Let’s keep this to the Christians in the crowd.
What are your feelings toward Atheists? Do you find yourself disliking them as a group? If so can you tell me why?
Have your feelings changed over the years as you get older?
Back in the day when I was a fundie I was actually afraid of atheists. I mean, actually fearful. I remember seeing Madeline Murray O’Hair on the Phil Donahue Show and thinking she was an evil monster because she was an atheist.
Now I’m agnostic on a good day and realize we fear what we do not understand–and what we are taught to fear.
ETA: I know you wanted this for just Christians, but I did tell you how I felt when I was a Christian (and some would argue still am); I was a fundie until well into my 20s, although my faith faded exponentially each year.
No I do not since Jesus instructs us to even love our enemies and most atheists are not my “enemies” in any sense of the word. However some atheists (most notably Madalyn Murray O’Hair and our resident Red Shirt) do tax my patience because of their ignorant attacks on Christianity.
No, I’ve got nothing against atheists…as long as they remember their place, and call me sir, and don’t try to marry my sister. Heck, some of my best friends are atheists, I invite 'em into my home, and let 'em use my bathroom and…and everything!
But seriously folks; I actually don’t know too many avowed atheists. Most of the people I know who do not profess to be Christian are in fact agnostic, which seems to me a more sensible position than outright atheism. Atheists do not pose a threat to me, nor to my personal beliefs. I do resent it a little when they try to claim some kind of moral or intellectual superiority, but I rarely feel like I have to defend my belief or justify my faith to them. It’s there, it’s a part of me, it’s real (to me) and I don’t have to go around justifying it.
And speaking of acting superior, I find that fundamentalist Christians - whom I have quite a lot of contact with - do this a lot more often than the atheists. As a liberal Christian, and nominal Unitarian I seem to spend a lot more time and effort fending off advances by fundamentalists than arguing with atheists or agnostics.
SS
Wow, I find that fascinating. Do you have any idea specifically why you were fearful? Did you think atheists would kidnap you? torture or eat you? Or was it just non-discript…you were supposed to fear them, but didn’t really know why.
I don’t know how much of a Christian I am, but I rather like atheists. They challenge me to think and I like to know how things are on the other side of the coin.
Absolutely not.
I don’t know why I would dislike someone who disagrees with me, unless they are rude or overly aggressive. I wouldn’t expect an atheist to dislike all those who believe in a god(or gods).
Not to answer for Kapri, but many (not necessarily all) fundamentalists operate on fear. Fear of slipping up somehow and being unworthy of salvation, fear and loathing of any and all who oppose them or their view of God. Most fundamentalists believe very strongly that an atheist stands in constant danger of the wrath of God and I think at the root it is fear of guilt by proximity. The lightening bolt that will surely strike down the atheist might accidentally glance off and hit them too…so to speak.
It’s this same fear that causes the intense homophobia that most fundamentalists feel. They’ve been told so often that condoning homosexuality will bring God’s judgement on the whole land that they really, truely believe it and fear that they will suffer too.
Or so it seems to me.
SS
What are your feelings toward Atheists?
Don’t really have any - I either like 'em or dislike 'em one at a time (not as a group) just like anyone else.
Do you find yourself disliking them as a group? If so can you tell me why?
Not in the least.
Have your feelings changed over the years as you get older?
Nope.
I guess because I was raised as a fundie–not the strictest of all fundies, but still. It’s hard to explain the fear they put into you, especially an impressionable young girl like I was, but I thought she was evil–but not that she would kidnap or eat me. I just thought that someone who denied the existed of God was BAD and going to HELL with SATAN to burn and be tormented FOREVER. It didn’t help that she wasn’t the most charming of women; her strident personality probably confirmed what I already thought about atheists at that time.
A few years ago a woman I work with came running up to me all excited, saying, “Did you know that [person we worked with] is an atheist? Can you believe it?” all gasping and horrified. I couldn’t believe that a grown woman with a PhD reacted the way she did, but apparently some Christians (which she is) are still gobsmacked by atheism.
Like most questions about ‘groups’ of people, I would have to answer on an individual basis.
*** What are your feelings toward Atheists?**
The vast majority of them seem like decent human beings who are just trying to get through life like everyone else.
*** Do you find yourself disliking them as a group? If so can you tell me why?**
As a group I have no problems with atheists. I’m not sure why I’m supposed to have a problem with them, because other than not believing in God, I haven’t noticed any other common denominators amongst them, let alone ones that are unlikable. After all, people who profess to believe in God commit more crimes than those who don’t (just from the sheer number of us).
