this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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Asklemmy

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[–] [email protected] 88 points 8 months ago (5 children)

We don't know right from wrong because we don't fear retribution from an almighty.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago

I'm an atheist, so I get to rape and murder as much as I want. It just happens that that amount is zero.

I'm also kind to others, purely because doing so makes me feel good. If it also builds up "karma credits" with others, that's just a nice fringe benefit.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

That actually makes me boil, cause i remember the live interview with a religious dude around 2008. In which he said and i quote "i don't fear the law of man, i only fear god", the bastard said it after killing someone in the name of jehova (i don't even remember if it was only one victim or more, my monkey brain was just baffled at his response to the question).

They don't play with the same social rules at all, and then they rage because "us" r the crazy ones.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I had a coworker a few years ago who was seriously confused how I maintained morality without an imaginary friend threatening to fuck me up for all eternity. Like, he genuinely struggled to compute how it was possible for me to go around not raping and killing people as an atheist, to the extent that the guy was clearly wary around me going forward from that point. Very strange dude. Also weirdly enthusiastic about competitive pistol shooting.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

God doesn't want him to shoot people, yet.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

I think that's the sum of it all

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 8 months ago (3 children)

No morality. Eat children. Sleep with your partner when you're stuck in traffic. The source of all evil. Can't be trusted. Are always miserable.

Basically everything religious folks really are under the mask they wear.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 months ago (2 children)

As a religious person, I will absolutely sleep with your partner while you're stuck in traffic.

I love a nap. I'm always sleepy, and if you're stuck in traffic and I'm bored, imma be sleepin.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

It's not under the mask. Some of them, they just cannot apprehend the fact that a human being can live respectfully without the permanent menace of being sent to hell or get some holy wrath or something

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If we just hear “the gospel” enough, we’ll come around. In reality, I hear street preachers, and see “Jesus loves you” stickers on street corners, and it turns me off even more.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, as an honestly pretty unspiritual Christian, Street preachers make me unnecessarily angry. Because it feels like they're just bible bashing and aren't actually doing anything to further Christianity's goals, despite the fact they think they are. Individuals can't win people over by shoving their beliefs down people's throats.

I feel like the only people who listen to these guys are people who agree with them. Most people ignore them in my city.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago

That anyone outside of the US or the middle east even gives a fuck whether you're an atheist or not

That's weird guys come on

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago (3 children)

That because we are free from god or gods that we have no moral compass. I consider myself a good person and I have good moral standards. I don't need fear from punishment after death to do so.

Also that we have no spirituality.. Spirituality and religion kinda go hand in hand but aren't mutually exclusive. That being said, I have no desire for either religion or spirituality. Maybe when I'm closer to the later chapters

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago

From my experience many religious people have questionable moral standards.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

Perhaps not exactly what you're asking but one thing many religious people don't seem to get is that they're "atheists" aswell when it comes to all the other gods out there. The difference to atheism is that we just don't believe in their god either.

I don't know how many gods there are but for the sake of an argument, lets say 500. A Christian believes in 1 out of 500 gods and an atheist believes in 0 out of 500. We're not that different from each other after all.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Atheism means you believe in no god whatsoever, not that you don't believe in a particular set of gods.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

That's what they're saying. An atheist believes in 0 of the total options for gods and religions that you get if you add them all up. A believer believes in 1 or a few of them. So really, the religious are also non-believers when it comes to most gods and religions.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago

That we despise people who have religious faith. I don't despise people with religious faith - I despise what religion does to people who have faith.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Where I am in Australia, if as a group (say of coworkers) talking about a new person, we might be like 'maybe don't say "Jesus fucking Christ" in front of Lisa, I'm pretty sure she's extremely Christian' or 'let's do lunch instead of drinks to celebrate the milestone, I'm pretty sure Vish is Muslim so we don't want him to feel left out'.

Majority of my peers are atheist. Religion only comes up in our lives when we're trying to be inclusive or respectful of the religious minority.

It's funny how some places can't do the same in reverse.

Edit to say, the thing is, to the majority of us, belief in a god is silly hocus pocus, drummed up by humans when we just didn't understand how things worked and the scientific method didn't exist. But as a respectful person living in a society, I live by the rules that you don't make fun of those silly ideas, and also that religion is intrinsically linked to people's cultures too. So I have a live and let live attitude to it.

Pity many Christians can't be that Christian.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Most successful religions are highly evangelical. This is how they become religious. They also have the view that their way of worship is the only and correct way to worship. Otherwise, people would not have to follow that religion. These two ideas, crucial to the spread of a religion, are not compatible with tolerance.

In fact, if you genuinely believed that worshipping a God in a specific way was necessary or you would face eternal punishment. Would you not want to save everyone else from this. The do not see it as intolerance. They genuinely think they are helping you. Others just see it as their tribe and have a use Vs them attitude.

For Atheists it is easier to accept and welcome others. There's no punishment for it. So tolerance comes easy. It's also necessary for religions to demonise Atheists, to control their flock. So the historical cultural perception of Atheists is not one of kindness and tolerance. That's why it's seems novel that reality doesn't match that.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (3 children)

That we do abortions for fun.

