Yes. We are. In most cases, for exactly the same reasons. But too many believers are taught that atheists are worse than immoral. They’re taught that atheists are evil. The following quotation was reported as being recently sent by an orthodox priest to his followers (meme found on a WordPress blog).
One priest’s view
“Lots of sicknesses have come out [of] the closet, and unbelief has come out of the closet too. And unbelief is the worst of them all. Better to be an adulterer…. Better to be a killer…. Better to be any of those things, brothers and sisters, than an unbeliever. There is nothing more foul, there is nothing more grotesque, for a human person to do than to embrace atheism”
At least he seems to see us as human, or almost. When I challenged the person who posted this, she tried to explain that he did not mean to say what he obviously said. Unless the man is grooming for a political campaign, I’ll take him at his word.
A governor’s view
Then there is the reported statement by the Governor of Ohio, and former republican presidential candidate, John Kasich. His reaction to actor Daniel Radcliffe’s (Harry Potter) disclosure as atheist is revealing.
“You know that Daniel Radcliffe has declared himself an atheist? I’m serious. What a weird thing. Why would a guy who has had all that success just, I mean, what the hell is wrong with him?” ~ John Kasich
Read about it by clicking here.
The public’s view
I recently read about research conducted by two prominent universities, one in Canada and the other in Oregon. Their general finding was that people trust atheists slightly less than rapists.
It’s easy to find more, but you get the point. And people wonder why atheists might object? Seriously?
While I am neither surprised nor angry, when some moron priest with a following says that I am worse than a serial killer, a jihadist bomber; that I am nothing but a grotesque, foul human being, please forgive me for being offended.
I’ll face palm, have a beer, and forgive this Christian for his stupid, insulting remark. Which, no doubt, at least hundreds of followers now believe. The clown who posted this seemed to think that atheists might be offended by it. Do ya think? Are you gunna tell me that people like this make the world a better place? These trolls think they are legitimate, and their followers agree.
Another priest on morality
Well, I have a priest to quote too—a Roman Catholic Parish priest. He told us that we should do the right thing. Not to keep out of hell, not to please god, not to impress anyone, not because the Bible or some bishop or pope told us to, but simply “because it is the right thing.”
This atheist agrees. I think most atheists believe in following, or changing, the laws. Even the ones that should not be laws, but are religious rules forced on everyone (civil disobedience protests notwithstanding).
We may protest, object, file law suits, or ping some governor, but we will usually follow the rules. It is the moral thing to do. This is partly why athesists are underrepresented in prison populations. Statistically, the proportional numbers of believers compared to the number of atheists in prison may be worth considering. I’ll let you look it up.
Nihilism (<—click for wiki)
Many believers confuse atheism with nihilism. They’re not the same. It’s unlikely that a moral nihilist would be a theist. Conversely, few atheists may be nihilists, but they could be. Understanding the difference helps, even if it is confusing. Another consideration for believers, be they doubters or true believers, is to ask themselves these four questions.
If I stopped believing in God tomorrow, would my morals change?
Would I become a criminal?
Would I be more willing to rape or murder?
Would I change so much that I would become a different person?
The other day I read a comment by someone who, while quite confused about Christian moral standards and values (and he is one), was even more out of line with his view of atheism. He implied that if I was Russian or Chinese, I might view human life as a “warm bucket of spit.” I’m sure that his opinion is held by too many Americans.
That would be nihilism, which is a philosophy—atheism is not. When someone asks an atheist how life can have meaning without god, they’re often thinking philosophically, and probably of some kind of nihilism.
Those loving Christians
I’m trying to figure out why so many Christians work so hard to make atheists look so bad. What do you suppose that is all about? Some lie knowingly (as in bear false witness), some may misunderstand, some may be warning their own group not to look upon nonbelievers or free thinkers as being just like them. Otherwise, the believers might become apostate and walk away from that religious fantasy (and take their money with them).
Atheists want a better world
Whether someone dislikes the fact that nonbelievers exist, that we work with believers to keep church and state separate, or that their family members may embrace atheism; we will continue to come out. We will continue to speak up. We will continue to deny the existence of any god. And, we will continue to share the moral high ground with most believers and to counter all claims to the contrary.
Believe as you will, be sure to look both ways.
Our Literary Journey 
“I’m trying to figure out why so many Christians work so hard to make atheists look so bad. What do you suppose that is all about?”
