Anti-Theism

[The Grand Nudger]

I care less about what they do to themselves, than what they do to others.  Less, mind you...I don't think it's very healthy for the believer either. Comments like that, up above, are slimy as shit when we're talking about the origin of sodomy laws with a sentence of chemical castration.

You -are- "having what they like". It's been railroaded into our culture. They;ve even managed to secure deference for their beliefs in the face of a neverending parade of brass-balled affrontery. If the Chuck E Cheese shuffled pedophiles around it would be out of business. If a mega-church operator could be charged with malpractice they'd all be in debtors prisons by now. If the rank and file were held accountable for (and to..for that matter) every ballot they cast in jesus name they'd be on the lam as traitors and saboteurs. The whole thing is predictably shitty, and not because of a "few" bad actors. It's just a shitty idea from the word go, the bullshit is an inevitable consequence.

[Brian37]

I sort of get Agnosticism, Agnostic Atheism and Atheism. Although, there is a blur, they do all start with "A" It seems to me that Atheism is as diverse as Christianity. Christianity has it's 5 major idiot clowns; Tertullian; Origen; Augustine; Martin Luther; John Calvin.

I'm quite sure Atheism also has it's clowns. I mean, Carl Sagan...really?

What I don't understand is the anti-theism among Atheists. If there is no Deity then, why bash what you don't believe even exists?

Yet, I fully understand anti-Christianity. I am a Christian but, those five clowns followers call me a heretic!

Of course we are diverse. But we are not a religion.

We come in all political stripes, we exist in every nation, we have different skin tones. Some are republicans, others are libertarians, and many are liberals like me. Some want better firearm control, and other atheists worship firearms on par with far right Christians. Some atheists like Any Rand who valued "fuck you I got mine economics", while others value Che, the sicko whom lead to Castro's Cuba(A CATHOLIC MAJORITY NATION FYI). I am no fan of either of those economic views. 

I am anti-unicornist too. Being against naked assertions does not make one anti human rights. 

We do get sick of the question, "Why do you bash something you don't believe exists?"

I don't believe in Harry Potter either, but nobody has yet to turn that into a religion, and make laws or start wars over it.

I do not fear fictional beings, I do however know that humans can and do act on what they believe and do vote and to fight over religion and that can have an impact on my life. 

Yes naked assertions bother me. If you had a friend or family member that constantly repeated every day, "The New England Patriots beat the Houston Astros in Stanley Cup" you may like and love that person, but that DOES NOT mean you have to value that particular claim.

I am tired of this garbage that because we challenge the naked assertions of theists, that makes us anti human rights. NOW, get this through your head, we are political diverse. We exist worldwide. We come in all skin tones. WE ARE NOT A RELIGION. 

Being against bad logic and naked assertions, does not make us anti human rights. I am also anti-tooth fairy, anti-big foot too. Just because we think you are full of crap on one claim, does not mean we will have you murdered, or eat your babies or barbecue your kittens. I am sorry someone sold you the bullshit idea that we are monsters to be feared but we are not. 

Carol Sagan was a far better humanitarian and compassionate person than alot of theists. I am sorry it bothers you that non believers exist. But that is your baggage, not ours.

I can value the likes of Ann Frank, but not find her belief that Yahweh existed, credible. I can value the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, but not find his belief that the Christian God is a credible claim. I can value the likes of Malala but not find claims of Allah credible. Just because I don't believe does not mean I am a monster. I value my species POTENTIAL for compassion and empathy and morality. I simply do not buy my fellow humans claims that those things are being handed down to us from a divine magical place. 

If our species never questioned social norms, our species never would have left the caves.

[LuisDantas]

I consider myself an anti-theist, as well as an atheist, ignostic and apatheist.

To me it is not about whether there is some deity - the concept is so vague and so personal that literally anything may be and probably is considered a god, including several undeniably real entities - but whether belief in deities should be encouraged or warded against.

