Can you be angry at "god" and simultaneously disbelieve its existence?

[Dystopia]

It is if you believe that (1) There's too much evil in the world (2) For a god to be a real god he would have to be omnibenevolent and omnipotent (3) So in case he happens to exist, you have reasons to hate him.

[Angrboda]

Is my idea of a real person any more or less ephemeral than my idea of an imaginary character? I suspect our minds use the same circuits in constructing both, so I suspect that having emotions about a fictional being has a lot in common with having them towards real people. If that's the case, I'd say the anger towards fictional characters is "real," in the sense that it is the same emotion we feel toward real characters. That the character isn't real is beside the point. The emotion can be real.

[BrokenQuill92]

I think most people angry at the idea and character of god(s). Sorta like being angry at Bellatrix Lestrange for torturing the Longbottoms.

[robvalue]

Yes. You can be angry at things even though you know they aren't real.

I get all kinds of emotions from things I know aren't real.

A couple of days ago I remembered some lyrics from a show called "The Littlest Hobo". I used to watch it as a child. I started crying my eyes out, just thinking about it. Fucking hell, I'm crying again now! It's about a dog who moves from home to home each week, I can't even remember why.

It's ridiculous, I know. Absolutely irrational and most of you probably think I'm joking. I'm really not. All I can say is that the idea that the dog character in the program never seems to have a real home makes me very sad, and I think of the people who watch him leave and go to another home.

These characters aren't real. The story isn't real. But I'm balling like a baby. And there are plenty of other fictional characters which make me cry too. I've never felt as angry as that about fictional characters, but they can and do make me angry.

[The Grand Nudger]

"Being angry at god" is the thin veneer of civility through which I interact with christers, lol.  I don't really think all of those nasty things about god....I think all of those nasty things about his followers...but's it's much easier to use god as a proxy.............

[robvalue]

I don't get angry at the character Yahweh because the story of the bible is so utterly ridiculous I can't take it seriously, even as fiction. It reads like a disturbed nightmare of a psychopathic toddler where he somehow gains control of the universe. And like most dreams, it makes fuck all sense.

[Catholic_Lady]

Well I wouldn't say I'm angry at God. I don't like him as a character, but I don't have a grudge against him. Most of the time when I get angry, it's directed toward the foul actions committed by some of the people who believe in him (Westboro Church, I'm looking at you). 

But yes, I feel as though I can dislike him as written in the Bible and dislike what his character drives some individuals to do, while still saying he doesn't exist.

Just curious, I have noticed that when talking about the "horrible things" people of faith do, Islam is hardly ever brought up. Even though they are the worst in regards to doing bad things in the name of faith.

Don't get me wrong, the Westboros are vile and deserve all the criticism they can get. But if I were to talk about people influenced by their faith to do heinous things, the first thing that would come to mind is Isis, not the Westboros.

They're the ones out there making women wear burqas, continually killing men women and children simply for having a different faith ever since they first came into existence 1400 years ago, and having a particular hatred for Western societies.

The Westboros are bad, but at least they are a small group of 30 people who don't actually kill anyone. Isis is much worse.

[Crossless2.0]

Well I wouldn't say I'm angry at God. I don't like him as a character, but I don't have a grudge against him. Most of the time when I get angry, it's directed toward the foul actions committed by some of the people who believe in him (Westboro Church, I'm looking at you). 

But yes, I feel as though I can dislike him as written in the Bible and dislike what his character drives some individuals to do, while still saying he doesn't exist.

Just curious, I have noticed that when talking about the "horrible things" people of faith do, Islam is hardly ever brought up. Even though they are the worst in regards to doing bad things in the name of faith these days.

Don't get me wrong, the Westboros are vile and deserve all the criticism they can get. But if I were to talk about people influenced by their faith to do heinous things, the first thing that would come to mind is Isis, not the Westboros.

They're the ones out there making women wear burqas, continually killing men women and children simply for having a different faith ever since they first came into existence 1400 years ago, and having a particular hatred for Western societies.

The Westboros are bad, but at least they are a small group of 30 people who don't actually kill anyone. Isis is much worse.

Fixed that for you.  

[The Grand Nudger]

Coming from a catholic, criticism of islam rich.  ISIS are amatuers and upstarts.  The Holy Church is the mold from which dicks like them are cast.  Hell, part of their grievance is down to your goddamned popes warmongering in the first place.  They're still sore about that, clearly.  Your church is leashed, but it hasn't always been and when it wasn't it did horrible shit - for centuries.  It isn't satisfied with containing itself now, obviously, as it continually finds itself breaking the law where it sees fit to do so. You, as a catholic, have no high ground from which to cast stones, dearest. This is, essentially, one mass murderer pointing at another saying "well, at least I haven't killed anyone -today-...like that asshole.", which would be hilariously off the mark even if it were true in this specific case....which it isn't.

Most of the folks here come from christianized countries, so when they think of gods, they think of the christian gods. We get the odd member from an islamic country, and they're predictably focused on allah. That's all there really is to that. The brands of bullshit that've been foisted upon you since childhood are the brands of bullshit you'll reel against most commonly. Familiarity.

[Catholic_Lady]

Just curious, I have noticed that when talking about the "horrible things" people of faith do, Islam is hardly ever brought up. Even though they are the worst in regards to doing bad things in the name of faith these days.

Don't get me wrong, the Westboros are vile and deserve all the criticism they can get. But if I were to talk about people influenced by their faith to do heinous things, the first thing that would come to mind is Isis, not the Westboros.

They're the ones out there making women wear burqas, continually killing men women and children simply for having a different faith ever since they first came into existence 1400 years ago, and having a particular hatred for Western societies.

The Westboros are bad, but at least they are a small group of 30 people who don't actually kill anyone. Isis is much worse.

Fixed that for you.  

You think in the past 1400 years Christianity has done more vial things than Islam?

If so, fair enough. But it just seems like even if that were the case, we'd be naturally more apt to talk about how things are currently rather than how they were centuries ago. Christians did some horrible things in the past 2000 years, but I believe things can change and none of those people are alive anymore. Right now it seems radical Islam hasn't changed, as they have never stopped being extremely violent.