I think it’s because, before christians can buy into a specific dogma, they have to buy into the underlying idea: “Believing in unverifiable things is good.” So christians have less problem with, say, Jews or Hindus, because they also believe in something, even if it’s the wrong thing. But us nonbelievers, we not only reject their specific dogmas, we also reject the core belief that faith is a virtue. And that’s more dangerous an idea to their religious house of cards than any competing dogma could be.
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I think xtians are jealous of us. Here they are praying feverishly to their god, waiting for replies and comfort and gifts that never come, telling themselves how wonderful their Lord Jesus Christ (do they ever just say Jesus?) is, and not a lot is happening on the ground.
And here come all these atheists, not really trying very hard, apparently, and not really paying a lot of attention to God or the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or anyone else Up There, and pretending to be happy about it. It’s shameful. It’s…it’s…beyond comprehension. It’s not supposed to work that way.
We can’t know how to act responsibly, we got no one to TELL us how to behave. It’s just not right. The difference is, they wait for someone to tell them how to live, while we’re following the same rules, without guidance.
Love the Mencken quote. It’s so perfect.
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If you ask them, though, their gifts DO come and in great abundance. I know some Christians who blame literally every good thing in the universe on Jesus (Christ). The sunset was beautiful today… gotta love God’s artwork. Just got approved on a home loan to get my first house… my prayers were answered!
Theists have a really hard time accepting responsibility for anything in life.
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long ago I asked my neighbor when she got to take responsiblity for her own life. Everything she did was directed by god, everything she messed up was caused by the devil.
Finally I said, Julie, when do YOU get to take credit? She looked at me as if I was insane.
That was a turning point for me, watching this poor earnest woman who never got to take the credit–or the blame–for what happened in her life. And I realized that without a personal god, I had to actually suck it up and acknowledge my own mistakes–but I also got to take credit for the good stuff, too. Just like a grown up.
Churches also foster the child like aspect, too. “I am but a child in your hands”. The Father of us all. the heavenly father. priests are called father. we are called children of god. It’s a bit creepy, seen from this side, frankly.
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I do what I know is right because it is right, not out of fear that a sky god is going to shoot a lightening bolt at me. Another difference is that I cannot be a shitty person and say “sorry” on Sunday and have my slate wiped clean. I have to behave like a good citizen all the time. I am fine with that.
It is annoying some times when I feel like I am behaving more christ-like than some ‘christians.’
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You certainly put forth a good case for your view (and, in the interest of fairness, I should say that you have a lot of “followers” – over 100, a damn good achievement), but I don’t think I’m sharing much of any “moral” ground with any believer. They make a choice to join, defend, and give their money to fascist institutions of oppression – anti-rational, anti-humane, anti-humanistic, separatist paragons of hatred and enmity. Sure, a few of them are nice and cuddly now for the modern age, but in view of their history, these religions need to be given the heave-ho, on strictly moral grounds alone.
And that’s while social nihilism will get a view or two, a “following” of a few bots, and hopefully zero Facebook or Twitter associations. It’s just not very faith-friendly.
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Cuddly, you say? 🙂 I never looked at it that way.
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in my experience, the reason some theists lie about atheists is that they desperately afraid of our mere existence. We are just as happy as they are and we are just as caring, loving, fun, etc as any theist. Their sacrifice has been for nothing and death is just as real for them as for us.
They must insist that we “really do” believe in their god, that we have to be nilihistic idiots, we must be sad/unhappy/lonely/angry because if we aren’t, then they have nothing special about themselves.
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Well I can’t even tell you how many times I shouted out JFC, cause I’m not the world’s best counter, but JFC. Just slightly more than rapists?!? I am outta words. JFC.
I really don’t care about anyone’s beliefs or non-beliefs, lest they shove them down my throat, which atheists don’t seem to do, soooo….
I think it’s like a lot of other things, not my business.
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Nothing gets your anger out like JFC, I agree. 🙂
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Ever notice that the hard core theists are also more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and pseudoscience? There’s an underlying character flaw in believers.
Also the first pic is brilliant. Love Aurelius. Borrowed it for my blog. 🙂
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When you see the machinations a theist goes through to believe in the Bible, and the mental gymnastics he performs to make it come out right, are you susprised that they can accept conspiracy theories and weird science so easily?
Have you forgotten that man once walked with dinosaurs? Have you forgotten that Moses parted the waters? Did you ever wonder out loud about where Cain’s wife came from, or where all those other people were?
Seriously, if you can accept the idea that the Christian bible was written AS IS and just for us as 21st century people, then you can accept a whole lot of very strange modern day conspiracy theories. Your mind has been on flaps up from birth, in that regard…
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