I don’t like atheists who are aggressive, but I feel the same way about fellow believers who are aggressive too. Aggressiveness is a huge turn off in general, so it’s not surprising.
Beyond the internet, though, I rarely encounter loud preachy fundies and atheists because I live in the northeast, where you can know someone five years and never have a conversation about religious beliefs, so you’re rarely the victim of an attempt to convert you/enlighten you about why you’re wrong to believe. It’s simply not done here, so you don’t encounter people at either end of the continuum who are defensive because they feel under attack all the time. (seriously, I find the threads about people discussing religion/irreligion with coworkers who make an issue of it baffling.) I imagine both Christians and Atheists feel beleaguered in parts of the country/world where it’s common to talk about religion to everyone.
*** Have your feelings changed over the years as you get older?**
Not really. I’ve always been pretty much live and let live.
What are your feelings toward Atheists? In general, I don’t think about them. I like a person or I don’t. It rarely has anything to do with their religion or lack thereof. I’m all in favor of, “You respect my beliefs, I’ll respect yours and we’ll get a long just fine.”
Do you find yourself disliking them as a group? If so can you tell me why? No issues with them as a collective group.
Have your feelings changed over the years as you get older? Not really.
I’m Catholic.
I don’t think about atheists enough to dislike them. Nor do I think about Muslims, Buddhists, whatever. I just really don’t care. My best friend was an atheist and he was going to be my best man in my Catholic wedding.
Religion rarely comes up with people I talk to. I’d rather talk about Call of Duty than who’s right or wrong. In the end, it doesn’t matter. It isn’t like someone’s an atheist because they’ve never heard of Jesus, a la Jack Chick. If they wanted to be religious they would and nothing I say would be able change it, so why annoy them?
ETA: Or I think they’re all traitors to America and they need to be put in into slave camps. Did I say ‘slave camps?’ I meant happy camps, where they can run and play on a farm and work until they’re God-hating bodies wore out.
It isn’t a factor in how I relate to people.
I wasn’t really exposed to all the “atheists are evil” screed, though.
Do I hate atheists? Of course not. I try not to hate anyone. But I just got through talking about the type of atheism I hate: the kind that is based on hatred. I also dislike the kind that is based on disillusionment. The kind I like is the kind based on rationally weighing the options.
But I was not always this way. I never hated atheists, but I was scared in a different sense: I really bought in to the idea that all beliefs that discouraged Christianity were actually created by the Devil. The fact that atheism promoted rationality was part of the problem–that was what made it tempting, and let the Devil come in and control people’s lives.
That’s what was scary–the idea that I might be tricked by Satan and become an atheist myself. It took a long time before my faith became strong enough that I no longer worried that I could be convinced out of it. Once I got past that, I could see the good in atheism, even if I disagree with it.
Catholic here.
From my long, long-ago classes in Moral Theology, I seem to remember St. Thomas Aquinas’ teaching that every man is obliged to follow his conscience. An atheist who strives to do so has my respect. Anyone (atheist or theist) who doesn’t try to do what is right as they understand it is to be pitied.
I don’t dislike them. I respect the sincerity of those atheists who are trying to get at what they see to be truth, regardless of whether they find it comforting or not. I do wish that more of them would extend respect towards those of us whose life experiences have convinced us of theism.
No.
Catholic.
I don’t discriminate by reason of religion, but I do discriminate by reason of attitude about it. An Opus Dei drone giving a speech about how I shall go to Hell because I wear trousers or an atheist giving one on the subject of “Religion is the opiate of the masses” are equally obnoxious.
I’ve had that same attitude since before I learned the word “atheist”.
I try hard (consciously, even) to avoid forming perceptions about groups of people at all, unless it’s explicitly useful to do so* - especially with collections of people as diverse and different as Atheists almost certainly will be. I don’t perceive them as a group, is the short answer.
(At least, I think/hope I don’t. If you catch me doing this, please feel free to embarrass me by pointing it out).
To be honest though, I don’t like to spend a lot of time disliking things or people - Events or actions might annoy me, and I might get shirty or huffy or whatever, with an individual, over some disagreement or something, but life moves on.
(*for example, if a group consists of 5 year old children, and I am asked to tailor something to suit them, then it might start to be useful to form generalised ideas about them as a group, but only as I understand characteristics of the individuals - you can’t generalise without data.)
[Nitpick]
I think you’re safe from O’Hair, given that she died before you were born. Richard Dawkins is the preeminent Obnoxious Atheist these days.
[/nitpick]