I mean, I do do abortions for fun. But not because I'm an atheist.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

That I can't do religious stuff! I don't have to believe in the religious components to participate in an event that holds meaning to you. To me it's not sacred -- all just normal words being said and ordinary matter being handled according to some rules. I do that every day at work at the direction of a different kind of "higher power" (clients) without anger or discomfort, it's really not a big deal!

I'm not angry at god for not existing, nor am I angry at all the people who believe otherwise. If the invitation to your religious event is in good faith, I'm honored to attend, and will just keep to myself or make small talk. Plus I've studied enough faiths I can probably fake it, if keeping the situation under control requires it ;)

I've discovered that in practice, many people of different faiths are not sure what to think about this position. Most are OK with it, some not (I just give them their space). With the interesting exception of Buddhists! They've always been super excited to bring me along to the pagoda somehow. No one ever tried to convert me, and the monks often speak a surprising number of languages and are interesting and well traveled. It's become a set of surprisingly wholesome memories (I immigrated to a primarily Buddhist country)!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

That it’s a religion. Except for a few groups, which I find kind of strange, being an atheist is the lack of religion and belief in a god. It’s not a religion or anything like a religion and so often I see atheism discussed by the religious in religious terms l, as a monolith, and other ways that just totally miss the mark.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

If religions and beliefs are like the different broadcast channels you see on TV, you get Atheism when you turn the TV off.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago

I don't hate religion or religious people. I just don't believe. I do find religions really interesting, though, historically and culturally.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm not an asshole to every single religious person that exists. It's only when someone brings up pushing religious ideologies that I get pissed.

I know that's a big one.

Or that we're "godless heathens" because not believing in a god somehow means not having morals.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Or that we're "godless heathens" because not believing in a god somehow means not having morals

The scariest thing is someone claiming that only religion imparts morals and ethics.

Because if the only thing stopping a person from raping and killing and causing pain and anguish is the religion they have… dude, THEY ARE the monster everyone needs to be afraid of.

My own morals and ethics aren’t forcibly imposed on me by an outside force, ready to snap apart and break off with the smallest of stresses.

No, it is built up inside of me via empathy and understanding and personal experiences, and is therefore a core part of my being and far more immune to corruption or breakage.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

And then how many pushy religious people actually follow the good moral lessons from their beliefs, anyway? Like American fundies are so judgmental. Even my quiet, meek Catholic grandmother is so judgmental.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

Looking for an argument on every corner. Especially on the stupidest and most inhumane situations. That’s reserved for Christians.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That we don't have sympathy or empathy for religious people.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There is this strange idea that atheists are just rebellious against God because they don't want to be responsible for being moral, kinda like disobeying your parents and sneaking out to party.

Also, lots of theists assume atheists used to be religious, they don't really consider that people are raised without religion sometimes.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That we “hate” god. I don’t in believe in a god, how the fuck could I hate something I don’t think exists? It’s moronic

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Like almost any marginalized group, atheists get caricatured by their most vocal members.

I probably would have become atheist a decade sooner if I hadn't associated it with the logocentric, Western chauvinist, and plain old bigots who first represented atheism to me.

There are plenty of us who aren't obsessed with religious debates; we don't hate religious people; and our cultural, political, and philosophical ideas are not frozen in 18^th^ Century Europe.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It’s not religion that’s the problem. It’s bad people. Religion becomes a vehicle for bad people to do bad things to vulnerable people.

Otherwise go ahead and do your meditations, rain dance, or give to your earth god for all I care.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

That we're smug knowitalls that just goes around looking for logical debates.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I think we're stereotyped often as the militant and belligerent atheists quite a lot. We have been painted as unsympathetic assholes who like to talk down to religious people to make us feel better about ourselves, not to mention a weird overlap with some parts of the far-right, usually by way of transphobia, homophobia, racism, social darwinism and the enforcement of poorly understood or straight up incorrect "science"

Eugenecists inhabit this space, as well as people who might call themselves "race realists", as well as people who think their middle-school-level understanding of genetics and sex encapsulates the entirety of gender and sexuality. It's those atheists who claim to love science, hate ignorance, but remain ignorant of science. They give us a bad name, and their loudness makes it seem like they represent us

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I live in a country that is on the surface quite ateist and nobody is openly religious, not even Muslim immigrants.

So i really got nothing.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

I shave my neck

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Honestly I am mostly bothered by the "reddit atheist" stereotype. Most of the atheist even on Reddit, that I have met, even in Reddit, were as annoying or pleasant as everyone else. But it feels like if you oppose religious nonsense as it gets pushed in your face online, "everyone" thinks you are some radical who hates all e.g. christians, while in reality you might intentionally buy some handmade crafts for the local church to support some charity and support your elderly local community by rewarding their social efforts.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That we have to have faith to be an atheist. Complete nonsense, of course.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

A lot of people like to say that atheists traffics with demons to solve their daily problems, routinely play with Satan's gigantic cock, and do a fuck ton of drugs and I'm here to put the rumors to rest. I have never once even seen Satan's gigantic cock, nonetheless held it in my hands.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

That when we see a fish on the back of their car, we know we're going to be following a really considerate driver.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

That you are enlightened, not by a phony God’s blessing but by your own intelligence

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I been told that if god was 100% proven is real, I would have to bend the knee and love and worship him.

Fuck that, if he is real I am going to make it my life mission to kill god. He ain't looking like much of a good guy to me.

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