An atheist's grievances

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Okay, I know that a lot of you on here are Christians or adherents to some other religious belief, and this isn't going to apply to all of you. Even so, here are a few easy, simple ways to convince an atheist that you're either a complete ass or an outright moron. I know you're not doing these things intentionally to get on people's nerves, but these things can get really annoying to people who don't believe in any form of religion. No matter how tolerant you may think you are, please give this a once over because I think a lot of Christians and believers in other religions truly don't realize how much this bothers others.

1) Behaving as if I have to somehow defend being an atheist. This one should be pretty obvious. If you were doing this over any other subject, you would be labelled a jerk. Now, for some reason, a lot of religious people seem to believe that this kind of thing is permissable, but it leads a lot of atheists to believe that religion causes people to act like jerks, and it's just going to make them more closed-minded than they were before to the idea of getting into any form of religion. I don't have to defend myself to you.

2) Projecting your beliefs onto me. I wouldn't even say that this one gets me angry. It just makes me want to stop talking to that person. If someone is talking to me with the belief that I'm lying to them about my private thoughts, I might just as well not even be there. I may as well be some ghost because, with that sort of person, nothing I say really matters. If I counted you as a friend, that would probably be one of your best bets for getting me to hang up and stop taking your calls. I don't have the emotional energy to persuade someone that I exist.

3) Defending Jesus by arguing on behalf of deism. No, Jesus isn't the same thing as some purely hypothetical entity that you are arguing is responsible for the origin of the universe. It doesn't do anything to make me more concerned about my afterlife. As far as the legitimacy of your beliefs, deism is a complete red herring.

4) Getting defensive just because I'm an atheist. You don't have to defend your beliefs to me, and I would really rather you not. I'm not out to undermine your beliefs. Where did you get the idea that I was? I'm a liberal pragmatist. If holding the beliefs that you do somehow makes you an easier person for me to get along with, then you are in the right to adhere to them. If it makes it easier for us to coexist, man, then go with it. You don't have to poll me or try to justify yourself to me. When you do that, it makes you sound like you're embarrassed of your own beliefs and have to chalk up some score against me, an innocent bystander, to clear up your conscience.

5) Attacking evolution, then treating every minutae I don't know about it as evidence against it or, to phrase it differently, employing the "god-of-the-gaps" argument. It's an appeal to ignorance, and you know it. On top of that, it's another red herring.

6) Insisting that morality and social order can only be sustained by religion (or a particular religion, such as your own). This is just an outright assault on the moral character of atheists. It shouldn't be any mystery why I find it insulting. Furthermore, it's a completely ridiculous appeal to consequences, therefore it's another argument-by-distraction.

7) Trying to save my soul. I take serious offense to people trying to manipulate me into having some kind of belief. It just gives me the impression that you're an overall manipulative person, and that's just going to make me paranoid and aggressive whenever the subject arises. Besides, why should I invest any confidence in your beliefs if you don't seem to think that straightforward discussion is sufficient to convince me? Why can't we just talk about Isaiah for a while and just spend some time forgetting the differences between us? Besides, I've always thought that religion was all about trust. I can't trust someone who can't speak to me on a subject without having some kind of hidden agenda.

8) Trying to psychoanalyze me. If that one isn't self-explanatory, you're a lost cause.

If you find yourself wondering why atheists seem to get such a bug up their ass over religion, try asking what you may have said or done to get them this way. Try just having a relaxed, pleasant discussion on the subject without having to feel a need to win someone over. Try exercising a bit more sensitivity.

Oh no! Another Godless heathen is fighting back against the goodness of evangelism and apologetics! We must try even harder to recruit this one to the cause of God!! More attacks on his nonbelief! More forcing our worldview into his lips! If we try hard enough we can drive him crazy and get him shipped off to a Christian psychiatric hospital where he will get treated with PRAYER AND CHILDREN'S HYMNS!! ! BWA HA HA HA!! !

Hey I'm an atheist.

I don't have a problem with religious people, I'm interested in them and respect their beliefs.

I don't find them a problem.

That was pretty well written. And not aggressive. good job.

You've got some fair points. Even though I am Christian, sometimes when I talk with other Christians, I find myself annoyed at their outlooks; they seem to be dumbfounded at the idea that anyone could have different views from them and even act superior towards me because I'm not a fundie. They also tend to overestimate the prevalence of their beliefs, not realizing that a pretty good proportion of the people around them are nonreligious. One person I know tried to explain to me why there really was no such thing as an atheist because to say that there is no God, you would have to have perfect knowledge of everything in the universe, and to do this you would have to be God. Right.

I am agnostic, I was raised a catholic and still live my life as one, I just don't have faith in a god, as such, I try to live a spiritual life, and try to respect people regardless of their beliefs, I also believe that making fun or putting down other peoples beliefs is wrong, whether your Atheist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or what ever, Its not your place to ridicule someones belief that brings them comfort or gives them a sense of belonging. You don't have to associate with each other, if you don't share their ways, but you do have to share this world with them.

I wish I was an icelandic atheist. That way, when christians ask me why I don't believe in god I can ask them why they don't believe in elves

and for the record that emoticon says dwarf but it's an elf dammit. Dwarves don't wear bright green or have pointy ears!

Naah. The Taliban and religious people in Africa have the right idea. Kill the atheists, the homosexuals, the albinos, the girls that go out unaccompanied or without headscarves, the obvious witches and any little green men who descend in flying saucers.

In a weird sense, I honestly don't know what I believe. I'm sort of inbetween Atheist and Agnostic. Sometimes I'm convinced that there is no god, and other times I'm not sure. I can never seem to come to a definitive conclusion, I just keep flip-flopping. It's very annoying and frustrating for me .

Oh, yeah, man! If you could get me into a theological discussion, rather than giving me grief about my atheism, we could talk about Christ all day long. The way I talk when I get really excited in that kind of discussion, you'd forget that I'm an atheist. I'm serious, too. I've had long conversations with people about the actual meaning of some parts of the Bible, and their jaws completely drop, every time, when it comes into the discussion that I'm actually a hardcore Pyrrhonic Sceptic. I'm really nice about the subject when we're both on the same page. I really am.