God does not exist, but belief in his existence does exist and is very much worth discouraging.

[Brian37]

I consider myself an anti-theist, as well as an atheist, ignostic and apatheist.

To me it is not about whether there is some deity - the concept is so vague and so personal that literally anything may be and probably is considered a god, including several undeniably real entities - but whether belief in deities should be encouraged or warded against.

God does not exist, but belief in his existence does exist and is very much worth discouraging.

It should be challenged sure, if the claims of the past were never challenged we never would have climbed out of the theocracies of the middle ages. 

But I would also warn even atheists, that we wont get a utopia either. I'd rather say we should promote skepticism rather than say "discourage". I think humans really can only seek an imperfect but more neutral secular world, but not a perfectly "godless" planet. 

I'd only agree that the monotheisms of antiquity are far to authoritarian as written to be valued in the interpretations of the past. That certainly is worth discouraging.

[vulcanlogician]

If the Chuck E Cheese shuffled pedophiles around it would be out of business.

I don't know if Chuck E Cheese ever shuffled around pedophiles, but I'm pretty sure that a few pedophiles have shuffled around inside Chuck E Cheese.

[Norfolk And Chance]

What I don't understand is the anti-theism among Atheists. If there is no Deity then, why bash what you don't believe even exists?

Well - people blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings, murder and execute those of other faith, go on conquests, start wars - based on religious belief. So to be honest, I'm going to bash fuck out of that.

[Chad32]

You probably don't believe in fairies. But if a group of people came by and said fairies are real, and you're immoral if you don't believe in fairies, and try to pass laws that discriminate against people who don't believe in fairies, and harass and attack people who don't believe in fairies, people are going to have a problem with that. Even if they firmly believe fairies don't exist, people who do believe it are effecting their lives for the worse. This is where anti-theism comes in. It's a backlash against people pushing their god into places where it doesn't belong.

And on the off chance you do believe in fairies, substitute that for anything you don't believe in, and try to imagine someone who does believe it coming to your house and burning an effigy of it in your yard, or firing you from your job, or beating you up, for not holding the same beliefs that they do.

[Shell B]

I imagine it has a lot to do with the fact that *some* theists do things like try to make homosexuals straight, deny their children healthcare, perform violent exorcisms on small children, rape small children in houses of worship, tell people they're going to hell, etc. ad nauseum. There are religions that either promote or allow these things, so people are against them. I can't call myself an anti-theist because I'm only actively against some religions. Others don't bother me.

[Brian37]

I imagine it has a lot to do with the fact that *some* theists do things like try to make homosexuals straight, deny their children healthcare, perform violent exorcisms on small children, rape small children in houses of worship, tell people they're going to hell, etc. ad nauseum. There are religions that either promote or allow these things, so people are against them. I can't call myself an anti-theist because I'm only actively against some religions. Others don't bother me.

It isn't a matter for me being for or against any religion. I am "anti theist" because ALL religions are going to have sub sects that dont agree, from the individual to the group level. There is not one umbrella label, worldwide, that does not have competing sub sects that clamor for attention from the powers above them. 

I'd only agree that you cant force any religion out of existence. I am only "anti theist" in that the idea of religion itself, is a horrible way of conducting national or global diplomacy. It isn't that you can get rid of it, you cant. But it does not deserve the top priority when it comes to problem solving in a diverse species. It only deserves protection from a human rights standpoint, but not a blind worship demand. 

I am against demands of submission, or claims that a hierarchy is a property deed owned by any one label. I'll always be for individual rights protected by government. But I am anti theist in that theism does not deserve blind value without question. I'll still treat an individual as such and take each claim and individual as a case by case basis.

[The Grand Nudger]

Anti-theism isn;t a response to any single shitty believer..or even a group of them.  It's a comment on the ideology itself. There are a great many other, more accurate, terms that refer to people who think that religious assholes are assholes.