only to douchebags such as yourself.