Angry Atheists and Anti-Theists

[Natachan]

I’d like to answer the OP.

I used to be an angry atheist, or an anti-theist. Not anymore, because I don’t give two shits. But I was for a time a few years ago. And this happened after I became an out atheist. The reason was simple: theists were dicks to me. When I became an out atheist I expected it to not be a big deal. Spirituality was a personal matter, and no one else’s business. But then I was harassed, my tires slashed, I was physically assaulted, and I keep getting pulled over by cops who see my Darwin fish. I won’t say this is all theists, but it does happen. And it does engender some resentment and anger.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

 Here?

It's the telephone marketers......

Thankfully (Legally) they can only cold call land-lines, home phones.

Still.... random calls going off all most all hours of the day....

Yeah, "legally". On my cell. "Good news, you might be entitled to a free brace!" How do they know I need braces?

But you can shut them up with NoMoRoBo. Sign up is free for landlines. Small fee for cells.

[notimportant1234]

An anti-theist here, for me religion was not traumatic it just wasted my time.
When I joined this forum as a Deist I was also very tolerant with religion but now mostly I can't find tolerance for this cultural cancer that is religion. The information in it is obsolete in this century, it may have helped our cultural evolution when it appeared but now is just a nuisance.

Edit: It pollutes good people and makes the bad even badder.

[tackattack]

Religion doesn't pollute any more good people than fantasy football does. It might justify already "off" people or have a tendency to attract the morally and intellectually weak, but very few religions preach hatred from the pulpit. Hatred breeds hatred and intolerance breeds intolerance, to the OP, anti-theists (while I'm sure perfectly justified or not) just feed fuel to the fire.

[GrandizerII]

Funnily enough, I'm neither an "angry atheist" (in the conventional sense) nor an anti-theist ... though I may be an atheist who happens to get angry and frustrated from time to time.

I honestly don't care if someone wants to practice some religion or attend church or anything of the sort, just don't come to me acting like you know stuff you really really don't or act smarter and/or more knowledgeable than you really are (this goes for not just theists but conspiracy theorists, proponents of pseudoscience, and atheists who are just as intellectually dishonest/lazy [I'm talking to you, Jesus-copycat assholes from other forums]).

Oh, and definitely keep your religion/faith away from policies that affect us all. That one also really pisses me off.

[notimportant1234]

Religion doesn't pollute any more good people than fantasy football does. It might justify already "off" people or have a tendency to attract the morally and intellectually weak, but very few religions preach hatred from the pulpit. Hatred breeds hatred and intolerance breeds intolerance, to the OP, anti-theists (while I'm sure perfectly justified or not) just feed fuel to the fire.

Sorry, a source of outdated information which cares more about sex then hunger doesn't pollute anybody.
It is just a matter of luck that you are not part of this "morally or intelectualy" weak group.
Usually it attracts people in need of help and this is how ISIS apeared.

[tackattack]

sex is only mentioned in the bible around 70 times and hunger around 20. Love is mentioned 300+. Not that I'm an advocate for word counting as a reference, context is important. Perhaps your biases inform your focus?

It does attract people in need of help. A lot of people do find help and comfort in it. People also look for justifications for their bad behavior in it and find it. We all have a tendency to see what we want to see.

If it's old and outdated, what makes it less valuable? I believe anyone who studies the past in any field would disagree with you. Even science is based on previously proven science.

In regards to me, I don't believe in luck.

[The Grand Nudger]

Religion doesn't pollute any more good people than fantasy football does. It might justify already "off" people or have a tendency to attract the morally and intellectually weak, but very few religions preach hatred from the pulpit. Hatred breeds hatred and intolerance breeds intolerance, to the OP, anti-theists (while I'm sure perfectly justified or not) just feed fuel to the fire.

Beg to differ.  Here you are, after all. 

The very notion that anti-theists "feed fuel to the fire" is both...

A; an implication of their having been polluted...but by what? Religion.
and
B; an instance of religion having polluted you to make such an implication in the first place.

Or, you know, maybe you got some fundamental bit of that wrong? Religion actually does pollute people and anti-theists seek to douse...not fuel, the fire. What would I know, I'm just an anti-theist, lol. Constantly reminding people that they're telling us about the magic book and the great fairy, stealing their thunder..and just generally making them feel conscious of the fact that their theistic beliefs are endemic to dipshits the world over...fucking with people. If there were no theism in the world....would there even be a term for folks with a position like mine?

Every abrahamic religion preaches hatred from the pulpit...but, conveniently, they redefine what hatred is...and so here you are, arguing to the contrary. I argue that you have to hate a motherfucker just to do that...and that's before we even get into the specifics of what hateful things the faithful gleefully look forward to in future. Theistic belief was one of humanity's greatest mistakes...and it's not that I can't point out some theist or some brand of theism with Good Stuff™..I can, more easily than theists can, even..due to their unique predilections..it's that the simple act of opening pandaoras box inexorably led to the worst examples. It was always going to end up like this...theistic belief is a particularly bloody instance of water seeking it's level. It's completely impossible for a person to assert that the notion that god intervenes is credible without allowing that same assertion in the case of some asshole describing why The Bad Thing™ happened or will happened to some other person. Every believer in the various princes of peace granted that same credibility to bloodgods...often, themselves, conceptualized as princes of peace.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Religion doesn't pollute any more good people than fantasy football does. It might justify already "off" people or have a tendency to attract the morally and intellectually weak, but very few religions preach hatred from the pulpit. Hatred breeds hatred and intolerance breeds intolerance, to the OP, anti-theists (while I'm sure perfectly justified or not) just feed fuel to the fire.

'With or without it [religion] you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.' - Dr. Steven Weinberg

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

-and just to add that extra dollop of confusion.....I'll offer this.  I'm entirely certain that christianity was originally envisioned as a bulwark to that trend.  That it was the antithesis of everything that theistic belief was or had become.   It just didn't stick, lol.

Water....sought it's level, again.