Theists seem to have a lot of twisted ideas of what an atheist is. From worshiping Satan to a waging war on Christmas, slander stigmatizes atheists to a point where we are forced to fight back. Simply put, there are a lot of lies and misconceptions about atheists and I'm going to debunk ten of them.
Here is my top ten list of myths about atheists.
10) Atheists Hate God
When you say that an atheist hates God, you are implying that they believe in god. An atheist is a person who doesn't believe in a god or gods. Fact of the matter is, the concept of God does exist. That doesn't mean that the thing the concept is based on exists; only that the concept does. Many atheists see the Abrahamic god as a very evil character with little to no true morality and, so, hate the notion of that god.
Elaboration...
9) Atheists are amoral
The idea is that God is the originator of morality and that not believing in him renders one incapable of being reasonably moral. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Morality is based on sympathy, empathy, and reciprocal altruism. We avoid doing bad because we feel others' pain and we do good because we feel joy. We also benefit from a system where doing good deeds for others increases the likely-hood that good things are done back. Morality is also reasoned an argued, as it has been all throughout history, for the purpose of figuring out how best to minimize suffering and maximize prosperity. This is true morality and it does not require a god.
8) Atheists have no meaning in their lives
The usual justification to this statement is "Why bother living? When you're dead, you're dead; nothing matters anymore!" If life is meaningless because it doesn't last forever then why eat great food? Why have great sex? Why are children precious? Eventually, you finish eating, the both of you climax, and children grow-up. These things do have meaning regardless of whether or not they're permanent. I find meaning in my life beyond the niceties. I want to leave behind a society that's better than the one I lived in for my great-grandchildren because others did that for me; that's a part of reciprocal altruism.
7) It takes more faith to be an atheist
The misconception here is that atheists positively assert that God does not exist. Let's acquaint ourselves with the terms 'gnostic' and 'agnostic'. A gnostic is someone who claims absolute knowledge of something whereas an agnostic claims to simply not have absolute knowledge. An atheist simply doesn't believe in any gods. On top of that, he or she can either be agnostic or gnostic. Fact of the matter is, in the absence of evidence, belief is not justified in either direction as it is logically impossible to prove a negative. Agnostic atheists run on evidence; that is anything but faith.
6) Atheists don't believe in anything
I believe you're right! Seriously, atheists do believe in things; it's just that we don't believe in supernatural things. Here's a short list of things I believe in:
- Humanism - Reciprocal altruism holds society together.
- Feminism - Women are equal to men and deserve to be treated as such.
- Maintaining humanities psychological health by means of cultural preservation (e.g art and history)
- Revenge and retribution are not true forms of justice. Rather, restitution and rehabilitation are.
- Believing in answers only leads to questions and believing in questions leads to answers.
- Faith is a sure fire way to hinder learning.
- Greed, faith, piety, and righteousness are not virtues.
- The pursuit of science produces more good for humanity than anything else.
I believe in a lot of things. None of them happen to be gods, fairies, or extra-terrestrials who have visited the Earth! Why? Again, in the absence of evidence, belief is not justified.
5) Atheism is a religion
Calling atheism a religion is like calling 'water' a brand of soda. We have no doctrine. The only one single thing that all atheists share in common is the fact that we don't believe in a god. Religious people will say that atheism is a religion because we sometimes organize. I guess that makes the democratic party, the ACLU, and my bathroom all religions. When religious people say that atheists have faith or that atheism is a religion in order to demonize them/it, they don't realize that they're actually demonizing faith and religion as well.
4) Atheists aren't as charitable
The largest charity organization, "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation", in the world is run by an atheist by the name of Bill Gates. Atheists do charity without the reward of Heaven or threat of Hell. Atheists volunteer to feed the poor without holding their meals ransom while preaching to them. We don't go out and proselytize and call it charity when it isn't. Atheists do good because it is good and I don't need an ulterior motive; no god needed.
I recommend this article on atheists and charity: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20111125
3) Atheists are angry
Atheists are not angry people. We are happy, compassionate, and love to live life. Sometimes, however, we do get angry. We are surrounded by people whose holy texts tell them to kill us and we're just supposed to smile? Gay and or women atheists have even more to be angry about. In many places in the world, being a nonbelievers could lead to, in order of severity, ostracism, bullying, denial of rights, physical violence, and death. Here's a short list of things that we deserve to be angry about:
Atheists are usually very happy, pleasant people. When they are mad, stop think about the possiblity that they have a good reason to be.
