Why are athiests not given as much respect as the religious in society?

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  1. Silver Fish profile image75
    Silver Fishposted 11 years ago

    Why are athiests not given as much respect as the  religious in society?

  2. swordsbane profile image60
    swordsbaneposted 11 years ago

    That's simple: It's because most people in society are religious in some manner or another, and there are some institutionalized prejudices that have been taken for granted for so long, when someone brings up the idea of abolishing them, it is seen as "attacking religion" and "destroying religious freedom" If Atheists would just shut up and not say anything, everything would be fine.... except it wouldn't.  For the same reason that Don't Ask-Dont' Tell didn't work, the status quo with religion won't work either.  Society is unfairly biased towards those who hold religious values.  This has to change before Atheists will get any respect in society.  Religious people have to stop feeling threatened whenever an Atheist (or anyone else) suggest something to even things up.

  3. M. T. Dremer profile image85
    M. T. Dremerposted 11 years ago

    Well, for one thing, atheism isn't a religion. It is not the anti-religion, it is one belief that states; we don't believe in any supernatural deities. The opposite is theism which applies to a whole lot of religions. Buddhism is an atheist religion, so the terms are not contradictory. Similarly, an atheist could believe in ghosts (perhaps from a scientific viewpoint) or powerful forces in the universe, just not gods. And I would say that is where the majority of disrespect comes from; a failure to understand what an atheist really is. There was a documentary, though I can't recall the name, where a team of christians was put up against a team of atheists. The goal was to answer questions about the opposing teams beliefs. Overwhelmingly, atheists knew more about religion than the christians knew about atheism. If people knew more about atheists, I think there would be some measure of respect given to them.

    1. swordsbane profile image60
      swordsbaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Then I'm not an Atheist.  I have no problem with the existence of God/Satan, or any other supernatural creator.  You just got to show me the evidence and, to date, I haven't seen even one shred of hard evidence, only subjective myths.

    2. M. T. Dremer profile image85
      M. T. Dremerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      swordsbane - Based on your description, you might be an agnostic, which does tend to get lumped together with atheism.

  4. Darrell Roberts profile image72
    Darrell Robertsposted 11 years ago

    Religious people get more respect than athiestic people because most religions tell their folowers that they have better values and morals than non believers.  Belief in some sort of supernatural power deity or God is the way that many cultures and civilizations have handled the issue of the unknown.  Religion means to relink or realign it is a practice that brings people together usually with some deity of God at the center and that serves as the foundation of many societies.

    People who do not believe in a higher power get because they are in the minority and they challenge the core belief of many people and socieities.

    Besy wishes.

  5. Craig Suits profile image63
    Craig Suitsposted 11 years ago

    Athiests are not only not given any respect but they are generally looked down upon by the entire global religious community. When a  human being is taught a religion, especially through his/her adolescent years, it becomes much much more than just a belief in a philosophy or a way of life. Belief in a religious doctrine becomes survival in many aspects. These believers almost never change beliefs which accounts for just about everyone on the planet. Even the Athiests themselves are largely not what they think they are or would like to be. i.e. "There are no Athiests in fox holes."

    Once you've learned just how effective a full blown religious belief is in keepng it's subject believing no matter what, even faced with flat out proof to the contrary, you'll understand why anyone believing less than our subject, will indeed be looked at with pity and distain.

    I'm no Athiest simply because I don't know the answeres to all these religious questions any more than you, however, being sane as opposed to most believers I possess the ability to analyze a given question and effect a logical, and factual answer as far as my knowledge will allow. This beats the hell our of "It's not for us to know my son", or "Have faith" and a number of other cockamamie blow off's.

    Right off the top of my head I can give you 100 logical and factual reasons why there is no god as most of us precieve one. Genesis could not have happened, and Jesus was most likely a con man looking for an easy life. None of your reasonings hold water or even make sense but you don't even want to listen to me do you? As a matter of fact, by now you probably don't like me and many of you think I'm a lost misguided sole don't you?
    There's the answer to the original question...

  6. nightwork4 profile image61
    nightwork4posted 11 years ago

    i honestly believe it's because it makes people think that maybe their beliefs are wrong and it angers them. they see successful atheists like myself and it makes them wonder why we are doing so well when being a believer has never gotten them anywhere.

    1. Clayton Fernandes profile image78
      Clayton Fernandesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      lol not to burst your bubble, But you might've attained it all here on earth, whats the point when you lose everything after death and gained nothing. Not all believers have never gotten anywhere...

  7. profile image0
    alloporusposted 11 years ago

    Because they are in the minority and we prefer to align with the majority

  8. Game Flex profile image61
    Game Flexposted 11 years ago

    I believe the reason is that nearly 90% of the world have at least some established religion. The reason that atheists are less respected is because 90% of the world belongs to a religious group of some sort.

  9. Georgie Lowery profile image90
    Georgie Loweryposted 11 years ago

    I think the answer is less complicated than even the lack of religious belief. It's the same reasons why liberals don't like conservatives, some races don't like each other, why some straight people dislike homosexuals and why some people from different geographical locations dislike each other. Many people do not like or trust anything or anyone that is different from them.

  10. krishna sandhya profile image62
    krishna sandhyaposted 11 years ago

    I really don't know whether atheist's are respected in this society or not but i can say they are pitied!
    There is some supernatural power running this whole world,every creature on this planet and possibly that is not man!Man is not the only creature living over on this planet.

    1. swordsbane profile image60
      swordsbaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There is no such thing as the supernatural.  If it exists, it's part of the natural world.

      And Atheism isn't anti-God.  It's anti-belief-without-evidence.

  11. Mmargie1966 profile image84
    Mmargie1966posted 11 years ago

    How can you say they are not given as much respect?  All I hear about lately is how to be politically correct and not offend anyone by using the word God or Jesus. 

    Nearly 30 years ago, when I was in high school, I was a member of YCF.  Does anyone know what that is?  Now it is against the law to have a group like that on campus.  i don't understand why we can't have religious clubs of all types (and non).  You should be free to join one or more, or none if you choose.

    ...just sayin'

 
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