I also think that like… white American atheists who conclude that literally all religion is what they were taught growing up in their evangelical churches are helping to reinforce the belief that that version of Christianity is the correct way to practice religion?
Even the ones who never went to church often can't comprehend that different religions are different.
All religions are the problem. All theism is the problem. It is the promotion of the rejection of reality. It thereby encourages - actively, today - harm. There is not "correct" way to practice theism, or spirituality - anything remotely related to the supernatural. It's all wrong.
How did a Chick tract from 1993 warning of the dangers of white teens having a wicca phase learn how to type and use the internet? (atheists online - making people that don't believe in God feel second hand embarrassment since 2005)
You're decidedly unhelpful. Got it. Real people out there doing real harm - but let's police other atheists that are opposing the harm. Yeah, smart.
Real people do real harm for dumb reasons all the time. And yes I will police other atheists. Last time we gave you weirdos a pass on that you ended up as the milky residue on the bottom of the intellectual dark Web. Religion isn't bad, people are.
okay, you've successfully argued yourself into being ignored. Enjoy your immorality.
I find it hilarious when strangers online ads like 'nanana I'm not talking to you anymore' like anybody over the age of 13 would give a shit
What are we “helping”?
Well, in the sense that no one should assume any help is coming from a non-verifiable, probably non-existent source, yes. Still, I reckon an idea of Divine Order & a Judge may be a useful metaphor for some people to think about morality. Sheer consequentialist philosophy might be "better," but meh.
Ahem, Stalinist USSR would like a word…
False comparison. Next loser.
Really? Fascinating. And is it “Next loser” (sic) or did you mean “Next, loser.”?
Nonono... The athiests fuck things up in entirely different ways.
🤣
I fhought it was about expressing gratitude.
One of the core themes for me for the last couple of years is how the failure to deconstruct white evangelical christianity that is the default for most white Americans means that people keep reconstructing the heavily punitive structures complete the absolute terror of death. See: AI singularity
I see this a lot in a polytheistic tradition that I'm part of, which occasionally attracts converts. Some of them are *convinced* that a god is angry with them over trivial behaviors, thoughts, or even feelings. I didn't understand it until I started to learn more about where they'd come from.
Like white American “leftists” who hate Democrats just like their parents did
As an atheist that grew up deeply involved in the Evangelical church, I would absolutely agree with you. It's baked in since childhood and unpacking and deconstructing that is hard work that many never do. Especially the more militant antitheists.
For some it must be easier to believe the whole world is victimizing them for being anti-God, rather than that no-one outside the church cares one way or another. Maybe that's really scary? Being brought up w/in such rigid thinking, then discovering there's no alternate structure 2 support them?
It's a big thing in the Evangelical church to believe you're always being persecuted by the "World" for your beliefs, so someone leaving without unpacking that carrying that belief into their new antitheist worldview would make a lot of sense.
Ahhh ok yeah that does track.
I think I got lucky in leaving. I just kinda quit believing, then had to spend 15 years unpacking it all. Never got pulled into the New Atheist or the militant antitheist worlds. Lots of people in those still traumatized and still clinging to Evangelical beliefs *but the other way*.
I’m glad for you you did! I do appreciate how difficult it must be, more for some than for others. I listen to the Don’t Trust Me podcast, which explores a broad range of cult-thinking experiences, and I have to admire those who DO manage to unpack that kind of mental abuse.
It's definitely been a journey! Not familiar with that podcast but I'm going to check it out now!
Couple of giggly Valley Girls, but they do a great job!
That’s them :)
The ones I've encountered were just as reactionary and hateful as the worst in the Evangelical church, still carried the persecution complex, and still feel the need to EVANGELIZE! about their offputting beliefs.
They just recreate what they grew up with but *the other direction*. Poor assholes will probably never have any real peace in their lives. Just turning the "believe in Jesus" switch off but still be just as reactionary and angry to those that don't believe like they do. Screw that.
It’s gotta suck! And judging by the number of wankers who drop into any thread about religion to tell everyone how delusional they are, or how religion (rather than abuse of power) is the cause of everything bad, woefully common
Yeah, there's far too many of them. And far too much unprocessed trauma they want to spray on everyone else with a firehose. Just pure lashing out and making a bad time for anyone that interacts.
Yup.
Inverted fundamentalists, basically, same as adult converts to Catholicism or Orthodoxy that behave exactly the same as they did before just with Latin Mass or iconography as their new sacred cow
VERY apt comparison!
Criminals who "find Jesus" in jail but keep on crimin'
what's this ghoul have to do with it??
I like to note when they reject the belief of their religion but don't question anything else their religion told them.
It’s Christofascism with extra steps
This was me before I learned about the HUGE depth and breadth of religious practice around the world. I can't remember who first pointed it out to me that I was mostly angry at bigoted Christians, but if I could find them, I would give them chocolate. And it's not like I stopped being an atheist.
In Protestant churches especially Evangelical branches like you identified not only do they teach that their version of what religion has come to mean is the correct one but they believe that everyone else views religion in the same way and have the same relationship to God and scripture
They even correct people of other faiths on the subject. Almost as bad as the pagans who are basically Christians who added a goddess to the rotation.
You’re confusing anti-religious people with atheists. Anti-religious people find fertile fields in knitting picking a subject they themselves have no ownership of. Atheists just don’t want to talk about it and avoid it at all costs
We have not met the same kind of atheists, clearly.
Nu-Atheists have a tendency towards being very Protestant in their Atheism
Idk if you can blame that on what atheists say about religion, but I do have a sense that the mushy middle of "religious but not crazy" is dissolving as people capable of rational thought become atheists while at the other end the foolish and easily scammed are drawn to nutty fundamentalist groups
I was brought up a Catholic. What a load a bollocks that was.
- Henry VIII
Martin Luther is also an acceptable punchline
True! The “bollocks” tipped me toward a Brit ☺️
Lol! busted...
Touche!
I don't blame Henry.
Ha, no I made a joke that your post was an HVIII quote
Olde Engerlish was very earthy.