2) Atheists are only pretending God doesn't exist
This statement is usually followed by "...so they can commit all the sins they want." Well, not believing in a god doesn't make that god not exist. Believing in a god doesn't mean that the god does exist, either. Why would we risk eternal damnation by pretending that God doesn't exist.? This accusation is just so silly. I have rejected the notion of every god presented to me, thus far. I have committed the one unforgivable sin. The problem for religious people is that means they can't convert me. They do not like that little fact so they pretend that we're just pretending.
1) There are no atheists in foxholes
This one is really insulting. The notion that I would just changed my mind and pray to God if I thought I was about to die is an accusation of cowardice. If I were in a foxhole, what I would do is try to find a way out of that mess. I know, all too well, the track record of prayer. I would see it as only a way to kill time before I die. The reason why we're atheists is because we find the notion of a god to be implausible and unsubstantiated. We find god incredulous. Why would we pray to YOUR god anyways? Why wouldn't we pray to Vishnu or Thor? There are, in fact, plenty of atheists in foxholes; they've even spoken out.
http://www.militaryatheists.org/expaif.html
I hope you learned something from this list. I hope that any misconceptions you had were debunked and you are now more right than you were before.
The following people contributed ideas.
@AtlanticCanuck
@MsGrumpy
@AsViewedBy
@metalpatriot666
@RichWiltshir
@comtessa69
Calling atheism a religion is like calling 'water' a brand of soda. We have no doctrine. The only one single thing that all atheists share in common is the fact that we don't believe in a god. Religious people will say that atheism is a religion because we sometimes organize. I guess that makes the democratic party, the ACLU, and my bathroom all religions. When religious people say that atheists have faith or that atheism is a religion in order to demonize them/it, they don't realize that they're actually demonizing faith and religion as well.
4) Atheists aren't as charitable
The largest charity organization, "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation", in the world is run by an atheist by the name of Bill Gates. Atheists do charity without the reward of Heaven or threat of Hell. Atheists volunteer to feed the poor without holding their meals ransom while preaching to them. We don't go out and proselytize and call it charity when it isn't. Atheists do good because it is good and I don't need an ulterior motive; no god needed.
I recommend this article on atheists and charity: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20111125
3) Atheists are angry
Atheists are not angry people. We are happy, compassionate, and love to live life. Sometimes, however, we do get angry. We are surrounded by people whose holy texts tell them to kill us and we're just supposed to smile? Gay and or women atheists have even more to be angry about. In many places in the world, being a nonbelievers could lead to, in order of severity, ostracism, bullying, denial of rights, physical violence, and death. Here's a short list of things that we deserve to be angry about:
- Religion over-reaching into legislation.
- The retardation of scientific and medical development.
- Children dying because their parents decided to pray INSTEAD of seeking medical treatment.
- Rejection of science by the general public.
- Terrorism by Muslims and Christians alike.
- Lying to children.
Atheists are usually very happy, pleasant people. When they are mad, stop think about the possiblity that they have a good reason to be.
2) Atheists are only pretending God doesn't exist
This statement is usually followed by "...so they can commit all the sins they want." Well, not believing in a god doesn't make that god not exist. Believing in a god doesn't mean that the god does exist, either. Why would we risk eternal damnation by pretending that God doesn't exist.? This accusation is just so silly. I have rejected the notion of every god presented to me, thus far. I have committed the one unforgivable sin. The problem for religious people is that means they can't convert me. They do not like that little fact so they pretend that we're just pretending.
1) There are no atheists in foxholes
This one is really insulting. The notion that I would just changed my mind and pray to God if I thought I was about to die is an accusation of cowardice. If I were in a foxhole, what I would do is try to find a way out of that mess. I know, all too well, the track record of prayer. I would see it as only a way to kill time before I die. The reason why we're atheists is because we find the notion of a god to be implausible and unsubstantiated. We find god incredulous. Why would we pray to YOUR god anyways? Why wouldn't we pray to Vishnu or Thor? There are, in fact, plenty of atheists in foxholes; they've even spoken out.
http://www.militaryatheists.org/expaif.html
I hope you learned something from this list. I hope that any misconceptions you had were debunked and you are now more right than you were before.
The following people contributed ideas.
@AtlanticCanuck
@MsGrumpy
@AsViewedBy
@metalpatriot666
@RichWiltshir
@comtessa69
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