It’s about being allowed to not believe in God, I’d say. Beware of the ultra nationalist American is much different from not believing or believing in the being no god.
It’s just the branding that annoys me. If this was called lunatic Ville it would be accurate and fine. What’s inside ain’t memes or atheists being atheists after all.
Ex-Christian here. Your points are mostly well taken; I just think you wildly misjudge how Christianity is seen from outside, and how these days its spokepersons are by default the worst-behaved among you because the “good” ones never get the mic, or don’t take it.
Atheists, including myself, come from the entire spectrum of religious experience, all the way from no religion whatsoever to that little church down in the backwoods of the South whose members eat, drink, and sleep religion, absolutely certain that they alone, and no one else, are going to be part of that 144,000 because not only did they not really read it, they don’t math.
There is no such denominator as “atheists being atheists” anywhere. I was deeply into it for thirty-five years and am even more deeply grateful every day I wake up that I am out of that mental jail. Someone else might have endured ongoing manipulation, cruelty, ostracization, or even outright abuse from religious groups. Someone else might be none of the above and just think we’re all a disparate group of loons that were either born wise (always atheist) or somehow came to our senses.
There is NO one size fits all. There is NO one kind of atheist. There is NO “atheists being atheists” sitting around talking about a hole in the universe where they see nothing and you see your god. THERE IS NO ATHEIST BRANDING.
This thread is quite mild compared to some I’ve seen. You seem to have the totality of atheism confused with what sounds like one person’s individual kneejerk reaction to their own bad case of Christianity. And you’ve dared to define for a group of atheists what atheism is. Selah.
Hate preachers are found everywhere religion is, on every continent, and the American Colonial “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” hate preachers were just that era’s flavor.
For a brief history on that specific crowd, they came straight from Britain’s hate-filled Puritans, who came straight from Knox’s hate-filled iconoclastic crew in Scotland, and have moved forward though countless hate-filled Protestant church splits (because when they weren’t hating everyone else they were hating each other) right up to this present-day hate-filled American whateverthefuck it is now.
Go ahead, look it up. Jonathan Edwards, Congregationalists, Puritans, John Knox, the Protestant Reformation.
I genuinely dare you.
When you do, you will see for yourself that your own example of Christian hate goes both forward and backward in hate just as far as you’d like to take it, and across every continent and era. Go ahead, I studied Christian church history, both east and west, all the way from the Desert Fathers to Zwingli, from Chrysostom to Billy Graham. I pulled that second para off the top of my head. I KNOW the history. That’s why I’m not Christian anymore, and why you still are. So pull the other one.
As for the rest of your comment, you are free to define your deified hate fantasy however you like. It’s no longer my personal concern.
It’s about being allowed to not believe in God, I’d say. Beware of the ultra nationalist American is much different from not believing or believing in the being no god.
It’s just the branding that annoys me. If this was called lunatic Ville it would be accurate and fine. What’s inside ain’t memes or atheists being atheists after all.
Ex-Christian here. Your points are mostly well taken; I just think you wildly misjudge how Christianity is seen from outside, and how these days its spokepersons are by default the worst-behaved among you because the “good” ones never get the mic, or don’t take it.
Atheists, including myself, come from the entire spectrum of religious experience, all the way from no religion whatsoever to that little church down in the backwoods of the South whose members eat, drink, and sleep religion, absolutely certain that they alone, and no one else, are going to be part of that 144,000 because not only did they not really read it, they don’t math.
There is no such denominator as “atheists being atheists” anywhere. I was deeply into it for thirty-five years and am even more deeply grateful every day I wake up that I am out of that mental jail. Someone else might have endured ongoing manipulation, cruelty, ostracization, or even outright abuse from religious groups. Someone else might be none of the above and just think we’re all a disparate group of loons that were either born wise (always atheist) or somehow came to our senses.
There is NO one size fits all. There is NO one kind of atheist. There is NO “atheists being atheists” sitting around talking about a hole in the universe where they see nothing and you see your god. THERE IS NO ATHEIST BRANDING.
This thread is quite mild compared to some I’ve seen. You seem to have the totality of atheism confused with what sounds like one person’s individual kneejerk reaction to their own bad case of Christianity. And you’ve dared to define for a group of atheists what atheism is. Selah.
There also is no Christian for Christianity is different depending on where you are. And hate preachers are a very American/Colonial thing.
Hate preachers are found everywhere religion is, on every continent, and the American Colonial “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” hate preachers were just that era’s flavor.
For a brief history on that specific crowd, they came straight from Britain’s hate-filled Puritans, who came straight from Knox’s hate-filled iconoclastic crew in Scotland, and have moved forward though countless hate-filled Protestant church splits (because when they weren’t hating everyone else they were hating each other) right up to this present-day hate-filled American whateverthefuck it is now.
Go ahead, look it up. Jonathan Edwards, Congregationalists, Puritans, John Knox, the Protestant Reformation.
I genuinely dare you.
When you do, you will see for yourself that your own example of Christian hate goes both forward and backward in hate just as far as you’d like to take it, and across every continent and era. Go ahead, I studied Christian church history, both east and west, all the way from the Desert Fathers to Zwingli, from Chrysostom to Billy Graham. I pulled that second para off the top of my head. I KNOW the history. That’s why I’m not Christian anymore, and why you still are. So pull the other one.
As for the rest of your comment, you are free to define your deified hate fantasy however you like. It’s no longer my personal concern.
I am well aware of history, but only looking for hate warps your perception of reality and breeds a hate filled world view.
YOU brought up hate, not me. It’s YOUR hate, and YOUR hate fantasy. Own it.
And lol you do not know your own church history at all. You were just certain I didn’t.
Why do you constantly claim it was my church?
No one else is invested in defending it.
In a community dedicated to the discussion of atheism, no less.